I am getting close to being happy with my latest tune (that will make 4). Would anyone like to help me by constructively criticising my latest recording? There are some obvious imperfections, but I would appreciate comments on pacing/phrasing/ornamentation/recording quality etc.
I would be grateful for any feedback (you dont need to phrase it softly - its often easier to be blunt, and I can take that). Thank you all.
Nice tune sir. I was wondering if your vibrato was a processed effect in post-production or if you are using breath vibrato technique? It doesn’t sound like finger vibrato to my ear but the reverb could be tricking me up. I’m inclined to think it’s post-production alterations but I could be mistaken.
The biggest thing that I noticed was what seemed to sound like a lack of confidence going into some phrases. I could hear the pitch start too low and then come closer into pitch/volume after a split second which made you sound unsure of yourself in your playing. I think that kills a slow air. The spaces really need to be used well and the notes need to be confident to get the right feel. The hesitation does two things, it kills the use of space and the note that follows it.
Also, this could be just my personal taste, so take it with a grain of salt, but there is way too much vibrato. Vibrato is something you can use to articulate or color a tune but if it’s use constantly throughout then it loses its effect and becomes monotonous. If you are using breath vibrato, I’d tone it back a bit and use it to really milk some of the important phrases of the tune to increase the emotion of it. If you are using effects then I’d put a stop to that right off (save maybe a bit of reverb and noise clean up if you’re going for a very produced and clean sound). Either learn to use good breath or (preferably) finger vibrato effectively rather than effects; it cheapens it, in my opinion (and if they weren’t effects then disregard this particular comment). Also, again my personal taste, you don’t hear many traditional players pushing their recordings full of reverb. Maybe a bit to round out the presence of the instrument but I can’t stand it when every track sounds like it was played in a giant church hall… because it usually wasn’t, and again the effects cheapen the natural beauty of a lovely acoustic instrument.
I like this very much.
Maybe too much vibrato for the traditionalists, and maybe a bit too much reverb, or that could just be the acoustic of the room, but I’d be very pleased to have produced a recording of this quality.
Not sure about the dying away notes - maybe they die a bit too quickly?
Keep up the practicing - whatever you’re doing is working!
Thankyou both StrayCat82 and HoopyMike for taking the time to listen and reply.
I need to quosh the breath vibrato and restrain myself from adding too much reverb. Good points.
StrayCat82 - I like the point about my lack of accuracy going into phrases seeming like a lack of confidence. I do need to work on that. I think it is worst trying to hit a second octave f. I would love to be able to transition to the note smoothly from silence, but may have to resign myself to tonguing it for now.
Hoopy - having enjoyed what I have heard of your playing I find your comments very pleasing.
I will practice some more now…
Nothing wrong with tonguing. I would typically use tonguing (or some sort of glottal boost) to give a nice crisp second octave note from silence. Though debates on toguing are never ending it is, in fact, a useful skill in playing whistle and should be used. While over-tonguing can be a different direction than the Irish tradition, the warnings to not use it so much are often misunderstood and overheeded.
When you go to one note, get there by slightly sliding from the note below…
Thank you both for the suggestions.
I am experimenting with very slight cuts or with another ‘move’ to make the transition smoother with less ‘hit’ than tonguing. I am not sure what this other move is called, but it involves a very brief ‘note below’. It is not a ‘tap’ (as I understand it), a tap would go f{e}f whereas I am trying {e}f. For some reason this cleans up the transition. Odd, because a ‘naked’ transition to the e is no cleaner than to the f. Is this the move that you are suggesting Othannen?
Have I been missing an important lesson? Are these ‘ornaments’ used to clean up note transitions as well as decorate them? I can be very slow on the uptake sometimes…
Nice playing.
Like the other folks I’d suggest the vibrato become an “ornament” used to decorate passages or particular notes. Finger vibrato is, I suppose, more “traditional” but I’ve never much liked the sound of it and prefer breath vibrato which I find easier to control. But that’s just me.
I think you need to soften the tonguing a bit, particularly with slow airs. Try more “duh” or “loo” rather than “too” perhaps. Sometime a sort of glottal stop can be used in place of tonguing. That is a sort of soft cough. Others can elaborate I hope. I can’t very well.
My biggest concern was passages which ended either too abruptly (too short a last note) or passages where the pitch fell of a great deal when you ended the note. I think ending a long note on a whistle is really hard since it is very hard to taper the sound without a pitch change. I’ve no good advice about how to do this. Perhaps one of the other really fine players out here can chime in with the suggestion.
Most important though is that you are continuing to grow as a player! Good for you!
I don’t recommend letting your notes taper off on the whistle. It just doesn’t sound that great on this particular instrument. This is where finesse and use of space in the tune really applies. Plus, if you are adding a bit of reverb to your recording, then an abruptly stopped note will sort of fade on its own into the space before the next note anyhow. Even without reverb, when you have a momentum going and then use the crisply stopped note in combination with the space after it, our ears will fill it in. Sort of like using implied line in visual art.
I don’t agree that you have to soften the tonguing. Listen to any well-played, emotional violin piece. Do they use soft bowing for everything? No. At times maybe, but don’t apply one or the other as a general rule for airs. Bottom line is it has to be crisp and clean to be effective. There is no softer playing on the whistle without losing the pitch so use other devices to accomplish your goals for each phrase.
I don’t understand where people get all these notions about slow airs having to be these tip-toe, soft and unobtrusive combinations of notes. Maybe there have been too many overprocessed and synthesized tourist CD’s on the market? That sound is so boring to me and I just don’t understand the appeal.
For me, a slow air neets to be gutsy and perhaps a little imperfect in order to maintain emotion and power. To each his own though.
Phil, nice job, but the phrasing strikes me as a trifle ponderous, rather too even compared with what I have in my head (which is probably based on Séamus Begley’s sung version on Meiteal, since that is the only recorded version I can find in my collection just now). For example, I’d want the little runs at phrase endings, and up to high notes in the second part, to be a little quicker, more fluid, engage in a bit of rubato, to bring a little more life into the proceedings (without getting into the debate about understanding the Irish words, which I don’t).
I’m not a fan of the dying note either.
Thank you all for continuing the supply of constructive criticism. I do appreciate it as I play mainly for and by myself and borrowing the ears of knowledgeable listeners will certainly help me improve. There is quite a lot for me to learn, practise and absorb, and I am looking forward to it.
cboody: You are right, I need to get more creative with my tonguing (‘aspirants’?). I am using a different low whistle that takes more air, so the short end notes are probably asphyxiation 
. A reason not an excuse. Practice embouchure and breath management. Plan ahead.
StrayCat82: I was brought up short by your asserting that airs could/should be gutsy, but after reflection I can see your point, and in fact the more I think about it the more obvious it becomes. This observation may have more effect on my playing than just technique - it goes deeper, but the changes may be more subtle and long term. The ‘implied line’ bit makes a lot of sense to me too. In gardening I was taught it as ‘shadow line’.
StevieJ: I am probably trying to stick too much to the ‘correct’ timing as a result of listening to Séamus Begley’s sung version on YouTube - but he is singing in a group and so needs to respect the timing a lot more (maybe - starting to get out of my depth). I though to buy ‘Meiteal’, but it seems a tad expensive - is it worth the price to a whistle player on limited means? I cant find any reviews.
Meiteal is a simply fabulous album for a player of any instrument, IMO. I had it long before I had any thought of playing the accordion. The considerable energies of Séamus B and Steve Cooney are an irresistible combination - highly recommended.
I don’t think the YouTube version of this air is significantly different from the one on Meiteal however. There are a lot of short notes - linking notes, I suppose you could call them - in his singing at the beginning (I didn’t listen to Mary Black’s) that help to keep the melody aloft and moving forward, and sustain our interest. It feels very alive despite the slow tempo, and I think you might try to capture that a bit more.
Oh sorry i don’t come the the whistle part of the forum very often, and forgot about this thread 
Is this the move that you are suggesting Othannen?
Yes it is, and it’s a standard technique used probably by ANY good player. Remember to gently slide it and it will sound softer. Try the slide at different speeds to see the differences…
I don’t agree that you have to soften the tonguing. Listen to any well-played, emotional violin piece. Do they use soft bowing for everything? No. At times maybe, but don’t apply one or the other as a general rule for airs. Bottom line is it has to be crisp and clean to be effective.
I didn’t mean to imply the sweet and slushy approach to airs. But to me there is a big difference between a secure attack and one the tongues too hard and I feel the OP went over that line. About that we can agree to disagree, but no one should disagree with your last sentence in the quote above. Spot on.
HiPhill,
It’s been quite a while since I’v been on Chiff and I saw your post today and wanted to comment 
.
Overall it was nice.
I believe that if you add a little variety to the piece it would color (little changes are very meaningful) the piece. For example, try less vibrato using the breath and more finger Vibrato.
However, As I listened back I felt that even a faster paced vibrato using your “breath” would work well. That type of vibrato sounds really nice with trad. I hear this quite a bit on trad recordings.
Other musicians can also tell if someone is classically trained just by the way that they breath. That’s ok though.
However, try a faster vibrato (using your breathing) in certain places. Then, mix this up with “finger” vibrato (vary the speed here as well).
You could also perhaps throw some “ornamental changes” to further color the piece. I here a number of short rolls that if placed in certain places would really bring this alive.
Again, overall it’s nice.
Good luck!
Bye
P.S.
Extend some of the higher end notes to allow the piece to breath. This adds to the overall mood. It’s a slower piece so mood is important.
Once you capture exactly what you want your listeners to take away from you then you’v got it. This you get from digging deep within yourself. This is the hardest part of all!!!
Others listen to Airs and hopefully they have something to teach us as we listen. It’s up to the player.
In other words, what do you want us (your audience) to feel. Sadness, joy, reflectiveness, pensiveness, power, or just simply, relaxed.
When airs are played on recordings, most musicians have already in mind exactly what they want to convey to there audience.
Try this for fun, take the “same air” and make it sound different by varying the mood.
Remember, as you continue to play airs ask yourself exactly what do I want people to “FEEL”.
Then, you have discovered the secret to slow-airs. We hear the music but to make it stand out discover the mood you want to put us in and there are a number of moods to choose from.
I also enjoyed the comments from the other board members . I didn’t have the time to read them all but the ones that I did I enjoyed the feedback that they gave to you.
You are also very humble in asking 
.
Thank you Talbert, (I hope this is an acceptable contraction of your moniker) for your comments.
I think you capture the essence behind my wishing to play slow airs - the communication of moods which are more reflective than active. It is easy to forget this motivation and concentrate on fine details, so a reminder to step back to see the ‘whole cloth’ is quite timely!
Nowhere have I found any help or advice on how to project the different emotions - I am not even sure such formulations are possible. I play and listen to the tunes that I enjoy - probably because I feel something in them. I then try to recreate the ‘feel’. I think I have made the subconscious assumption that each tune has a ‘feel’ that is intrinsically defined by the tune itself. Do you think that the same tune may be played differently to express different moods?
As for humility, well, without external comparisons I do tend to over-rate my achievements, but this forum is a good place to get a dose of reality. I then revisit my playing with a far more critical eye and this then leads to further practice, and hopefully further improvement.
Just thinking aloud: as you said, there isn’t really a “formula” for expression in slow airs (there isn’t a formula for anything in good music, IMHO) but I thought I’d share some things that hit me during a slow air. It very well may be a balance between telling the listener where you’re going to take them and then surprising them when you get there. For example, if you’re playing in the key of D and are leading your listener to an expected step or resolution (a 3rd, 5th or “home” note) that gives a sense of relaxation because they aren’t on edge thinking “what’s coming next?” However, if when you get there you use a device such as ornamentation, milking the note length, milking the rest length after the note, etc., then it wakes the listener up a bit and becomes exciting/emotional. You can also introduce tension (if you desire to do so) by using devices that don’t bring resolution when the listener expects it. I say this is a balance because if you deviate too far from conventional Western expectations (basic meter, tertiary substitution variation, etc) then it may not be pleasing to the ear. You want to make sure your air doesn’t stick too close to a strict meter but at the same time I’ve heard many slow airs killed because they got slower and sappier as they went on. In some cases too slow can kill the tune and cause the listener to become bored. In that case you want to keep a tempo in mind, even if you do borrow from and/or extend some phrases for emphasis. If your tune doesn’t have some kind of driving, leading feel to it then you can lose the listener quickly. The driving sense I’m talking about shows that you have control over the piece and are orchestrating it intentionally and is a big part of what I think gives you the listener’s attention.
Some interesting thoughts, StrayCat, thank you.
I grasp what you say about delayed/altered resolution in theory. By resolution do you me the way a line/tune/phrase seems to come to rest? Can the expectation breaking work elsewhere?
The only example that springs to mind is in Judith Durhams rendition of ‘The Carnival is Over’ (a tune which I love, and can almost play to my satisfaction on the whistle) where she reaches a higher peak note in the middle of the last line (2:31) - a small difference - before resuming the melody as previous down to the end, where she slows the tempo for the very final notes.
I am not sure how much theory led that slightly higher peak, but it always seems like a natural and powerful way to signal the end of the tune. Oh, I wish I was musician enough to know how to devise such subtle emphasise.
And, sorry about the lack of technical terms.