Scottish tunes on flute

[Jim Troy]

could someone point me to a link , either here on the forum , or maybe Youtube , of Scottish tunes on flute ?

iv'e had a look at Calum Stewart's myspace , and he has a few tunes on the vid at the bottom of his page , but i'd like to see more from the Scottish piping/fiddle style ,

with the Scots snap , and the berl , etc.

i'd particularly like to see the berl .

[iain beag]

You could try searching youtube for Chris Norman, that would be a good place to start.
There are abc collections of music available at Hans Bracker's website soft flute.
I'm assuming when you say "berl" that what you really mean is birl, this is a piping ornament that I'm not sure would work very well on flute.
It is effectively a double tap to the note immediately below the note you are playing, on pipes it would be;
xxxxxxo
xxxxxxx
xxxxxxo
xxxxxxx
xxxxxxo

When pipers do this their right pinkie makes a figure of eight movement although some pipers will just move their finger straight across and back again it depends how they were taught.
There are other variations on the birl as shown above but it would take a lot of explaining.
The scotch snap you mention is called a strathspey and you'll find plenty of them in the collections mentioned above.

[benhall.1]

I think when Jimmy talks about a 'Scotch snap' he's not talking about a type of tune, but just the rhythm known as a 'Scotch snap', which is, in effect, a semi-quaver followed by a dotted quaver. (There's little more to it, but that's basically it.)

[Kirk B]

I always thought Scotch Snap was what happens right after you take a sip.

[jemtheflute]

I always thought Scotch Snap was what happens right after you take a sip.

Careful! Henke will hear...... Then we'll have no peace!

Jim, see what recordings you can find by Tannahill Weavers - I think one of their longest serving members is Phil Smillie on flute and whistles. He was actually the first trad wooden fluter I ever saw live, back in about '77 - before I'd even heard of Matt Molloy, I think. Good player! I don't know that he's ever done any solo recording, though - a pity!

From a similar era, there used to be a Scots band called Bully Wee - as a youngster their (excellent) fiddler achieved tangential notoriety as the fiddle player featured in the original film of The Wicker Man - I saw them live a couple of times (as did Ben), but I can't now remember for sure if they included a fluter.... nice music though: I also have no idea if they ever released any albums.

I'd guess Cathal McConnell must have played a fair bit of Scottish music with Boys of The Lough.

[kkrell]

Jim, see what recordings you can find by Tannahill Weavers - I think one of their longest serving members is Phil Smillie on flute and whistles. He was actually the first trad wooden fluter I ever saw live, back in about '77 - before I'd even heard of Matt Molloy, I think. Good player! I don't know that he's ever done any solo recording, though - a pity!

I do have a solo recording of Phil Smillie for WFO4, if anyone can ever get Phil Cunningham to OK the use of his composition. No response to emails, Facebook, MySpace, etc. so if anyone can put me in better touch, and with his father-in-law? (Finlay McRae).

Kevin Krell

[Jon C.]

He is a great player, plays a Eb Hawkes & Sons, or at least he did when I met him 3 years ago in Portland OR.

[jmccain]

I do have a solo recording of Phil Smillie for WFO4, if anyone can ever get Phil Cunningham to OK the use of his composition. No response to emails, Facebook, MySpace, etc. so if anyone can put me in better touch, and with his father-in-law? (Finlay McRae).

Kevin Krell

I'd ask at the Footstompin forum:

http://www.footstompin.com/forum?forumid=3

[Jim Troy]

had a look at that , thanks jmcain , and then i beat a rapid retreat .

looks more like a slow day , in downtown Kinshasa .
not a place for an elderly , peace loving , flute player .

Kevin , if you just happened to be playing that recording sometime , maybe i could happen to be passing by your window , with my Olympus , which just happens to be in Rec. mode....
just sayin' , like .

(just noticed that link was for Kevin , so Mr.K , be aware that we don't leave anyone on the field , we take our casualties home )

[doogieman]

Here's a link for a site with a bunch of tunes from various Celtic cultures. There are a lot of Scottish tunes. You can sort by instrument and look at all the flute tunes if you'd like. I have found some very nice tunes here from Scotland and Britanny. Hope it works for you.


http://breizhpartitions.free.fr/en/scotland_scores.php

[jb]

My favourite's The First Harvest by Flute/Piper Iain MacDonald and Iain MacFarlane on Fiddle.
You can hear some samles on CD Baby.

Jack

[kenny]

I have a few recordings which might interest you, Jim. Drop me a PM.
Kevin - by one of those strange coincidences, my wife and I will be having lunch with Mr & Mrs MacRae on Saturday.
Can I ask them anything on your behalf ? - send me a PM. I can get in touch with Phil too, if he's not too busy !
Jem - "Bully Wee", as I recall had a whistle player, certainly, but I don't think the ever had a flute player. I think they made 2 LP recordings, neither of which I have. One may have been called "The Enchanted Lady" - but that's purely from an ageing memory !
Cathal McConnell has recorded quite a few Scottish tunes with "Boys of The Lough", as mentioned above. He turned up at our session in Aberdeen on Monday - playing a storm, as usual.

[david quinn]

Our band has a load of Scottish music for flute.

Johnny Cope
Haughs of Cromdale
5th of November
Lads Amongst Heather
Mary Ma Scotch Bluebell
Robert Burns Selection etc

Pm if you wish any.