Hello all,
My name is Mohammed, a 41 year old engineer from Montreal. Music has been a long time passion for me and it started with classical and flamenco guitar. 3 years ago I started to learn the violon and that’s when I discovered the wonderful world of irish/trad music! I recently decided to learn the Irish flute as I really love the sound and have been benefitting from the wealth of information on this site. Excited to buy a flute and getting started!
Cheers
Mohammed
Welcome!
Welcome, Mohammed
Welcome Mohammed to the C&F flute forum. Lots of information here - Have you seen this site: http://www.siamsa.org/pages2/failte2.htm
Perhaps you’ve already started going to sessions? What flute have you ordered?
Welcome aboard!
Bienvenue. I expect that you’re acquainted with the work of Jesse Cook. Frontiers is one of my favourite CDs.
Welcome Mohammed!
Thanks all!
Steampacket: Siamsa hosts several sessions every week and they have a great music school as well! I’ve learned most of my fiddling there and will be studying flute with them hopefully next semester. I have always struggled with playing in front of others and in a group so while I have attended many of the sessions I’ve rarely played along! The members are very supportive though and keep encouraging me each time. I am starting to feel more confident in my fiddling though so I hope to start playing at the sessions soon. After much browsing I have decided to order Casey’s Folk Flute as it seems to be an ideal option for a learning instrument and Casey was kind enough to give me a very quick turnaround. There isn’t much availability for irish flutes locally in Montreal so all I have to go by is online reviews and discussions.
Tunborough: Jesse Cook is what got me into guitar in the first place! I saw him live at a show by Caroline Plante during the Flamenco festival in montreal this summer. An incredible performer… His CDs are great but live, he is a beast on the guitar! Gerardo Nunez is also a phenomenal artist you may want to check out… a bit less mainstream and with a jazzy twist.
Hope everyone is enjoying the holidays and best wishes for a happy new year!
While waiting for my Burns Irish Folk Flute to arrive, I was eager to start, so I took a classical flute lesson and rented a beginner instrument locally. It was a bit tricky the first couple of days getting the flute to sound at all in a reliable way but after a week of practice (which usually amounted of 10 mins here and there, of huffing and puffing and then dizzily walking away) I finally managed to play through the first octave with what felt like a decent tone. With the classical flute the hold felt comfortable supporting on the index joint, chin/lip, and pivoting with my right hand pinky even when playing the C#. Second octave was impossible though and after trying and failing to reach it by “increasing my airflow” I acquired an ebook version of Grey Larson’s Book which was quite instructional! It really helped to visualize the need to also increase the angle of attack against the top of the embouchure hole and that somehow clicked for me. Unfortunately now I can only seem to play the second octave and have lost the ability to play the low notes on the first octave… Will get there eventually (I hope).
I finally received my Irish Folk Flute last night and have to admit I was very impressed by the heft and feel of it. While it is my first live exposure to a wooden flute, it definitely feels solid and looks even better than the pictures on the site. The sound was deep and rich in comparison with the metal flute. Love it! It is also wider than the metal flute and I am struggling with finding the right balance so that my thumbs are not involved in actually holding the flute. With the classical metal flute my index finger joint actually supported the flute upwards onto my lip so it felt quite secure. With the wooden flute, because of the width, at best I am using my index joint to push forward towards my chin since my finger isnt long enough to bring the joint fully under the flute. That results in a fair bit of pressure when not using my thumbs. Is this normal or do irish flute dimensions range for different hand sizes? Im just trying to make sure Im building the right habits from the beginning. The holes are easy to fill (with some support from the thumbs) with the only stretch being the right hand middle and ring finger which I have adapted to already.
Welcome to the forum. and good luck with the flute.