My Hammy is so much better than my M&E and Seery I will send both to Eric free of charge.
Heck, I’d be happy to just receive the M & E Rudall
Thanks, James for this comparison. Interesting, I actually thought the Gemeinhart sounded pretty good. It seems that the player is the most important “instrument”, with regards to producing a certain sound.
Hi James,
I’m a big fan of your web site, reviews, and recordings. Keep up the good work! I’ve had a M&E R&R since last fall and love it. I’m rarely in the 3rd octave and these notes are a struggle when I try them. But I was wondering what fingerings you use for the notes above 3rd octave D. I especially have trouble with the 3rd octave E. I can hardly get a sound with xxoxxo or xxooxx, the best luck I’ve had has been with xxooxo.
Thanks
On the 3rd octave, each flute is a bit different as to what fingerings work best. Also, sometimes you may want one fingering over another depending on the passage you are playing. Here are the fingerings I’ve found to work best for keyless flutes:
C# = o o o | o o o
or
o x x | x o o
or
o x x | x x o
D = o x x | o o o
or
o x x | o o x
E = x x o | x x o
or
x x o | o x o
or
x x o | o x x
F = requires keys and is a bad note anyway
F# = x o x | x x x
G = x o x | o o o
G# = o o x | o o o
A = o x x | x x o
B = good luck
and, last but hardly least
Screamin’ C = x o x | o x o
On my “self-imposed silence,” I guess that’s mainly with regard to the whistle board anyway. I drew heavy criticism for recording some tunes for Aodhan, which has left me with no desire to be a part of the whistle board at this time.
Since I was the one who did the criticising let me say this, Jim: I regret that it has seemed “heavy criticism” to you: it was meant to be of the lightest sort. You got much more praise than criticism, too. If it helps, I will be happy to talk about this by email or pm.
Well, Bloo, you weren’t the only one in that thread with something negative to add.
I do with you had posted a PM instead of publicly…when you post publicly I feel I must respond publicly to avoid “silence giving agreement.”
I am sorry if you don’t find my playing up to your standards. I am continually working to improve my playing, and have gotten compliments from folks whose music I respect deeply which let me know I am on the right road.
That’s not to say I don’t have further to go…I do. We all do. We all always will. That road doesn’t have an end…you can spend your whole life in deep study of the tradition and not do more than scratch the surface.
As for teaching, I don’t have time. But I do have some background in music education, which is more than many trad musicians can claim. Perhaps someday I’ll take a student or two and we’ll find out how effective a teacher I could be.
If you wish to discuss this more, I do think a private message or email is a better way, and would have been from the first. An email or PM might not have come across sounding quite so much like you were trying to score points off of me.
To the rest of the board, I apologize deeply for this intrusion into our discussions of flute-related matters, and I now return you to your previously scheduled program.
This kind of thing poses some real problems. I grew up here in the U.S., the son of American born parents, so I haven’t been steeping in the tradition all my life. I recognize that I’m sometimes a little slow at picking up the nuances of the music, but I’ve been working hard at it for a number of years.
I felt funny about stepping into the role of teacher, but there was a real demand in my area, and no one else remotely qualified. My compromise is that I teach the basics, the mechanics of whistle playing, and I teach my students to listen to the masters (geezers, if you will) in order to know what we’re working toward.
Within a year or so, a couple of my students will have reached the point where they will need a better teacher. Then they’ll have to decide whether or not they want to travel an hour or two each way and go to greater expense for lessons with Jerry O’Sullivan, Mike Rafferty, Jack Coen or Bill Ochs. This is what I do for myself. If they decide not to do that, they can sit in at local sessions and hope I’ll be able to continue to pass on what I am learning. Who knows, they may be happy just whistling along on their own at the level they reached with me.
So I understand Bloomie’s point, but for many people who have no teacher available and only beginner skills, James is offering (for free!) an excellent start on developing some skills. Many of these people are playing for their own enjoyment or for non-trad types of music (there are a lot of worship music players on C&F) and will never be looking to play at the All-Ireland competitions, or even just in a trad session.
Aodhan and James are providing a great service and I hope they’ll continue to do so.
“My Hammy is so much better than my M&E and Seery I will send both to Eric free of charge” 
Don’t you walk away from that mirror! 
