My daughter is showing interest in playing the flute and has asked for lessons. Thing is, is that she is not sure if she wants to take lessons with a traditional Irish teacher and learn to play trad or to play other music which I take to mean some kind of art music or something.
I’m trying to steer her in the direction of trad as she plays the whistle a little, as its my opinion that when she gets older and if she is still playing, that trad musicians have more fun as in sessions and have more opertunities when travelling as all you need is to find an Irish pub to make contact with local Irish musicians and all that comes with it.
Am I right in thinking that trad musicians have more fun and is a better way of meeting and making friends especially when travelling
RORY
PS to the Mod-- You may be of the opinion that this topic would be better on the trad forum , but as this is the only forum that I regularly visit , I would know and respect the opinions of the contributors of this forum more, thanks.
I think you may be right, but you seem to forget the biggest advantage of trad music. The fortunes that stand to be made from it, unlike classical music or such.
“Fun” is pretty subjective to the person, i.e. your daughter. It needs to be fun for her or she won’t practice and progress.
Travel, it depends on where I guess. I love ITM and have for a long time, but as a young man working and living all over the world (including Ulster, Alaska, the western U.S., etc.) I found that my 5-string banjo, guitar, and harmonica were welcome everywhere I went (didn’t go to any trad sessions back then though).
Here’s my take on this - it may or may not apply to your daughter. I played flute starting at age 9 with a private teacher, in bands and orchestras as I was growing up. I majored in music in college. As an adult I’ve done a bit of professional work but mostly community orchestras and small ensembles (chamber music). It’s fun, but when you’re being paid, it’s also work, and in some ways less fun. It can be really stressful. As an amateur, there aren’t always opportunities to play.
Six years ago I discovered Irish trad music. I bought a simple system keyless flute and several whistles. Currently due to shoulder and hand problems I don’t play my lovely silver Boehm system flute at all, but my wooden flute is lighter - and trad is the music I want to play. It IS more fun, and easier to meet people when I travel, and to enjoy at home in sessions. I love the challenge and freedom of playing by ear after being tied to printed music for so long. I love going to summer trad schools and festivals, and playing with my local friendly crowd the rest of the time.
That’s my experience, anyway. I don’t regret my classical music upbringing, but now I prefer the whole trad life… and wish I had discovered it about 30 years sooner!
You may want to look around to see what opportunities she’d have to play, particularly with peers. Peewit mentions bands and orchestras. Around here, we have several youth bands, orchestras, chamber music programs, etc., within reach, but not many trad sessions and none that I know of for young people.
For another opinion, I asked my teenage daughter what her advice would be, trad or classical. She said, “Classical,” with a smile that said, isn’t the answer obvious.
Thanks for the advice and opinions . We’ve decided the best solution at the moment would be for her to attend the classical school lessions for awhile, just to get the basics of the instrument and decide later what kind of music she wants to play.
Of course if I have anything to do with it ,it’ll be trad.
I’ve heard it said that you cant play both, in that classically trained musicians just cant get the trad thing. A case in point would be James Galway . Sure hes a great whistle player and can certainly play the tunes but there is something about them thats not quite right
Truth to tell, I don’t much care for his playing whether it’s classical or trad.
I don’t think it’s true that you can’t play both. I do, however, think I’m a bit unusual in having done both right from the start, and kept at it. In that case, I can’t see any reason why you shouldn’t be able to play both. If we ever bump into each other, you can make your own mind up.
I know of at least one top class trad musician who did something similar, so it’s not unheard of. I think where it does sometimes go wrong is where you have the type of classical musician who just jumps straight into trad, assuming that, because they have such wonderful ‘technique’, they’ll automatically be able to play anything, which ain’t the case, of course.
True enough that JG clip is pretty scary, but i can’t help wonder if the people who suggest it’s impossible to do both well aren’t too great at either.
JG is (or was) a classical musical of uber-genius caliber. His attempts at traditional music are reaching to say the least. It’d be like a classical guitar player from the USA doing a bluegrass track to represent the area he came from (sounds like an idea from a record label exec., a near extinct breed altogether… and a different topic, too) .
Not entirely true, IMHO, but in my experience I agree that exceptions seem to be in the minority. I know at least one fellow, a fiddler, whose classical training gives him a technical edge, perhaps, but when he plays trad - which is pretty much all he does, now - you don’t hear the telltale classical thing. Very cholesterol-free.
I have thought hard about how much my relationship with Irish traditional should effect my own son. He is nearing three and has an Irish Dancemaster made mini D melodeon. He loves playing about with it. We play bits of polkas and the scale at least once a day.
It is something we do together like I did with my father. For now he loves it and I never plan to force it only encourage it.
Here is a short little piece I wrote about this type of thing when a friend asked me to write something for St. Patricks day for his music site.
It may or may not be of interest:
Heres hoping your daughter enjoys a long relationship with traditional music Rory.
I know I’d have more fun in the pub than the concert hall.
I have see a lot of young players in sessions in Glasgow for whom it is very much a social scene.
I might get myself in trouble here by bringing up this aspect of music, but what I love about trad is that I don’t see the competitiveness, or the gigantic egos, that I have found within the classical world.
