Archive for Flute Making
December 21, 2009 at 6:30 am
· Filed under Conservation, Flute Making, Irish flute, Martin Doyle, Personal Experiences, Timber, Wooden Flutes ·Tagged Ireland, Martin Doyle, African Blackwood, Timber, mpingo, The Music Tree, Tanzania, Conservation, Different Voices, Radio Newstalk
The Different Voices series on Ireland’s Newstalk 106-108 FM continues with The Music Tree – a documentary featuring the Irish flute maker Martin Doyle.
Martin Doyle in Tanzania
As a young man, Martin Doyle travelled from Bray in County Wicklow to Africa. He was employed as a ships engineer – a job he took to raise funds for his burgeoning flute making business in the early 1980s. Now an established and highly respected flute maker living in County Clare, Martin decides to return to Africa where Mpingo, the timber from which Martin makes many of his flutes, comes from. There he hopes to visit the forests where the Mpingo grows, to meet those whose livelihoods depend upon it, and make an Irish flute with the help of local craftsmen in a Tanzanian workshop – quite possibly a world first!
Martin Doyle at the workshop in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. From left: Martin, Focus Senga, Salim and James Laizer.
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September 10, 2009 at 9:36 pm
· Filed under Flute, Flute Making, Flute Players, Ireland, Irish flute, Martin Doyle Flutes, Recently Added, Testimonials, Website
Tomás MacUileagóid, a flute player, fiddler and harp player/maker from Dublin, Ireland, has kindly added a testimonial to Martin Doyle Flutes. Tomás recently purchased a keyed flute from Martin Doyle.
“Hi Martin, I have thought a lot about writing to you since I got my keyed flute from you. I wanted to really feel my way into it and explore what it has to offer. I am astounded by the range of colour available, just waiting for me to exploit it. The tones available far exceed what I could get on the flute I got off you 10 years ago. I wanted the keys because I have a particular interest in the music of east Galway, Paddy Kelly and Paddy Fahey in particular, and you can’t really manage that without the F natural. Obviously since I have a keyed flute I notice other flutes much more, and I am continuously impressed by your standard of craftsmanship, and I understand how difficult it is to maintain such a high standard. Well done!! I don’t know what motivates you as an instrument maker, but I enjoy being able to create something that is unique with its own voice, that will hopefully live long after me and in some small way contribute to making the world a better place. I think you have already achieved this. Thank you. Regards, Tomás.”
Very thoughtful and insightful words from a fellow instrument maker — thank you for your kind and encouraging comments Tomás.
This and other testimonials from owners of Martin Doyle flutes can be viewed here: Testimonials
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September 3, 2009 at 10:46 am
· Filed under Conservation, Flute Making, Martin Doyle, Music, Timber, Wooden Flutes
Martin Doyle is visiting Tanzania with Nina Perry of Falling Tree Productions at the moment. Nina is making a radio documentary called The Music Tree for the Irish radio station Newstalk and it features Martin Doyle as an instrument maker visiting the area of East Africa where the famous Mpingo (African Blackwood) trees grows. Since the 19th century African Blackwood has been a timber favoured for woodwind instruments as its density, tonal properties, stability and durability are incomparable.
This trip is in its own way an historical occasion as many of the local people of Tanzania, some of whom are involved in burgeoning Mpingo conservation projects, have never before met a European craftsman who uses their timber to make musical instruments. Martin accomplished the task of making a flute with some of the local Mpingo carvers on the third day of his visit and by all accounts they were enthralled when it was played to them.
Nina Perry is kindly authoring a blog (where internet connection allows no doubt) dedicated to the trip — Music Tree — so that we distant onlookers can keep abreast of events.
No story, small or large, is complete without a picture. Here is one from Nina’s Music Tree blog:
Tanzanian street scene
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July 28, 2009 at 8:22 pm
· Filed under Conservation, Environment, Flute Making, Martin Doyle, Music, Radio Feature, Timber, Wooden Flutes ·Tagged Africa, African Blackwood, Conservation, flutes, Martin Doyle, mpingo, Music, Nina Perry, Tanzania, The Music Tree
In a recently posted article, Martin Doyle, Tanzania and The Music Tree, Martin Doyle’s upcoming trip to Tanzania in August with British composer and sound designer Nina Perry was highlighted. Two excerpts from that post:
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. [...] 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.
Nina Perry has very kindly offered this update on the trip:
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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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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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May 6, 2008 at 3:06 pm
· Filed under Flute Making, Flute Players, Ireland, Martin Doyle, Musicians, Wooden Flutes ·Tagged County Clare, Flute, Gwenn Frin, Ireland, Irish traditional music, maker, Martin Doyle, musician, player, wooden
Gwenn Frin is a wooden flute player who has been assisting Martin Doyle for the past few months and learning about the art of flute making. Originally from Brittany, Gwenn fell in love with the simple system wooden flute – aka Irish flute – at an early age. The instrument has been an major part of her life ever since and has brought her to many parts if the world including Ireland, Korea and the United States.
Gwenn first performed with the Cercle Celtique de Rennes (who are coming to Cork in July of this year) where she was introduced to the traditional music and dances of Brittany before playing for the dancers themselves. Her true professional debut were with the band Beaj Iskis in the early 1990s, which toured the Fest Noz scene in Brittany for four years. Gwenn moved to Galway, Ireland in 1998 drawn to the roots of her passion. She took classes with renowned flute player Harry Bradley.
In 1999, Gwenn moved to Dublin to concentrate solely on her flute playing while completing a Higher National Diploma In Traditional Music performance (Ceoltóir) directed by flute player Paul McGrattan. This last experience led her to doing a Master’s degree in Music and Media Technologies in Trinity College, Dublin. These amazing two years transformed her musical understanding and experience and opened up her musical horizons not only to contemporary and electroacoustic music, but also to composition.
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