The Making of a Champion - an interview Isaac Alderson

By Kynch O’Kaine

There is a simple catch phrase that, for most of us pipers, conjures up many different images. We do know one thing. If these three words precede, or follow a person’s name it means at very least, they are quite capable of playing their instrument.

All Ireland Champion! Say it a few times and then close your eyes. Is it you standing up there taking your bow as the judge comments on how brilliantly you have just played? Is it you that has now fallen out of your living room chair, because the thought of playing in front of judges and an audience gives birth to butterflies so large your waste line has doubled?

There is much mystery, reverence, and curiosity when one hears “ya..that’s the guy...he’s an All Ireland Cham- pion.” For many, the thought of getting away to Listowel just to experience the electricity (and chaos) of the All- Ireland’s is not in the cards. We all have our own ideas about what an All Ireland Champion is. What is it like there? How do you earn your way up there? Who on earth competes in these type of events, much less who was this years winner?

Enter a young man by the name of Isaac Alderson. It is that name which deservedly can be found preceding or following the descriptive “Senior All Ireland Champion.” However, I left out two small details. Isaac did place first in the piping division. In addition, he placed 1st in both the flute and whistle divisions! This is a rare and inspiring occurrence.

I have known Isaac for almost four years. In the brief tionól meetings we have had throughout the years, we always have laughs and some tunes. I am not one for the use of clichés, but I will bend the norm for this one; it couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy! Upon hearing the news of Ike’s taking three first place medals, I thought sarcastically, “oh! now that’s a big shocker!” Although, I had never predicted three 1st places, I remember tell- ing him on a few different occasions, I thought he would win. Though, aside from my novice fortune telling, I felt I needed to do an interview so we could gain some insight into Ike’s personal process. So, pour yourself some tea, or whatever you fancy, sit back and enjoy!

KO: When did you first hear Irish music?

IA: I had heard the odd recording now and then, but my first introduction to session culture and Irish music as I would define it would have been the very first St. Louis Mississippi River Celtic Music Festival, when I would have just turned 14. I was really fascinated with the way people could just sit down and play together without having met each other before, and with the beautiful flow and pace of the music. It was there that I received my first lesson on the uilleann pipes, from Al Purcell. It was also at that event that I met my first regular teacher of Irish music, Laurence Nugent from Fermanagh. I began studying with him shortly thereafter in Chicago.

KO: When did you start playing Highland pipes?

IA: At the beginning of my freshman year of high school, when I was 13. I’m not sure if I would say a whole lot about the Highland pipes. I was certainly interested in them, but I dropped them right away when I found Irish music.

KO: Did you find the uilleann pipes difficult at first, or did it feel like a natural transition from the Highland pipes?

IA: I never really got to be that good at the Highland pipes, so I didn’t have much of a base to work from with the uilleann pipes. I started on the whistle and the pipes pretty much at the same time, so I didn’t even have repertoire or knowledge of Irish music when I started. Funny thing, I found a sound recording of myself the very first time I ever strapped on a set of pipes, and it sounds so wonderfully horrible. So yeah, it wasn’t easy.

KO: Who made your first chanter?

IA: The very first chanter I worked with was made by Dan O’Dowd in E-flat, a loaner from Clifford Abrams who was at the time living in Evanston just north of Chicago. The chanter that I did all of my early learning on was a “penny chanter” by David Daye.

KO: ….and just for the record, you are playing a Kirk Lynch 3/4 set...

IA: Indeed! 

KO: When did you start playing flute and tin whistle? Which came first?

IA: I started taking lessons on the whistle when I was 14, at about the same time I took up the pipes. I got my flute and began learning it when I was 15.

KO: I know you studied with the brilliant Co. Fermanagh flute player Larry Nugent. How long did you study with him?

IA: He was my first teacher, and I learned from him for about three years. He remains one of my primary musical influences 

KO: In what direction did he guide your repertoire?

IA: He worked with me mostly on learning the Chicago/ Midwest session repertoire, especially concentrating on tunes that are well-suited to the flute and whistle. In the last while that I studied with him, he taught me some lesser-known tunes. But always the focus was on the flute and whistle.

KO: Did you find yourself playing much, or any of your flute repertoire on the pipes?

IA: Certainly. I’ve always played nearly all my tunes on all my instruments, with the occasional exception for tunes that are native to keys entirely unwieldy for the whistle or pipes. There’s an occasional tune in E-major or B-major, or Bb-major or G-minor, etc. that I pretty much save for the flute. But I would say that 99% of my tunes I play on all my instruments.

KO: Who were your pipe teachers and how much time did you spend with them?

IA: I’ve never had a regular piping teacher, for reasons with which many others in North America can sympathize. There were pipers in Chicago that I would have loved to have studied with, but I never found someone to teach me regularly. I’m mostly self-taught, but I’ve had a lot of help along the way. I had a handful of extremely helpful lessons from Al Purcell. I studied a couple years at the Willie Clancy Summer School in Clare, where I had some help from Mikey Smyth and Gay McKeon. More recently, I spent some time with Jerry O’Sullivan. I would say that I owe the most “piping gratitude” to Kieran O’Hare, who, in addition to being a fabulous piper, has always been very generous with his time and knowledge.

KO: At what point did you stop taking regular lessons (if you ever did?)

IA: I never started.

KO: Did you ever figure out tunes from recordings? If you did, how did you do it (slow-down software, tape player)?

IA: I prefer to learn tunes from sessions and other musicians face-to-face, but every now and then I get tunes from recordings. The best way to do it, I find, is to just sit down and do it. When I was just learning how to play by ear, it would take me what seemed like an eternity to get just one tune, but when I finally got it, I felt a great sense of accomplishment. And, the more you learn by ear at normal speed, the easier it becomes.

KO: Did you ever try to emulate any pipers in a “note-for- note’” fashion?

IA: Not really. I would copy the odd bit and phrase every now and then for learning purposes, but I’ve always been very stubborn about playing the way I want to play. In retrospect, however, it probably would have been (and would still be) good practice for me to spend some time copying the greats cut-for-cut and roll-for-roll.

KO: When did you first start competing and who gave you the idea to do so?

IA: I entered my first Midwest Fleadh Cheoil at the age of 17, more for a bit of fun than anything else. Larry gave me some prodding in the right direction for it, and I was very pleased with the results. I also began competing in Ireland that summer.

KO: What was that first experience like and how well did you do?

IA: It was the Midwest Fleadh in Detroit, and I got five first-places and one third-place. I had never competed before, so I was pleasantly surprised.

KO: I know you first competed in the All Irelands last year. Would you describe that experience? How well did you do there and what instruments did you compete on?

IA: My first competition at the All-Irelands (in Enniscorthy) was great fun because I got to meet loads of new friends, and had tunes with some truly amazing musicians. It was there that I met my dear friends Ciara Brennan and Claire Sherry, and we’ve been tight ever since. I competed on all three of my instruments, in five categories, and didn’t place in a single one. I was a little discouraged, but I didn’t let it bother me for long. The most important thing was that I met friends and musicians, and had a blast.

The next year (being last year) was great too. Listowel was great fun and I got to see my good friends again. I competed in the same competitions I had done the year before, and this time around I got a second place in the pipes slow airs, and third place in the flute slow airs. This was still in the 15-18 age group. I was thrilled to have placed at all, and it really encouraged me to work and practice even harder.

KO: So, now you’re in college. You have ever so skill- fully found a way to have Irish Traditional Music be your major. I think that is great! What was your practicing like in the year interim between last years and this year’s All- Ireland’s?

IA: Practicing was harder because I didn’t get to do it as much as I would have liked. What with starting college and moving to a new place and all, I was kept busy. I still managed to practice an average of about 45 minutes to an hour a day. I suppose what I missed in practice time, though, I made up for in learning about music (theory, composition, etc.) and acquiring tunes and knowledge about Irish music in general. My phrasing improved dramatically as well as my timing and feel. I was much more confident this summer than I had been in years before.

KO: What is your practicing schedule like now?

IA: I try to practice as often as possible while still maintaining a social life. Lately I’ve been trying to do at least an hour and a half each day.

KO: What was it like during high school?

IA: My freshman year I barely practiced at all, but the more involved with the music I became, the more I practiced. By the end of my junior year I was practicing at least an hour a day.

KO: About how many tunes do you play now and how do you manage to maintain a repertoire that size?

IA: I have no clue exactly how many tunes I play, but by now it must be about 600 tunes. I would hope so anyway. I kept track for a while but about a year ago I lost count because I wouldn’t remember to write them down. I don’t really worry about maintaining the repertoire as you say. Every now and then I forget a tune, but a little memory jog does most of the work for me.

KO: Describe in detail how you approach divvying up your practice time between pipes and flute? Do you find yourself learning tunes on the flute first?

IA: It depends on my mood. I always play both each day, and ideally I would spend an hour on each every day. But, sometimes it’s a flute day and sometimes it’s a pipes day.  occasionally it will be a whistle day. I learn tunes on whatever I feel like playing.

KO: How do you learn a tune that you have not heard much before?

IA: Just keep listening. It’s the best way. If I can hum the tune I can play it.

KO: You told me once, “I never get nervous playing in front of an audience?” Is that still the case?

IA: I wouldn’t say that I get nervous....

KO: ...as I said....

IA: Perhaps, I have a heightened state of awareness of my playing, and I’m a little more cautious than I am at, say, a session. I’m usually confident enough that I trust my fingers to do what I expect them to do. At the end of the day, you’re really just playing for yourself. I guess I really don’t know why, maybe I’m a freak or something.

KO: Well, I’d say you are a freak, but not musically (laughing). I understand what you’re saying, as I have infrequently been there myself. Even more interesting though, I have heard this from world class artists. I think it’s a head space that many musicians try to get into. (*Anyone interested in this should search Amazon.com for Kenny Werner’s Effortless Mastery).

KO: Where you nervous at any point during or leading up to this years All Ireland Competition?

IA: I was a little bit nervous during the flute competition because I pulled what some might consider a ballsy move. I played two of my tunes in keys that are exceedingly uncommon on the flute, those being C-mixolydian and E-major. One can never tell how the judges will react to innovations even as minor as changing the key of a tune. I felt that I have never played better in my life than I did at the flute competition, so even if I lost I would have been satisfied with my performance. 

KO: Many pipers get nervous while performing. If you were giving advice to your student, how would you instruct him/her on overcoming stage fright?

IA: I’d have to think about that one for a while. (later on he says) ..Still don’t know dude. My gut reaction is that nervousness is inherent. (shrug) The best advice is to keep in mind it’s just a competition and, in the grand scheme of things, winning or losing depends on the opinion of only one person, and doesn’t qualify or disqualify you as a good musician.

KO: What did you do to prepare for this year’s All Ireland competition?

IA: I just practiced. All the time. I felt more confident as a musician than I ever had before: my rhythm, tone, pace, repertoire, feel, etc., were all much more solid this year, and it all relates to practice, practice, practice. Much more important than preparation.

To clarify, I mean practice in terms of like, the repetitive cycle of practicing every day for another year made me stronger. I really didn’t prepare for the competitions very much this year. Seriously dude, I decided what whistle tunes to do WHILE I was playing the whistle competition! I was actually well prepared for the flute, but only because I was playing tunes that I had under my fingers for almost a whole year.

I did have a clear idea of what tunes I was going to play about two weeks before the competition, and I tried to pick a repertoire that would reflect several different styles of playing in which I felt comfortable. I was most pre- pared for the flute competition, in which I played The Ace and Deuce of Pipering, which is a surprisingly friendly tune for the flute, reflecting heavily the influence of a piping style in my flute playing; Port na bPucai, a slow air which I play in C-mixolydian, mainly because I learned it from the playing of Martin Hayes who chose that key; Cuil Aodha, a jig most commonly in the keys of G or A, which I transposed to E-major to show a technique that few flute players explore (I love to play tunes in uncommon keys, mainly due to the influence of fiddler Oisin Mac Diarmada); and then The Mossy Banks, a three-part reel in G that I felt expressed the “purer” side of my flute playing.

On the pipes I focused on a very traditional, tight style of playing, exemplified by the tunes I picked: The Job of Journeywork and The Old Bush, old standbys of the piping repertoire, as well as The Humours of Ennistymon, a great old jig in which I use a trick or two that I like to think I came up with myself. For the slow air I played Travel- ling Through Blarney or The Market Place Idler, a tune made popular by Liam O’Flynn in his album “The Given Note”.

For the whistle I played The Job of Journeywork, The Mossy Banks, The Humours of Ennistymon and Port na bPucai, mostly because I had them ready and I couldn’t think of anything better to play.

On all instruments I tried to have a balance between planning and spontaneity in my variations, solid technique, relaxed tempos, and a tasteful mixture of tradition and innovation. Or, maybe I tried to make my innovation sound traditional... something like that.

KO: Walk us through the steps of getting your number called. You fly into Shannon, catch a lift to Listowel. The next day you compete, so you pitch a tent and wake up then next morning. Then what?

IA: Actually, I flew into Dublin, spent a week and a half on the floor of my buddy Karl’s house and bummed around Dublin with Dan Lowery, Ciara Brennan, and Claire Sherry. I ate at Abrakedabra (invariably the chip butty or the veggie burger) twice a day and go out partying at night.

The four of us arrive in Listowel on the Thursday before the competition, having taken the bus. We pitch a tent and party until the weekend. Our good friend Ryan McGiver arrives on Friday evening. On Saturday Ciara has her competitions and she kicks major ass in the 15- 18 lilting. Celebration. Long night, laden with drama. On Sunday I wake up early and practice, make sure the pipes are happy, etc. I am convinced by Ciara, despite my protests, to take my place in the whistle competition, and proceed to complain all the while walking to it. My pro- tests are in vain. I am called after listening to some great players and decided what tunes to play pretty much on the spot. Miraculously, I play okay. Without waiting to hear the results, we rush off to the flute competition and I am called almost instantly. After that, we head back to the whistle competition, and I am shocked and amazed to learn that I have won it. Speechless, I shake June McCormack’s hand and express what surprised thanks I have to offer. We begin running to the piping competition because I’m late for it and the adjudicators were threatening to close the competition before I got there. Ryan and I stop two elderly ladies driving and convince them to give us a hasty ride. We get there and I haphazardly strap on the pipes and play. I am the last person to play, so the results are announced immediately. Again, pleasantly surprised to have won. My band of buddies and I bound down the streets of Listowel with my two trophies and head over to find out the results for the flute competition.

What a party. So, I do an interview with RTE and the New York Times and head back to the tent to party with my friends and Ciara’s wonderful family. We fill up all three trophies with Heineken and the party begins. The night is long and jovial, suffice it to say that I remember almost nothing after midnight.  except puking in a garbage can in an alley.

KO: Do you have any advice for those beginning or inter- mediate pipers who are struggling along and/or have a mind to compete?

IA: Keep at it! Proficiency will come. A steady pace, a willingness to learn and be taught, and a determined mind will overcome all obstacles. Listen to the old guys, because we can always learn from our predecessors, and take as much music as you can from everyone you play with. Also keep in mind that there are other instruments out there than the pipes. Mikey Smyth once told me that it’s more important to be a musician than a piper, and those words have stuck with me ever since. The pipes are a very peculiar instrument, and while we all love piping, it’s important to acknowledge the traditions and repertoires of other instruments in Irish music. I would say that of the musicians that have influenced me the most, only one or two are pipers.

And as far as competition goes, go for it! However, always keep in mind: It’s just a competition. At the end of the day, winning or losing only means that the adjudicator felt a certain way about your playing certain tunes, in a certain situation, on a certain day. Losing does not mean you’re a bad player, and winning does not mean you’re brilliant either. There are loads upon loads of amazing Irish musicians that have never won or never competed.

KO: Beyond having the medals and hearing people say, “that’s the guy who won the.   ”? What personal goal were achieved in taking three 1st place awards at the All Ireland Fleadh.

IA: As many people who are close to me will tell you, I have some major issues with my own feelings of musical capability. I’ve worked very hard at this, and I am finally convinced that, yes I can play this music as well as they can, and I don’t need to doubt that anymore, regardless of what some may say. Beyond that, I hope to teach music someday and I want to share Irish music with whomever would seriously like to learn it.

Most importantly, I hope this event has made the point that you don’t have to be from Ireland, or even Irish- American, to play Irish music. You don’t have to come from a long line of famous traditional musicians, nor do you have to come out of your mother’s womb with a tin whistle in your mouth. All you need is determination, practice, and the genuine desire to do your best at this beautiful music, which belongs to all people everywhere who can learn to appreciate it for what it is.

KO: What is next for Isaac Alderson? Will you compete again?

IA: I think that this is only the beginning of my career as a musician. I’m planning on a few recording projects for the near future, as well as a tour. Really my only goal is to get out there and learn as many tunes and play as many gigs as I can. I’ve only begun to establish myself, and I’ve only begun to learn. I would love to teach Irish music, and someday become a full-time professional musician. I’m only scratching the surface now, and in the next few years, I hope, I’ll dive in.

For a complete PDF of the original Autumn 2002 Pipers Review this article is from, click here.