June 8, 2009 at 8:11 am
· Filed under Aikido, Aikido Classes, County Clare, Ireland, Liscannor, Martin Doyle, Website ·Tagged Aikido, Clare Aikikai, classes, County Clare, dojo, Ireland, Liscannor, Martin Doyle, new web site, sensei
Martin Doyle has just published a new web site that introduces his Aikido classes to the world via the internet: Clare Aikikai.
Martin Doyle first became interested in Aikido in 1987 at the recommendation of a friend and is now a shodan Aikido instructor – or sensei in Japanese. He offers twice weekly Aikido classes for adults and children at Liscannor, County Clare.
Aikido is a Japanese martial art developed by Morihei Ueshiba as a synthesis of his martial studies, philosophy, and religious beliefs. Aikido is often translated as “the Way of unifying (with) life energy” or as “the Way of harmonious spirit.” Ueshiba’s goal was to create an art that practitioners could use to defend themselves while also protecting their attacker from injury. Read more…
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May 18, 2009 at 1:03 am
· Filed under Flute Players, Ireland, Music, Musicians, Rune ·Tagged An Irishwoman's Diary, Arminta Wallace, Elizabeth Petcu, flute music, Irish Times, Martin Doyle, Rune
Irish Times writer Arminta Wallace has recently published an article about Martin Doyle’s good friend Elizabeth Petcu who resides in the coastal town of Bray in County Wicklow. Elizabeth was principal flautist with Ireland’s national television and radio broadcaster Radio Telefís Éireann for over 25 years until a hearing problem sidelined her career. Despite this impediment, Elizabeth has gone on to record a solo flute music album, Just Me, and has formed the inspirational music ensemble Rune with Martin Doyle (flutes) and Deborah Armstrong (piano). Here are two excerpts from Arminta Wallace’s article:
The ability to hear plays such a crucial role in making music that it’s almost impossible to imagine how a professional musician feels when they’ve been diagnosed with a condition called otosclerosis, or progressive deafness. “I’m in good company, apparently,” says the flautist Elizabeth Petcu with a wry smile. “Beethoven is thought to have had it as well.” [...] Petcu formed a trio with the pianist Deborah Armstrong and the traditional flutemaker and player Martin Doyle. They call themselves RUNE, and they take an innovative approach to live performance; their concerts blend visual imagery, poetry and prose with various different kinds of music, from baroque to improvisation via the slow air. “I wanted to keep playing. But I didn’t want to do the very conventional, formal kind of classical recital,” she says. “So what we do is, we pick a theme and tie the music together with words and the beautiful visual imagery of Martin’s photographs.
The entire article may be viewed here: An Irishwoman’s Diary.
Related:
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May 4, 2009 at 7:13 am
· Filed under Conservation, Environment, Flute Making, Radio Feature, Timber, Wooden Flutes ·Tagged African Blackwood, Conservation, Environment, Falling Tree Productions, Ireland, Irish flutes, Martin Doyle, Newstalk radio, Nina Perry, Tanzania, The Music Tree, Timber, wood, Wooden Flutes
Flutes for Africa
Mpingo logger, Tanzania
is bound for the East African nation of
Tanzania this coming August to take part in the production of a radio programme. Tanzania is home to the famed Mpingo tree from which the highly valued timber known as
African Blackwood is harvested. This wood has been one of the first choices for woodwind instruments such as clarinets, oboes, bag pipes and flutes for over 150 years now, but was also valued by furniture making as far back as the time of the Egyptians. It is a timber favoured for it’s density, durability and exceptional tonal qualities.
Martin Doyle is to feature in a radio programme to be called The Music Tree that is being produced for the Irish radio station Newstalk. The project is being headed by Nina Perry (who also produced Sounding Post which looked at the use of wood for instruments and featured several instrument makers including Martin Doyle) for Falling Tree Productions. This from Nina Perry:
“The Music Tree is to accompany Irish flute-maker Martin Doyle from County Clare to eastern Tanzania where he plans to demonstrate Irish flute making so that accomplished local craftsmen might learn his skills to boost the economy surrounding this rare wood and, for the first time, hear the sound of instruments made from the local blackwood trees.”
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April 29, 2009 at 1:17 am
· Filed under Flute Players, Irish flute, Martin Doyle Flutes, Recently Added, Testimonials, Website ·Tagged Added, Clonmel, Co Tipperary, Ireland, Martin Doyle Flutes, new, Paul McCarthy, Testimonial
Martin Doyle has just received a very kind testimonial from Paul MaCarthy – a self professed ‘flute player for the fun of it’ who hails from Clonmel in County Tipperary, Ireland. Paul’s kind testimonial is as follows:
Paul McCarthy playing his Martin Doyle cocus wood flute
“Having played other flutes (mainly African blackwood with headliner) and been dissatisfied with their somewhat capricious nature, I started searching for an instrument which did not have these flaws. After scratching around the country on and off for months and visiting several well respected flute makers, I failed to find what I was looking for. Maybe it was me and not the flutes but I found them very unacceptably fickle. Eventually in the autumn of 2005 I found myself in a snug workshop in Bray talking with a very relaxed and affable flute maker who invited me to sit into the corner and try any flute I could find. There were several on a rack on the table next to me so I started with the one closest to me and worked my way along about 7 or 8 of them. Being of a methodical nature, I played the same tune (a slip jig called A Fig For A Kiss) on each of them to better judge their performance. All were sweet toned, balanced and uncapricious. Then my eye lit on it. A nice looking Cocuswood, unkeyed, unlined flute at the end of the rack. The feeling I got on playing those first few notes I can still recall. Absolutely gorgeous tone, weight and balance, not a hint of fickleness and with that lovely soft, mellow reverberation which comes with good tone. Low D? No problem. Another fifteen minutes playing passed interspersed with question and answers with Martin. The decision to buy this particular flute was not made by me nor by Martin but by the flute. This thing of beauty is of the rare sort and gives massive enjoyment. Thanks are not enough Martin Doyle!”
Thank you Paul…
This and other testimonials can be viewed on Martin’s Testimonials, Testimonials 2 and Testimonials 3pages.
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March 10, 2009 at 9:05 am
· Filed under Flute Making, Flute Players, Irish flute, Martin Doyle, Musicians, Recently Added, Wooden Flutes ·Tagged Desi Wilkinson, Dyad, Elizabeth Petcu, essay, Flute, maker, Martin Doyle, player
In 2002, as the final semester essay undertaken to gain her Masters Degree in Music, Martin Doyle’s good friend Elizabeth Petcu wrote ‘A Phenomenological Study into the Experiences of a Flute Maker/Player Dyad’. With her kind permission, this essay has been published on Martin Doyle Flutes in six parts.
This phenomenological study is an interesting and illumining insight into the relationship between a flute maker, Martin Doyle, and a flute player – in this case the renowned Irish traditional musician and music scholar, Desi Wilkinson.
The following are snippets from A Flute Maker/Player Dyad…
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February 9, 2009 at 9:21 am
· Filed under CD, Concert Flutes, Flute Players, Irish flute, Martin Doyle Flutes, Musicians, Wooden Flutes, Wooden Head Joints ·Tagged Added, concert flute, debut solo flute album, Elizabeth Petcu, Just Me, mp3 samples, Music, new, Samples, simple system flute, wooden Irish flute
Just added to Martin Doyle Flutes: three music samples from Elizabeth Petcu’s debut solo flute album, Just Me.
Elizabeth Petcu is a good friend of Martin Doyle’s who lives in Bray, County Wicklow. They also constitute two thirds of the music trio Rune.
Former Principal Flute (25+ years) with the Radio Telefís Éireann Concert Orchestra, Elizabeth Petcu studied with Professor Doris Keogh at The Royal Irish Academy of Music in Dublin. She has an honours music degree from Trinity College Dublin and an M.A. in Music Therapy from the University of Limerick. Just Me is a distillation of all these experiences.
The fourteen tracks that comprise Just Me were recorded at the acoustically exceptional Calary Church near Roundwood in County Wicklow and the album is a lovely interpretation of Elizabeth’s favourite repertoire.
Elizabeth recorded Just Me on a Muramatsu concert flute with a wooden headjoint and a keyless simple system wooden ‘Irish’ flute. Both the wooden headjoint and the Irish flute were made by Martin Doyle. The three tracks just added to Martin Doyle Flutes are those that Elizabeth recorded using the Martin Doyle simple system flute. They can be heard at the Elizabeth Petcu section of the Martin’s Flute Music page.
The two Telemann tracks are particularly worth noting as they are technically challenging yet Elizabeth performs them on a keyless simple system flute. Just six open holes with lots of ‘half-holing’ and cross fingering – quite an accomplishment! Throughout this album, Elizabeth Petcu exhibits her capacity as a mature flute player of great technical capacity that is coupled to a heart-felt passion and sensitivity for her selection.
Just Me is a delight and includes music by Debussy, Telemann, Bozza, Bach, Ibert, Honegger, Bates and Karg-Elert with a traditional Irish air as a fitting finale.
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With the Irish spring in the air, the three piece music ensemble Rune are looking forward to their first post-winter concert. Rune – 
