What style is he playing in

[seamasL]

CocusFlute said in a recent post,
”What tradition is the book rooted in: Donegal? Kerry? Slieve Luchra? Clare? West Clare? East Clare?”
Well, he used the word tradition but he might have used the word style right? Now, I am asking that question as a lead in to my main question, not as the start of an argument over the definition of the word tradition vs the word style.
I wonder if you guys could help me learn more about ITM by talking about the different styles of playing ITM as described by location as some of you so often do.
So, if you heard Joe play a jig you might say,” that is a good example of Galway style”. Or,” Bob over there is playing that reel in Clare style”. The trouble is that right now I wouldn’t have a clue what you meant and it is something that I should pay more attention to.
Now don’t get into micro styles, just help me learn how many well defined styles there are overall and maybe give me name of a player who is a good example of that style.
I have the WFO CDs, like so many others on this forum, and maybe you could pick from them. (Sometimes in the notes they mention the style of the player) It would be a great learning experience for me and I think for some of the other players here who might have wondered about the same thing.
Jim

[rh]

a good place to start:

http://www.theflow.org.uk/styles/styles.html

[Coffee]

Don't look at me. I can barely distinguish between Dragon, Tiger, and Monkey styles...

[Wanderer]

Don't look at me. I can barely distinguish between Dragon, Tiger, and Monkey styles...

While dragon and tiger styles both are known for their powerful palm attacks, dragon is a soft style, with fluid movements and oblique striking angles. Tiger, on the other hand, has firm stances and strong linear attacks. Monkey style, by comparison, is easily distinguishable once your opponent starts flinging poo..

[jemtheflute]

Monkey style, by comparison, is easily distinguishable once your opponent starts flinging poo..

None of that on here, then. Perish the thought!

[seamasL]

Thank You rh, that is just what I was looking for. You guys know everything!
Jim

[Aanvil]

To siphon up a pint at distance while on a low C#.

One of the many things I can teach you grasshoppers.

Aanvil, Drunken Master, Aanvil

[Jon C.]

Monkey style, by comparison, is easily distinguishable once your opponent starts flinging poo..

I play "Monkey style" but I don't fling poo!

[awildman]

I don't fling poo, but it does come out of my flute. In the form of sound waves.

[cocusflute]

Despite the low humor, the original question is interesting and worth asking. Regional differences are breaking down all the time. Recordings, radio, and other media tend to homogenize regional differences. It surprises me that there is still such a recognizable difference between spoken regional accents. Corkonians still sound different than Dubliners, Claremen, Kerrymen, or Ulstermen.

I think also that regional differences are more apparent in fiddlers than in fluters. You can hear the clear differences between fiddlers from Sligo (Michael Coleman) and West Clare (Junior Crehan) and East Clare (Martin Hayes), Slieve Luchra and Kerry. Fluters tend not to be so localized, probably due in part to the influence of Matt Molloy, whose effect is ubiquitous. I think also that the flute doesn't lend itself to such a broad range of stylistic interpretation as the fiddle, which is capable of a much wider range of expression. Fiddlers have much more distinctive styles.

Catherine McEvoy presents as a Roscommon flute-player and argues for a regional style, but she was born and raised in Birmingham and lives outside of Dublin. Harry Bradley is clearly a northern fluter, with a clearly defined attack rather than the more legato style of June Ni Chormaic. But to my ears, and in general, great flute players tend to be more alike than they are different.

Thanks to Wooden Flute Obsession regional differences might be easier to identify and to pin down.

[Cork]

Given a now global interest in ITM, given the Internet, and given much in the way of such student materials, including so many recordings, I wonder what those traditional musicians in Ireland could think, of so many other, perhaps original interpretations of their own music.

We, the aliens!

[hans]

A very worthwhile read is this Interview with Martin Hayes

For instance he says about regional styles:

I think the regional styles are dying out, and I don't think they can ever be revived. I think any resuscitation of them in that sense would be very mechanical, would be very premeditated, and of course this music never came out of a premeditated, orchestrated form. It would be imitation rather than a real expression. So the only hope I see is for people to find individual expression in it. Right now most of the traditional music I hear.... seems like a work in progress.

And I love this bit about musical expression:

In order to get to the heart of the music you must have pure expression. Whenever I hear music that's set out to impress me, I'm unimpressed largely. I'm amazed and dazzled at the proficiency and technique and the intelligence of the language and the complexity at times, but if that's what it sets out to achieve, it's absolutely pointless. It's missed the initial point, the core meaning of music. And an awful lot of music does that. You'd almost want to have the childlike simplicity again and just go, "I like that. That's nice." A big thing with a lot of musicians is the fear to play something very simple and delicate, in case somebody would think you weren't a great fiddler or something. In order to get your own individual expression, would you have to become a highly technically proficient musician? The answer really is no, I don't think that that's as important as getting your head straight, and getting your heart in the right place.

Read the whole interview!

~Hans

[Cork]

A very worthwhile read is this Interview with Martin Hayes...Read the whole interview!...

Aha! So there appears to be a real music transition within Ireland itself, that apparently regional differences are becoming more diminished. And, there is other more mentioned in the article, of several years ago, in all a good read.

[sbhikes]

...the core meaning of the music...

I recently received as a gift a couple of CDs from Ireland. Many of the tunes on the CD are sung. I've been quite shocked at the words! Some are quite gruesome and gory. I am wholly not able to play in a manner that brings out this kind of meaning to the music!

[Romulo]

Ressurrecting a post

Sorry for the ignorance, but can you please tell me which players at the Flute Obsession CDs have a northern style of playing? What's the main characteristic of that style? I suppose it's punchy, with a strong attack, right?