Michael Clarkson Collection

      Here is a photo from Michael Clarkson. In the photo are a Rudall Carte, Besson, Boosey, two Hawkes in D and Eb, a Butler, maybe a German or two.

He also sent these lovely clips:

Rudall Carte
Hawkes and Son Eb
Hawkes and Son D
Butler
Boosey and Co.
Besson

Michael keeps an excellent website of  flute tunes here

Also go out and buy his  excellent CDs
The Pleasures of Hope w/ Harry Bradley
The Far Set w/ Gerry Jones
(Really enjoy the song, Shipyard Slips)

Owen Frain, photos

         Owen Frain was the piccolo player on some recordings of Dan Sullivan's Shamrock Band.  Owen is pictured here playing with his son Gene. He was from Mayo and came to the Boston area. Both are mentioned in See You at the Hall, an excellent book on Irish music in Boston particularly the large dancehall scene in Dudley St. Roxbury.  Here is a thread from the Session.org touching on Frain and the Shamrock Band.

Jim Gornall

             As far as I know there are only three full length piccolo recordings of Irish music, the Doonan records, and Picturesque Piccolo, by Jim Gornall Jim now lives in Listowel, Co. Kerry,  He plays a Hammy Hamilton piccolo. I asked Jim a couple of questions.

How did you get started playing? 


 I was 25 and had been learning the tin whistle for about a year. I went to the folk club in Liverpool and heard John Doonan playing. That did it for me. I decided there and then that i wanted to play the piccolo. I got cassette recordings of his 2 LPs and learnt them off, trying to copy his style and ornamentation. Once I started learning new tunes then I began to develop my own style. Not deliberately, but it just happened over years.

Do you play the flute as well? 

 I have a flute and i used to play it many years ago but gave it up. I found it adversely affected my piccolo playing.

Do you feel the piccolo offers any advantage over the flute? Or why have you chosen the piccolo for your solo recording? 

Piccolo is a great session instrument. You don't need much room and can clearly hear yourself. Other than that it's just good to be playing something different.

What make is your instrument? Hammy? What instrument did you start on? Did you have any trouble finding a good? Piccolo? 

My first decent piccolo was a wedding present from the late Mick Johnson, a noted fiddle and concertina player who was living in Liverpool at the time. It was ok but was way out of tune at the bottom end. I believe they were actually made that way on purpose because it made it easier to get the third octave.Later I picked one up from a mail order firm called Hobgoblin.It was a great buy for, I think, £25 at the time. That lasted me for years even though I had to get Hammy ( Colin Hamilton, Coolea, Co. Cork ) to repair it and re-pad it a few times. I actually used it for my CD before Hammy declared it unrepairable eventually and made me a new one which is,by the way, a fabulous instrument.

Have you met many others who play? Have you had any contact with older players? 

I have been playing for over 35 years and John Doonan is still the only player I have actually seen. I have been in touch with Mick, one of his sons, who I believe still plays the piccolo although he plays the the pipes too.

Here is a clip of Jim playing a couple of hornpipes

Special thanks to Jim Gornall

On eBay this week

           Here are a couple of  piccolos that sold on eBay recently.

The first is a Hawkes and Sons Crown AZ. These flutes are highly sought after by flute bands. This piccolo sold for £311.75. A high price for a simple system  piccolo. I am not sure why these attract much more attention.

The second is a boxwood piccolo marked J. Russell. It failed to attract any bids with a starting price of £125.

The third  is a fine looking French ebony and ivory piccolo with silver key and separate foot.  The buy it now is a high   625 dollars.

There is also a Ralph Sweet keyless rosewood piccolo
With a buy it now of £75.

I will try to only post interesting instruments that have ended or have a buy it now.

Terry McGee, maker

         Terry McGee a well known wooden flute maker in Malua Bay, Australia, also makes simple system wooden piccolos. These beautiful examples are in red ivory wood and boxwood, with silver rings and slides. Terry mentions keys on his page so would probably do a keyed version as well. I asked Terry a few questions:

Are you still making them and taking orders for them?

Orders are pretty rare, but I probably still could make them (I'd need to check on tubing supplies if tuning slide is needed).

When did you make your first?

Probably back in the late 1970's or early 1980's.

What was the model?

My first model was a simple cylindrical type.  I mostly made these for kids, as they find the stretch on conical wooden flutes impossible.  Later I acquired a Rudall Carte conical piccolo and made some copies of these, but felt that they were a bit shrill for Irish music, due to the thin (11mm) bore required to cover three octaves in orchestral use.  So I then developed a 12.5mm bore instrument, which returned power and richness to the bottom octave.  I experimented with bores up to 14mm, but, while the bottom octave became fabulous, the 2nd octave starts to become sullen.

How did you decide to give one a go?

I was already making flutes (since about 1975), but kids couldn't handle the stretch.  It was awful to think that kids wanted to learn flute but couldn't.  It was clear that something had to be done!

Do you play much piccolo yourself?

No.  Flute and guitar are my main instruments

I think you can get a decent idea of the sound of a McGee piccolo in this clip

Special thanks to Terry McGee.

                                        

Butler Flageolet / Piccolo Combination

        This Butler combination set was sold through Early Musical Treasures. They come up on eBay fairly frequently. This example has the original ivory beak. Last week a band flute/ flageolet in B marked Improved sold for about 50 pounds. It was missing its beak. I wondered where one would get  a replacement beak made.

Painting: Boy with Piccolo

   
            A painting by John French Sloan dated 1909. Sloan was a well known member of the so called Ashcan school who were noted for painting urban New York City scenes and the impoverished.