What flute plays Niall Keegan on ...

Irish Flute
1

following youtube-clip?

Niall Keegan, Sandra Joyce - Ed Reavy’s, Lucy Campbell’s

Seems to have post mounted keys. Sounds rather like a Pratten.

2

Yes I was wondering too. I saw on worldtrad that on WFO he plays a Dave Williams, than i went on the maker’s website and realized he makes bohem flutes…
I’ve learned Ed Reavy’s anyway (err not the jazzy variations, not a big fan of that stuff) :smiley:

3

Different Dave Williams on the Boehm flutes (around Boston area). He’s still alive.

The Dave Williams who supplied Niall’s wooden simple system flute died in a car accident in October, 2004. He was a great maker of flutes and pipes.

Kevin Krell

4

I think Niall is playing the same flute he’s always played…a post mounted Boosey Pratten?
Hammy

5

I asked him about that flute a couple of months ago. It´s a David Williams flute, with post mounted keys.

6

two Prattens
Hammy keyless
Dave Williams post mounted 5 key

one more: Dave Williams

7

It’d be that last one then, because it had the C/C# keys. Which he uses, by the way.

He’s only the second flute player I know to play that first tune on a D flute. Incidentally, the name is “The Lane to the Glen”. Kind of strange that the head of a university program for irish music wouldn’t have researched the name… :laughing:

8

how sensible :moreevil:

9

I believe there is a D. Williams flute for Sale on Doc’s site.

10

yes, keyless blackwood…filed under Dave Williams though.
https://www.irishflutestore.com/newsite/products.php?c1=55&c2=255

11

I was just poking around and found this:
http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=192046543500

I don’t think you could get a grain of rice through that embouchure. And that’s one high-dollar piece of firewood.

Wowza!

-Kirk

12

Just thought I’d share this. If you’re trying to learn “The road to the Glen” (like I am) there’s a recording of it by The House Devils which is available in the iTunes store. It’s a more traditional version and they play it slower. Pop it into Amazing Slow Downer, knock it down by 1 semitone and Bob’s your uncle, you’re ready to go on a keyless D flute. This is one hard son of a gun to learn (for me anyway). Not hard to play, just hard to get the brain wrapped around. Very counter-intuitive for me.

Cheers,

-Kirk

13

“The Lane to the Glen” (the first tune played by Niall in the youtube video above) was composed by Ed Reavy. It is not strictly speaking playable on the keyless D flute as there are low C#s. However, otherwise, you just have to deal with Fnats throughout the tune. There are a few nice recordings of the tune, including one on a compilation of american irish musicians playing Ed Reavy’s tunes and played by Liz Carroll (I believe). It is erroneously labelled as the Road to the Glen which may be where the confusion arose. There is also a lovely three volume recording of Ed’s son Joseph playing all the compositions in the Ed Reavy book available at reavy.us.

A few other recordings are listed here: http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/2805

14

Good point. I did notice on thesession.org where they mentioned the tune has been mislabeled on different recordings. I guess the original Reavey version must be a bit different but this version:

http://atomicurl.com/19039

Is perfectly playable on a keyless D flute if you shift -1 semitone. I didn’t run into any notes that I needed a search warrant to find. :slight_smile:

Cheers,

Kirk

15

Thanks for the correct name, couldn’t find it on thesession under the name ed reavy’s…
The low Cs shouldn’t scare, 'cause it’s only a short note and if you play it at the right speed it will sound like a low C even if you play a normal C. But I don’t raccomand playing this tune on a keyless flute (even because the roll on F nat sounds really cool and it’s impossible to do without the key) :smiley:

16

So what happens if I keep playing the tune on my keyless D starting on E instead of D. Are the ITM constabularies going to be coming for me? :puppyeyes: Seriously though, I guess since I’m new at this I just don’t understand. Apart from not being able to play the tune in the proper key at a session, is there any other reason why transposing is a bad thing? Until I get a keyed flute, I’m having a good time playing the tune with what I have.

Sorry to be one of those thorn-in-the-side newbies, but I’m just trying to figure this stuff out. :slight_smile:

  • Kirk
17

If you don’t have a keyed flute and want to play that tune, i see no reason why you shouldn’t transpose one tone higher. But when you get those keys, learn this tune again in the right key, it’s a good exercise, it gets a different feeling (not only because it’s lower (or it would be sufficient to get a C flute), but because the fingering is different), and you can play it at session. :slight_smile:

18

Thanks Lorenzo. I’ve run into a few tunes like this where I’ve had to transpose and I know I’ll have to relearn them when I get keys. You’re right about it being a good exercise.

Cheers,

Kirk

19

Even up a tone, you have to deal with Eb / D# (what would be a C# in the original key).

Unless you’re just leaving them out altogether… Which would kind of be a shame.

20

All I can tell you is that I’m playing the tune that I provided a link to, which is a recording of “The Road to the Glen” by The House Devils. If you listen to that exact recording, I’m transposing and starting on E and I can hit every note that’s in “that version” of the tune. I haven’t yet attempted to take the sheet music from the session.org and transpose that. I guess the House Devils version has been altered from the original Reavey tune in this particular recording.

Once I get a keyed flute I’ll learn to play it proper-like and in the right key. :slight_smile:

-Kirk