Niall Keegan’s brief review of The Pleasures of Hope: Flute Music from Belfast and Beyond by Harry Bradley & Michael Clarkson in The Journal of Music begins as follows:
Let’s face it, if you’re into the northern flute thing or the contemporary and historical fluters who are first and foremost concerned with making rhythm, you are already going to have this album. It features Harry Bradley, the flute player who I would regard as one of the leading neo-traditionalists on any instrument in Ireland, and Michael Clarkson, a more enigmatic figure, much praised by northern aficionados.
There’s a clue in the next part of the sentence:
“or the contemporary and historical fluters who are first and foremost concerned with making rhythm”
He’s probably meaning things like the breath pulse associated with a lot of “northern” and 78rpm era flute players like John McKenna, Tom Morrison, Hammy Hamilton, Harry and Michael themselves, and so on.
There is another hint further down in the linked article, where Keegan says: “The two players come together in their phrasing, but most importantly through the use of the diaphragm to make a rhythm that is the heart of the duet.”
I’m attracted to this style of playing compared to the smoother “play it like the pipes” style. Is this actually a Northern style though, or do players in other parts of Ireland do this? I’m not well-versed in regional styles either, and I wonder how much is down to individual player preference vs. a prevailing regional style.
The last cèilidh band I was in would announce ourselves as “presenting, for your pleasure, the very latest in Traditional Music”. Who knows if anyone got the joke.
The pulsing Irish style seems to get labelled as “Northern”. I don’t know how much truth there is to that, but I can say that pretty much every Northern player I ever heard did indeed play in such a fashion, or a variation on it. Personally I’m wary of the label, but if someone wants to call it Northern for convenience’s sake, I can run with it. Just don’t be overly surprised if you hear a Corkonian playing that way.
Cough Conal O’Grada Cough Alternatively, Tara Diamond is a northern flute player, and does not do the huffy breath pulse. And what of the many American flute players who play that way?
It’s also worth noting that Niall Keegan is about as far away from a lot of the hallmarks of the “Northern style” as a flute player can be. He’s also very much not a “traditionalist” in many senses of the word, neo- or otherwise. In many ways the whole aesthetic of the album is something that stands in contrast to a lot of what he does/plays, and I think some of the things he focuses on make a lot more sense when you look at things from the vantage point of his style and sensibilities.
Not just the tune, but sometimes within the tune. I use some huff and puff for rhythm on the first two parts of The Morning Dew, but that last part seems to want a more legato, smoother approach.
Anyway, it’s something I love about the flute, the options for dynamics. Otherwise you might as well just play a low D whistle where you can’t use breath pulse for rhythm. (great, now I’ve just pissed off all the whistle players here).
“Otherwise you might as well just play a low D whistle where you can’t use breath pulse for rhythm”.
I may be missing something obvious, but why not ? Can you explain that statement, please ?
Kenny, I was referring to the way a whistle usually has less dynamic range than a flute because forcing more air leads to an octave shift.
I’m also probably influenced by the fact that all the low D whistle players I know are Scottish pipers who use it as a second instrument, so they play it like the pipes with steady volume and only finger/tongue articulations.