Cran questions

Uilleann Pipes
1

I’m a flute player, but sometimes people will ask me about crans. I thought if anyone actually knows, it would be a piper, so here are my questions:

  1. What’s the correct spelling? Cran x Crann
  2. Does the name stand for anything, does it mean anything? Someone told me it’s a shortened form of the actual name of the piping ornament.
  3. I read somewhere about a piping ornament called “grip”. What is this?
  4. Is there a site on the Web were all/most/some piping ornaments are described?

Thanks!

glauber

2

On the Internet, cats can answer dogs in relative safety. :smiley:

I don’t think there is a longer name for a cran (and that’s the only way I have ever seen it spelled). A cran is a quick series of cuts over the open bottom note to produce a rhythmic rumbling effect, somewhat like a roll on any ITM instrument.

The grip is the correct way to hold the chanter, unless you have a bad cold. :laughing:

Here’s some piping URLs:
http://www.pipers.ie
http://www.uilleannobsession.com/faq.html
http://w1.461.telia.com/~u46103557/index.html
http://www.pipers-hut.com/UPIL/
http://www.hotpipes.com/
http://www.swaup.org/

3

Rob Greenway has an excellent discussion of flute ornaments that will cover the essence of the legato ornaments that transfer over to the pipes:

http://www.geocities.com/feadanach/

Then there are all the stacatto ornaments, such as tight triplets, backstitching, for which I can’t provide a URL. Perhaps others can help out.

I believe that the proper use of cran comes from “For cran out loud, why can’t I seem to get this A cut in time with the G and F.” :slight_smile:

Cheers,

Michael

4

The grip is an ornament much used in GHB playing. It doesn’t work on Uilleann pipes, even less so on flute. All it is is closing the chanter, a G cut (G for Uilleann/whistle/fluters, that is), and reopen the chanter. Also known as the throw or the leamluath.

If you’re really interested in it, I would recommend picking up a tutor for Uilleann pipes - even before I got my hands on a practice set, I got a lot out of the Heather Clark book for my whistle/low whistle playing.
Cheers,
Calum

5

I don’t know of many online sources to link to, but Grey Larson’s new book is online and describes all these ornamentations as well as any I’ve seen so far and clears up the myths and confusions.

Larson’s web site: http://www.greylarsen.com/ Click on Irish Tune Bank, then on the vault, then on A Guide to Grey Larsen’s Notation System for Irish Ornamentation.

This is a MUST READ for anyone serious about all the terms such as cut, tap, strike, grace, chip, tip, slap, upper and lower grace note, long roll, short roll, 5 notes, 3 tones, cran, double cran, slide, long cran, short cran, uilleann piper’s triple cuts, etc. Maybe there are other places specifically online for pipers ornaments.

A way to think of the simplest cran is like a grace note, only one that comes from two or more notes above (within the same upper or lower register) rather than one. Try gracing G with a B or C, or try rolling the G using B or C instead of A. That’s what gives pipes, flutes, and whistles a popping or chirping sound.

6

Thanks everybody!

I know how to do a cran. I was wondering about the name. Thanks for all the explanations. I didn’t know you could close a GHP chanter either, so i learned something new.

g

7

Crann. :stuck_out_tongue:

8

Just like a tree, huh?

9

Just like a tree. True, the ornament gets spelled both ways, but my sources use that spelling for trees and…cranns. So I use that spelling; I don’t get my nose out of joint about it, though. Just my preference. :slight_smile:

10

My nose doesn’t really have a joint.

11

You must be really good at ducking barroom brawls (or they’re wary of your teeth).

Hmm. Wouldn’t a spaniel play the gaita?

12

If ever it does, please be so kind as not to share it. :smiley:

13

:laughing:

Cran we leave this thread alone now?

14

I think the word cran comes from GHB words for some piobreacht (sp?) ornaments. There is a series of ornaments used in the progressions that have cran as part of the name, I dont know the propper spellings but its something like cranuluere, crannsomethingorother. If I remember correctly they are ornaments that feature the root note of the chanter, similar to UP crann’s. I’m sure you could find out more on a GHB website.

Then again, I could be totally wrong

15

This cran = crunluath theory gets thrown up from time to time; frankly, I doubt very much we’ll ever find out one way or the other. On a D instrument, the notes of the crunluath are CGCADBD straight to an A.

I don’t really believe it; the crunluath is one of a formal series of embellishments on a tone row, and predates the invention of any kind of pastoral pipes by many years (there is a tutor extant describing it from the 1760s). It has never, AFAIK, been used on a single octave instrument in any way that would bear similarity to the function of the cran. IMO, this is one we can chalk up to phonetic coincidence. OTOH, I could be totally wrong. Not unknown :wink:

Cheers,
Calum