thanks Ben. I had it out for a full-track run last night at the session (which I don’t get to do much because of hockey, as it were)
wow. I am sooooo glad I kept my head down and waited it out. Several other Olwells were put to me for purchase, knowing I was long waiting. I resisted.
I love the boxwood Nicholson model Pat made.
I adore the cocus Pratten. It’s precisely the flute i’ve wanted in precisely the design and configuration I’ve wanted. I can’t ask for better or more from a flute.
Now, Crooked…please don’t! LOL
The dude plays great reels (and I’ve ripped off several of his “licks” no doubt)…jigs so-so…forget about airs.
but that’s just my opinion, really.
and I won’t make day-glo stix out of my Olwells. Not my style.
I hope you wear a really good mouthguard and maybe a mask too. Two years ago when the CHICAGO BLACKHAWKS won, their star defenceman caught a puck and lost seven teeth. I don’t think he plays the flute, but he did play out his shift and the rest of the playoffs. I like hockey too. The object is to overcome a lot of pain, not to run around hoping someone will brush against your body and then go down and thrash about like a cockroach until your opponent gets ejected and you can bounce back up and try to make it happen again. Anyway, I digress. The point is, now that you’ve got those flutes and really know how to play them, watch the butt ends of a very different kind of keyless stick.
Do you find any similarity between ice-skating and flute-paying?
As an occasional figure skater (UK woefully deficient in rinks), I find that there’s a certain mental state where it all comes together (I wish it happened more often ), and it flows.
Same with the flute.
It’s a lot to do with not resisting what the body and mind has learnt, finding innner- and outer!- balance and a sort of benign ‘attack’ drive; and suchlike hippy-sounding stuff ( to phrase it politely). And feeling reasonably happy.
All true, but difficult to express without sounding twee…
Oh how I know this feeling! Just this Saturday my Casey Burn’s Folk Flute (my very first Irish flute) arrived in the mail as I was heading out of town to a Whiskey tasting party at my friend’s house in NJ (3 hours away). The agony of driving 3+ hours while visions of what it would be like to finally open that box danced through my head.
), and it flows.