check out the cd “irish piping, flutes, and whistles.” it has an older track of Rafferty playing what sounds like a boehm flute. I’m not sure exactly how old it is, although it’s no more recent than 1999. I think it’s a more buoyant Rafferty than you typically hear these days (disclaimer: I’ve never heard anything from Rafferty that I didn’t love)
There’s a similar CD called “Celtic Winds - Irish music in america” that has another nice Rafferty track, also presumably on boehm.
BTW William, the link to YouTube you gave before was not to the relevant Mike Rafferty but to some tedious MOR guitar/soft rock band who have a bunch of clips up… I can only find two clips involving the right man.
To appreciate the Mike Raffertys and Kevin Henrys of Irish flute you have to listen past certain conventions. You’re not going to hear the hard, focused tone of Molloy, Crawford et al. You won’t hear the crisp technique or driving rhythm either.
Listen to the phrasing. Listen to the lift. Listen to the turns and bends. Listen to the expression. That’s where the magic happens. It might not drop your jaw the first few listens but it’s there for you to find.
And once you get tuned in to that playing style the tone, technique and rhythm are there too. Just not so obvious.
Well, now, that’s it, at first blush. My first dashed-off reply to this thread was along the same lines, but I was thinking mostly of Molloy-style carry-on as being representative of the piping style on the flute, as per the OP’s question. I’d have to go with Brad on second blush (the one you never hear about); Rafferty certainly does use the rising-C thing and some other subtly pipish hues in his playing. Is “pipish” a word? No matter. The point is, where Rafferty displays the influence of the pipes in his fluthering, it’s nowhere near as overt as what Molloy and others do. Cheers,
Rob
I do agree with that, BUT… After listening to a lot of pipers, Molloy doesn’t sound much like a piper to me, either. Well, maybe somewhat like Paddy Keenan.