Earl's Chair [Reel] - Tune of the Month with Shannon Heaton

To begin this seventh year of TOTM videos, I'm featuring "Earl's Chair," a well-known reel in D. I play it once with SHORT phrases (to accommodate more flute breaths); once with LONGER phrases; and once phrase by phrase. I'll share another reel to go with it next month.
As always, I’m playing this on my Patrick Olwell Pratten-style flute.
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[@amandasteven1400]

never quite sure how to launch into a second tune... so this will be fun! (luv how she holds the flute up to the camera)

[@ShannonHeatonMusic]

Love how you know that starting the second tune is a little challenging for you! Awesome awareness, Amanda. Two helpful hacks to making the change: 1) write the very first notes of a few reels down on a page. Play one, and then use the starter "cheat sheet notes" to help you start the second. Rinse and repeat. 2) make sure you know what the DOWNBEAT of each new tune is. Pick up notes can sometimes confuse things, if you already feel a little fragile launching that second tune!

[@staciekeenan8288]

Wonderful tune, it's great how you can sing it and phrase it.

[@ShannonHeatonMusic]

whee! Works on box, too, Stacie.

[@irishflutegirl9022]

I love this tune, i learned it last year. I like playing it with Otters Holt. Thank you ! For the great tips. I like your new office. 😊

[@ShannonHeatonMusic]

nice set (with Otter's Holt!). And yes, fun to do gentle rearranging for the new year.

[@michaelkieran1511]

Hi Shannon I love your videos and playing. I particularly like your use of ornamentation and your rolls in particular. Is there any chance you could do a technical video on rolls and how to master them? Michael

[@ShannonHeatonMusic]

Hi, Michael - I know, I'm overdue for a rolls vid. Thanks for the request. Will add it to the hopper!

[@Melvorgazh]

I really like the melody of it. How was your New Year’s Eve, Shannon? Made some nice dishes? 😋 Sláinte ;)

[@ShannonHeatonMusic]

Simple food, lots of reading, and fun TV shows and walks with the family. That was New Year's Eve and most nights! Grateful for undramatic moments...

[@Melvorgazh]

@@ShannonHeatonMusic Lots of reading ... Any fancy book you read recently that you would recommend, Shannon? Nowadays I am reading comic strips mostly :)

[@ShannonHeatonMusic]

Great on graphic novels/comics! As for fancy books, hmm. Here are the last four books I've read: - Cher Ami and Major Whittlesey (beautiful historical fiction about a heroic carrier pigeon and WWI general) - Midnight Library (quick, engrossing read about a woman who tries on many different lives) - Less (stellar writing, a novel about a guy turning 50 who travels around the world to find himself) - just began The Genius of Birds, about the way bird's learn and adapt. Particularly interesting chapter on songbirds, and how their song learning mimics language learning.

[@Melvorgazh]

@@ShannonHeatonMusic Interesting. Especially the last book on birds. I had a few dinosaurs when au was a kid. The one I liked the most was Coco, a lovely female African grey parrot. At my place we give bread crumbs and bits and also rice to pigeons on our terrace if our garden :) This way no food is totally wasted ^^. Lynn Hayes I think or someone else reminded me you played Farewell to Erin in a mid tempo sesh, the one I missed some weeks ago. Would you by any chance recall which one? Cheers 😉 and Have a good week. Always a pleasure.

[@Melvorgazh]

Fun tune to back but I haven’t considered learning it. Maybe a mistake. 😐

[@mariapalmer5671]

Not a tune I’ve heard in the past . It’s seems to have its own internal rhythm, a bit like Cooleys . Be interested to hear what goes with it 🤔

[@ShannonHeatonMusic]

YES, I love that you're responding to the phrasing of the tune, Maria. Because it ends on an A, it could be nice to go into a G tune (that starts on G maybe, like Far from Home, or Crooked Road to Dublin)... But I'm going to pair it with a D reel, so that it all resolves to D. Stay tuned!