Flute

One of my new year resolutions was to play my flute every day and try to learn at least one new tune a month. I play traditional music on the flute and have been concentrating on learning a set of tunes on Mary Bergin's classic tin whistle album Feodoga Stain. An album of tin whistle music is probably a weird thing to be into, but this is very evocative for me; I used to listen to the tape as I drove north through the Scottish borders one Autumn when I was working in Carlisle and it brings with it memories of Autumn colours, the River Esk at Langholm, and the lights of Edinburgh as I neared the end of my journey. I've been trying to learn the final set for years, on and off, but have always struggled with the last tune, the name of which translates as up to your knees in sand. That summed up what happened to me when I attempted to learn it, but this month I do believe I've made a breakthrough by finally working out the sequence of notes. The only thing left to do is to practise until I can play the tunes at the same speed as Mary Bergin - some hope!