Category Archives: Updates

Martin Doyle In Recovery Mode

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In a previous post, we gave notice that Martin Doyle was going to be unavailable for a few weeks due to having to go to hospital for an operation. Martin has now had that operation (August 07, 2018) and it was a biggie – a quadruple bypass open heart surgery.

We are happy to announce that the operation went very well and Martin is now in recovery mode. What is remarkable is the rate of his recovery – something that the nursing staff have been commenting on quite a bit. He was in CVICU for 24 hours and within a few short hours of being sent from there to the recovery ward, Martin’s daughter Aoife recorded the following short video of Martin sitting up in his hospital bed playing a tune on his whistle! His comment, “It was good to play the whistle as the music is so healing.”

It just goes to show that you can’t keep a good man down!

We will post another update as time passes. Thanks to everyone for their prayers and messages of goodwill for Martin’s wellbeing. This heartfelt support has been really helpful and is much appreciated by Martin, his family and close friends.

A Break, A Birthday, Some Tunes

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A BREAK

Martin Doyle will be unavailable for a few weeks from Sunday August 05 as he is going to hospital for an operation. Apologies for any inconvenience.

A BIRTHDAY

Martin DoyleSunday August 05 also happens to be Martin’s birthday – he has seen 67 summers and looks 50! Happy birthday and congratulations Martin! Thank you for the many good and great qualities that you offer to the world through what you do and who you are.

“When people play music, they offer people flowers. When people make flutes, they offer people seeds.” – Martin Doyle.

SOME TUNES

And what’s a birthday without some music? The following tune is called ‘King Of The Blind’ – a Turlough O’Carolan composition that featured in Nicholas Carolan’s facsimile edition of John & William Neal, A Collection of the Most Celebrated Irish Tunes proper for the violin, German flute or hautboy that was first published in 1724. For this piece Martin Doyle is playing one of his own baroque flutes.


For more samples of musicians playing Martin Doyle’s flutes, kindly visit this page: Flute Music »

Here is a lovely rendition of King of the Blind played on harp by Ann Heymann – the instrument that Turlough O’Carolan played during his lifetime.

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New Flute Cases

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From August 2016, Martin Doyle is offering a new variety of flute cases. The standard flute case offered with the purchase of a flute will be a wooden case as pictured below.

A keyless Martin Doyle D flute in one of the new wooden flute cases.

A keyless Martin Doyle D flute in one of the new wooden flute cases.

Martin is also offering the option of either plain or carved leather cases at extra cost for those who prefer their flutes protected by leather.

Recent Additions: Testimonials & Responsive Template

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Update ThumbnailMartin Doyle Flutes recently received two testimonial comments from customers and his website has had a facelift in the form of a resposive template.

Two New Testimonials

Martin Doyle has recently received two very glowing and kind testimonials for his flute making efforts. The first testimonial is from Irish flute player Mike Kenneally of County Galway:

I love the flute, Martin. Maybe I should say what it is I like about it. Well, first of all it vibrates very freely without much effort of blowing. It is finely in tune with itself and the tone is rich and smooth. The keyed notes have a clarity and strength that I have not encountered before, and I think that ending the flute at the low D makes all the difference to that note. Another good point that I have noticed is that it is very easy to do breath vibrato on it. So all in all a job very well done. Congratulations. I can perhaps, appreciate more than most the work that went into making such a superior instrument, because I do a bit of woodturning myself.

The second testimonial is from German flute player Stefan Thamm of Freiburg:

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Recent Additions To Martin Doyle Flutes

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Some recent additions to Martin Doyle’s website:

New Testimonial

Martin Doyle recently sent a flute to Russia and, after some initial delays, it finally reached the hands of its new owner who kindly expressed his joy with these words:

Ivan Pustovalov

Ivan Pustovalov

Hello, Mr Doyle!

I finally got the flute and it is incredibly beautiful! You are an expert in beauty and the sound is perfect! I have never seen and never played a flute easier than this one. This is a work of art for me!

Lately I’ve been studying a lot about the relationship between geometry and the sound of flutes. But the strong D of this flute – a mystery to me. I do not know how you manage to do this. This flute permits me to do the impossible! Unfortunately, I don’t quite know very well English, to tell you my impressions! But, believe me, it’s endless! I have very long dreamed of a flute like this and now the dream has come true!

Sincerely,
Ivan Pustovalov.

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Fingering Charts Now Available

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Martin Doyle playing a keyless D fluteIn the interests of serving those who play simple system flutes, Martin Doyle has added fingering charts for simple system keyless D flutes to his website. Printable PDF versions of the fingering charts are also available to download.

These fingering charts are inspired by the fingering charts published by Johann Joachim Quantz (1697–1773) in his treatise On Playing the Flute which was first published in 1752. Martin Doyle studied Quantz at the beginning of his flute making career and found On Playing the Flute to be a great source of inspiration and information regarding simple system flutes and eighteenth century music in general.

Martin Doyle's fingering chart for simple system keyless D flutes

Martin Doyle’s fingering chart for simple system keyless D flutes

Martin Doyle’s fingering charts can be viewed here: Fingering Charts For Keyless D Flutes »

GRATITUDE

While Martin Doyle essentially designed these fingering charts, a huge THANK YOU has to go to our good friend Asankita in New Zealand for patiently and diligently creating the fingering chart graphics (as per above) that are now on Martin’s website. Thank you for your many kindnesses brother – you are in line for sainthood!

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 »