Hello Folks
I just wanted to let you know that the Scoiltrad Beginners Flute Course is now available. The course will guide the beginner through all of the issues they will confront when beginning to play (holding the flute, tone, breathing, phrasing, articulation, basic ornamentation etc.) and also features regular feedback from the course tutor (i.e. myself !)
Further information on the course can be had from our web-site http://www.scoiltrad.com
…click on the Courses button and follow the links from there to the Beginners Flute section
One question, what do you think would be a appropriate pace to go through the course?
We all have differing amounts of time to dedicate to practice and I’m wondering what your expectation is regarding how fast one could go through the 10 lessons.
If you could do one per week, you probably didn’t need the course in the first place.
On the other end of the spectrum, I’d expect to do a course in about 4-6 weeks, maybe more if things are busy at work.
Is that too slow? I don’t care if it takes a year to do the course, the year is going to go by anyway, I’m more concerned about continuity of the course material, maintaining focus and all that.
Hello JB
As you have already pointed out, time taken will vary from person to person for a myriad of reasons. If I feel that a person is rushing through the course and not building their technique/ capability as they go along then I will highlight this and suggest a remedy. The important thing is that people get value from the course, that their playing and understanding of what they are aiming for improves.
That said, a rough guess would be that students would go through a class a week, thereby taking 10 weeks to complete the course. But this may vary from class to class, from person to person and from week to week !
In any event I will be in contact with the person throughout to ensure that they are enjoying and benefiting from the course and using it to optimum effect.
Beir Bua
Conal
The flute demo is of the reel The Galway Rambler. It’s an intermediate level lesson but it’s good to get an idea of how the Scoiltrad lessons work even if you are a beginner. The demo is everything a lesson has except the assessment.
It has the video footage of Conal playing the tune at full pace, then samples of each part of the tune played at 50% and 80% speed. There are video demonstrations of a couple embellishments and sound samples of some variations. Scores for the tunes and variations are there too as well as charts for the embellishments. The scores of the variations aren’t always the same as what’s played in the samples. I emailed Conal about this and he told me what the score was and said that he never plays the tune the same way twice so that contributed to the inconsistency.
I have had a few Scoiltrad lessons and found that I was quickly able to figure out what the variations were as well as some of the variations that aren’t scored out. Scoiltrad is an excellent resource for the isolated student. You can learn at your own pace and the instructors are helpful along the way.
Other C&F members have used these lessons. James Peeple (peeplj) has
among others.
Does anyone know what the difference is between the Beginner’s Course and the individual Beginner’s lessons? Are the lessons just the individual lessons of the course? Is there an order that should be followed?
For what it’s worth, I credit Conal O’Grada and Scoiltrad with having my playing several years, maybe even as many as ten years ahead, of where I’d be otherwise.
That said, I’m no Matt Molloy and never will be. But I have learned a great deal about playing both well and authentically from these lessons.
The individual lessons are single tune lessons at a time whereas the course is a curriculum of tune lessons intended to bring the beginner to a certain level of playing ability. The course has an order to follow whereas there isn’t with indviudal lessons. After each individual assessment you will get guidance as to what to try next whether you buy indivudal lessons or the course. The course is just more structured and when you add up the number of lessons in the course you’ll find you save a bit of money too.
I downloaded that out of curiosity and listen to it regularly - I absolutley love the way Conal just shoves the air down that flute. The second octave D’s are monstrous. But I better not make it sound too good, I think he gets embarrassed if reads praise about himself
It’s about time for a new recording from him, my vinyl copy of “The Top Of Coom” is wearing out fast. (Ah, vinyl )
I can’t afford $130 right now, especially since I’m buy a new flute this week! So my question is, how much would I ‘lose’ by not getting the course and just buying an individual lesson? I wish there was a little more description on what the course teaches…
Hello Tony
The course covers all of the basics to give the beginner flute player are solid grounding in how to play Irish traditional music..everything from posture, grip, tone production through cuts, pats, triplets, glottal stops, rolls, breathing patterns etc. This is done over the course of 10 classes which feature a range of different tune types. Student assessments are done after every two classes in the course (the student sends in an mp3 of their playing and the tutor (me! will get back to them with detailed feedback and suggestions for improvement). It is this aspect of the course, personalised feedback, that is the most valuable in my opinion.
The classes are one off events as such, featuring a single tune with relevant ornamentation and variation techniques. Each class also includes the assessment feature.
I hope this helps Tony, if not you can contact me at info@scoiltrad.com and I will answer any further questions you might have.
)
So my question is, how much would I ‘lose’ by not getting the course and just buying an individual lesson? I wish there was a little more description on what the course teaches…