First step in learning to play an instrument: Listening to an instrument.
Second step: Practice
Third step: repeat steps one through three.
I’m having some trouble with step one due purely to ignorance. Your knowledge is the cure.
A great way to start is to by the WFO cd’s for some great flute playing by lots of different players. www.worldtrad.org
My personal opinion?
Seamus Egan, Laurence Nugent, Matt Molloy, Joanie Madden, Hammy Hamilton, the flute player for Danu is great too (though I can’t recall his name off the top of my head)…I’m sure there are others but I can’t think of them off the top of my head.
Seamus Egan is my flute player of choice, but the rest are fantastic as well.
~Crysania
Same here. He’s simply brilliant.
Yeah, lots of nice songs, but a great percentage of the playing seems to be less than adequate for learning from in my opinion. I have one and two and will NOT be buying any more of them.
If you haven’t already, check out Brad Hurley’s site for an almost dizzying array of recommended players. As for listening as part of learning, I came to flute playing without much tradition behind me, and I found some of the masters a bit bewildering to listen to. Seamus Egan comes to mind. He has this wonderful, gulpy tone, but all of the stuff that I’ve heard from him is so lightning quick.
Brian Finnegan of Flook! is a popular player on low whistle. They’re kinda groovy.
Mike
His name is Tom Doorley he is great. Also Kevin Crawford and Mike McGoldrick.
:roll:
Any of you guys ever hear of Mary Bergin or somebody who plays the flute in a preMolloy style?
Yes, I have heard of her.
smacks forehead How could I forget Kevin Crawford? I just ordered his D Flute album…big duh on my part!
~Crysania
As have I…almost mentioned her…but I don’t know enough about her playing style. I take it you don’t like the people who have been mentioned? Who’s YOUR flute player of choice?
I also enjoy Paddy Carty’s playing…really do need to pick up a good copy of his album…
~Crysania
Micho Russell,Willie Clancy,Jack Coen,Josie McDermott and Sean Potts get my vote as recommended listening for new and more experienced players.
There is always something to learn by listening to master musicians.
Perhaps the earlier posters noticed that the question stipulated low whistlers. I think that would-be low whistlers should also listen to the better high whistlers but this view isn’t so obvious as to warrant an eye-roll.
Some flute players worth checking out are Paddy Carty, Seamus Tansey, Harry Bradley and Conal O Grada. On low whistle, others who are excellent are Brendan Ring and and Dermott Hyde. Of course, you would do well to listen to older whistle players like Bergin, Micho Russell and Willie Clancy. (Gee, who am I calling Mary Bergin old?)
And frankly, I don’t see what’s wrong with listening to newer players anyway. To each their own I suppose. I admit, I don’t listen to too many older flute/whistle players (though I do have some lovely recordings of some)…I seem to tend to pick up recordings of old fiddlers instead…no idea why (in general I have more fiddle music that flute and whistle stuff).
~Crysania
Yeah, I almost spilled my coffee, seeing you lump Mary in with Micho Russell in the ‘old’ category. I am not sure she’d be pleased… 
Jack Coen - seconded. The album “The Branch Line” is a must-have I reckon.
Mike Rafferty should be on the list too. “Speed 78” is a joy to listen to.
The ‘trouble’ with the likes of McGoldrick, Crawford, Egan etc is that from a “learner’s” perspective you aren’t going to grasp much unless you have slow-downing software (or buy the madfortrad flute tutorial CD with Seamus Egan playing nice and slow). The modern trend of virtuosi playing a reel three times through in less than a minute makes it tough for a beginner to pick up anything worthwhile.
The ‘steady’ playing of the likes of Jack Coen and Mike Rafferty bring the tunes to life, at a measured dance-able pace where you can hear the melodies and masterful playing without being subjected to one long endless blur of rolls.
Early Altan is good too, the late Frankie Kennedy was a wonderful flutist, well worth listening too. Again, great tunes played at a sensible dance-able pace.
That’s flute. As for low whistle, YOU know who you NEED TO LISTEN to!
(~Crysania, you can listen to the entire D Flute album online at: http://www.greenlinnet.com/shopping/search_detail.cfm?productID=1061 )
No, the problem is that they aren’t certified Old Geezers. They therefore lack the Trad Seal of Authenticity. Who left you off the memo list, Gary? 
Seriously, my favorite players are Molloy and Paddy Carty. I like McGoldrick almost more as a composer/arranger, but he’s a great player too.
Listen to stuff beyond flutes and whistles too - especially Upipes.
I think it is not the speed that is the main issue, though it can be part of the problem. “Modern styled” Irish flute and whistle music usually is played in a style that is geared towards a more pop/contemporary sound. The fundamentals of Irish flute/whistle playing are sometimes overshadowed and compromised to achieve this. Strummy guitars often iron out the rhythmic nuances and obscures phrasing. Hence it is not always the best educational material for beginners.
Moreover idolised contemporary players like Crawford cut their teeth listening and learning from older generation players too. IMO the character and depth of their music is rarely surpassed, each listening still brings a fresh experience.
Listening to flute/whistle players is essential for developing a phrasing style particular to the instrument but there are also lots of things you can learn from listening to exponents of other instruments too.
Aye, continuing the excellent theme of ‘listening to other instruments’, I think a lot of the appeal of albums like “Speed 78” (and of course the other Mike Rafferty CDs) is that usually the flute is accompanied only by concertina, or fiddle. Very occasionally guitar. “The Branch Line” is just flute and concertina.
Point being that the rhythm, lilt, and lift of the music comes from the melody instruments themselves. Those great players don’t need a 4-piece rhythm section backing them up. It’s just all there without it.
I do have a growing collection of CDs by ‘modern’ players (including both volumes of WFO, a couple of McGoldrick’s CDs, Matt Molloy, Lunasa, Kevin Crawford etc etc) but I tend to regard them more as ‘easy listening’ and keep coming back to the Coen’s, Mike Rafferty, Frankie Kennedy, and occasionally some scratchy old pieces by Tom Morrison for study and learning.
I’ve been listening to Frankie Gavin a fair bit lately too… probably because I watched him at the Oxford festival earlier this month. Best known as a fiddler of course, but by cracky he gets a great tone out of the flute.
Geezers Vs Modernists… I remember the brouhaha on the Flute board! However, a 20-something’s idea of a geezer is somewhat different to a 40-something’s! Wormdiet…there was a memo?
I second Gary’s recommendations: Jack Coen and Frankie Kennedy. I’ll add Chris Norman, too.
I have been listening to both Jack and Frankie quite a bit the last year or so, and I’d never been able to put into words what’s so appealing about them. Seamus Egan had been my favorite fluter previous to discovering these guys, and their approach is almost a polar opposite: their playing is sparsely ornamented, and especially Jack doesn’t play that fast. So, why would I like them and Seamus?
They make the music sound easy – their approach is very straightforward and comfortable. They make it sound like I may be able to play this music someday and not sound like a total fool. Most of all, they let the music speak for itself – many flute players play in a way that calls attention to themselves, leaving me thinking “what a great fluteplayer” rather than “what a great tune.” I don’t listen to players like that much anymore. Let me add, though, that listening to a player like Jack or Frankie is like peeling an onion – there are many layers to their playing. The phrasing is most important, but there are loads of subtleties. I think I’ll be able to play fast and highly ornamented long before I can even understand Jack’s phrasing and the little intricacies of his playing.
And, if your interests go beyond IrTrad, Chris Norman is simply in a class of his own. He really shines on slow but rhythmic tunes like waltzes and strathspeys.