Category Archives: Irish Flutes

New Testimonials Received

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Thumbs Up!I am sure that it is always very encouraging for any craftsman to receive some positive feedback from his clients. After all, most instrument makers spend many hours of each week alone in their workshops labouring to create something that they hope will please the person they are making it for – and in the case of a musical instrument, those who listen to it being played. So when a happy client offers a positive comment, it is always very satisfying, encouraging and brings great joy to the recipient. Two such comments have recently been added to Martin Doyle’s website from happy clients in America.

Amanda Drinsinger — flute player from the USA

“I received the flute early last week. It sounds rich and beautiful and it is very beautiful and of excellent craftsmanship! I am extremely pleased with your work and I think you are the world’s best celtic flute craftsman! I have not played or seen in person any other instrument that matches the sound, beauty and quality put into this flute!”

Ruth Yates — flute player from Hollywood, Maryland, USA

“Hi Martin. I just wanted to tell you that the rosewood flute I purchased from you in October [2009] is so lovely. I found it very easy to play and the tone is so mellow and nice. Don and I really liked coming to your home and seeing your workshop and picking up the flute. It was such a genuinely good experience meeting you and seeing how the instruments come together. Regards, Ruth Yates.”

More comments from flute players all over the world can be viewed here: Testimonials »

Bray & Roundwood Comhaltas Concert 2010

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Gerry O'Donnell

Gerry O’Donnell

Martin Doyle‘s good friend Gerry O’Donnell recently organised a concert for musicians and dancers from the Bray and Roundwood Comhaltas organisations. Held at The Mermaid Arts Centre in Bray, County Wicklow, a total of ninety-eight dancers and musicians were involved. Gerry observed that it was a big undertaking but an important step forward for all involved. Comhaltas is an traditional Irish music organisation that promotes traditional Irish music and culture around the world.

Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann is the largest group involved in the preservation and promotion of Irish traditional music. We’re a non-profit cultural movement with hundreds of local branches around the world, and as you can read in our history we’ve been working for the cause of Irish music since the middle of the last century (1951 to be precise). Our efforts continue with increasing zeal as the movement launches itself into the 21st century.
Read more: About Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann »

Martin Doyle

Martin Doyle

Martin Doyle drove to Bray especially for the event and Gerry managed to get a good number of his flute students together just before the concert for a photo with Martin – the connection being that almost all of them play Martin Doyle flutes. The entire group proceeded to play a tune and Gerry was very proud of the fact that they were all in tune as well! He also commented that there are some really great young players among his students.

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Testimonial From Tomás MacUileagóid

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Website Updates

Tomás MacUileagóid, a flute player, fiddler and harp maker from Dublin, Ireland, has kindly sent Martin Doyle a testimonial which has been added to Martin’s website. 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.

More Testimonials

Testimonials from flute players all over the world can be viewed here: Testimonials »

Irish Tunes On A Martin Doyle Flute

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Here is a video clip of Irish musician Ciarán Mac Fheidhlimidh playing Irish traditional music on a Martin Doyle flute. Unfortunately we do not get to see Ciarán playing; rather it is an audio clip played under a still photo of a flute that not a Doyle. The tunes that Ciarán is playing in this flute video are The Bag Of Spuds and The Boys On The Hilltop – both reels. Martin Doyle was quite taken with Ciarán’s flute playing and we hope you enjoy it as well.

More video clips of musicians playing Martin Doyle flutes can be viewed here: Martin Doyle Flutes | YouTube »

Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh Testimonial

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Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh playing fulte.

Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh playing fulte.

Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh is an accomplished flute and whistle player and singer from Dún Chaoin in County Kerry, Ireland. She is the lead singer and flute player with the traditional Irish music group Danú, and is a tutor at the Irish World Academy of Music and Dance at the University of Limerick.

Muireann plays a Martin Doyle flute and has been kind enough to offer a testimonial for Martin’s website. She has also sent us a sample of her flute playing from the album Dual – a collaboration with Julie Fowlis, Éamon Doorley and Ross Martin that was released in November of 2008. Muireann’s testimonial reads:

“I have been playing a Martin Doyle African Blackwood ‘D’ flute since 2001. As a touring musician I am delighted with its reliability and consistency of tone, no matter where I am in the world. The flute is perfectly in tune which is very important when playing in a band context. I also love the fact that it can produce a variety of sounds from a powerful bark to a sweeter, clearer tone, making it a very expressive instrument and suitable for all kinds of music from wild Kerry Polkas to more subtle slow airs. I always recommend Martin’s flutes to my flute students.”

Muireann’s music sample can be heard here: Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh – Flute Music »

More testimonials from flute players all over the world can be viewed here: Testimonials »

New Testimonial Added

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Martin Doyle has just received a very nice testimonial from Paul MaCarthy – a self professed ‘flute player for the fun of it’ – who hails from Clonmel in County Tipperary. Paul’s kind comments are as follows:

Paul McCarthy

Paul McCarthy with his Martin Doyle flute.

“Having played other flutes (mainly African Blackwood with headliner) and been dissatisfied with their somewhat capricious nature, I started searching for an instrument which did not have these flaws. After scratching around the country on and off for months and visiting several well respected flute makers, I failed to find what I was looking for. Maybe it was me and not the flutes but I found them very unacceptably fickle.

Eventually in the autumn of 2005 I found myself in a snug workshop in Bray talking with a very relaxed and affable flute maker who invited me to sit into the corner and try any flute I could find. There were several on a rack on the table next to me so I started with the one closest to me and worked my way along about 7 or 8 of them. Being of a methodical nature, I played the same tune (a slip jig called A Fig For A Kiss) on each of them to better judge their performance. All were sweet toned, balanced and uncapricious. Then my eye lit on it. A nice looking Cocuswood, unkeyed, unlined flute at the end of the rack. The feeling I got on playing those first few notes I can still recall. Absolutely gorgeous tone, weight and balance, not a hint of fickleness and with that lovely soft, mellow reverberation which comes with good tone. Low D? No problem. Another fifteen minutes playing passed interspersed with question and answers with Martin. The decision to buy this particular flute was not made by me nor by Martin but by the flute. This thing of beauty is of the rare sort and gives massive enjoyment.
Thanks are not enough Martin Doyle!”

Thank you Paul – your kind words are great encouragement!

More comments from flute players all over the world can be viewed here: Testimonials »

Just Added: A Flute Maker/Player Dyad

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Martin Doyle, Desi Wilkinson and Elizabeth Petcu

Martin Doyle (flute maker), Desi Wilkinson (flute player) and Elizabeth Petcu (essayist).

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 reproduced on Martin Doyle Flutes.

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 excerpts from Elizabeth’s essay.

From the introduction:

Discovering a flute maker’s workshop in my local town a few years ago enabled me to combine my lifelong fascination for woodwork and wood turning with my love of flutes and flute playing. Under the allure of the atmosphere in the workshop and listening to the philosophising of the maker, caused me to be curious about the “ingredients” contained in the instruments. I wondered if the experiences of the maker, as he worked, could be converted into a more tangible form. The phenomenological approach, also recently discovered, suggested itself as being a possible way to reveal the powerful, unspoken psychological processes and energies which I could palpably feel in the workshop.

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