Hello again here, I asked this question awhile ago and never really got much good feedback. I am a flute player (13 years loads of experience) and a sometimes piper. I wanted to know if anyone had tips for the ennis shake ornament you hear on high f#'s and e’s and sometimes other notes? It can be emulated on flute ala Matt Molloy in the bucks. I’m thinking of when I heard him play it with Liam O fylnn on Paul Brady’s Liberty Tapes CD. Last time I asked I didn’t learn much but I have been listening to ennis constantly again and today while playing the flute I found I could sometimes get that sound if I actually shake my forearm (right) ie actually shake the instrument itself. Any experienced pipers know if I’m in the right direction or track. I couldn’t control the sound because it messed up my embouchre but with practice itt might work any other tips?
Thanks, Pat
On the pipes you quiver the finger over the hole you want your trill on, the Fsharp or the E or whatever. I don’t play flute, but I imagine it would work. I think I’ve seen flute players do it.
His playing of slow airs was special because he had a deep understanding of the songs from which they came and he used this knowledge to play the airs as they might be sung by a good singer. Some of his techniques in dance music were special to himself – a trill on the E’ or F’ which he used to describe as a “shiver” as it was done by shaking the centre forearm rather than just the fingers, his unique cran (a stuttering roll on the bottom D) and the “ghost D” (an effect which suggests to the listener that two notes are sounding simultaneously). He also had the rare ability to play several notes in the third octave of his chanter.
It sounds to me as if Séamus used the same motion to obtain his very rapid vibrato; I think Clancy and Reck did the same, all had a very speedy vibrato which they used even in dance music. The various bits of video of Séamus playing airs bear this out, I think. It’s more rapid than what you get just wiggling the fingers.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lLe9etQ0iwQ
have a peek at 55secs to 1min into the clip and that will show you the forearm action.
Has to be less pronounced on the flute or the embouchure will indeed be affected.
Can still be done, but with maybe more finger action and less forearm
Boyd
As Kevin says, the rate of vibrato required to produce the effect is too quick to be done by simply wiggling the index finger.
My understanding of the process in slow motion is as follows:
You need to shake your forearm rapidly, through a tiny angle, back and forth (out and back from your body). This movement will be least pronounced at the elbow (which is the fulcrum), most pronounced at the finger tips. During the shake the index finger should be relaxed.
If you think of your forearm as a whip, then as your forearm travels toward your body there is a slight lag before the finger follows. By the time the (relaxed) finger slams onto the G tonehole, the forearm has already changed direction, now travelling away from the body. After a tiny time lag, the finger will be whipped off the chanter and the cycle continues.
Thanks this is exactly the type of advice I was looking for. Shiver I have to remember that. I was doing this on the whistle and the effect almost sounds amusing rather than full of pathos as when you hear Ennis. Any other tips for ornaments that “are unique to certain players.”