An honest opinion...

[ImNotIrish]

would be appreciated. I know the reverb is heavy. Aside from that, I'd like an honest assessment of the playing of this air. Thanks in advance,
Arbo

w/verb
http://www.box.net/shared/bsn1urkz70

edit: for those purists- no verb.
http://www.box.net/shared/siet5goevy

[crookedtune]

Some reverb is useful, but I agree that it's a bit heavy here. Otherwise lovely! That's a very moving air, and you exercise the full range of sounds a good flute is capable of. There are a whole bunch of sounds in there that I strive for but can't achieve consistently, (at least not yet).

Very inspiring, and I need more practice.......

[ImNotIrish]

Hey Crooked,
thanks for the reply! I'm playing this on my Firth, Pond & Co. flute. Just a one-off. Sorry about the reverb. i published it before really listening to the playback. Anyway, I think it gives it a bit of an unearthly quality to it. Thanks again,
Arbo

[Whistling Archer]

I thought it was very pretty,

[benhall.1]

Yes, the reverb makes it sound unearthly ... it even sounds nice ... but ...

... I can't really hear the flute playing in order to comment properly. Any chance of re-doing it without the reverb? It sounds nice enough that I'd like to really be able to hear the playing ...

[ImNotIrish]

Yes, the reverb makes it sound unearthly ... it even sounds nice ... but ...

... I can't really hear the flute playing in order to comment properly. Any chance of re-doing it without the reverb? It sounds nice enough that I'd like to really be able to hear the playing ...

B-
check original post!
Arbo

[Kirk B]

I like the reverb. I just sat here in my dark home office on this grey ugly Pittsburgh day and let it "Calgon, Calgon take me away."

[jim stone]

listened without the reverb. just lovely.

[Doug_Tipple]

Hello Arbo,
I know that you are a teacher getting ready to re-enter the classrom. I don't know if you still give letter grades or not, but I give you an A- for this recording, mainly because I don't want you to get a big head and stop practicing.

[celticmodes]

Didn't read the other reviews cause I didn't want to be influenced.

Best Points:
Very musical. Great passion. Memorable interpretation. Wonderful tone coloring. I appreciated the intonation. Overall extremely pleasant to listen to.

Areas of Possible Improvement:
Not enough breath - I feel you could get more out of the tune if you put more air in the flute.
Vibrato - It almost sounds like you're using the vibrato to lengthen the longer held notes. Results in choppy sound that is too even instead of expressive (i.e. variable speed and lighter touch would give more emotion). I think this is related to the lack of breath.

Disclaimer: My style is not strictly ITM so I do tend to use small bits of a classical or vocal style vibrato when I feel it adds something. My opinions are that of an amateur with good ear

Oh great. Now I read everyone else's. I sound like I'm grading an exam by comparison. Turnabout is fair play. I don't have any flute videos but you can critique my harp playing if you'd like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KgCWTCCZ1Oc

[benhall.1]

Yes, the reverb makes it sound unearthly ... it even sounds nice ... but ...

... I can't really hear the flute playing in order to comment properly. Any chance of re-doing it without the reverb? It sounds nice enough that I'd like to really be able to hear the playing ...

B-
check original post!
Arbo

I'm an idiot. And it's beautiful, Arbo. I must be a purist, because not only do I prefer to listen to it without the reverb because I can hear it ... I also think it sounds way better without reverb. Beautiful. Haunting.

I'm a n00b on flute, as you know. Still, I'm a musician and I do have opinions, and I hope you won't be offended if I express them. Also, I'm not sure how useful they are - me being a n00b 'n' all, not to mention an idiot. Well, here goes ...

Overall. Bloody brilliant. I'm downloading it and keeping it for inspiration. Really really expressive.

Best bits - some of the lovely 'swoops' up onto notes in the lower octave. Beautiful woody tone in the lower octave altogether. The smoothness (for want of a better word) of some of the upper octave stuff really sets off the whole thing.

Really picky, but these are the only things where I think it could possibly be improved: you lost tone at the very bottom once or twice - I couldn't understand why. And there's just one or two of those high parts where you're holding the notes a long time and it sounds a struggle. Being a n00b, I don't know what to do about that - presumably you need more breath (than you are currently taking) for those parts? But blimey, these points are picky because honest it's gorgeous.

Wish I could play like that ... [wistful smiley]

PS I've been thinking of posting something of my own, embryonic, playing, so, when I do, Arbo, please rip into it.

[hydromel89]

From a noob, the only thing that bothered me at the begining was the vibrato that I found somehow too emphasized. But globally... very expressive, very nice tone of different colours... four thumbs up (had to use my feet)

Cheers,

Pascal.

[mahanpots]

Lovely playing, Arbo. I like the reverb, but I think I get a better sense of your playing without it. I think your playing was more powerful the second time through. Beautiful.

[ImNotIrish]

Thanks everyone for your honest replies.

It was a once-off effort. I certainly agree with Ceticmodes (and B) that I had some breath issues, especially at the beginning of the tune. I don't see how using vibrato might lengthen a note, since one would have to have the note sounding to color it. I am exploring the use of vibrato, and that's a great point for me to acknowledge- the varying use of speed, pressure, etc. I don't know about holding the notes too long in the high octave- I wanted to hold it long enough to be able to drop the pitch and rise back into the note (like the high 'B'). I was also struggling with remembering the tune, hence that weird little variation in the middle ( I just decided to keep on going and see what happens).

Thanks again for responding. I decided to post something here rather than the posting tunes sections because I really wanted some serious feedback and I feel like that is lacking somewhat in the clips thread.

Arbo

[MarkP]

tricky piece and a good challenge. I also felt I'd like a bit more air and a bit more control over the longer notes. It may be breathing or it may be stylistic but there is a certain tendency in the dying of notes that could be varied. Familiarity will also give a stronger conviction to the direction and phrasing of the tune. It's just an opinion, fair play to you. Better than i could manage

See for comparison: http://comhaltas.ie/music/detail/comhal ... d_fleming/ (some similarities here although I don't think the old flute is making it easy for her)

Edit: as there was indeed a 'gentle breeze' blowing this afternoon I thought I might as well learn it (from the Altan recording). I just don't have the embachure control yet for slow airs on the flute but I guess it's useful practice.
http://www.box.net/shared/vhsaqutmvf