There are many great tunes on Brian Finnegans Ravishing Genius album but I personally love this version of ‘Only a little’…http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6TtqedsR5k
Its at 2.50 or thereabouts …amazing that a ‘simple’ bamboo flute can produce this. Hope others enjoy it too…
ian
amazing that a ‘simple’ bamboo flute can produce this…
Not when it’s an Olwell. Q.v.: https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/t/fs-olwell-cane-flutes-great-players-perfect-condition/74223/1
that’s cool; i didn’t know Mr. Olwell made bamboo flutes in other keys than D. for those of you with a musical ear 
what key is Mr. Finnegan playing in?
cheers,
eric
Well, the video as played on my PC is in a slightly sharp C. So that must be a G flute, I would think.
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/9911
some info here
To clarify the comments there … The tune is played in G fingering on an Ab flute, so the concert key is Db Major.
It’s funny to read the contortions about interpreting the meter of the A part. It’s a simple |3 3|2 2 2| hemiola, and easiest written in 6/8:
|G2B A2B|G2 dc BG|E2G A2G|GA AB DE| etc.
Yes, it’s lovely. I think Brian said this is one of those tunes that started out as a waltz, and got away from him. 
amazing that a ‘simple’ bamboo flute can produce this…
… and a mic, and some electronics - including some reverb - and a speaker …
Is it my holiday addled brain or is the first one “only a little” different from For Ireland I’d Not Tell Her Name?
Nice trio I hadn’t heard him without Flook.
Hmm … Brian has played his Olwell D flute for me across the width of a kitchen table, and I didn’t notice any mic or speakers present unless they were cleverly hidden. If you’re implying that his great tone is an electronic artifact, I’m afraid that’s not really the case. Brian’s stage setup is very simple - mike direct to mixer, no FX on the channel, and a fairly dry mix. What you hear is basically what you get.
I’ve acquired a lot of wonderful music over this year, but the big discovery for me has been getting deeper into Brian Finnegan; don’t have everything he has recorded yet, but on the way. He and Sean Potts are tied with me as far as being able to play achingly beautiful music, and Finnegan is channeling something wonderful. Flook’s ‘Haven’ is probably my main ‘it’s been a trying day’ cd, especially House of Little Lights/Souter Creek. He is probably tops on my list of who I would like to take a workshop with, not because I want to play just like him, I’d just like to spend some time with him playing music, or listening to him do so. I have nothing but great respect for the guy.
Not that I am correcting or bettering the above but this is what goes on in my head in understanding such posts:-
G fingering means what the fingering would be on an Irish (real or unreal) D flute for to get G = XXX OOO
on this flute XXX OOO = Db or C#
therefore the flute must be an Ab or G# = XXX XXX
Yes, exactly right. Treating a non-D instrument as a transposing instrument relative to a D instrument as the reference.
I have an Olwell bamboo (cane) A that is very fine and a Billy Miller Bb flute which is perhaps
less polished (both physically and acoustically). Perhaps it’s the higher key, but of the
two the miller is for me now more expressive. Both very good on the street, especially
the miller. For the A, I actually prefer the more focused, rudally sound of a
sweetheart rosewood A–but that’s just me.
It’s rather amazing what you can do with higher pitched flutes once you play them enough
to make them sing. And you don’t need to sell a body part to afford one.
Really good ones are pretty inexpensive–to wit, the sweetheart.
Yes, I believe that is just what is played first.
Yes, I did wonder if it might in fact be an Ab flute rather than a G flute. But, as it played on my PC at any rate, the pitch came out closer to C than Db. Which is why I plumped for a G flute. Is this the vagaries of recording? Or of playback on my machine? Or what? I don’t understand the technical (recording and IT) stuff …
I dunno, Ben. When checked against the Shaku tuner, both the YT vid and the CD album track register as a fairly spot-on Db for me.
OK. Something weird my end then. I won’t stress about it.
i love you guys; i was worried when i made that first post that i was asking a stupid question… after reading all the responses twice, i think i still barely understand the answer.
so Mr. Olwell made Mr. Finnegan a Ab bamboo flute? or do you think he used little pieces of tape or poster putty on an A or G flute?
thanks for all the music recommendations; i’m going to go looking for some things now…
happy holidays
cheers,
eric
Ben, you could download some calibrated test tones from this site
http://www.mediacollege.com/audio/tone/download/
to check your system and tuner
OK. Thanks Hans. I might just do that later.