WELCOME
TO
THE
WEBSITE
OF
KATE
WALSH
WHO?
Welcome to the world of Kate Walsh and
her alter ego Tootling Ted.
You have come to this site, maybe
because you have seen one of her adverts, or heard one of her recordings or
perhaps even share her special interest in the Flute d’ amore (see below) and would like to get to
know more about her.
Kate is a
musician in the widest and best sense.
Music is her passion: not just the more intellectual and abstruse
classics but all music. It is a passion that drives her. It is not something she wants to keep to
herself but she wants to share with everyone she meets.
First and foremost this makes her into a performer. Every performer needs to find that special
instrument they relate to best and for Kate
from an early age this has been the flute.
When she was younger she was also an accomplished singer, but eventually
she had to make a choice and decided the flute was the more important to her
It also makes her into
a superb, inspirational teacher. She is able to motivate her students, young
and old, with her passion.
Kate is
fully professionally qualified both as a performer and a teacher.
WHY TOOTLING TED?
Teddy Bears are generally perceived as warm cuddly and
friendly – just the image Kate wants
to convey in her public persona. Not only that; she has been no mean collector
of said beasts herself. In her previous
flat at one stage the bears were close to taking the place over.
For these reasons Kate adopted Tootling Ted as her trade mark right from the beginning.
KATE THE FLAUTIST
Kate originally studied flute at the
London College of Music with Ann Cherry and graduated with the full spectrum of
qualifications. She subsequently pursued her studies with Colin Fleming of the
Ulster Orchestra and in various master classes with other international
flautists. Her postgraduate qualifications are an M.A. from City University,
London and an
LGSMD from the Guildhall School of Music and a PGCE from Roehampton.
Her
performing career has embraced all types of music. She has played with a wide
range of local, national and regional ensembles and orchestras including the
Northern Ballet Theatre and the Bournemouth Symphony and Dorset Opera in their
acclaimed 2007 production of Turandot. She is solo flute in Vale Winds and has played with many other bands. She plays regularly with
the North London Philharmonia
and the All Keyed Up flute ensemble. She particularly enjoys working
in pit bands and has performed in many operas, shows and musicals, ranging from
Gilbert and Sullivan to Benjamin Britten.
She lives
with her husband and her dog Henry in a comfortable house in West
London where she is at last able to have her own music room and
conduct rehearsals without disturbing anybody.
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Tootling Ted’s Services – What Kate has to offer
Kate, with some help from her friends, is able to satisfy many of
the varied demands imposed on musicians.
Musician to Musician – Who and what fixers want
If you are a fixer looking for a flautist/woodwind player look no further. This website and her C.V. shows that Kate
has a proven track record. For details of this experience, please follow the
link to her formal C.V. KATE%20WALSH%20cv.htmWhatever
the difficulties, whatever the problems , she has a remarkable knack of always
delivering the goods be it sight reading
on performance of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet ballet by the Northern Ballet
Theatre or passing her LGSMD exam with raging pharyngitis. Kate’s
experience, both at home and abroad, is that of a jobbing musician, prepared to
turn her hand to almost anything. She is
in a position where she can accept any assignment based on flute playing. She is also able to double on clarinet and
saxophone, although not to such a high level. As an orchestral player, she has
a wide knowledge of the standard classical repertoire. She has significant
experience as an orchestral soloist and can offer a range of modern and
classical concertos. She is also much in
demand to play in shows and operas. Her
solo flute position in two bands has meant that she has got to know much of the
light and popular repertoire.
Kate has over the years performed many recitals,
both with and without piano. She is very flexible and likes to structure her
programmes to suit the requirements of each organiser. She has a wide knowledge
of standard and lesser-known flute repertoire ranging from J.S.Bach
to Oliver Knussen. She also frequently includes light
music, folk songs and jazz-influenced pieces.
In her recitals Kate often
shows off the various members of the flute family. She has the complete set
apart from the(five foot high) contrabass which she
would need a ladder to play.
Musician
to audience – What the public wants
You don’t have to be a fixer to call upon Kate
& Tootling Ted’s services. Private individuals and organisations often need
musicians. Kate, with some help from her
friends, is able to satisfy many of these requirements. Her solutions are
usually, but not always flute-based which many people find refreshingly
different. They also often involve the
group All Keyed
Up which is a flute group made up of professional
and semi-professional players. It
consists of a core group of four but may be expanded up to nine if
required. Over recent years they have
built up an extensive repertoire of music for all occasions. What gives
individuality and richness to their sound is that they can create a rich
palette of sound colours through using all the 
members of the flute family
which they have at their disposal.
All Keyed Up offers standard wedding pieces,
should they be required for the service.
They also have a range of popular selections available which go down
very well as background music at the reception. They are popular too for
dinners and garden parties. Their list
of engagements has included a Cambridge
College, City dinners and the famous Chewton
Glen Hotel
in Hampshire.
Another area where discreet background music goes down well is at
business conferences/conventions. Kate has had experience of these and would be keen
to get some bookings for All Keyed Up
If you think Kate and/or
friends can contribute to your musical event, please Email Kate on kateflute@btinternet.com or phone her on 07889 716181 and
she will be very happy to discuss your requirements and suggest how she/they
might be able to help.
KATE THE RESEARCHER
When doing her MA a few years ago, Kate was fortunate to come upon a subject for her dissertation
where very little work had been done – flutes d’
amore and their repertoire ( a now
rare type of flute pitched in A or B flat) – and she therefore had the opportunity
to do some original research. The MA was
duly completed and she was soon recognised, to her surprise, as something of an
expert in the field.
There has been interest in this work from all over the world. Kate has written an article
summarising her findings which has been published in New
Zealand and Brazil. It may be consulted by following this link Flute d'amore.
SANKYO FLUTES,a Japanese manufacturer,
has used an edited version of her findings on their web site flauto
d'amore for some time to give
background information on their new
Flute d’ amore in A which they are selling as an additional instrument for
bands.
Kate is aware that this is a very
large subject and believes that her work to date has done little more than
scratch the surface. She would very much
like to obtain funding to pursue these researches with the eventual aim of a
doctorate.
Being a practising musician, this is not just an academic exercise
for her. She and her audiences have been
captivated by the rich, mellifluous, if not to say sexy sound these instruments
make. It is her aim to bring to life some of the extensive repertoire she has
uncovered. She has created her own edition of a Concerto in F for Flute d’amore and strings by J.A Hasse
(1699-1783) which was performed in London
in 2003. It is an attractive piece,
reminiscent of Vivaldi, and she is very interested in further performances. She
has other works in preparation. She is also interested in demonstrating this is
a viable contemporary instrument and to this end has had contact with several
composers, asking them to write her a piece.
KATE THE TEACHER
Teaching the
flute
As we saw
above, the strength of Kate’s
passion for music and the flute has made her an inspirational teacher. In her
more than twenty years experience, she has taught the flute at all levels from
absolute beginner to post diploma and to all ages from six to sixty. She has taught privately and for a number of
music services. She was among the first to be qualified to teach the Suzuki
Method for flute in the UK. Whilst working as a peripatetic teacher for
Ealing, she pioneered the teaching of fifes in the borough. She is very interested to develop Wider
Opportunities schemes involving the teaching of the flute.
Teaching
Children
In 2004 Kate obtained a Post Graduate Certificate of
Education from Roehampton specialising in Music which qualified her to
teach Key Stages 2 and 3 (i.e. ages 7-14) . In practice, to date she has tended
to concentrate on the younger age group and recently has also had some
experience of Key Stage 1. Kate has
a particular interest in developing the role of music in the curriculum and the benefits it can offer for the
child’s whole learning experience. She
is also a strong supporter of the various Music Manifesto initiatives
. Music manifesto
****************************************
Kate is also
not one to turn down a challenge, to do things which are slightly out of the
ordinary for jobbing musicians. Thus she
has played for afternoon tea on a cruise ship, entertained (with others) the
local Hells Angels in a German bus station, provided background music at a
furniture convention and has also entertained passing shoppers and bemused lorry drivers in Enniskillen High
Street with a spirited rendition of the first movement of the Mozart D major
concerto. She has also been known to play piccolo in a samba band and the cow
horn in a major London
night club.
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
DISCOGRAPHY
WHAT KATIE DID first appeared in 1992. It
includes a wide selection of classics and lesser-known repertoire for solo
flute and with piano. The highlights are a moving performance of the great Sonata
in A by Franck and the Partita in A Minor by J.S.Bach.
Other lesser-known gems include the whole of La flûte
de Pan by Jules Mouquet and the Saint-Saens Romance.
Available directly from 80 Long Lane and
specialist music shops, £10.95
INVOCATION – Released in 1998, it contains
an exceptionally wide range of music, mainly from the unaccompanied repertoire.
There are also tracks with mezzo-soprano(Jane Money)
and one with viola (Alicia Chislett). You can hear the full spectrum from
traditional folk tunes to settings of Japanese haiku (with voice) in a haunting contemporary
idiom. Japan is also
represented with two, intense, highly spiritual pieces – Requiem and Mei
by Fukushima.
Kokopeli by K Hoover evokes the
desolate plains of the American West before the coming of the white man. The
classic repertoire in this disc includes "A Minor Sonata" from C.P.E.
Bach, and unaccompanied version of the C Major sonata by J.S. Bach and one of
the twelve "Fantasias" by Telemann. Particularly worthy of note is an
original setting of one of Kate's
poems from Epithalamium
for flute and voice by Richard Peirson, her former
accompanist
All this
for £13.95 from Long Lane or specialist flute and record shops
Payment is acceptable in any currency. Credit cards cannot be accepted
CONTACT
POINTS
Details of
her availability for playing may be obtained from Musicians Answering Service - 01306 500022
For all
other information, please contact
80 Long Lane
Ickenham
Uxbridge
Middlesex
UB10 8SX
United Kingdom
Phone:
(44) (0)1895 674278
Fax: (44) (0)1895 674278
Mobile: (44)
(0)7889 716181
Email: Kateflute@btinternet.com:
Kate@tootlingted.co.uk
On peut vous
renseigner sur Kate en français si
vous desirez
Fragen auf Deutsch
kônnen auch beantwortet werden.