Posting clips

[ImNotIrish]

Hey all,
just uploaded a couple of new tunes. Dermot Grogan's reel/ Paddy Jim Frank's. Feedback welcomed. Thanks for listening,
Arbo

http://www.box.net/files#%230:f:7251633

[cocusflute]

I think Boyd's playing was spot on and lovely.

Jem said:
"...you might find your breath supply and phrasing easier if you took the tunes a tad faster ..."

I thought the pacing was perfect. Boyd can play faster. But the tunes are so lovely at this tempo why speed them up? If he played more than twenty minutes a month (or a year?) he might find breath supply easier but even so I could detect no problem with his breathing or his phrasing.
Most people who are posting play way too fast (I won't mention names) and lose the lovely lilt that Boyd mentions.

Jem said: "Also consider trying out different C nat fingerings - I expect you are using oxx ooo? Try oxo xxx out for both intonation and strength of tone..."

When I use oxo xxx I find I am sharp about .20c. Using oxx ooo puts me right at C=440. Jem is right that the tone is a bit clearer with oxo xxx. But after twenty years there are other issues about my playing that are of more concern to me.

[boyd]

......said: "Also consider trying out different C nat fingerings - I expect you are using oxx ooo? Try oxo xxx out for both intonation and strength of tone..."

When I use oxo xxx I find I am sharp about .20c. Using oxx ooo puts me right at C=440. Jem is right that the tone is a bit clearer with oxo xxx. But after twenty years there are other issues about my playing that are of more concern to me.

phew....glad you posted that David..as I had a bash at the oxo xxx and found it tricky, ...I already have (let me see) 5 different ways of fingering C nat on pipes and whistles, 6 when I use the key on my pipes in the upper octave

..and thanks for the comments, all of you

Boyd

[boyd]

If he played more than twenty minutes a month (or a year?) .........

You know me too well David.

Maybe getting up to 20 mins a week now....but not every week


B

[jemtheflute]

Just to clarify - I love the speed Boyd played these tunes at too - I was not suggesting greater speed for its own sake, but I did feel he was struggling to sustain his breath through some phrases and more so towards the end of the clip, hence my suggestion, trying to be helpful, not hypercritical. I didn't think the speed chosen was due to inability to go faster! I absolutely agree about not rushing, especially in jigs. A "tad" means "a very little bit"!

As for C nat fingerings - fair comment about the number of different ones you have to contend with switching between instruments! The tuning issue, however, varies between instruments. Cocus's flute (which one?) may well be best in tune on oxx ooo, and it is best on quite a few modern maker flutes and particularly Pratten style flutes, but I still contend that on the majority of flutes it is noticeably flat and weak-toned compared to oxo xxx. That is true on the Seery Pratten in my possession, BTW, and on my R&R the oxo xxx is spot on with the keyed C nat and only a touch weaker. On my RC piccolo, however, oxx ooo is best. I think one has to be adaptable and find the right fingering for the particular instrument. I just get frustrated by the often unthought about assumption that oxx ooo is "the correct Irish fingering" without due consideration or even awareness of the alternatives. If one looks at historic fingering charts for simple system flutes, oxx ooo is certainly not the "standard" or most commonly given fingering for C nat - presumably for a reason!

[boyd]

Just to clarify - I love the speed Boyd played these tunes at too - I was not suggesting greater speed for its own sake, but I did feel he was struggling to sustain his breath through some phrases and more so towards the end of the clip, hence my suggestion, trying to be helpful, not hypercritical. I didn't think the speed chosen was due to inability to go faster! I absolutely agree about not rushing, especially in jigs. A "tad" means "a very little bit"

Thanks all

I had in fact loadsa breath and was as untaxed as you like....but I guess thats not how it sounded to you....and breath loss is a common beginners thing, I spose.
In the second tune, I phrase it the way I do cos I see it as a tune with lots of short punchy phrases. So I intuitively stick in breath stops to accentuate the phrasing...of course, as a non-flute player, I havent a feckin clue what I'm doing...but its not unlike how I would "stop" my chanter to give phrasing.
What you might also be hearing is the fact that I don't cut my back D on the flute cos its counter-intuitive to a piper...I don't want the bad habit of it, so I cut the D with tongue/breath control...probably very nawty for a flute player.
There's a lot of back D double notes in the second tune, so it stands out, I think.
I'll probably listen to a few flute players and then listen to what way I sound in tunes and compare the two....see if I want to change things.

Lucky for me I'm not going to be a soloist on the flute, haha...it'll do for the odd session or whatever, or when the squeallers are having a bad reed night ....still sounds nicer than a low whistle

Boyd

[boyd]

(the whole point of this thread is to get an honest idea of what other people think....its then up to the player to take what he or she wants from the feedback....and I'm cool with that )

[jemtheflute]

Cheers, Boyd! I agree totally about what this thread is for and how to take it.

BTW, what do you mean by a "back D"? I guess that's a piper's term, but I don't know it or what it signifies.

[boyd]

I guess the flute has three D's....bottom, middle and high...same with a whistle really.

The middle D is played on the pipes by taking the left thumb off a hole in the back of the chanter...so pipers call it "back D" and know the phrase to mean the D in the second octave.
The high or third octave D is only occasionally used in piping.


As for the thread...it would be nice to have a bunch of folk participating...its a very good thread, and a recent comment about it "dying" prompted me to stick a quick recording in

Cocusflute's initiative with this thread is to be commended..I'm sure lots of people have benefitted.
And its probably very telling when you see frequent flute forum posters who havent put up a tune or two here


Yours impishly


Boyd

[sbfluter]

I really like I'mNotIrish's playing but his last link did not work for me. It takes me to my own box.net files, not his recording. Can you fix that, Mr. Not Irish?

I'd post more tunes, but I'm hardly a shining example of Irish Traditional Music.

[ImNotIrish]

Thanks Diane. I'll see if I can remedy the problem.
Arbo

[Gabriel]

Here's a recording I took recently on one of the sessions I go to with my new Zoom H2. It's Jimmy O'Reilly's reel. Some quirks here and there, but it was early in the morning and the guitarist started too fast! I remember grinning like a fool (and thinking of coffee) when I mixed up the short roll at the beginning of the third repeat.

http://www.box.net/shared/q817nqy6xe

Sorry for the noise in the background...

[daiv]

boyd-i really liked your playing. i think you could use some more work with the embouchure. i think what might sound like breathing problems are embouchure problems.

dont get me wrong, i think you have a good tone and the notes have a great lift, but i feel that your tone doesnt lift with your soul.... if that makes sense.

i know this is a flute thread, but could you post some piping?

i also think you should keep doing all the breath things that your pipes taught you! i liked them.

[daiv]

Thanks Diane. I'll see if I can remedy the problem.
Arbo

maybe the clip is not public? it doesnt work here, either,

Some quirks here and there, but it was early in the morning and the guitarist started too fast! wink I remember grinning like a fool (and thinking of coffee) when I mixed up the short roll at the beginning of the third repeat.

it did strike me as a bit fast, but by the end i didnt notice. you seem to pull it off! must be all the coffee...

what sort of flute is it?

edit:

i still have your clip going, gabriel, 15 minutes later! i forgot it was on. i think it's a compliment...

[Gabriel]

Thanks

It's a Maurice Reviol Prattenesque flute with the cork way too near at the embouchure hole which somehow improves playability, responsivity, tone and efficiency a lot.

Here is another one (Say Good Morning to your Nightcap) on the same flute. A friend who recorded it sent it to me, I originally wanted to hear it to work on myself, but I thought I could also post it here...it was late in the night after quite some pints, and the startup is a bit, err...slow...

http://www.box.net/shared/op9ln0hnh3


Arbo's clip doesn't work for me as well.