At the age of five, I started playing the tin whistle. At age sixteen I bought an Eb Flute from Paul Davis not knowing the difference between an Eb Flute and D Flute. Paul Davis used to travel around the country selling flutes at the time. When my oldest brother, P.J. Hernon would come home from boarding school in Galway, I was not able to play with him because he was playing a B and C Accordion. When you play the two rows on the Accordion, you are playing in the key of D. I was at a huge disadvantage because I had an Eb Flute. I began to experiment with the embouchure by closing off the original embouchure and redrilling the head joint closer to the cork. However, I still wasn’t hearing what I wanted to hear. I then extended the tuning slide and I was happy enough at the time with it. There is a recording of this flute on P.J.’s album made with Gael-Linn in 1978. The flute can be heard on this album on Track 11 – Fox on the Prowl and Crock of Gold. Whenever my son Prionsias plays this recording, I ask him to skip this track because I find it embarrassing to listen to it because the flute was out of tune with itself. Following this experience, I got the courage to get some tools to make an instrument myself. The first flute I made was made out of oak because my father was a boat repairer and had plenty of timber pieces lying around. I burnt the first few flutes I made because they were really bad. I continued working with oak until I was happy with what I was hearing.

My Flutes

Fox on the Prowl and Crock of Gold,*The track I dislike.*

Gauger a much better sound

Below are some You Tube recordings of Concert Gigs done over the years and a small compilation of clips showing how I make the flutes. Our current band called Feenish (Fíghnis) and we have toured Europe and America bringing a little taste of Connemara around the world. The newest CD is called Rabharta which means Spring or full tide and also a full blast of music or song.