Discover the Musical Journey of Tom McElvogue
The Official Website of Tom McElvogue
Explore the life and music of Tom McElvogue, an esteemed musician and composer based in Ireland.
Tom McElvogue
Tom has been playing and composing music for over forty-five years and some of the best-known names in traditional and folk music have recorded his music.
Born of English parents in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, Tom’s passion for Irish music was realised during the repeated practise sessions of his sister’s Irish dancing. They had been introduced to Irish dancing via the local school which had a large proportion of Irish children. While this may seem strange at first, it made perfect sense to Maureen (Tom’s mother) whose paternal Grandfather was from Connemara, a link which she has been very proud of to this day.
While his sisters were practising their dancing to Irish music records, Tom was able to learn the music by ear and play it back on the recorder. His parents were advised to enroll him in music lessons with the local branch of Comhaltas Ceoltóirí Éireann in order to develop this talent and from this point on, he progressed from recorder to tin whistle and then flute where he won almost every competition he entered culminating in the Senior All Ireland Flute title in Sligo in 1990.
Over recent years he has focused on writing music rather than performing, mostly due to work commitments. Many of his tunes have since made their way into the tradition, having been recorded on dozen’s of CD’s across the world, which is a testament to their quality, authenticity and popularity.
Early influences…
My main influences on my flute playing are probably Matt Molloy, Seamus Tansey, Tommy Peoples, Frankie Gavin, Sean McGuire, Kathleen Collins and Paddy Keenan.
My Sister, Sheena, also learned music at the same time. She played (and still does play) a very sensitive piano accordion which taught me how to understand musical phrasing on different instruments a lot better. Probably like every other flute player, I tried analysing Matt Molloy’s breathing and ornamentation from a very early age and have to say that I was completely in awe of his control and sensitivity. At the same time, the shear uncontrollable exhuberance of Seamus Tansey’s playing allowed me to look beyond the notes as they were written and from this I learned how to better interpret and feel the music.
Not very long into my competetive playing days, I realised that many other players were copying individual styles almost note for note to the extent that they were playing Molloy’s variation in “The Boy’s of the Lough” year in, year out. Whilst compying such great styles helps develop technique, I did not feel that I wanted to do this (at least not in public). I had also attempted to copy the great flute players whilst practising and very soon realised that I was never going to be as good as them at what they do, they had pretty much been there and done that. At about the same time I was introduced to a Tommy Peoples recording “The Iron Man” by my flute teacher Pat Knight. At this stage, the flute lessons were not really about learning to play the flute but more about learning to learn (if that makes sense). We would often discuss different approaches and styles of music and Patrick would be directing me to different recordings and telling me to go get the recording (or he would loan me a copy) and he would tell me to figure it out after giving me some direction as to what to listen out for and also correcting any bad habits I had developed. At this time I would be practising at least three/fours hours per day, every day. This wasn’t so much a chore as I was so caught up with so much to learn.
Apart from Patrick Knight, the other mainstays and big influences on my playing in Newcastle at that time would have been John Doonan – a fantastic piccolo player from Jarrow, Chris Jordan – an inspirational fiddle player from Bohola, Co Mayo but living in Newcastle most of his adult life, Michael Moriarty – a gem of a flute player from Kerry and Mary Larkin – a superb accordion player originally from County sligo but living in Newcastle. I had many a fine session with Chris, Mick and Mary at various stages of my teenage years and in particular, Mary Larkin would have been instrumental in introducing me to some of the recordings and tunes of the Sligo area – in particular Josie McDermott, Bobby Gardiner, Marcus and PJ Hernon and Seamus Tansey. Another big influence would be Tony Corcoran who was heavily involved in Comhaltas throughout my years in Newcastle. Tony would often get me to play in Ceili bands he ran and I would fill in when John Doonan or Mick Moriarty weren’t able to play. Both Tony Corcoran and John Doonan played for the local Feis and got me involved in playing for the local feis – something I am happy to say is well behind me. The thought of twelve hours of playing for dancers does not appeal to me now but in hindsight it gave me great discpline, stamina and an excellent sense of timing.
I would also acknowlege the support and encouragement of Kathryn Tickell
who was probably one of the first musicians to commercially record some of my compositions. Kathryn pretty much stood out on her own in Newcastle as an example of how to go about becoming a successful professional musician. I always admired her professionalism, musicianship and manner in which she presented herself and also her deep-rooted enthusiasm and promotion of the Northumbrian folk music.
In addition to Kathryn, Karen Tweed helped enormously in encouraging my passion for composing music. I met Karen through the Fleadh Ceol network via one of the adjudicators, Siobhan O’Donnell. For a number of years in my late teens, Karen played a big part in introducing some of my compositions to a wider audience than I could ever have done. Musician’s in London and beyond probably learned a number of my tunes via Karen or at least from sessions involving Karen. For that I am very grateful and I could never underestimate the impact that Karen had on my musical development.
From Leeds and beyond…
In my late teens another musician appeared on the scene in Newcastle which provided me with a drinking and playing partner. This was Paul Ruane of Leeds. Paul was a couple of years younger than me but with an enthusiasm and talent for playing second to none. Between myself and Paul we had a whale of time for a couple of years. We also met up with Norman Holmes, a sleeping giant of a flute player from Sedgefield, Co Durham, a couple of younger musicians were just starting to make their mark on the music scene also – namely Claire Mann – a fabulously talented multi-instrumentalist and Paddy Kerr – a gifted bodhran and Bouzouki player. There was great music and craic to be had at this time in Newcastle. Naturally enough, the normal order has been since restored as most of us either settled down or moved away and now a new generation has taken over where we left off.
Also a great source of encouragement at that time and still a very distinctive and stylish player today would be Des Hurley of Leeds. Des introduced me to many of the musicians throughout the UK who were really firing at that time. It was also a relief to find that other people existed on the planet who were as obsessive about the music as I was. Amongst these musicians were Joe, Enda and Ronin Molloy, Kevin Crawford, Ivan Miletitch, Brendan Boyle, Marco Pollier and Mick and Pauline Conneelly to name but a few. These were truly incredible times and the sessions in Birmingham at that time were second to none in my eyes. They were mostly orchestrated by Ivan Miletitch who was an accompaniest without compare at the time. It was a great shame when these days were coming to an end however, given the frenetic pace at which things happened, it was inevitable that it would come to an end. Happy days all the same.