Flute & Whistle with Hamish Napier

Above: Hamish Napier

Listen to his album ‘The River’  here!

Sabhal Mòr Ostaig are excited to have award-winning and multi-instrumentalist folk musician Hamish Napier join their Short Course Programme for Easter 2017.

In this week long course, both flute and whistle players will come together through various workshops which will focus on developing a happy relationship with your instrument.  In the course, you will be discussing practice approaches and materials, ornamentation, intonation, tone, breathing technique, choosing good breathing places in tunes, and the four common ‘need to know’ scales (and how to get them sounding free-flowing and effortless on your flute).  The workshops will also prioritise popular Scottish folk session repertoire that fit beautifully on the flute. 

The course will be taught by ear and sheet music will be issued at the end of the day. Participants are encouraged to bring their own instruments, both Flutes & Whistles if you have them.  Boehm system / Metal flute players and low D whistlers are welcome too!

Hamish Napier grew up in Grantown-on-Spey in the Scottish Highlands, and then moved down to Glasgow to immerse himself in its famously vibrant music scene, where he studied a degree in Astronomy & Physics, and then a degree in Music at university level.  He was awarded a scholarship to study for a year at Boston’s Berklee College of Music, USA.

Hamish now teaches composition, music theory and wooden flute at Glasgow’s Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, and at music schools and festival all over the world.   Hamish currently plays in a dare-devil duo called Nae Plans with fiddler Adam Sutherland, involving completely unplanned, off-the-cuff performances. 

He has also recorded on over 30 folk albums with leading Scottish musicians such as: Donald Shaw, Karen Matheson, Martyn Bennett, Duncan Chisholm, Treacherous Orchestra, Battlefield Band and Eddi Reader.

Hamish’s debut album ‘The River’ was recently released which received a 5 star review adding to the several other glowing reviews he has received for his musical talent.

★★★★★ “Scintillating…brilliantly vivid”  The Scotsman [for his debut solo album ‘The River’]

“…one of Scotland’s busiest and most multi-faceted folk musicians…”  Sunday Herald

“Napier is one of the finest musicians in Scotland….his music is invigorating, passionate and steeped in tradition.” TMSA

“An excellent flute player.”  The Guardian