Crans...where? how? and when? ;)

Whistle
1

hello people!!

I have looked for information on the Crans, but there is no much. They have said to me that they are two cut followed, also heard to me that is three cut followed; That only they are used in note D, etc. Is confused.

That they are really crans and where and when to apply them?.

thanks all!!! :slight_smile:

Hola Gente!!!

He buscado informacion sobre Crans, pero no he encontrado mucho. He oido que son dos cuts seguidos, tambien me han dicho que son tres cuts seguidos; que solo se usan en la nota D, etc. Es algo confuso!

Que son realmente los Crans, donde y cuando aplicarlos?

Muchas gracias a todos!! :slight_smile:

2

Hola

El cran es una técnica que viene de la gaita y hay varias maneras de ejecutarla, depende de la preferencia de cada uno. Una forma seria tocar
por ejemplo ADGDFD. Generalmente es utilizado en la nota RE grave como base y varios cuts (suelen ser 3 cuts). Como cualquier cut, el no debe sonar como una nota aislada, pero como un ruído, una råpida interrupción en la nota principal, que en este caso es RE. Hay también en la gaita el cran en E(MI).

Usted puede checar algunos ejemplos de la técnica en http://www.uilleannpipestutor.com/ en la parte BEGINNERS y después en PRACTICE ROOM BEGINNERS.

3

It’s a pipers interpretation of a “Diddle-Um-Dum” part in a song :smiley:

http://www.uilleannobsession.com/faq.html#cran

/MarcusR

4

On a whistle, a cran is a way to roll one of the lower notes (d or e; perhaps f) by adding two higher but different grace notes rather than one higher and one lower as is played on a fiddle or on the higher notes on a flute or whistle.

So, D (E) D (F#) D might be a cran on D, and E (F#) E (G) E might be a cran on E. The letters in brackets represent grace notes that don’t occupy any ‘time’ in the the bar. Other players use higher grace notes, and claim that makes for a crisper cran. It’s worth a little experimentation.

A roll is a way to articulate a 2 or 3 beat run of the same note, played legato.

Both are played in a time that’s easily heard but not easily written or notated–think of a bouncing ball, with each ‘bounce’ being shorter or lower than the one before.

Damned if I know what sense any of that even makes in english, let alone spanish, but best of luck.

5

Then there’s extended cranns
 :slight_smile:

6

And tongued crans
 :stuck_out_tongue:

7

To take a case in point, let’s look at the part of the Gold Ring where people often put crans. The bare melody could be thought of as:
6/8 /B B B D D D / A A A D D D /
Now, of course we would play “long rolls” on the first half of each bar, a long roll on B (b-cut-b-tap-b) and A (likewise).
But what to do on the bottom D’s? Since you can’t tap bottom D, a sequence of cuts is used instead.
Simplest, and not really a cran per se, would be to play the three bottom D’s seperated by cuts. The “rule” of a cran is that you can’t use the same cut twice in a row. The cuts allowable are F#, G, and A (pipers never use any other cuts in cranning). So, any two of these would be perfectly acceptable and you will see players using every possible combination.
So you could play d-f#cut-d-gcut-d or d-gcut-d-f#cut-d or d-gcut-d-acut-d or any other. I would look on these as long rolls on bottom D rather than true crans.
True crans have four notes in the space of the three notes of a long roll. So, our barebones phrase in the Gold Ring now would go:
6/8 / BBB DDDD / AAA DDDD /
The timing of the four D’s varies from player to player and from tune to tune. They can be fairly evenly spaced, or the first D can be held longest, or the last D can be held longest.
In any case, any of the cuts F#, G, or A can be used as long as none are played twice in a row.
Some pipers use an ascending cran, using the cuts F# G A in that order. Other pipers reverse that. Patsy Touhey used G F# A. Other pipers use G F# G or the reverse, not using an A cut at all.
On the pipes, an advantage of having the last cut be an A is that the A cut is the “hard bottom D” actuator. Though, many pipers use no A cut in the cran, using A cuts only to seperate bottom D’s before and/or after the cran.
Now, these piping crans were not usually used by flute and whistle players in the old days. They had their own “flute cran” which, rather than a series of bottom D’s seperated by cuts, was simply the figure D F# E D. The F# is the shortest note in the sequence, the E the next-shortest. Played well this is a fair simulation of a piper’s cran.
Now about crans on E, since pipers don’t use an E cut while cranning, the same cran can be used on either bottom D or low E. Cranning on high E, while obviously possible, was not traditionally done.
Of course anyone can invent cran-like figures on other notes, but what I’ve given above is the traditional way.
Matt Molloy is often credited with bringing the true piper’s cran to the flute, and using the cran for middle D as well as bottom D. Nowadays this cranning on middle D is a standard technique, but wasn’t done in the old days by traditional players.

8

Most of what you need to know has already been said, especially well by Romulo. (I can just about read/understand enough Spanish to suss out what he says!) I would add that in origin, a cran is essentially a substitute for a roll where a roll cannot be accomplished due to there being no lower pitch note available on the instrument to complete the second half (tap) of the roll.

In ITM a roll is an extended note that is rhythmically broken by brief visits to a higher note (a cut) and a lower note (a tap) within its duration. The precise pitches of those interrupting notes are not usually important as they are not part of the melody (or any harmony). Where the instrument does not allow a roll (e.g. lowest note) but a similar rhythmic, stuttering effect is desired, it may be achieved by a sequence of brief visits to different higher notes - a double or triple run of cuts. These cuts are not to specifically pitched notes, although some attempts to notate them may show them as such. It is usually virtually impossible to play them as written like that - the complex fingering changes do not allow the desired effect. Rather, one should just cut the finger indicated by the note name, with lower fingers still closing their holes; that note will not actually sound in tune or clearly, but it will break the main tone with a little “pop”, and having those pops in the sequence at different pitches gives colour to the cran as well as being easier to do than a repeated cut to the same note (which would sound more like a trill anyway).

Crans were first used on the low D on Uillean pipes, and the technique has been adopted by flutes and whistles, and can also be used on 2nd octave D and on other notes (a la Highland pipes). It is also latterly imitated by some fiddlers where they encounter a similar technical situation, wanting to substitute for a roll where a note is on an open string, rather than executing a normal roll on the same pitch note fingered in a higher position on the next lower string. This fiddle usage is, I think, a nice pointer to the use of the cran - as an alternative, as a way of varying musical expression within the idiom.

Personally, I usually cran by cutting the bottom D to “A” (L3 finger-hop), then to “G” (R1 finger-hop) [and sometimes, depending on note length and required rhythm, to “F#” (R2 finger-hop) as well], thus - (xxx xxx)
(xxo xxx)
(xxx xxx)
(xxx oxx)
(xxx xxx)
[(xxx xox)
(xxx xxx)]
Note that the RH fingers stay down on their holes throughout save when actually cutting.

For a second octave cran, I do this exactly as for bottom D crans save that L1 is raised throughout. This produces a sequence of cuts to a variety of indeterminate-pitch notes in the region of the C natural below, which hardly matters – the desired effect is the staccato stutter breaking up the long D. [One can also keep L1 down and simply overblow the bottom octave cran, which does achieve cuts to higher notes, though with a rather over-toney sound, if preferred (not by me
.).]

Like everything else, playing crans effectively requires relaxed control, not strained tension. Practise the fingering shapes slowly to begin with making sure you retain relaxation in the fingers as you speed up as the sequence becomes familiar.

9

thanks friends!!

All have given valuable information to me, serious perhaps good for leaving this post permanent so that all “noobs” we learn.

thanks to all




Gracias amigos!!

todos me han dado valiosa informacion, tal vez seria bueno dejar este post permanente para que todos los nobatos aprendamos.

Muchas gracias!!! :slight_smile:

10

The worst part about doing crans on a whistle is that the low D is such a soft note that nobody appreciates your effort because they can’t hear you, at least in a group.

You’ve gotten great technical advice above, like Pan’s. I would say that to achieve the cran sound , find a recording with pipes doing them and copy that. I learned to do a convincing cran by copying Jerry OSullivan (?) playing the Newly-Mown Meadow. That one I play by D cutF# cutA cutF#.

You really aren’t going to use them much, but it’s a nice feeling of accomplishment to have one. And like I said, most will never hear them.

If you use sheet music, you will find that music notation often shows a triplet above the low D rather than a roll marking (which would indicate a cran). It’s up to you to insert the cran. Best example is the opening notes of the Salamanca. I always see a fast triplet notated there, but to my ears, a cran sounds better, because its more like the next roll on E.

I started off doing crans “wrong” that is, playing the low D, then only moving my F#, then A finger. To my ears. this sounds closer to a roll .

But in the piping world, which is the source of the cran, you are supposed to put in another finger cut within the same duration thereby speeding up the whole thing. Really, it’s like you are “shaking” your hands


. You have to experiment with what works for you. I have done cuts with, consecutively, F#, A, B, because they are strong fingers that move quickly. You can also to F# A and back down to F#. Some say to use a G cut, but that fundamentally changes the sound level coming out of your whistle and to me, interrupts the smoothness. Just an opinion.

11

General fingering concept of the cran is:

xxx xxx
xxo xxx
xxx xxx
xxx oxx
xxx xxx
xxx xox
xxx xxx

feel free to swithc it up a bit

12

works on E too :thumbsup:

13

Thank you for a very good instructional lesson on crans. I, like AlonE hopes this topic stays on for a time to return to. It was a very good lesson for us noobs.

14

I do my crann exactly like this:

|| ~A3 | D {F}D/{G}D/ {A}D ||
or
|| A2 D | {A}D {F}D/{G}D/ {A}D||

I play it exactly as written. You can make them very fast yet crisp on a whistle. I almost always play it in place of rolls for my D & E in Both Octaves (However, occasionally an E roll is better suited).

I have tried it like this (as I’ve seen it written, however more rarely):
|| ~A3 | D {A}D/{G}D/ {F}D ||
However, my fingers can’t coordinate as fast and crisply in this order.

I also must disagree with “The Weekenders” - I use cranns a ton. Nearly everything with 3 E’s, e’s, D’s, or d’s in a row - although you must spice it up with other variations as well. Especially pipe tunes have cranns. And if you use a session whistle, and practice slowly to get your crann very crisp (by crisp, I mean articulating each note separately and in the correct beats, as I’ve written) then it can be well-heard. Particularly a Susato whistle should have a well-heard crann (although I don’t really like Susasto myself).

15

I want to second bay’s suggestion that it is very important for the cran to be crisp and clear. You must hear clear bottom D’s between each of the cuts. The cranning effect depends on hearing an evenly-timed series of bottom D’s rippling out. The danger is in running the cuts together so that some of the bottom D’s are lost. The cuts have to be very short in duration. The sound should be of a series of bottom D’s articulated by cuts, not of F# G A articulated by intervening bottom D’s. The difference, though perhaps subtle, is crucial. Pipers who play crans using F# G A cuts in that order use the same fingering for their stacatto rising F# G A triplet, but the two have a rather different effect. On the whistle, if the cuts are too fat (long in duration) it will sound like the rising F# G A triplet rather than a cran.

16

Yup, I’ll second the last two posts that crans must be crisp and are about the bottom D (or whatever the main note being ornamented is). To reiterate/rephrase a point from my previous post, crans are not a D with other in tune pitched notes interposed, but an extended strong note interrupted by a series of (different pitched) “pops” achieved by briefly opening higher tone-holes to rhythmically break the main note. If you think of it as playing a hard D for the duration required, and then just slip the cut sequence (whichever you prefer/find most conducive!) into it, you should achieve the result we are all advocating. However, I disagree with bay that there is any problem with finger speed or co-ordination in doing a D {A} D {G} D {F#} D sequence - at least on flute or whistle - I can’t speak for pipes.

As for whistles being heard in a noisy sesh, well, OK, the low register of some whistles doesn’t project well, but so what? Anyway, if you get a good strong cran it will reinforce the “hardness” of your low D and the popping effect will make your sound stand out more - if that’s what you want. I don’t think being inaudible in a noisy context is any sort of reason for not wishing/trying to master a useful expressive technique!

17

What I perhaps didn’t make clear is that pipers use a variety of cut sequences for cranning. You can have four or five pipers all playing crans which sound alike when played up to speed, but when you ask them, you find out that they’re doing it four or five different ways!
The sequence of cuts can be:
F# G A
A G F#
G F# A (Patsy Touhey)
G F# G (Mick O Brien)
and any other imaginable sequence of those cuts.
The beauty of Mick O Brien’s approach is that the A cut is available to seperate crans and notes before and after crans, without having to have back-to-back A cuts as you would have if an A cut was part of the cran. Also, simply by adding the A cut he transforms his normal cran into a long cran (having five bottom D’s instead of the more usual four). That would be:
G F# G A
The beauty of Patsy Touhey’s approach is that he used the same sequence G F# A both for his cran and for what would normally be the rising F# G A stacatto triplet, and the G F# portion for his stacatto G F# E triplet, and also the G F# for backstitching. So one bit of technique, a sequence of cuts G F#, is used in four different contexts.
Be wary of anyone who tells you that such-and-such is the one and only way to cran- it’s a person who hasn’t been exposed to the technique of a lot of different players.

18

Yes the obvious cause for this would be that for the crann on bottom D, the chanter is played off the leg, taking away the ability for staccato playing, where as for the staccato triplet, the chanter is played on the leg, and staccato, IE, close, note, close, note, close, note, close. :slight_smile:

I play my cranns a way not mentioned I believe, and that is A G A. Thought I used to play them strictly G A G.

I’m also currently practicing cranns in other patterns, those which have already been mentioned. If anything, I think it’s a good thing for increasing dexterity of the fingers. I know of at least one tune, where I can play my G A G crann better in a phrase of The Home Ruler, than I can playing my A G A crann which I almost exclusively use for many other tunes. Depending on the player, maybe having these other patterns for doing cranns can be of advantage sort of like what I described above.

19

All this stuff about pipe crans is fascinating - and useful! I’ll readily admit I knew little about it, and certainly not in the researched, archival depth Pancelticpiper has! I shall certainly be trying out some of those alternative patterns. Thanks people.
However, bearing in mind the start of this thread and for clarity’s sake, I think we should make clear that the stuff about rising triplets etc. is pipes-closed-fingering magic that does not apply/work in the same way on open-fingered/bottomed flutes and whistles.

20

I actually haven’t done much in the way of research except for studying the books “The Dance Music Of Willie Clancy” and “The Piping Of Patsy Touhey”, which are terrific Rosetta Stones as regards piping technique. And Dennis Brook’s “The Tutor”, an amazingly comprehensive catalogueing of every ornament ever played by anyone on the pipes (I’m not kidding). Also I’ve been to many piping workshops over the last 25+ years with many prominent pipers. It’s amazing how, every time I attend a piping workshop, the piper will be doing some technique hitherto unknown to me.
But about transferring things to the whistle- I have found that the rising F# G A stacatto triplet so often used by pipers CAN be done on the whistle. It’s kind of an illusion of stacatto, like Matt Molloy’s flute version of the piper’s rising B C# D triplet. So on the pipes it goes:
xxx xoxx
xxx xxxx
xxx oxxx
xxx xxxx
xxo xxxx
(the pipes having a hole for the little finger.)
On the whistle you can play:
xxx xox
xxx xxx
xxx oxx
xxx xxx
xxo oox
and the intervening bottom D’s give the illusion of stacatto.