I used to cover all of the embouchure hole, and got a very consistent sound. Consistently bad. Then someone, I’m pretty sure it wasn’t Grey Larsen, suggested that I might actually try blowing into the hole. Suddenly, my sound got much better. Just thought I’d share this: If you want a nice tone, blow into the hole.
I’ll have to try that looking up at the ceiling thing, though. Usually I look at the nice-looking women walking down the street outside the pub’s window, and I do have to admit that frequently I find myself not even thinking about my tone.
Frankly, if there’s only one Irish flute player who you think of as expressive, then it seems you really aren’t into traditional Irish flute playing. I’m not criticizing you; this style might just not be your cup of tea.
no, really, jcboydilis, don’t beat around the bush. tell us what you really think.
i’ve not been playing very long, maybe not even as long as you, but … IMHO… anybody who would come to this forum, home to many great ITM flute players, and make a sweeping statement such as yours is, frankly, somebody who has no idea what they are talking about. it’s right up there with riding a Vespa scooter through the doors of a Harley bar, swaggering up to the bar as you remove your Gucci doeskin riding gloves and Oleg ascot to demand a fresh cup of Chamomile Tea with just a dollop of honey… and then wonder why ya got yer arse handed to ya as you got tossed out the door… just before your scooter and ascot.
your post may have been the product of excitement for Grey’s style, but its presentation and wording was nothing less than rude and disrespectful to most people here, and certainly to MM… and the like.
go have a cup of tea and give another listen to some ITM with an open mind and both ears open.
Ouch…did you know you were beating a hornets nest with a stick??
Grey’s playing is a stylistic choice. What I love about ITM fluting is that it has such a broad spectrum of styles, tones, approaches. It’s very individualistic to a certain extent. Grey is at one end of the spectrum. I like his playing and Matt’s playing and others…no right or wrong, just different.
I haven’t heard Grey Larsen’s playing either. Thanks to this thread, I now know I don’t have to bother.
… but seriously folks (“folks” employed only as part of the quote, and not necessarily meant to imply more than one person), there’s a whole world of different interpretation out there, and it seems a shame not to at least try to appreciate a few of the different approaches there are.
I was simply trying to express that Grey has reached a level of expressiveness that I feel has not been reached by any other ITM flute player I’ve heard. And I happen to like a pleasant tone rather than the sharp, sickening foghorn-like blast of a tone that is accepted as the mainstream in Irish flute playing. Yuck. I don’t know why all of you are attacking me; some of you have really hurt my feelings.
I guess that shows how much of an impression he made on me, then… though, to be fair, I’ve only listened to my WFO CDs - and yes, I have all 3 sets, being obsessed - about three times each. I don’t remember most of the other contributors either. I think the series is a fantastic and useful reference document, but they aren’t particularly listenable as albums.
Back on topic, it seems the OP doesn’t like the classic ITM flute sound which is, so far as we can tell, a survivor/offshoot of the C19th English, Nicholsonian classical school of technique and sound ideal. Fair enough. I don’t really know what Grey Larsen sounds like and I’m therefore not knocking him, but it would seem that if the OP doesn’t like the established, mainstream sound ideal for ITM, he must prefer something more akin to the modern Franco-American classical school which dominates orchestral/Bohm flute playing, derived predominantly from the late C19th French school. It’s an old controversy and aesthetic dichotomy, with fluctuations and swings in fashion and style-dominance over time. I’ve said before that I think Jimmy Galway (and his disciples) with his richer, more powerful tone represents a partial swing back towards the old English sound.
We aren’t, well at least I am not, I can’t vouch for the others here, it’s a bit hard to read what tone is intended just by looking at words without hearing them spoken.
And this;
some of you have really hurt my feelings.
…and what about our feelings? You didn’t honestly think that you could make such a ridiculously sweeping statement as you did and not have people comment on it?
If you think Grey Larsen is the dogs bollocks, then fair play to you, but please don’t try to quantify his ability by dumping on other players expressiveness, tone and whatever else you think is lacking in everyones playing, bar Grey’s.
Here is another way of approaching your post; substitute Grey Larsen with ‘God’, and let’s say it’s Islam’s ‘God’ we are talking about.
How would this statement sound to your ears?; I love my God. He’s the only God who’s truly expressive, I think. Unfortunately I think a lot of Gods don’t call out to me. My God doesn’t make this mistake at all. He really calls to me. I used to like other Gods, but after hearing my God for the first time all those guys are kind of rushed and very pedestrian in their approach.
Before being introduced to my God’s voice I REALLY struggled with my praying. Now I close my eyes and look up at the ceiling. I have found that this gives a nice consistent, very pretty prayer, not ugly and harsh like many others Gods prayers. Just thought I’d share this: If you want a nice God, cover your ears and don’t listen to the other Gods.
It’s ridiculous to say - so ridiculous it’s got to be a pretense, surely? - that people’s posts on this thread have “hurt [his] feelings”. I mean, for heaven’s sake!
Ceili_whistle_man puts it well in his last post. Putting my own slant on it, I think what the OP was saying amounts to “Grey Larsen is the only fluter in the Irish style worth listening to - if you’re listening to anyone else you’re stupid”. That was the implication, at any rate. The interesting thing is, and I think I can safely say this even though I HAVEN’T listened to Grey Larsen, the OP obviously doesn’t think that Grey Larsen is playing in the Irsih style at all. In fact, the OP doesn’t even like the Irish style, which is why he likes Grey Larsen. That is precisely why I felt able to say that I now know that it wouldn’t be worth my while listening to Grey Larsen. (Of course, I may be wrong, because it’s entirely possible that the OP doesn;t know what he is talking about.) According to the OP’s analysis, Mr Larsen clearly can’t play Irish flute music.
