Looking for critiques on my flute playing

[Azalin]

Hehe, for those of you who say playing is more important, I'll remind you of the guys who spend three hours practising every night without much listening

Hmmm, I guess I'm one of them? You seem to think that practicing doesnt involve listening, but for me it does, a lot. I learn by ear, as you know, and I'm trying to learn more than just the notes.

I think that listening is good, but you have to let time do it's work. You could be listening 100 hours or irish music a week, or "just" 10 hours, but at the end of the day, there's so much that the brain can handle and analyze, this is something that comes with time, listening, going in festivals, sessions, etc.

But it's true that my main goal is to have fun in sessions. Last night we had an amazing session, the one I'm now having on wednesday nights. Desi Wilkinson himself showed up, it was amazing, we played tunes after tunes, I listened to him a lot, off course, and I was very happy then to have practiced so much so that he could enjoy what I was playing.

[Jayhawk]

What a great sounding session experience! I'm quite jealous...but I agree with you that playing involves a lot of listening. I love sessions for the fun, comraderie, etc., but I'm still learning while I'm playing and especially when I'm sitting out a tune.

Eric

[MurphyStout]

Hehe, for those of you who say playing is more important, I'll remind you of the guys who spend three hours practising every night without much listening

Hmmm, I guess I'm one of them? You seem to think that practicing doesnt involve listening, but for me it does, a lot. I learn by ear, as you know, and I'm trying to learn more than just the notes.

Hehe, you were not one of the people I had in mind Az. That comment was advice for people like me, and Eldarion... guys that are extremely isolated. You have a scene near you with, as you say, some fantastic players who you get to play with on a regular basis. So you have an avenue of exposure that we don't. Hearing great music live is much better than hearing it off a record, IMO. But in all honesty, I think you could benefit from a little less practising and a little more listening yourself. The music has to get in you before it can come out of you. Listening is the best way to get it in you. I agree that practising is good listening... especially if you have a good ear, but the point I was trying is that there are people on the forums who spend hours and hours practising yet are oblivious to the fact that their rhythm is bad, phrasing is terrible and that haven't improved in the last 3 years. And these same players have small hope of improving because they've engrained their bad habits for the last 3 years! I do not put you in that catagory Az.

And I'm not advocating listening 100hrs a week... cause you know me Az. For most of the year I"m in school and working 40hrs a week... I don't have that much time. I'm advocating that listening is just as important or more important that practising.

I really didn't mean to post all this stuff in the thread but it's come up and I think alot of people can benefit from hearing it.

Az, I enjoyed your foxhunters set... where did you pick up the tunes? And stop by the chatroom tonight... I'll be around.

[talasiga]

this is exactly what I was on about.
People who don't like me can just ignore me
if peeplj's comment is more comprehensible and useful to them.

Kind Regards.

I don't know if you mean me here. I do not dislike you and neighter do I find your opinions unuseful in any way. I think I just misread a bit. I can see what you mean now, but this is a field I haven't studied so much yet.
Sorry

No Henke, I didn't mean you.
I can't now quite remember who I was referring to.

I have a vague memory that it might have been
someone placing bets. They were so skin flint that
they only had chips on their shoulders to do it with.

But, then, I may have imagined it all.
I am quite an imaginative fellow really ......

:roll:

[Eldarion]

I don't know if you mean me here. Its
possible, I think, because I have this
inexplicable tendency to dislike people
who have no idea what they are talking about
but go on blabbing along anyway..

But then again it might be my imagination.
Some people tell me I have a very
vivid imagination too..

:roll:

[rama]

murphystout, good job, you're on the right path.

just saw a documentary on the tele of bruce lee, the martial artist/filmstar.
when asked during an interview to define martial art, he said "to express oneself honestly." he went on to say that he could show off with alot of cocky moves and be dazzling with difficult stunts but that is all fake. only when he is expressing himself honestly is he practicing martial art.
i like to think that the same principle would hold true in itrad fluting.

[mcelvogue]

Hi murphystout, I don't think there is too much wrong with the playing that I could comment upon. Each player has their own style which I think is great and in teaching in the past I am always wary of producing students who would be a copy of Matt Molloy or Seamus Tansey. With that in mind I would add a few notes:

1) The ornamentation of the top A's sounds a little wooly in places, in other parts of the tune they sound superb. It may be the pattern from the preceding notes to the A roll which is less practised? I often practise full rolls on each of the notes both up and down the octave as an excercise and then bouncing from different anchor points - eg D to A roll, E to A roll, F sharp to A Roll. I found that I could miss or fluff a roll on a B when played directly after an E for example. That's how I found out. Maybe you could try listening to a few more of your recordings and see if that is the case.

2) The phrasing also sounds good. One thing to improve your listenability (if that makes sense) is to make sure that when you are about to take a breath, make sure you are not totally out of breath. That may sound obvious, but most people miss this point. If you listen back to any flute player (and I do this to myself very often) make a conscious effort to understand how you feel about the music you are listening too. As a flute player I often feel out of breath when listening back to a flute player who is constantly getting out of breath and gasping at the end and start of phrases. You are not doing this I hasten to add, but, I did notice one point in the tune where at the end of the phrase the volume and tone wandered a bit. In order to disguise where you are taking a breath, a common technique is to end your phrase on a strong note and always make sure that the point at which you take a breath is probably earlier than you need.

3) Flute players to listen to would be Paddy Carty, Billy Clifford, Eddie Cahill, Josie McDermott, Paul McGrattan and Tom Doorley - I would imagine you have the rest covered. I always found fiddle players a better guide to phrasing on the flute than other flute players - again, some are better than others for learning purposes. I found Kathleen Collins to be exceptional as a guide to learning about phrasing, she had such a subtle and beautiful way of framing sections of a tune which for me means that I don't have to think too much (which is always a good thing). Tommy Peoples is another fiddle player whose playing makes a great learning aid. I often find myself struggling to determine which notes I should leave out in order to get a breath and then there is always the problem of not leaving out a key note which alters the feel and structure of the tune dramatically. The important thing is to know the tune inside-out so it becomes second nature as to which note(s) least affects the flow and feel of the tune.

I hope this gives you something to think about in a good way. Your playing sounds fine to me and I'm probably being a bit nitpicky here so I apologise in advance. These are just my opinions so take them with a huge pinch of salt as every player has his/her own way of approaching the music and techniques. Good luck with the flute playing.

Regards,

Tom McElvogue

[David Levine]

Wonderful comments from which can all learn something.
Thanks.

[Hoovorff]

I agree about Tom's comments being something from which we can all learn. (I wish we had more of this type of musical discussion on the forum, and less arguing.) I'm going to apply some of those roll practice tips to my practice tonight. The breathing advice is also very helpful.

Thanks!

[Whistlin'Dixie]

I appreciate your comments, Tom. It's good of Murphy to open the door, and we all benefit from the constuctive advice.
Thanks,
Mary