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Interview with James Galway

© Karen Stafford

He's been on the Tonight Show, has played with Muppets, and has been a recording sensation in the flute, as well as in the "secular" world for many years. His name is James Galway. I had an enjoyable phone interview with him this summer concerning his upcoming tour, playing ideas, and other miscellaneous topics.

As a young boy in Ireland, Galway played the pennywhistle, which was readily available and inexpensive. Most boys had one. He also played the violin, but had to give that up when his instrument contracted a bad case of wood worms. His father had a flute, so young James began to learn the instrument that would become his life. He initially studied with a gentleman he refers to as "Uncle Joe," who was a friend who lived around the corner. Before attending the Royal College, he also studied with Muriel Dawn, who was a great influence on him throughout his life.

His most famous teacher, however, was Geoffrey Gilbert. When asked what he learned the most from Gilbert, Galway mentioned one word: discipline. In tackling any problem in learning to play, Gilbert emphasized "attacking the problem in hand" before going on.

When I attended his performance with the St. Louis Symphony last year, I was enchanted by a flute concerto commissioned by Galway from John Corigliano called The Pied Piper Fantasy, the last part of which is scored for tin whistle (in costume, no less!). The work also included children performing at the end as they were being led away by the "Piper." The work was written by John Corigliano 20 years ago. After meeting Corigliano at party for Samuel Barber, Galway had discussed the possibility of collaborating on a concerto. Some time later, Corigliano called him with the idea about the Pied Piper. This work is available from BMG Classics.

Galway has his own warm-up method on tone production, which are exercises based on the art of singing and chord structure. He refers to the traditional "long tones" as being "myopic for the mind." In playing the flute, the major technical problems in tone occur in the uppermost and lowermost ranges. These warm-ups tackle this problem, using a combination of scales and arpeggios. In a masterclass I attended last year, Mr. Galway also emphasized concentrating on individual problem pitches until the tone is just right. These warm-ups are not as yet published, although there is a possibility Galway might come out with some type of method book with Theodore Presser Publications in the future.

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