Maybe it’s a trend? I finally made it back to my local open session (a sometimes large, very informal group that plays a mostly New England mix of Irish, old-time, and French Canadian tunes–more French Canadian ones than I remembered; must get on with learning some more of these, since they fit so well on flute) after almost two years, coincidentally about the same time I’ve been working on flute. In a gathering where there used to be only the occasional Boehm, there were three simple-system players (a Copeland, an M&E, and a Burns, for those who are keeping score). It was good fun for me–although I play with some smaller groups of musicians, I hadn’t had the chance to play with other fluters or talk about flutes, and I enjoyed trying out the M&E.
My former whistle teacher started a brand new session a few weeks ago at a brand new restaurant/pub. For the inaugural session there were: two whistlers, a box player I honestly couldn’t hear from three feet away, two bodhran players, two guitarists, and, when my teacher wasn’t playing whistle, two harmonica players. It was very…rhythmic! We all had a great time and I’m looking forward to more. The polkas sounded great, I might add, with two harmonicas wailing.
Nice to hear about your fluting, Jordan, though all those flutes do seem like an alarming trend.
Carol