I can’t hear any major difference between cutting notes at different places. Of course, there is pitch difference, but it hardly affects the overall tune, because it’s so brief. In my opinion. It’s just a slight nuance, and each of these nuances work.
I’ve tried doing it with G for DEF#G and B for AB, but I really can’t hear that it has an impact on the tune, so I just play what I feel is comfortable.
Now, I guess most of you just shake your head. So please tell me, what do you think about the importance of pitch when playing cuts? What’s your preferred fingering?
I really don’t think it matters which finger you use, as long as it is comfortable. The finger I use is my L3. I hope that explains some of your question.
You are right, Rhadge, up to a point. Whatever fingering gives you the right sound and execution is OK. You want to produce a “blip” of indefinite pitch. There’s more than one way to do it.
But … and this is a big but … “raising and putting down the finger of the note I play” is the technique that is the least likely to produce a clean cut. The universal technique is to open a hole above the fingered note for the cut. This is what the best players do. You should too.
If you can’t hear the difference between lifting the same finger and a real cut, the problem is your ear. You say “there is a pitch difference”. In fact, there should be no real pitch difference, and no real pitch. If you hear a pitch and a pitch difference, that is a sign that you are doing it wrong.
I would go so far as to classify “raising the same finger” as a different ornament entirely. I call it a “flip”, but there’s no universal term for it. It has a different name because it has a different sound. It’s not a cut.
If you don’t master the cut now, you will run into other problems in the future. For example, consider a series of descending cuts on the notes |BAG FED|. If you lift the same finger, the only way to execute this is to tongue each “cut”, like this: |B{B}A{A}G {G}F{F}E{E}D|. And while it’s OK to tongue cuts for emphasis, they need to stand on their own without additional articulation. That’s the basic raison d’être of a cut. And that is impossible with this technique.
With the correct cut technique, you can do this: |B{c}A{c}G {A}F{A}E{A}D|. Cutting with the T1 and T3 fingers produces the proper fingering and sound.
There’s a lot of room for flexibility in trad whistle technique. But the idea that there are no rules and “anything goes” is wrong. There are right and wrong ways (plural) to do things, and that is the case here. If a particular technique is difficult, the solution is not to invent something easy instead. The solution is to practice the technique until it becomes natural and easy.
I haven’t compared a “flip” with cutting the note above the current, and can’t do that now because of other residents.
Will try it out and see if I detect a difference. I don’t think there’s something wrong with my ears though, as you implied.
I only mean that your ear is not yet trained to hear the details. That takes time and experience and lots and lots of listening to good players. The details are real, and they are important.
Opening the hole directly above is one way to do it. That’s the “Grey Larsen” technique, but it’s less common. More common is the technique you described using the T1 and T3 fingers.
In theory, it can be any hole above. But if you have to think about which hole to use for every cut, you’ll go crazy. It’s better to choose and learn a default fingering like T1/T3. Then, as your playing becomes more advanced, you can use other fingerings.
Here are the cut fingerings I usually use:
B - T1 (no choice!)
A - T1
G - T3 (see comment below)
F# - T3
E - T3 or B1
D - T3 or B1
As noted, the G is the only note where I routinely raise the same finger - for rolls and (usually) for ascending cuts. For descending cuts or stronger cuts I use T1 or T2.
I always do a cut from the note directly above the one about to be played (i.e. a G cut note would be an A). In my non-ITM schooled mind, I still think of 'em as grace notes. Can’t help it. Just using any higher note for cuts sounds bad to me when I do it, probably because I can’t do it fast enough. Same thing with cranns. I’m expecting it to sound better as my timing improves.
Yeah, that’s basically right. You’re really playing grace notes, not cuts.
Speed is important. It has to be fast enough to hide the pitch. But it’s more than that. Think about the physics.
When you play G{A}G, the pitch makes a continuous transition from G up to A and back down again. It’s a smooth curve. And the fact that it’s an adjacent interval (M2) makes it easier for the ear/brain to identify the cut pitch as A. Both things weaken the cut and make it “soft”.
But when you play G{c}G, it’s harder to identify the top pitch of this discontinuous interval (P4). Also, by lifting T1, at first you’re effectively venting a harmonic node of the G on the way to sounding the top c pitch, and on the way back down to G. Finger this very slowly on a well-voiced whistle with some chiff, and the whistle should start to “scream” inharmonically as the T1 finger comes off and then on the hole. Done quickly, this result is a percussive blip that contributes to the characteristic “hard” articulation of the cut.
At the end of the day, musically speaking, you don’t have to over-analyze. The tradition has selected certain techniques for a reason, to create a particular sound or facilitate a particular movement. If you learn and use those same techniques, you can make that traditional sound and movement your own. Otherwise, you’re doing something else.
To play that fast, I guess one must keep the finger as close to the hole as possible?
Can’t do it right now at least, with my fingers being lifted about 1 cm from the whistle. Practice time.
I find that, much like C nat, different things work better on different instruments. sometimes I find an instrument where the cutting with my “usual” finger doesn’t produce a clean blip, but is sort of mushy. This is related in part to the “response” of the instrument, which if you read the thin/thick wall thread is likely to be more of an issue with thick walled instruments. But it is also related in part to the nature of the note being cut. For example, on my 1890’s wooden flute that I re-worked to A-440, cutting E4 with L3 (my preference) is hardly noticeable unless you hold it for too long, so I’ve taken to cutting it with L2 AND L3 (don’t try this at home, your mileage may vary and other caveats here.) The E4 isn’t a strong note to start with, so I suspect there’s a node location issue now that I’ve moved things around on this flute. That said, on other notes I just have to crack the cutting finger a smidgen. I don’t think you’d even see it move as it’s more of a roll like the start of a half-hole.
I suspect cuts and taps are most of what folks are talking about when they say a whistle is responsive, since you don’t really hear a new note, just the briefest of interruptions in the note. (And I’m sure you could hear a cut of very few milliseconds.) If you find the right finger to “let the air out of the note” quickly, it will sound crisper than a “slow leak” cut.
That said, I find that I generally prefer cutting with L3 or L1 if it will work for the tune/instrument.
Fintan Vallely, in his flute tutor book discusses not only cutting from above but cutting from below under “ORNAMENTATION” heading. Circa page 34 in my old edition.
I found this discussion very useful, Thanks folks.
What especially caught my imagination was:
I am getting to grips with the idea of a cut separating two different notes. I am trying to use the sequence as a practice - both up and down:
B{c}A{c}G {A}F{A}E{A}D
D{A}E{A}F{A}G{c}A{c}B
I find the lower half (cutting with A) a lot easier than the upper half - probably because I am struggling with an over-tight left hand grip.
I would find it helpful if somebody proficient had a recording of the sound I should be aiming for - to inspire me. It would be doubly helpful on a low D. Does anyone have such?
Most of the trad players I’ve observed over the years use the upper-hand ring finger to cut all of the lower-hand notes. Some have given a logical reason: that it’s more efficient to spread the work of generating a roll between the two hands.
For the upper-hand notes, many use the upper-hand index finger for both B and A.
But I’ve seen many variations, for example I’ve seen G cut with A, B, and C, and A cut with B and C.
Beware as always of “I” statements unless the person is a native player raised in a trad music milieu in Ireland. Being a non-native, I have always taken an ethnomusicological approach, studying native players closely and mimicking them as best I can. Beware specifically of non-native players using their own innate cleverness to reinvent the tradition, and calling upon logic to defend their methods: the native way is not always the logical way. (It would be like a non-native English speaker learning English, and upon being confronted with the messy, illogical situation of the verb “to be”, deciding to tidy things up by creating their own grammar.)
As an example of the lack of logic in the traditional approach to cutting, note that most trad fluteplayers (like whistleplayers and uilleann pipers) tend to cut the lower-hand notes with the upper-hand ring finger, even though on many flutes this results in a weak-sounding cut on the upper-octave E. A stronger cut is produced with the lower-hand index finger, but this is contrary to the usual practice shared across the Irish wind instruments.
I’m not sure this will directly address your request, and I don’t use the “orthodox” approach to cuts as described by MTGuru and pancelticpiper… but at least it is stuff on Low Whistle and aimed at tuition…have a look at some of the clips on my YouTube channel - I hope you’ll find something useful there…
