Quick question about crans. All the examples I have found (recordings and tutorials) seem to happen on D. Are crans ever done on notes other then D?
Tom
E as well.
Sometimes you’ll get people doing pseudo-crans, or double cut rolls, or similar things on any of the notes, really.
Keep in mind that “cran” is a problematic catch-all for a wide variety of movements. Some people cut using AGFA, AFGA, AGF, GFG, FGF, etc etc… basically there’s no hard and fast rule about it.
I found quite a while ago that it is better to simply think of everything as cuts and taps, and you build up different sequences for different things. In Rolling in the Ryegrass, for instance, I will quite often do a backwards roll, ie tap and then cut, to give the stronger emphasis to the right note.
Some of the even more daring borrow even more from the piping tradition and do crans on the G and sometimes A notes like Seamus Ennis.
crans are useful. good substitute for rolls. grey l teaches and uses this method. for a d cran, cut e, f#, e.
For e, same pattern one note up. This has the advantage that you can cran
in the second octave with less tendency for the notes to break.
The challenge of playing crans on the whistle is mostly stylistic, not technical, and the best advice on how to play crans on the whistle is: Don’t.
Bloomfield, why?
Does Bloomfield normally ascribe to a less is more philosophy? I know there are times when people learn a particular ornament that they tend to use it every chance they get, often to the detriment of the tune. That being said, there are certain tunes that fairly demand a fair bit of ornamentation… And I suppose if you had to play the ornament on the D, a cran might be your best option.
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Bill
Yeah, I’ve heard that can happen… 
Shoot, if we are honest, I am sure most of us have done it from time to time 
. Its easy to get enthusiastic when we learn something for the first time .
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Bill
Less certainly is more, more often than not. But Bloomfield’s most pertinent philosophy here is “first things first.” That means, for ITM, first rhythm, phrasing, pitch, and ornaments that help with rhythm and phrasing (cuts and taps, and eventually rolls). Then come rhythmic and melodic variations. And only after (and perhaps never) come ornaments that detract from the phrasing more often than not: such as crans. It’s like playing the piano accordion: the definition of a gentleman is someone who knows how to play crans on the whistle, and doesn’t.
(Pipes are different matter, mind you.)
Now I am curious… since the cran fills the same role as rolls … then shouldn’t they also fall under the same category as ornaments that help with rhythm and phrasing? Granted, there are probably not many tunes you need it for on the whistle… since D tends to get rolled less often than some other notes.
Of course, its kind of interesting in the sense that as a concertina player, we have our own version of the cran and it is used rather extensively since it is all but impossible to do a proper long roll on the concertina. Of course on the concertina its not really a cran (Since it only comprises 4 notes, not 5)… but there you go.
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Bill
So Bloomfield, is the converse also true, am I gentleman because I can’t play crans, but do? I only attempt them in 2 tunes (Flagstone of Memories and Lonesome Jig) because I actually first learned them like that. Yes they’re hard to do right without disrupting the phrasing - but it’s a goal, one of those so called kick the bucket goals. Anyway, you know me, so I guess the gentleman thing is out the window in any event…
Philo
Rolls should be in the same category as rolls (they disrupt phrasing unless you know what you’re doing), but I think they are hard to avoid. One should be able to play rolls in such a way that the last note of a roll in a reel sounds like the pick-up to the next note. (like … EG~G2|A…)
June McCormack replaces crans with D{G}ED, which I think works nicely. Her book is a flute tutor, but works for the whistle, too.
Phil, you’re a gentleman no matter how you play (which is hardly fair to louts like Tom & me).
I find crans useful where I can’t play rolls. Also sometimes as a slight rhythmic
alternative in some places where I can play rolls. I don’t find them messing up
phrasing or anything else. Takes practice, but, as mentioned, so do rolls.
I like to put a E cran in every now and again when I’m playing Morrison’s Jig, on the A section of the tune: E{G}{F#}E.
Why not post a couple of clips so we can hear the phrasing and the rhythmic variations. Practical examples are the best.
Here’s a couple of examples of my E crans FWIW:
http://www.box.net/shared/7znau2y5yt (done on whistle, flute then low whistle; first an E roll then an E cran)
http://www.box.net/shared/dorisj2og6 (Munster Buttermilk)
I think the E cran sounds best on my flute in the first example.
You write: ‘The challenge of playing crans on the whistle is mostly stylistic, not technical, and the best advice on how to play crans on the whistle is: Don’t.’ Eskin and others sincerely ask you why. They don’t see a problem with crans. Will you just say forthrightly what it is about crans that you think detracts from phrasing? Obviously a number of us don’t know why you think that.
What part of “it detracts from the phrasing” don’t you understand? What part of saying that the challenge of playing crans is stylistic rather than technical isn’t “forthright”? 
Assuming that rhythm is solid, phrasing is the sum of stresses, articulation, pauses, and similar techniques, employed to lend meaning to the tune by revealing the underlying call-and-response structure. That may not be the best definition of phrasing, and I am happy to accept improvements upon it. Assuming that someone is struggling with (rhythm or) phrasing, imho attempting crans will make things worse, and muddle the tune even more.
Jim, you must have some idea of what phrasing means (and certainly it’s no secret), since you know that your crans don’t mess up your phrasing or anything else. So, I am curious to hear what your crans sound like in the context of a tune. (Or the crans of others, good for you mahanpots!) Maybe it’s just me who is finding this sort of thing hard to do.
I’m not in a position to post anything now, being on the road. I still can’t do clips. I’ve posted some whistle and flute stuff
on Youtube (Paganserenade, but I’m not sure there are crans).
My own experience has been that crans were difficult initially, because there seemed to be
an extra note that I had trouble fitting into the phrase. But with practice it works out OK,
and the cran has a rhythm slightly different from a roll, though it stays in the same
time frame, that makes it an interesting variation. You can hear the variation in rhythm on Mahaponts helpful
soprano whistle version of Morrison’s jig.