Fintan Vallely playing the 19th century 'Madison' crystal flute at the Dayton Miller archive
Timber the Flute tutor - second edition, 1988
77 track CD now available
The wooden concert flute has been enjoying a new lease of life since the 1960s. This is particularly so in traditional Irish music which itself has extended out of its own national revival to become a free-standing international music genre played and listened to all over Europe and the US, even in Japan. Part of the flute’s popularity is due to bands like The Chieftains, Bothy Band, Boys of the Lough, De Danann and Altan, more recently Dervish and Danú, for each of which the instrument has been an anchoring sound. Also using flutes made of wood, Baroque music has undergone revival too. And not to be ignored are the humble ‘fife’ and the band flute, the small versions of wooden flute which are hugely popular still for marching music not only in Ireland, but in East-coast USA and the instrument's land of origin, Switzerland.
Despite the popularity, there was little easily-available information for the open-hole flute. In 1986 Timber – the Flute Tutor filled the gap as a tutor, went into a new edition a year later, and has had many reprints in the following decades. This is the comprehensive guide to playing the wooden, six-hole, ‘simple system’ transverse flute. It takes the reader through all aspects of holding, blowing, fingering, ornamentation and breath control, al via a light yet informative text. Historical illustrations and comment set the instrument in its music perspective, and photographs complement the written instruction throughout. A magazine-type layout neatly boxes the various aspects of playing into achievable modules, and refreshingly lifts many of the burdens which are encountered in first-time playing. The book is aimed at both absolute beginners and also whose who have already been playing for some time. It can be used for learning to play any kind of flute – long or short – and is ideal too for those learning the tin whistle or flageolet – the popular junior relative in the flute family. The book is suited too to those wishing to learn the tin whistle itself with a view to later moving on to the flute. Instruction is given via the medium of Irish Traditional music where the wooden flute enjoys its greatest popularity and has produced its most outstanding exponents.
The repertoire of tunes is a valuable collection of music in itself. It includes tunes which are local to Irish, Scottish and English music – air, march, jig, reel, hornpipe, strathspey and highland – as well as the borrowed and nativised waltz, mazurka and polka. These give the beginner plenty of choice in learning, and for those already playing they provide an new, interesting and comprehensive repertoire which tests every aspect of competence. Various appendices throughout the book provide an otherwise-unavailable compilation of information which is valuable to both beginners and advanced flute players: sources of further music, information on flute makers, suppliers and repairers, a discography of flute recordings, and web resources and backup.
Timber - The Flute Tutor has an optional CD album, and is printed in a convenient A4 format.
To order this book see books listing and sales page
Timber – the Flute Tutor -Instruction CD WHN 005
The instruction on this album and in the book Timber is designed for the wooden concert flute, but applies also to tin whistle which uses the same fingering and shares many ornamentation features also with the flute. The book can also be usefully used by players on Boehm (fully keyed, metal) flutes also; while the fingering is of course different, ornamentation methods apply.
This album is only of use with the book. It covers all major melodic details in the book Timber (second edition, full colour cover, 1988 – 2008). It also applies to the first edition of Timber (yellow and red cover, 1986 – 88), but with slightly different page references.
This album is broken into seventy seven tracks to facilitate the learner accessing individual items instantly. However, in the text, there are considerably fewer ‘tape’ or listening logos. Therefore it is useful to go first through one's copy of Timber and highlight the spots to which the full range of tracks applies.