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.

A few years ago she became worried that perhaps there were other things in the world even more important than the flute. Once a gap in her educational background was filled, she had her epiphany and has become a fully-fledged primary school teacher (at the same time prioritising her performing) but still specialising in music.

A hallmark of Kate is her professional approach. In both her domains – performing and teaching - she is fully professionally qualified.

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.

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 the Royal Air Force Association President’s Band RAFA and 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

Musicians are sought for all kinds of different occasions. Kate, with some help from her friends, is able to satisfy a good deal of this demand.

Musician to Musician – Who and what fixers want

Fixers, for those who do not know, are people of power and influence in the musical world. They give musicians work, inviting them to play in a concert or function. Who they want, above all, are people with a proven track record who can deliver the goods on the night.

Through years of varied performing experience, Kate scores rather well in this area. For details of this experience, please follow the link to her formal C.V. Kate's CV Whatever 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.

Fixers also play a major role in local music groups where the demand is essentially for soloists and small chamber groups. 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.

Musician to audience – What the public wants

There are many occasions when the services of a musician may be called upon, both in the public and private spheres. Once again Kate, with some help from her friends, is able to satisfy most of these requirements. Her solutions are usually, but not always flute based which many people find very attractive and 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.

Musicians are often required at weddings. 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. In her current employment (see below) she is keen to develop Wider Opportunities schemes involving the teaching of 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. In her school she believes in developing her own individual scheme of work which she believes can be moulded more to the needs of her own students . She is also a strong supporter of the various Music Manifesto initiatives . Music manifesto

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^{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.}

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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.