Archive for Radio Feature
December 29, 2009 at 11:18 am · Filed under Ireland, Irish traditional music, Music, Musicians, Radio Feature ·Tagged culture, Delia Murphy, Ireland, Irish, Irish traditional music, Music, Radio Newstalk, Ronan Browne, singer, The Backbird
All nations can mark key moments in their history when an event, entity or individual has made a crucial contribution to the development and character of their homeland. Most often these moments seem to spring during times of adversity but history also shows that they can occur during peaceful and prosperous times. Ireland is a nation that has seen it’s fair share of adversity throughout the centuries but the courage and fortitude of her people has helped to forge and maintain a very special character that shines in the world as something unique.
As with most colonised nations, the retention and eventual rejuvenation of the native language and music is tremendously important to the internal strength of a country. Examples of individual and collective commitment to the rejuvenation of Irish culture are many and varied. Ireland boasts a plethora of ‘heroes’ who, through the ages, have in various ways kept her sacred music alive for future generations to protect and develop. As a result, the music of Ireland is loved the world over and has kept its homeland’s heart beating proudly through thick and thin. Like her native language, Ireland’s music has been the mortar that has bound Ireland’s hopes, tears, smiles and dreams into an amalgam of collective fortitude.
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December 26, 2009 at 10:51 am · Filed under Concert Flutes, Flute Players, Ireland, Irish flute, Musicians, Radio Feature ·Tagged Beethoven, Beethoven and Me, concert flute, deafness, Elizabeth Petcu, hearing, Irish flute, Music, otosclerosis, RTE Concert Orchestra
By way of introduction, Martin Doyle has been good friends with Elizabeth Petcu for many years now. Both hail from the seaside town of Bray in County Wicklow. Although Martin now resides in County Clare, they still see each other frequently and perform together as Rune – a talented trio completed by Debbie Armstrong. Elizabeth plays a Muramatsu concert flute with a wooden head joint and also a simple system Irish flute (see them here) – both of which are made of cocus wood and crafted by Martin Doyle. Elizabeth was, for over twenty five years, principal flute with Ireland’s RTE concert orchestra.
Ludwig von Beethoven & Elizabeth Petcu - hearing loss a challenge, but not an impairment.
And what of the Elizabeth Petcu–Ludwig von Beethoven connection? Well, there appear to be common threads running through both lives. Sure they don’t share the same age, address, flute maker or historical gravitas, but they do share a passion for music – the universal language. Ludwig composed his own music of course, and Elizabeth has performed many of these creations over the span of her professional career.
They also share a similar adversity. Elizabeth Petcu suffers from a condition known as otosclerosis, which is the most common cause of progressive deafness in young adults. Some consider otosclerosis to be the most likely cause of Beethoven’s deafness. Whatever the case, it is well documented that Beethoven went on composing despite near complete deafness. In Elizabeth’s case too, when her hearing impediment forced her into retirement from the RTE, she has kept up with her practice and performs wherever she can with an enduring energy, cheerfulness and enthusiasm that is fueled by a great love for sharing her gift of music with others. Composers must compose, performers must perform. Audiences, large or small, receive the fruit of this wonderful synthesis.
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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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April 27, 2008 at 10:54 pm · Filed under Flute Making, Martin Doyle, Radio Feature ·Tagged BBC Radio 4, Falling Tree Productions, Feature, Interview, Martin Doyle, Nina Perry, Sounding Post
Martin Doyle is one of several instrument makers interviewed in a feature radio programme called Sounding Post.
Produced by Nina Perry – an independent radio producer, composer and sound designer from London who produces features with Falling Tree Productions for BBC Radio 4 – Sounding Post will be airing on May the 9th at 11 am (GMT), and looks at the use of timber in instrument making around the world.
Nina Perry’s ‘composed feature’ Sounding Post traces a musical journey from the instrument-makers’ workshops and music studios of Europe and America, via the woods of southern England across to the mpingo – or African blackwood – conservation project of Tanzania. The relationship that each individual in the process – forester, craftsman, musician and environmentalist – has with the wood reveals insights into our feeling for nature, the materials we derive from our surroundings and the irresistible impulse to express ourselves musically.
From an Irish flute maker, Martin Doyle, an English Luthier, Martin Bowers, Luthier supplier David Dyke and a Los Angeles based guitarist, Laurence Juber, to the English forester Martin Charlton and members of the Mpingo Conservation Project in Southeastern Tanzania and Scott Paul of Greenpeace’s Music Wood Campaign, we hear about the sonorous qualities of different species, the increasing issue of maintaining sustainable supplies and the people who connect the music to the tree.
Sounding Post also features some great acoustic music which includes Martin Doyle playing wooden flute…
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Born in Dublin, Ireland, Martin Doyle grew up in the seaside town of Bray in County Wicklow. One of four children in a family with music in their blood, Martin was influenced and inspired by his mothers melodious singing from a very early age – learning songs that have stayed with him to this day.
Flute Maker Martin Doyle's Weblog is maintained on behalf of Martin Doyle by his friend 
