Miss Hamilton's Delight on my Hamilton 6-key

Flexismart · Post by **Flexismart** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 9:53 pm

So, last weekend I played for a Scottish Country Dance in Pittsburgh, PA. I recorded the gig with an Edirol R-09, which I often do. The recorder was placed behind us and the result was a pretty good monitor level representation of what I could hear. You'll hear the dancers dancing (of course), and often they chat while we're playing - it's all there to hear. The flute sounds a little 'far away', that is, not right into a mic, but I think it works anyway.

The tunes we play here are known as 'Miss Hamilton's Delight', a strathspey set, 3 times - in other words we play 3 tunes 32 bars - as a set dance. The set is repeated a second time here because in Scottish Country Dance the dancers will ask you to play the set (or part of the set) again if they like the combination of the dance and the music. This also gives the musicians a chance to play different variations on the tunes.

I'm playing a six key post mount that Hammy Hamilton made for me in 2001. Clearly, this is a different way of playing one of Hammy's flutes than in the trad Irish style, but it is so rich and fluid to play on these tunes. I hope you like them.
Here it is:

http://www.box.net/shared/bcduqf4d4c

Sigurthr · Post by **Sigurthr** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 11:05 pm

I very much like this recording! Wonderful soft sweet tone and pleasing melodies!

There is no wrong music to play on a flute. Thanks for posting!

dontf · Post by **dontf** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 11:20 pm

I got to hear Chris Norman and David Greenberg last night, lovely playing in sets from Bach and Teleman to Oliver Goldsmith and Thomas Moore, to strathspeys and reels, with wonderful playing throughout. Chris was playing a Rod Cameron eight key most of the time.

dontf · Post by **dontf** » Sun Mar 27, 2011 11:21 pm

Oh yeah, nice playing by you as well!

Doug_Tipple · Post by **Doug_Tipple** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 8:45 am

I enjoyed listening to the recording. It made me realize that I would have liked to have known Miss Hamilton, but, alas, she was from a different era.

LorenzoFlute · Post by **LorenzoFlute** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 10:26 am

Wonderful! Hamilton flute for Hamilton tune

tucson_whistler · Post by **tucson_whistler** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 5:36 pm

it's beautful; i do wish you had been a little close to the mic though.

cheers,
eric

Hup · Post by **Hup** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 11:40 pm

The recording quality is stunning - good advert for that Edirol R-09 recorder.
The playing is nice too - sounds like a Boehm flute.

LorenzoFlute · Post by **LorenzoFlute** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 9:08 am

The playing is nice too - sounds like a Boehm flute.

Errr was that a compliment?

I don't agree anyway...

LorenzoFlute · Post by **LorenzoFlute** » Tue Mar 29, 2011 5:00 pm

Just to be clear here, I really liked the clip and the sound of the Hamilton!
In my comment above I mean that in my opinion it doesn't sound like a Boehm flute.
I say this also because many times I'm not a big fan of a metal Boehm flute's sound (even if sometimes it can be beautiful), while I like the sound of the Hamilton on this clip very much. That's all

Slayer · Post by **Slayer** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 7:21 am

Good record and good playing! Thank you!

Flexismart · Post by **Flexismart** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 8:27 am

Thanks for all of the great comments.

I understand the Boehm reference from Hup, as the breath vibrato that I sometimes use is a distant remnant of my experience playing silver flute.
There is a marked difference, however, in tone and response between the two. The tunes, probably being from a time earlier than the invention of the Boehm, seem to speak
very well on the wooden flute, given the ability to slide, cut, reach, etc., in a way that a is not quite possible or acceptable on the other.

When I first began playing flute with this group, about 10 years ago, the response was not very good. The presenters were not used to the sound
of the flute and were wary of hearing what they considered fiddle music on a flute - not because it wasn't pleasing, but because they weren't used
to the sound, and therefore thought that it wouldn't work for dancing. I kept at it, since we all liked the combination of instruments, and now the
consensus is that the group would sound not be the same without it.

Anyway, thanks for listening. There are more QuickTime and Box.net field recording links on my website.

Hup · Post by **Hup** » Wed Mar 30, 2011 5:55 pm

Toppish - yes, that's what I was driving at. It was certainly
more Boehm than O'Grada for you on that gig

Flexismart · Post by **Flexismart** » Sun Apr 03, 2011 10:20 pm

Because I received so many comments and hits from the Miss Hamilton's Delight set, I thought I'd post another strathspey set from the same gig.

This one is a set called 'Jean Martin of Aberdeen', again a 3x32 set piece. This is the reprise that we played after the dancers called for us to play it again.

Let me know what you think:
http://www.box.net/shared/e9ylejc1r2

PS Not all of the dances are Strathspeys. They are equally spread between Jigs, Reels, and Strathspeys. If you'd like me to post them, let me know.

Chiff and Fipple Forums

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