Hi, folks,
To get the group discount, I need to register today for Augusta Irish Week. I play a standard silver flute (actually I’m relearning it after years of not playing it). Will I be at a disadvantage in Kevin Crawford’s class because it’s not an Irish flute? Also, I’m used to reading music rather than playing by ear. Will that cause me too many problems?
Thank you for any information you can send me pronto!!!
Marjie
Hey, marjie, and welcome!
I’ve never taken a class from Kevin Crawford before, so can’t answer as to specifics – but being as Joanie Madden, Augusta Irish Week’s new director, plays the Boehm (silver) flute and does very well with it, you’ll be in good company. As for the notation, sometimes teachers have tunes written out and sometimes not … but every other flute class I’ve attended has had at least one “paper trained” member who notates on the fly and will thus probably write out the tunes.
Regardless, bring a tape recorder or some other recording device, because even if you do end up writing out the notes, you’ll want to be able to listen for all the really important stuff that makes Kevin Crawford’s take on a tune so wonderful.
Just my .02; I know there are some other folks on the board who’ve had classes with him … Hoovorff? johnkerr? seisflutes? Will Mr. Crawford kill or, even worse, humiliate poor marjie if she shows up clutching a sheaf of staff paper?
cat.
Thanks for the info! Marjie
Unless he’s changed his modus operandi since the last time I took class with him (2003 IIRC), Kevin will teach by ear at Augusta. If the demand is there for written versions of the tunes, he’ll give them to you in a very rudimentary ABC notation - which is actually the way most Irish teachers will write out tunes. Very few of them (that I’ve met anyway) do sheet music. If you’re totally wedded to the dots, you could request that he give you tunes from the Lunasa repertoire. They have a couple of tunebooks out that cover all of their CDs, and if he’s at all smart about marketing (and he is, of course) Kevin will probably bring along some of the tunebooks to have for sale in the Augusta shop.
As for whether or not you’ll be at a disadvantage having a Boehm flute rather than a simple system flute, the answer is probably yes. Many of the techniques of Irish flute playing are specific to the simple system flute, and require some adaptation to pull them off on the Boehm flute. How much of a disadvantage that will be for you will depend on how good you are on the Boehm flute, how well you can adjust to things that aren’t Boehm flute-specific, and how many other Boehm flute players there are in the class. If there are a few of you, things might be easier since you can band together in trying to figure things out. If you’re a lone wolf, though, you might end up feeling that you’re in way over your head.
Two things you most certainly should bring with you are a good recorder and some note paper to write down the tunes, since often they’ll get written up on the board and although copies can be had, sometimes they’re slow in coming. You might also want to bring some music staff paper so you can write the tunes out for yourself.
Kevin would never kill anyone, if for no other reason than that it would result in one less potential customer being around to buy Lunasa CDs and merchandise. And I’ve never heard him humiliate or be abusive to anyone, either - except for Sean Smyth and the other Lunasa lads up on stage, of course. 
Thanks, jk! Good reminder on the ABC’s. Bring some notepaper and pencils, marjie, you’ll need them.
Thanks, all! I’m feeling pretty intimidated and am leaning toward not registering after reading the posts, alas. I’ve only started relearning the flute after several decades of not playing at all or just playing the soprano recorder. I’m playing O’Carolan and Irish tunes in Portland, the NEFFA contradance tunebook, Waltz Books I and II, and the Fiddlers’ Fakebook, but not very well and not yet up to speed. Sigh…