3 Tips for Irish Flute Intonation and Practice Drones

[@visionpiping1048]

This is incredible information. Thank you

[@mellowmel2012]

Never heard any of this before! Thank you!

[@LeslieAnneHarrison]

Awesome! You're welcome!

[@wgandy9541]

Hi Leslie, I just found your channel and have subscribed. I retired about a year ago and now have time to fulfill a desire I've always had to play an instrument. I started out last year on the Irish whistle and about 4 weeks ago have branched out and have started learning to play the Irish Flute. I particularly enjoyed your video on 3 tips to play the low d and will put that to practive. I look forward to seeing more of your instructional videos in the future. Thanks for sharing your knowledge!

[@LeslieAnneHarrison]

Wonderful! I’m so glad you’re starting to play the Irish flute! I hope you enjoy the journey. :)

[@darkbummer]

Thanks for the video Leslie, that's very informative! The bit about pitch tendencies was new to me. There are relatively few players of Irish traditional music, who create videos on the theory behind it in an easy-to-digest manner, and I feel there's a certain void there, compared to any other style of music. I stumbled upon your videos a few years back, I think it was Folk Ragout stuff first, and it's so great to see you back again and putting up amazing content!

[@LeslieAnneHarrison]

Hi Arthur! How great to see you here! So glad you found the video informative. I hope you’re well. ☺️

[@vadimchevvie]

Hey there! It's my first week with an Irish D wooden flute and I love your explanations and your soft-spoken approach and manner - makes me as a listener really attentive and calm too. Don't change that! :) As a request, please touch on the question of how do people remember a lot of tunes since the tradition of Irish music is to remember by ear (I heard in other tutorial videos that if you were in a session, people would give a side-eye for bringing sheet music with you). Since you mentioned sheet music also in this video, this would be a good thing for a beginner like me to understand the method for further learning.

[@LeslieAnneHarrison]

Hi Vadim! Thanks, I’m glad you’re enjoying the videos! And how exciting about your flute; I hope you have a wonderful journey. You’re absolutely right, learning by ear is an important topic, and I’ll add it to my list of requests. My book, Playing Outside the Lines, Volume I, also has chapters on session etiquette and learning by ear if you’re interested. :)

[@vadimchevvie]

@@LeslieAnneHarrison Lovely, looking forward to it! To expand on the concept of sheet music - I have 12 years of empirical knowledge being a percussionist in Middle Eastern music, can sing a little, can hear melodies, notes, dissonances, but I have no concise music theory knowledge at all - aka knowing what modes play with each other well and what conflict each other, understanding what key/mode another melodist plays in to start accompanying them... etc. How do traditional Irish musicians handle this? I assume historically Ireland didn't have many options for education and everyone played by ear similar to early American country music.

[@LeslieAnneHarrison]

@@vadimchevvie Irish traditional music tends to be played in a handful of keys and modes, which helps narrow down the options in terms of harmonic accompaniment. From there, musicians either know the theory behind which chords work well in which keys, or they do it by ear, or both. In terms of the history of music education in Ireland, have you checked out Fintan Vallely’s Companion to Irish Traditional Music? It’s a great resource and has lots of information on the topic. I would also check out Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann, an organization founded in 1951 that does a lot to teach Irish traditional music - around the world!

[@vadimchevvie]

@@LeslieAnneHarrison Thank you, I will check them out!

[@TheMKEWERBY]

TOTALLY Awesome, Leslie!

[@LeslieAnneHarrison]

Thanks! Glad you like it!