with Gareth Mclearnon & Pete Long  at Plymouth University

4Flutes were delighted to see so many flautists at this years event. We welcome participants from at least 3 counties here in the South West and six flautists that travelled all the way from St Marys on the Isles of Scilly.

Pete and Gareth were a great combination with a host of ways to get the most out of our playing.

Improvisation skills, extended techniques and tone were all covered in sessions with the three tutors; Gareth Mclearnon, Pete Long and Ruth Ballantyne.

Beginners to teachers everyone left having learnt something new. Participants were positively buzzing after this day of remarkable and inspiring tuition.

The day was rounded off by a group performance from all participants lead by Pete Long. They all played with no music and solos given by: Jonathan Fry, Peter Hurford, Becky Martin & Kate Whetter.

Gareth McLearnon
Gareth began his flute playing career in his native Belfast, making his way through the ranks of the 39th Old Boys Flute Band, before moving to London in 1999 to attend the Guildhall School of Music & Drama. Whilst still a student there Gareth recorded with the legendary flute-player, Sir James Galway and Harpist Marisa Robles for the charity CD Songs for Alexander.

Gareth is also an active arranger of music, and is collaborating with Sir James on a collection of Irish Flute and Piano music for Theodore Presser Publishers, which is due for release in 2007 - this all happened following Sir James playing one of Gareth's arrangements on Live at the Lincoln Center to a US TV Audience of around 8 million people in December 2004.

Gareth is a recipient of the 2003 Ian Fleming Charitable Trust Music Education Award, a Countess of Munster Musical Trust Award and was awarded full scholarships to attend Sir James Galways Masterclasses in Italy (2003) and Switzerland (2004) Gareth has given recitals all over the UK and Europe for the Ireland Funds, Invest Northern Ireland, and the Concordia Foundation, and was a Making Music Recommended Artist for 2006.

Gareth gained a place in Southbank Sinfonia - "Britains Professional Orchestral Academy" for its 2005 season which involved being part of almost 90 concerts including fully staged opera, World Premieres, solo performances and a solo concerto. His professional Orchestral experience also includes playing in concerts and BBC TV & Radio recordings with the Ulster Orchestra, The London Pops Orchestra, Australian National Opera, he has played in West-End Shows and has toured with Nigel Kennedy. He is a founder member of EMFEB, an exciting young orchestra resident at St. Johns-at-Hackney.

Gareth is a Pearl Flutes International Artist and is also employed by Pearl Europe as their Flute Specialist, and Pearl Corporation in Nashville Tennessee as their Artist-in-Residence - he plays on one of Pearl's finest custom made 14K Gold Maesta instruments with a 14K Headjoint by Dana Sheridan.

Following a short career at NatWest Bank, Pete enrolled at the Royal College of Music where he laid down the foundations of what was to become a magnificent musical career.
Straight out of the college Pete hit the road with the National Youth Jazz Orchestra, and soon found himself part of the John Simons Rhumba Showband on the QE2, with his trademark orange frilly flamenco shirts and sassy sombreros becoming a familiar sight around the ports of the Caribbean.
On his return to the UK Pete joined the quartet Itchy Fingers and toured the world, working with Dizzy Gillespie, John Scofield and Chick Corea and he finally settled down to a six-year stint around the West End theatres, where his clarinet solo in the closing sequences of Oliver became legendary.
In recent years Pete returned to bandleading heading an organisation called the Echoes Of Ellington. This 21-piece band sets out to re-create the Duke Ellington sound by using original manuscripts from the Smithsonian Institute in Washington DC.
Pete has recently worked with Jools Holland's Rhythm and Blues Orchestra and the BBC Radio Big Band, and, in the course of playing with Jools, Pete has worked with Sir Paul McCartney, Chrissie Hynde, Jane Horrocks and Ray Davis. The famous oboe intro on Handbags and Gladrags by the Stereophonics (the theme tune of TV's The Office) is also Pete's work.

Events usually take place in October and details are posted as soon as they are available. If you have any suggestion for activities you would like included or flute players you might like to see, please let us know. Contact us

How to help 4Flutes and gain discount on events!

4Flutes is a registered charity and therefore relies on donated funds, grants and sponsorship. If you would like to help 4Flutes by donating your time you could earn up to 25% discount to the events by participating in concerts and recitals to raise funds for the charity. For each fund raising activity you attend in a year you can earn 5% off 4Flutes’ next event up to 25%, but only discount earned within the same year as the event will be valid for discount. For example if the event was held on the 3rd October 2004 any fund raising efforts from 3rd October 2003 would count. Activities don’t have to be those organised by 4Flutes but details of the event should be made known to 4Flutes in advance and discount will only be awarded once monies raised have been received by the charity.

The flute was kindly donated by Miyazawa for this 4Flutes event.

The draw took place at the end of the day from all those attending the event. The draw winner, picked at random by Clare Southworth, was Kate Whetter from Cornwall.

This years event was another great success with Clare on hand all day to help and encourage all those that took part. Participants enjoyed a selection of new music throughout the day including Simon Desorgher's "Full Steam Ahead" exploring the wide range of possiblities just with headjoints. There was also an enjoyable version of Ian Clarke's "Walk Like This" that includes a range of new techniques such as singing and playing, lip bending and jet whistles to great effect. This piece is great for players of all abilities with part 4 for those grade 1-2, part 3 grades 2-3 part 2 grades 4-5 and part 1 grade 6+. The day was a voyage of discovey for many, learning just what the flute can do and having great fun trying to create and control these new sounds!

This year's event was designed to include all aspects of the flute, the players, those who enjoy listening and the teachers who enthuse and inspire the players.

At the end of the first day participants delighted an audience of parents and friends with their achievements in a concert. Two of the tutors Clare Southworth and Ruth Ballantyne added to the concert by performing Doppler’s Andante and Rondo Duet accompanied by Tim Carey.

4Flutes events in 2003 and 2004 have been sponsored by Miyazawa. 4Flutes would like to thank Miyazawa for thier support and encouragement for these events and for the people who take part. Their generous donation of a new Trevor James, solid silver head flute for this years event is wonderful and I am sure the lucky winner will inspired for the future.

Miyazawa do a lot to support events like ours across the UK sponsoring artists like Clare to help and encourage players of all ages and abilities.

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