Hi everyone,
Just curious on your thoughts and experiences accompanying songs with flute and whistle. It’s funny since I’ve been playing forever and a day, but I’ll be darned if I’ve ever had to really accompany somebody singing before. I sure could use some help.
Suggestions of good recordings, your personal approach, anything would be brilliant. I’ve got to start somewhere and drawing on the collective experience of others seems like a good place to start.
Cheers,
Wes
I did this for a couple years touring on and off with a singer. I think most
important is to become totally familiar with their style, what they do with
their voice.
Secondly, learn the specific songs and style. I used to work with a
recording for practice.
Then you are down to matters of taste. Play quietly on high notes. How
much does the singer want. Less is more, remember the purpose of
accompaniment is to accompany and highlight the singer, make them
sound even better. For me a key point was to stop sounding like I was
noodling and play something melodic which complimented the singing.
The challenge is to do this between verses where often you are called on
to play a fill. This is when it’s handy to have grasped how the singer
handles their voice and you can mimic things about that. Or not!
I watched John Skelton doing song accompaniment during this time - the
House Band I think it was called. I would suggest listening to something
recorded with a similar setup to what you’ll do.
Its a nice role. Sometimes what you do is not listened to directly, but the
audience and the singer do hear the ambience you create.
Keep us posted!
Lesl
Good advice.
Solas recordings against Karen Casey,
low whistle and flute, seem to me successful.
Of course harmony can be very helpful.
As mentioned, one remains in the
background, usually, and one makes the
singer sound better.
You know, I think this is one of the more
satisfying things we can do.
What keys is your singer singing
in? Often a D flute isn’t going
to optimal.