It is a commonly used ornament, but more common with uilleann pipers than fluters or whistlers. I’m puzzled by people above saying they’ve not heard it, because I would think that everyone on these boards has heard The Bothy Band. One of their most famous pieces begins with Paddy Keenan playing these very ornaments on both G and A in the low octave.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6YJAFbJPrA
It’s exactly as you describe, a Long Roll starting with a cut followed by two pats.
A “normal” Long Roll on G:
G’G,G
What I call “the piper’s Long Roll”
'G,G,G
I consider neither of these Long Rolls as being “ornaments” but rather different ways of articulating repeated notes. A spot in a tune requires three Gs in a row, and there are various combinations of cuts and pats that will do the job, any combination as “correct” as any other, in my opinion.
You don’t need to play them fast, because each eighth-note should be its full length.
Just practice them slowly, starting very slowly, with a metronome, making each cut and pat precisely on the click. Practice the whole tune like that, with one click per eighth-note, all the melody notes and all the notes within rolls being clearly heard and of the same length. Slow down Paddy Keenan playing The Kesh Jig to half-speed to hear how “open” and precisely he times these.
What you don’t want is to crush the notes together making a rhythmless blob of sound.
I know there’s loads of metronome haters here. Many people are blessed with a flawless internal metronome, and to them a mechanical metronome is both useless and absurd. For the rest of us, practicing with a metronome is extremely valuable. It forces you to stick to an even beat, and a person who can play in solid rhthym will never be unwelcome in any session or band.
