Who lifts and lays the thumb on the back D tone hole…off..on.off.on etc in a rapid fashion?
Who among us flicks the thumb pad rapidly to and fro across the hole, so the thumb is always touching the back of the chanter?
And is there anyone out there who can do the “across the hole” thing with the tip of the thumb?!
Or would anyone be as slimy as me and confess to not being able to commit to one technique?
STEP RIGHT UP…place your bets…and then maybe Peter or Brendan will tell us if we’re wheat or chaff…
…[or, in my case, probably something worse than that]…
Boyd. http://www.strathspeyinmay.com
A festival of traditional music full of chiff and free from chaff !!
I have to confess that I prefer to vary what I play (i.e. cheat to mask my lack of skill) and alternate between D-D-D and D-Csharp-D, and occasionally just lengtheni the preceding note and play two Ds. I find it too hard to get the D-D-D repeatedly with the right rhythm, and anyhow I find it boring if it’s done too often.
For completeness’ sake I should be able to do the rubbing thing. It used to impress me greatly when I first heard it, but somehow it just seems like vulgar showmanship to me now. Am I a snob?
It doesn’t make you a snob, but I think that everyone should have and use whatever tools/techniques they have for playing even if they seem ‘flashy.’ As long as they sound good and the technique is sound, that’s what matters (IMHO).