After a busy period in the run up and aftermath of organising Edinburgh FluteFling in April, I have been taking some time to focus on the day job as the end of the Scottish school year approaches. Reports, assessments and other admin tasks have essentially taken up most of my spare time.
However, not all music and teaching has been dropped. I plan to resume the monthly Tradwinds workshops (NB: NOT Trade Winds, but a play on the phrase) in the Autumn, and plans for the Aberdeen FluteFling, taking place 1-3 November, are under way. Additionally, thinking has turned towards the Edinburgh FluteFling in 2025. It is a mark of how far we have come that planning so far ahead now takes place. In the beginning, we just went from event to event.
Tradwinds marked an important return to teaching flute for me after the break due to Covid, but this year I have also been able to pick up on my own flute playing. I have been playing regularly in Sandy Bells in Edinburgh with good friends, and intend to drop in on other sessions more as well.
The Monday night Sandy Bells session is anchored by fiddler Cathy Sharp and Douglas McKelvie (fiddle, piano), with a host of regulars and semi regulars, all good friends. Some of us have played in ceilidh bands together in the past and also in Cauldstane Slap, who released a recording in aid of Amnesty International during lockdown. Central to the band was concertina player Robert Chalmers, who died suddenly in 2019. Robert’s open, curious and enthusiastic embrace of music and people was infectious and we still remember that today.
Following his death, money was raised to contribute towards the planting of a community wood near West Linton. Roamer’s Wood is on the old drovers road over the Pentland Hills, Cauldstane Slap, which gave its name to the band. The Monday night Sandy Bells session raises funds for Robert’s Orchard, which is a corner of Roamer’s Wood and run by Sustainable West Linton.
In a period when the Edinburgh and Scottish folk scene has been hit by the loss of important inspirational musical and cultural figures — most recently Norman Chalmers (brother of Robert), Rod Patterson and John Croall, all from the highly influential and inspirational band Jock Tamsons’s Bairns — connecting to people and your own music has never seemed more important.
I was in the Cairngorms for a gorgeous weekend in May, attending the Native Woodland Discussion Group’s annual excursion with Coralie from Dendrochronicle. Just before the weather broke, there was a chance to visit Druim an Aird, near Newtonmore. It had been Play a Strathspey Day, so I took the opportunity to play a tune and explore the acoustics in the fabulous location.
I had my Alba A whistle with me, which I find works well outdoors. The tunes are Tha Mi Sgith and The Source of Spey (a location just a few miles away).