My first Fleadh

In a new departure for me, I recently ventured into the world of competitive tin whistle playing; last weekend was my first experience of attending a Fleadh, at the Comhaltas Midlands regional event in Birmingham, UK. For those now questioning “what even is a Fleadh?”, keep on reading…

Whistle playing update

It’s been a fair while since my last post about whistle playing, almost 2.5 years. Probably there’s a lot more I could write about on how that’s going, but for the purposes of putting today’s topic (why would I possibly think to enter a whistle playing competition!) in context, I’ll give a quick recap/update.

Sessions

One of the nice aspects of folk music is that it can be played in informal sessions, often open for anyone to join, and these feature particularly strongly in the context of Irish traditional music.

In fact, there are at least two in Cambridge, at the White Swan on Mondays and Panton Arms on Thursdays. I’ve occasionally been able to attend these (typically they are a bit late at night to fit well with my early morning commute) and it’s been quite inspirational/motivational for me, even if I only know a small proportion of the tunes.

Comhaltas and lessons

I’m pretty much accepting that learning to play to a standard to fully participate in sessions is going to be an ongoing struggle since I more or less eschewed music entirely in my youth and had never thought to learn an instrument until my 40s. (I should probably post more about the learning process, but that’s another story.)

Therefore, when it came to my attention that there was an organisation offering lessons in Irish music, including whistle lessons, I thought I’d better give it a go.

Cambridge Comhaltas is the Cambridge branch of Comhaltas, an Irish cultural organisation that has branches around the world.

Long story short, I’ve been taking lessons there for the last couple of years and also joining in with their beginner/improvers session. The very patient tuition I’ve received from Sylvia has definitely helped a lot.

Fleadhanna

One significant part of Comhaltas’s work is the organisation of Fleadh Cheoil, music festivals (Fleadhanna is the plural of Fleadh) with a focus on competitions.

The largest of these, the All Ireland Fleadh, is a huge event with thousands of competitors and apparently “upwards of 600,000 visitors”.

There are other Fleadhanna on a smaller scale around Ireland and around the world. Typically, a number of members of Cambridge Comhaltas attend the (UK) Midlands Fleadh, which is a qualifying competition for the All Britain Fleadh.

When I was asked if I wanted to go, I needed to give it some thought…

I was told: “It’ll be fun”; “There’ll be beginner whistle players there”; “You can get feedback on your playing”; “Last time I’d only been playing accordion for a week and it was fine”…

And I could also get a lift to competition and that it would be an unusual day out. (Unfortunately, it seemed impossible to get to by train on a Sunday without it being a 3-day trip.)

So with ~5 weeks notice, I decided OK, I’d do it – at the very least, I could offer support to the rest.

But I realised I’d better get down to some practice and try to work out a set of four presentable tunes.

These had to be from different categories of tune as per the rules, which thankfully included tune types I knew some examples of (jigs, reels, hornpipes, polkas, slides…), some I’d heard of (flings, mazurkas…) and some I’m still intrigued by (schottische, germans…).

The rules also mentioned that for Category 4D (aka adult whistle), you need to include a slow air.

The tunes

These are the four tunes that I decided to play, recorded on the day before the Fleadh, after my few weeks of somewhat dedicated practice.

The Dawn Chorus

This is a jig that I’ve been taught relatively recently. Notably, it’s among the first tunes that I’ve been able to learn almost entirely by ear, following my teacher (and many repetitions of a recording).

While practicing it a bit more intently for the Fleadh, I took a look at how I want to do cuts on the B notes.

For the unfamiliar, the B on a whistle is played with only the topmost finger down. A cut is an ornament that involves breaking the note by very briefly lifting a finger. In this case, it leaves you with no fingers down, which feels like a risk for dropping the whistle.

Before this, I’d been chickening out and always using taps (briefly applying the next finger down) to separate B notes, but I’m now convinced that the two approaches do indeed sound different, so I spent a little time exploring how to cut the Bs in the first part of tune without fear. (The two choices seem to be either trust that the whistle won’t actually move much as you momentarily remove all fingers or support it with only the D finger, which does’t change the note.)

The Rights of Man

Of the five hornpipes I know, this well-known one was selected as (1) it’s probably my current favourite, and (2) it’s in a minor key so (I’m advised) it contrasts a little with my other tunes.

The version I’m playing is similar to the first setting on TheSession page for the Rights Of Man.

Sí Bheag Sí Mhór

This is one of the only slower tunes that I know. As far as I knew, it originated from Turlough O’Carolan, an Irish harpist born in the 17th century. I assumed it must be a legit, if perhaps unoriginal, choice for a ‘slow air’. Wikipedia mentions ‘one author’ that describes it as ‘beautiful old Irish air, usually played simply and leisurely’. We’ll come back to this later…

The Boyne Hunt

I felt I didn’t have time to learn an entire new reel, so considered my existing repertoire (I definitely know fewer reels than jigs).

Most of the tunes I felt I knew best are very commonly played (probably in the top ten of any list of ‘popular Irish reels’). Looking over my list, I realised that the Boyne Hunt, which I’d learnt relatively early on (as it is one of the few reels in the Tin Whistle Tutor Book I was following at the time), was perhaps a bit more unusual and I felt relatively fluent with it.

The only issue is it’s a very a short tune (one play through is 16 bars compared to 32 for most of the other reels I know). Nevertheless, I decided to try to polish it up a bit.

While looking at different versions for variations I might apply, it came to my attention that the tune has a less commonly played third part. I hadn’t heard that part in sessions, but it features in Chief O’Neill’s 1903 transcription of the tune, so presumably was big in 1900s Chicago.

With ~3 weeks to go, I decided to learn this extra part and append it to the version I knew!

One particular challenge with this one was not to break into Rolling in the Ryegrass, aka The Shannon Breeze (a tune commonly paired with it in sessions).

For some reason, I found myself a bit prone to that and obviously thinking to ‘definitely not do that’ didn’t help, even my first take at recording it the day before the competition does it:

I also learnt that this tune might have originated in Scotland (I’m not sure on Scottish tunes for Fleadhanna) as ‘The Perthshire Hunt’, but decided not to worry too much about that aspect.

Preparation

To prepare, I managed to spend a bit of focussed time working on these tunes (particularly the new part of the Boyne Hunt) to build the memory for them and make them as fluent as I could.

For pretty much the entire month leading up to the Fleadh, I put a hold on learning other new tunes and practiced these tunes exclusively. Thankfully, I didn’t get bored with them or find that they started to feel stale, despite some slightly long practice sessions.

I was looking for ways to introduce a little variation as I played through the tunes (though I’m not up to composing my own variations), either taking options from slightly different settings or just varying the phrasing and ornamentation.

I can’t yet do variations in a very spontaneous way, but at least felt I was able to work towards a few different options for each tune (and, for better or worse, I wasn’t intending to tightly choreograph exactly how I’d play them).

Competition day (6th April 2025)

We left Cambridge bright and early and had an uneventful journey to the venue for the Fleadh, which was held in the lecture theatres and classrooms of the Birmingham Newman University.

On arrival, I bought a programme, and on flicking through it saw that there were only three competitors listed for the ‘Over 18 Feadóg/Whistle’ competition (I’d guessed there might have been a few more given the time slot in the schedule).

I was also getting a bit nervous, so decided to sneak off for a practice in an empty classroom, which I felt went reassuringly OK.

To distract myself from the nerves, I also visited the ‘Under 12 Singing’ (lovely) and ‘Over 18 Accordion’ (amazing) competitions, both of which had competitors from Cambridge, before it was time to make my way to the whistle competition.

When I got there, it became apparent that one of the whistle players had dropped out, so there were actually only two of us! And I was slightly relieved to see that the crowd of spectators was also rather small [in total less than half a dozen people (plus the two judges) to witness the ‘spectacle’ of my playing].

I was quite fine with Paul, the other competitor, going first, and getting to see what to expect.

The actual whistle playing itself was a bit of a blur to me. It was quickly apparent that Paul was quite a different level of musician to me (i.e. a much higher level), so I could at least avoid having to worry about the competitive aspect of the day.

That said, I think I acquitted myself as well as might be expected.

I’m sure I rushed the tunes and, during the rest of the day, a few parts came back to me where I might not necessarily have played all the right notes in all the right order.

Possibly, even one or two of the notes might have been from Rolling in the Ryegrass.

So no it wasn’t a disaster – could certainly have been even worse! In advance, I’d had some worries that I could completely forget how to start the tunes, or completely lose track part way through. During my preparation, I’d also had disconcertingly frequent occasions when I’d lost track of the parts/repetitions of the tunes.

After we’d both finished, the judges gave a summing up with a fair amount of detail.

The main feedback for me was that Sí Bheag Sí Mhór was not in fact a slow air.

Oh dear.

More details below, but in summary, the judges explained that slow airs shouldn’t have a discernable pulse. Internally, I took some solace in the implication that my rendition of the tune did have a discernable pulse.

The good to come out of this misunderstanding is that if I’d realised in advance, I doubt I’d have entered the competition, which in hindsight would have been a shame.

Another suggestion directed at me was advice to work on strengthening the rhythm of my playing by either practicing more with a metronome or tapping my foot.

I’m sure this is good advice and will be continuing/redoubling my efforts in that area. It’s reminding me that it’s only relatively recently that I’ve developed enough basic musicality to either tap my foot or play to a metronome at all, and it’s definitely something to consolidate before worrying about fancier aspects of playing. (You might notice there is some erratic foot tapping in the recordings – there’s definitely room for improvement.)

Unsurprisingly, Paul came first in the competition, with the option to proceed to the All Britain Fleadh. I didn’t qualify for the All Britain with the judges mentioning, correctly I’m sure, that they felt I’d not be able to learn a slow air in the time available.

Afterwards, Paul and I had a good chat about whistles, and I got some good tips as well as demonstrating to Paul exactly why he’d won (he’d missed my playing first time round).

However, by the time I’d had lunch, I realised I’d missed some of the other events (so I remain curious about the standard of whistle playing in other age groups – but will say most juniors at Cambridge are far better than me!).

I unfortunately also missed the lilting competition, but did catch the judge’s summing up in which he couldn’t resist giving a small demonstration, and also saw some of the group performances.

Following the competitions, there was a prize giving (with interlude to sing the Hokey Cokey in Irish), and a short session before it was time to head home.

Slow airs

Since the day, I’ve been looking into what constitutes a slow air, and it seems that there’s maybe not a clear cut definition, in that it can depend on the context, and I’ve seen various forum threads exploring this confusion (including the question of whether tunes such as Sí Bheag Sí Mhór can ever be a slow air).

However, in the context of Irish Trad, most descriptions tend to include the lack of a definable metre (or maybe having a variable metre) and a similarity to traditional sean-nós (‘old-style’) song, which tallies with the judges’ comments.

In practice, it seems that most slow airs by this definition are typically based on pre-existing songs (often in the Irish language).

For the purposes of Fleadhanna, what ultimately matters is the opinion of Comhaltas. For their Irish Traditional Music Exams (which are apparently a thing), Comhaltas publish a syllabus that lists the following slow airs, so presumably they would all be acceptable at Fleadhanna:

• Port na bPúcaí
• Sliabh Geal gCua
• Táimse im’Chodhladh
• Coinnleach Ghlas an Fhómhair
• De Bharr na gCnoc
• Blind Mary
• A Spailpín a Rún
• Sé Fáth mo Bhuartha
• Úna Bhán
• Maidin Luan Chincíse
• Úr Chill an Chreagáin
• An Raibh tú ag an gCarraig
• Amhrán na Trá Báine
• Ar Éirinn ní nEosfainn cé hí
• An Mhaighdean Mhara
• An Caisideach Bán
• The Dear Irish Boy
• Rocking the Cradle
• An GoirtÃn Eornan
• Bean Dubh an Ghleanna
• Sliabh na mBan
• Liam Ó Raghallaigh
• Mo Mhúirnín Bán
• Aisling Gheal
• Seolfaimíd araon na Géanna romhainn
• Na Connery’s

It’s notable that at least some of these have lyrics in English, which might make them easier to memorise (as a non-Irish speaker). I’m also noting that the very first tune in this list, Port na bPúcaí, doesn’t seem to originate from a song and was apparently composed by fairies, or possibly whales!

One tune that I was surprised to also sometimes see listed as an instrumental slow air is The Bonny Bunch of Roses. I’m familiar with this one as performed by June Tabor with Oysterband, and that version has a very strong rhythmic overlaid element to June Tabor’s vocals! The version performed by Séamus Ennis is perhaps more what is meant.

I now feel I should have a goal to learn a slow air, regardless of any competitions.

Final thoughts

Overall, I feel like this was a good experience, if a little bit terrifying at times:

• it prompted me to dig a bit deeper into my playing,
• gave some ideas for improvement,
• revealed a whole new and quite different genre of tunes to explore,
• and was generally a fun day out.

So, would I do it again? I think the answer has to be yes. I’m a little unsure about the competitive aspect, but find the Fleadh mission statement reassuring:

Fleadhanna Ceoil shall be held to propagate, consolidate and perpetuate our Irish traditional music [...] by presenting it in a manner worthy of its dignity [...]. It is not intended that competitions should be merely a means by which a competitor may gain a prize or defeat a rival, but rather a medium in which ‘these competitors may pace each other on the road to excellence’.

My “pace on the road to excellence” might not be the fastest, but undoubtedly this event and my preparation for it gave me some nudges in the right direction.

I wouldn’t want my limited musical skills to be construed as disrespecting the tradition, but hope it was apparent that I’d made some effort and cared about what I was doing.

I feel music is something that should be inclusive for all, and guess that it would be positive to have a few more competitors at whatever standard. I’d definitely encourage anyone else that might be considering such endeavours to give it a go!

I also might promote The Trip to Birmingham higher up my list of reels to learn.

---

Extra shots

• Perhaps Carolan didn’t compose the tune Sí Bheag Sí Mhór (also known as the Bonny Cuckoo) at all…
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sí_Bheag%2C_Sí_Mhór