Hi Ya’ll,
Saw some great concerts last week on my visit to Washington/Oregon.
Dougie was in Seattle, great songs!
Danu in Portland- Awsome group! They have a new female singer, flute, and pennywhistle player, I thought it really added variety to there music, she fits in great. Tom Doorley plays his Ollwell Cocus flute quite well, very relaxed.
Tannahill Weavers really give it there all! They played for over 2 hours!
The one complaint is that it was hard to here the flute with the Bag Pipes
belting it out… I spoke with Phil Smillie, uunfortulantly a crack developed in his old Hawkes flute when he flew over here, he’s said that
Chris Wilkies usually does the maintenance on it, I told him to maybe look up Peter Noy In Seattle to repair it. He said he was considering maybe getting one of Chris Wilkes new flutes, must be nice… :roll: Jon
[quote=“Jon C.”]Tannahill Weavers really give it there all! They played for over 2 hours! The one complaint is that it was hard to here the flute with the Bag Pipes belting it out… quote]
I’ve seen the Tannies a couple times and usually the balance was pretty good although sometimes the levels go off. Once they went into “Wild Mountain Thyme (Will Ye Go Lassie, Go)” and the bagpipe levels were way too high. After they all made faces at each other the sound engineer adjusted the levels and it was good.
So Phil plays an old Hawkes, eh? What key? I haven’t seen them since I got interested in flute. I do blame-- I mean credit them for my wanting to learn Highland piping 10 years ago. Iain MacInnes’ piping is great. Duncan was pretty good too. I haven’t heard the new guy yet.
Cheers,
Aaron
If you haven’t heard them since Iain, you’ve missed about four “new guys.”
They go through pipers like Spiñal Tap went through drummers (with less dramatic reasons).
Best, John
Hi Aaron,
It is a D flute, but he had the tuning slide pulled out quite a ways.
Don’t get me wrong, I loved the bagpipes, he’s very good. I guess I just like to hear more flute. It actually blended nicely with the other instruments, but its’s hard to hear just the flute. Most of the sets were flute and highland pipes, and you know who wins! :roll: jon
sigh I love Danu. They have a new album coming out this month. I went to their website to see their touring schedule, but it is down right now. 
Linda S.
madfifer9
You misted them they are in California now… The ywere in Seattle last Wed. 
Jon
A D flute with the slide pulled way out, eh? Interesting. I guess that would make B flat enough to match the bell note on the pipes.
Yeah, no matter the sound levels, GHBs are going to overpower flute in a concert.
How many pipers is it the Tannies have had? I count 5. In chronological order Alan MacLeod, Iain MacInnes, Kenny Forsyth, Duncan Nicholson, and the latest, Colin Melville. Did I forget anybody?
It is odd how many pipers they’ve gone through. The Battlefield band has gone through a fair number too. I guess something about life in the studios and on the road takes its toll on us.
Cheers,
Aaron
You misted them they are in California now… The ywere in Seattle last Wed.
Jon
Yeah, I figured I probably missed 'em. Luckily for me, they tour a lot. 
Mebbe next year…
madfifer9
Years ago I played a couple of sessions with Phil Smillie and we compared our flutes as they were both Hawkes. Phil was playing an Eb at that time - hence the tuning slide pulled a long way down, I don’t know if he has acquired a concert pitch Hawkes since then.
Ken
Hi Ken,
It probably is the same flute. I didn’t ask him what key it was in… :roll:
An Eb makes sense for playing with pipes since they are on a sharpened scale (A=Bb, Bb=470+hz).
Cheers,
Aaron