Anybody know what type of flute he’s using? Or more specifically, what he was using on the “Irish Traditional Music” CD?
Olwell, i believe.
D flute by Patrick Olwell. At least on “two for two”.
Kevin Krell
Pratten? Most encouraging, he sounds lovely.
I had a few lessons with Laurence at Gaelic Roots in Summer of 2000. He was playing a keyed blackwood Olwell “Pratten” in D. I believe he also had seperate unkeyed sections in Eb and C. For whistles he was playing Copelands in D and C.
Chris
Yes, Olwell, and lefthanded keywork, as that’s how he plays although he’s otherwise righthanded.
That is pretty crazy.
It’s not unknown. I understand there are others who do that, too. FWIW, a predominance of very old illustrations show transverse flutes being played “lefthanded”, and it’s suggested that this was probably the commonplace method long ago.
I’m not that old, so I can’t confirm this.
I’ll bet it makes it easier to learn tunes from him, like looking in a mirror.
Then there’s Kevin Henry. He’s lefthanded, but plays a righthanded flute.
FWIW, a predominance of very old illustrations show transverse flutes being played “lefthanded”, and it’s suggested that this was probably the commonplace method long ago.
I’m curious about this as the preponderence of old flute keywork I’ve seen strongly supports the right handed playing in the preponderance. Could it been more illustrator ignorance or copying images from old photos that reversed the image?
You lefties out there, just how easy is a normal/right handed 8 key flute to play?
Eric
Eric, I’m referring to illustrations dating from the medieval and later periods. I’ve seen a good deal of leftanded positioning depicted. Could be artistic ignorance, of course.
Oh, medieval and renaissance images - that’s interesting.
No wonder flutes were considered vile, base instruments if they were being played in the sinistral manner. 
Eric
Chris, dude, where are you these days???
Hi Loren -
I’m in northern Uganda working for UNICEF as Human Rights and Protection Officer. I’ve been with UNICEF for about six months now, before that I was with Amnesty International. I’ve been in the country for around 11 months, with a quick visit to Rwanda about a quarter way through, and visits to Irleland and South Africa on my way here.
Unfortunately I don’t have a chance to play music very much these days. I live in a little thatched hut in the compound of MSF (Doctors Without Borders… I don’t speak French) and don’t really have any private space to play. I suppose I could play outside, but it’s perpetually hot and the flute would break. Unfortunately, when I do play, it’s mostly on the whistle, not because I prefer it, but because it’s better suited to this environment. That said, I do have my Patrick Olwell flute with me and it is rock solid… no swelling, no shrinking, no cracks… a fantastic flute in every way.
How about you? Are you still with VonHeune? I may be coming back for a little while in December and it would be fun to get together. Do be in touch.
Peace,
Chris
left handed baroque players isn’t that surprising since the flutes were either keyless or, more likely, one keyed. And the foot joint rotated to accommodate left or right.
later, with keys, it was difficult and expensive a switch. The tooling was tougher andthe keys were custom made.
So…
many players learned to make due or do it the “right” way.
Rudall/Rose made at least two left-handed flutes (that I’m aware of)…one is at the Dayton Miller collection and the other inprivate hands in the UK.
I’ve not seen or looked forother makers who did this.
Other lefties who play “over” the keys include the incredible Cathal McConnell with Boys of the Lough. You have to see it to believe it when and how he uses the G# key, playing as a leftie on a rightie flute. It’s cool to watch.
dm
I’m left handed. I write, eat, and throw lefty. It never occurred to me to play any instrument (snare drum, oboe, flute, sax, clarinet, guitar, mandolin, whistle, viola, fiddle, Northumbrian smallpipes, in about that order) backwards. On all of those instruments both hands have plenty to do.
When teaching small children to play whistle, though, I’m afraid I created some lefties. I taught them to play “Mary had a little lamb” on three notes. Rather than try to get them to keep the three upper holes covered, I taught it in G. And I taught playing with the left hand above the right. However, the ones who went home and practiced, being right handed, came back playing it with the right hand; i.e., left handed.
I’m not sure this really has much to do with being left handed.
– Don
as i understand it, the flute larry used for his first CD, ‘irish trad music’, and subsequent CDs are different. the flute larry used for his first CD is what might be called a hybrid, which is to say that the body and the head joint were made by different makers. the story goes that Larry bumped in to Olwell many moons ago in ireland. Olwell was so impressed with Larry’s playing that Olwell and Larry swapped head joints with larry ending up putting on a cocus olwell headjoint on the body he had. when i first started taking lessons with larry (about the time the first CD came out) that was the flute he was using. It had one key, f natural. Larry at some point after that got a new fully keyed olwell which he used for his second and third CDs and has since sold that first flute, which is a gem (I know 'cause a friend of mine owns it).
Dude, you rock!
Check your hotmail addy, I sent you an email.
Loren
Nanohedron wrote:
Yes, Olwell, and lefthanded keywork, as that’s how he plays although he’s otherwise righthanded.
That is pretty crazy.
Another peculiar example might be Mr. Seamus Egan. He plays the flute as a righthanded, but lefthanded when low whistling. Watch Solas Live DVD to check.
