Irish music is an oral tradition, one with a rich history, a complex vocabulary and many subtle variations.
In another digression from the ornamentation topic that has been occupying many recent columns, I would like to touch on an issue that has been plaguing many of my students recently, the mind.

Why do we need computers? In the days before computer based audio it was easy to slow down the tapes and reels that music was recorded on and play it slower, however, this lowered the pitch and made it a difficult exercise as you could hear more clearly but you had to transpose what you heard back into the correct key.
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Did your grandparents sit you down and tell you stories? Do you still remember them? Do you remember the feeling of those stories, the nuance of delivery, the way the story teller held their head or gestured with their hands? If you do then you are lucky, for that is the essence of an oral tradition, which is all but gone from our society with the break up of the family into small nuclear units.

We have been exploring ornamentation in all its forms in Irish flute music. It is time to look at some famous players and dissect their playing to give you an insight into their style, starting with one of my favourite players, Harry Bradley. Harry Bradley is a well known flute player from Belfast, now living in Galway in the west of Ireland. Highly accomplished himself, he has played with many well known musicians and has recorded two solo CDs as well as numerous recording with bands and duets.