I returned from Catskill Irish Arts Week with the album “The Coming of Spring” by Kathleen Conneely. She has a beautiful lyrical flowing style. She’s backed by three members of Dé Danann - her brother Mick, Brian McGrath and Johnny “Ringo” McDonagh. The sleeve bears a blurb from Martin Hayes: “This recording is one of the finest I’ve heard in many a year.” My teacher says she is the best whistle player living in America and I have no reason to doubt it. The fact that she has been up till now unrecorded piqued my interest. I don’t know what took her so long.
A few months ago I checked her out in person at Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, Connecticut, which is starting to have an admirable Irish music program. She was giving a guest lecture to Damien Connolly’s intro to Irish music class. She was vivacious and entertaining as she presented the history of the tin whistle. Partly as a result of her having lived in London, Dublin, Chicago and Boston, her point of view is unique. I recommend seeing her if you can and meanwhile grabbing the CD.
I’ll preface (i.e. hedge) this by saying that sometimes it takes time for me to “grow into” a particular recording or playing style. And Ms. Conneely seems to have a strong pedigree.
But listening to the CD Baby samples has been driving me crazy. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such a severe case of tonguing-itis, except perhaps from Scottish whistler Alex Green (and I like quite a bit of tonguing in my whistle playing). It feels like listening to pixellated versions of the tunes - broken up into a thousand little square pieces, without a strong sense of forward motion or flow. And not just tonguing but hard “ta” tonguing, with notes often pulsed then cut short. Sometimes virtually every note or every beat is tongued, with no primary phrases more than 2 or 3 notes long. The overall effect can be choppy, stiff and heavy, sort of straight up-and-down. And the constant thumping bodhrán throughout the recording only makes things worse. Add in some awkward breathings and timings, and I’m not sure what to think.
But as I said, maybe it’s my own ear that needs adjusting. And if anyone wants to talk me down, you’re more than welcome to try.
I do like the whistle sound here, and the selection of tunes. And I’ve added this to the Whistle Recordings sticky thread.
Well, I’ve heard John Skelton (who teaches regularly with Ms. Conneely) refer to her as “the best whistle player you’ve never heard.” There must be something there…
I’ve had the pleasure of hearing her play at the St. Louis Tionol for several years. There’s a wonderful sweetness and exuberance to her playing, which I find tasteful and very musical. By the way, her D whistle (the only one I’ve seen her play) is a sterling silver Sindt.
MTG, I almost have to wonder whether you are referring to the same CD Baby samples that I have just been listening to. I can’t find anything in your quote above to agree with
I first heard Kathleen at a session at ED in 2001 and found her style so fascinating that I immediately begged a lesson from her in order to try and find out more about what she was doing to create the effects she was getting. What I hear on the samples seems more careful and controlled than what I remember from back then, but styles change over time - and recording studios can have an inhibiting effect. Still a great player, though, and I do think you ought to listen again - preferably to the CD rather than low-quality samples - and reexamine your assessment some time.
You may be right about that, Steve. As I said, sometimes I need time to give a fair chance to a player’s style. And I’ve been known to change my mind.
But I’ll stand by the objective bits above. The tonguing (and/or perhaps throating) and short phrasing is intense and pervasive, and the choppiness is clearly visible in an audio editor (which I checked to be sure of my ear). Samples 3 and 9 illustrate this in particular, and the whistle goes a bit wonky at the end of Sample 3. Whether this style seems musical or mechanical may be a matter of taste.
I downloaded it last night and listened. I don’t remember any bodhran. If anything, the accompaniment is very tastefully understated.
But, there is tongueing in addition to the standard ornamentation. It’s not nearly as pronounced as it is with Brian Finnegan. I’d go so far as to say this is the first whistle album I’ve run across that has a playing style similar to my own. That’s enough to ensure many more listens from me.
Well, samples 1, 5 and 8 have no bodhrán, but the others certainly do, fairly prominently, featuring Johnny “Ringo” McDonagh. I agree that the chordal accompaniment (piano/zouk) is low-key.
But tonguing is standard ornamentation - or articulation, more precisely. That’s not really the issue, but rather the specific things I mentioned above.
Actually, I’d say the opposite, that it’s far more pronounced. Brian uses a variety of tonguing on a continuum from hard to soft, legato to staccato. Whereas this is pretty consistently one thing.
Plus, it’s apples and oranges. Brian’s Scottish influenced neo-trad and self-penned stuff is a different sort of genre with a different approach. And a Sindt and Goldie are quite different whistles.
I’m wondering … Is Ms. Conneely’s style considered a regional flavor, or something more idiosyncratic?
You’re right. There is more bodhran than what I first noticed. But it’s distracting to me at all. Maybe youre ears have been more cultivated than mine.
As for the rest, I guess it’s just personal preference.
I did notice that she uses quite a bit of tongue in the slower tunes - in the faster ones that would be physically impossible. Varying the attack strikes me as a strategy to avoid the monotony that might ensue during a full CD of whistle music.
I hardly tongue at all, having learned to play whistle from a piper. But lately I’ve wondered if the tongue might be a useful implement, situated as it is in the middle of things.
MTGuru, with due respect to your experience, why rush to condemn an artistic statement you haven’t yet heard in full? Especially as, since each track gains intensity towards the end, you can’t fairly judge them from a clip of the beginning.
Re Kathleen Conneely’s regional background, she was born in Bedford, England to parents from Galway and Longford, Ireland.
By the way, intermediate players who wish to play along may find it helpful that some of the tunes are played at a slowish pace.
I know Kathleen, she’s very nice and comes from a musical family which is extremely respected in Ireland and abroad - she’s also very humble and down to earth. She’s not really the type that chases the limelight and I’m pretty stoked to see her doing more lately. I’m a fan of both her and her music and liked all the tracks I heard.
Yes, I read that in her bio. But that doesn’t really answer my question about regional or personal style. It would be interesting to know how Katherine characterizes her own playing and stylistic choices within the trad spectrum.
Actually, the difference between slow and fast here is pretty small. The reels are consistently around 100-105 and the jigs around 110-115. In fact, I’ll add the relaxed pace of the tunes as one of the things I like.
But that doesn’t support the notion that her tonguing style is physically impossible in the slightly faster tunes, since it’s clearly there in equal measure, at least in the samples - as I would expect from someone in control of her stylistic choices.
One could equally well take a statement like
“My teacher says she is the best whistle player living in America”
and wonder if your teacher has listened to every whistle player in America before rushing to praise.
Seriously, there’s a difference between condemnation and critique, and I’ve been fairly specific about both the negative and positive. Steve’s (and your) suggestion of a complete listen is a good one. But samples are also a kind of statement, and they’re what I’ve commented on. If they’re not representative, then they’re not really samples. If they are, they’re fair game for at least limited evaluation.
I guess it looks like I’m doubling down, but that’s not really it. Sometimes it’s just as important and to understand why you don’t like something as why you do like something else, and to learn from that. Here I’m taking on my own cognitive dissonance, and taking a risk by criticizing. If the recording were simply bad - and it’s not - I wouldn’t care about it at all. The fact that there’s a particular aspect of it that vexes me is what’s intriguing.
Actually, the difference between slow and fast here is pretty small. The reels are consistently around 100-105 and the jigs around 110-115.
Well, that makes the reels faster, since they have 4 eighth notes per beat while the jigs have 3. Plus she garnishes them with a lot of rolls, triplets, etc.
One could equally well take a statement like
“My teacher says she is the best whistle player living in America”
and wonder if your teacher has listened to every whistle player in America before rushing to praise.
The difference is that he is supporting a fellow whistle player while you are knocking her.
He might say that he knows all the really good whistle players in America.
The CD sleeve also includes a paean from Séamus Connolly (Damien’s uncle). So Kathleen Conneely has some well-known friends, at least.
No, that gives them more notes to the beat, which is not the same thing! But it’s a moot point when neither’s going to stretch a good tongue.
The difference is that he is supporting a fellow whistle player while you are knocking her.
No, he’s using a speculative, subjective superlative while MTGuru’s not actually knocking her.
He might say that he knows all the really good whistle players in America.
He can’t possibly even know who they all are when there could be hidden/unknown/upcoming talent out there (nothing against Kathleen Conneely at all, but you’re coming over as aggressively defensive here)!
And adding here that we should keep in mind that as MTGuru himself said, if he found the playing substandard, he wouldn’t have even bothered to say anything. A big part of a lot of members’ vision for this site is to discuss, and thereby further promote learning about, the process of playing and how aesthetics are expressed within the tradition, and this is MTGuru’s cup of tea. We seem to see more threads about making than we do about playing, here, and there’s no reason why that should be.
Yes, he approaches it from the mechanism of critique. However, this is NOT at all the same thing as a put-down; it’s analysis. Sometimes it’s nothing more than the articulation of why a particular detail of one person’s playing doesn’t work for another’s tastes, yet the musicianship is never in question. Ms. Conneely is very skilled and a pleasure to listen to, I think all would agree. That being established, MTGuru’s gone farther and is looking deeper than adding to a chorus of mere “attaboys”, and this is worth discussion (and being deemed worth discussion is in this case a mark of respect for the whole of one’s abilities in a general sense, I would argue; does anyone benefit from a struggling beginner getting such close critical analysis?). From there, we can add such perspectives to the grab-bag for our own choices in advancing our abilities if we’re committed to working toward it. Knowledge is power, you could say. The rest is choice.
I got a critique from MTGuru about my cittern backup playing, once. I had the choice of either merely letting my ego get bruised, or of seeing it as a point of view worth listening to. It doesn’t necessarily mean that what I was doing was unworthy; in fact, if he thought my playing was junk he probably would have thought his input too soon for the times and tried to weasel out by distractedly giving me a nice pat on the head and sending me happily on my way. What it does mean over all else is that his ear had a different vision (if you’ll excuse the odd metaphor) than mine, and that there are further levels I could climb to expand my musicianship. If that’s not helpfulness, then what is? In all cases I firmly believe it is very much a good idea to be able to articulate (at least for myself if no one else) why I choose, on the basis of my aesthetic values, and not laziness (or contrariwise, even because of it), to do what I do and why I change or don’t change it, and then own up to it.
Whether my taste matches someone else’s taste is not a fit matter for discord.
Well first, if you think that’s true, then you need to rethink the relationship between pulse and tempo in trad dance music. Because, without belaboring the details, that’s just not the way it works.
Second, it’s not germane anyway to your specific comment about the slow and fast tunes. Comparing apples and apples, you’re implying that the “fast” reels are less articulated than the slower reels, and “fast” jigs less articulated than the slower jigs. Or perhaps that all the reels are less articulated than the jigs.
And none of those things is objectively true. The degree of Kathleen’s articulation is consistent throughout all the (sample) tracks - jigs and reels, (very slightly) slower or faster. Exactly as I’d expect from a player with a well-defined style. If you’re hearing less articulation in what you perceive as “faster” tunes, then you’re simply mis-hearing it.
Finally, suggesting that, say, raising a reel’s tempo slightly from 100 bpm to 105 would suddenly make the same articulations “physically impossible” to play completely mis-judges the skills of a player of Ms. Conneely’s level.
I sure hope he might not, not if he’s a good teacher. A little hyperbole or even hubris is forgivable. Not recognizing it as such is not.
Again, you seem to want to play loose with the difference between critical listening and charged terms like “condemning” and “knocking”. Or between the player and the playing. I’ve said nothing at all against Ms. Conneely. I don’t doubt that brad moloney’s nice comment above is perfectly true. And frankly, I have no idea what “support” means in the context of discussing the technical details of a particular recording.
Endorsements and friends are nice. But I’ve yet to see someone use negative criticism for album promotion. I’m going to buck the trend when I release my first whistle CD:
“Completely mediocre. Not his best effort.” - Mary Bergin. “Should have stuck to playing the saxophone.” - Paddy Moloney. “This album is a joke, right?” - Kevin Crawford. “All Chiffboard and no play makes MTGuru a dull boy.” - Dale Wisely.
Of course, if you can’t use your own ears and have to rely on teacher’s comments and album blurbs to know if a performance pleases or vexes you, you have more listening to do. But don’t we all?
Yes, us newbies need to learn and the discussions here are wonderful!
I’ve always been interested in that creative dynamic between musician, music, and listener. Tastey stuff it is eh
