Ideas for playing along with a flute player

[Caps]

I have been asked to play Christmas Carols in a couple weeks. That's fine but the organizer said she wants a flute player to play along with me. I have always played alone and have never played along with a flutist and would welcome any suggestions, tips or ideas that would help to blend this together. i think the Flute is a C instrument but am not positive. I have an FR4X so can adapt my sound considerably , Thanks,

 

[96Bass]

Flute and accordion are a very nice combination. This is very typical in traditional Irish although most Irish flute players play wooden flute.
I took a look on youtube for Irish flute and accordion. There were a few videos - but I also ran across this

 

[Dingo40]

This once popular and successful duo have a number of clips on YouTube. You may like to Google them.
Here's a sample to whet your appetite ?:

Another:

 

[Frank Fusari]

Flute is a C instrument. If you are reading music the flutist can just read from the same music you are using.

An easy thing to do would to just play as you normally would, and have the flute player play along in unison with you. You could use a low register in the right hand so you would be an octave apart. That will sound nice.

Or you could, instead of playing your usual right hand melody, just play some simple chords in the right hand. Long held 2 or 3 note chords in a song like silent night might sound good. If it's something like jingle bells, you could try short notes that rhythmically match the chords in the left hand (in other words, play offbeats). Just brainstorming a bit....

 

[jozz]

this my take at flute + accordion (last part is combined)

 

[Caps]

Thanks everyone for the ideas and links! I played around a bit today and programed one of my user banks for a low/middle accordion sound and orchestral flute and it actually sounds pretty good together. I also recorded a couple songs onto a USB with just the Flute sound and then tried several different ways of playing accordion along with it. A Balkan set on the low register with the flute playing the melody line is pretty good and much like I was trying to achieve. O Holy night and Away in a Manger sound really good.
Ha! maybe I'll just tell the Flutist to stay home....Just kidding. Now I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Dingo40]

Hi Caps,
How did your gig turn out? We're curious!?

 

[Caps]

Hi Caps,
How did your gig turn out? We're curious!?

It went very well. There were about 25 people there and we played a variety of Carols, The flute really did sound good with the accordion as long as we didn't step over each other. The flutist was quite good at improvising. Some carols they sang along with. Our party was winding down and then we were surprised when a horde of 13 and 14 year old's started filing into the community center. It was some kind of school spirit club and they were having a party too. The community center had accidentally been over-booked. The Flute player left as he had a bit of a cold but I was asked if I could stay and play a few carols for the kids by one of the school adults - there were about 60 kids. I played a few Christmas Carols and then ended up giving a bit of a demonstration of the accordion. A couple kids didn't know what an accordion was and several said they had never seen one. So I stayed and played a couple polkas, a couple Hank Williams songs, a Blue Grass melody, Skye Boat Song, Stormy Weather and then answered some questions. Actually turned out to be a lot of fun and the parents there were really appreciative.

 

[Dingo40]

Caps,
That's just great!?
Good fun for all and a big success!
Thanks for sharing!??