Fantasies on Celtic Airs for Flute and Piano

These arrangements of four well-known celtic songs — The Water is Wide, The Skye Boat Song, Londonderry Air and Down by the Sally Gardens — make imaginative use of the original tunes, and are suitable for players from around Grade 5–6 upwards. The first two are at the easier end of that scale, with simple statements of the tune followed by variations in different keys. Londonderry Air takes a similar form but the variations are a bit more challenging, while Down by the Sally Gardens is the most technically difficult in terms of fingering, large intervals and rhythmic patterns.

All four make much use of tempo changes and expressive instructions; there’s plenty of opportunity to think about how you would interpret espressivo and rubato in different sections. They really show off the full range of the flute; I particu-larly enjoyed the low version of the tune in The Skye Boat Song which follows straight after a top octave variation. The style and harmonies reflect the composer’s American background, and the variations show her fondness for improvising. They’re an enjoy-able way to explore these traditional tunes and to experience different ways of elaborating on a simple melody and they could even be used to spark your own ideas (or by teachers as a prompt for students) about how to improvise on a tune.