Irish Flute Skills Overview

  • 13 lessons teaching how to play 13 very popular Irish tunes.
  • Progress at your own pace, pause & repeat videos.
  • Access on all your devices.
  • PDF sheet music & mp3’s to download & keep for each tune.
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BONUS:
  • Access our Entire Course Catalogue for Every Instrument.
  • Library of over 150 popular Irish tunes to practice along with.
  • Virtual Reality Sessions for the unique Irish Pub Session experience – a real treat for the Irish music lover.
  • Community Forum of students and teachers, all friends with a love of Irish music.
Irish Flute Skills is designed as a continuation course to Flute Progressions, taking you deep into the world of Irish dance tunes such as jigs, reels, slides, waltzes and barn dances, and their distinguishing rhythms.

By the end of this course you will have a greater understanding of the rhythm of Irish dance tunes plus 13 new tunes to add to your repertoire. The course has 13 lessons, broken into 3 to 4 tutorials each, where tunes are taught phrase by phrase.

Course Structure

This course advances the exploration and demonstration of articulating, phrasing and ornamenting popular Irish dance tunes and presents exercises to aid tone, embouchure and breath control.  It includes techniques that emphasise the rhythm, such as glottal stops, ornamentation and the breath.

The traditional Irish tunes and corresponding techniques taught are:

The Hollybush (Ornamentation: Short and Long Rolls on G)
The Humours Of Alehouse (Throat Articulation)
The Kilmaley Reel (Tone: Consistency through lower and higher registers)
The Peaceful Greengroves (Tone and Left Hand Dexterity)
Kathleen O’Hehir’s Slide (Throat Articulation and Tone)
Sweet Marie (Flutter Tonguing)
Jim Donoghue’s (Breathing and Phrasing)

The Rookery (Ornamentation: Cranns, C♮ornamentation. Breathing and Phrasing)
Garrett Barry’s (Ornamentation: Cranns, C♮ornamentation. Breathing and Phrasing)
The Munster Cloak (Flutter Tonguing. The high D)
Pearl O’Shaughnessy’s Barndance (Variation and Keywork)
Lady Ann Montgomery’s (Tone: The Low D)
The Mullinavat (Ornamentation)

 

Your Tutor
Kirsten Allstaff, co-founder of OAIM, is an acclaimed flute and tin whistle player that has played throughout Ireland, Europe, North America and Asia with various Irish dance shows and groups. She has a First-Class Honours Master’s Degree in Traditional Irish Music Performance from the University of Limerick, Ireland. She previously tutored flute and whistle at The Irish World Academy of Music and Dance where she was involved in early online lecturing initiatives. Read more.

Detailed questions and discussion on the course can be found in the Community Forum, available to paying members only.

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Irish Flute Skills Lessons

Level

The Hollybush

Irish Flute Skills Lesson 1

  • G Major
  • Level 2
  • Melody
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Ornamentation: Short and Long Rolls on G

Jig

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The Humours of Alehouse

Irish Flute Skills Lesson 2

  • D Major
  • Level 2
  • Melody
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Throat Articulation

Jig

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The Kilmaley Reel

Irish Flute Skills Lesson 3

  • G Major
  • Level 2
  • Melody
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Tone: Consistency through lower and higher registers

Reel

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The Peaceful Greengroves

Irish Flute Skills Lesson 4

  • A Minor
  • Level 2
  • Melody
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Tone and Left Hand Dexterity

Reel

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Kathleen O’Hehir’s Slide

Irish Flute Skills Lesson 5

  • D Major
  • Level 2
  • Melody
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Throat Articulation and Tone

Slide

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Sweet Marie

Irish Flute Skills Lesson 6

  • G Major
  • Level 2
  • Melody
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Flutter Tonguing,

Slide

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Jim Donoghue’s

Irish Flute Skills Lesson 7

  • D Major
  • Level 2
  • Melody
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Breathing and Phrasing

Reel

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The Rookery

Irish Flute Skills Lesson 8

  • D Mixolydian
  • Level 2
  • Melody
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Cranns, Breathing and Phrasing

Jig

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Garrett Barry’s

Irish Flute Skills Lesson 9

  • D Mixolydian
  • Level 2
  • Melody
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Cranns, Breathing and Phrasing

Jig

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The Munster Cloak

Irish Flute Skills Lesson 10

  • G Major
  • Level 2
  • Melody
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Flutter Tonguing. The high D

Waltz

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Pearl O’Shaughnessy’s Barndance

Irish Flute Skills Lesson 11

  • G Major
  • Level 2
  • Melody
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How to use chromatic notes in the tune as a means of variation

Barndance

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Lady Ann Montgomery’s

Irish Flute Skills Lesson 12

  • D Major
  • Level 2
  • Melody
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Practice bringing out the low D’s

Reel

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The Mullinavat

Irish Flute Skills Lesson 13

  • E Minor
  • Level 2
  • Melody
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Ornamentation

Reel

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