I am a percussionist turned whistle player and have some technique habits that I’ve seen shunned on trad sites, but that seem to sound alright much of the time. See, being a percussionist, I find every way possible to practice my parts in a way that annoys the nearest person (seemingly) One way is to tongue the drum parts (saying “dig-a dig-a da dig-a dig-a da dig-a da” really fast)..essentially tonguing. However, my tonguing habits have carried to the whistle and I’ve read that tonguing is the worst thing a whistle player could do when playing trad music (http://alan-ng.net/irish/learning/). I realize that all tonguing would not give that beautiful characteristic whistle sound we all love, but I would have to say that some tonguing is ok…just curious what other players think.
I have lurked for a long time and always appreciate the information, but never felt as though I could actually contribute as my whistle confidence is quite low However, now that I’m playing a lot, I would like to play a rippin’ whistle in a respectable manner Thanks for any feedback you may have!
Ironically enough, Conal o’Grada is always telling me I should tongue more, and tongue harder, when playing whistle. (via the Scoiltrad lessons)
If you listen to Conal play, he tongues a great deal, and to good effect.
You can play trad whistle very legato with little or no tonguing, but it is by no means outside the tradition to play with more tonguing and separation.
Now Irish flute is another story…there you provide separation with glottal stops. Even on flute there aren’t hard and fast rules, though, as Matt Molloy uses his tongue quite a bit I don’t think anybody considers him outside the tradition.
I don’t think tonguing is non-traditional or anything. Willie Clancy, Mary Bergin, Sean Ryan amd etc all tongue pretty often. Its a misconception that IR-trad whistling means absolutely no/very little tonguing.
I personally play with a fair amount of tonguing in my work, as an ornament. I
think that placing tonguing and stops (tounging the END of a note, rather than the beginning) can accent and help beautify a piece. That said, except with rare exceptions, I don’t really care for the sound of a tune when nearly every note is tongued. Like most ornaments, I think it should be done with a certain amount of variation and moderation.
Tonguing is OK, and I’m finding that
tunes can become more interesting
when I articulate by other means.
So a finger tap (or a cut) can separate two
notes where I would otherwise tongue.
It’s worth trying to see how one
would play a tune without tonguing.
I think some of the reasoning behind traditionalists or teachers not being too keen on using the tongue to articulate may be due to the fact which was brought up in another thread where the whistle is taught as a stepping stone instrument by these people to the pipes or flute (o.k. flute players also tongue). If progressing to the pipes tonguing would not help at all and in fact may hinder the learning of the pipe playing. The teacher would want the student to work with the fingers. I personally think for the whistle anything and everything that can bring variety to the playing be it with the tongue, fingers or in Kevin Crawford’s case occasionally the nose As was said in earlier threads ye olde time whistle players used tonguing, if you get a chance to listen to Packie Manus Byrne who I would consider a traditional player, he used an awful lot of tonguing but as far as I know he did not play pipes. Anyway in a 100 years time we will see what becomes tradition and what not …
One way is to tongue the drum parts (saying “dig-a dig-a da dig-a dig-a da dig-a da” really fast)..essentially tonguing. However, my tonguing habits have carried to the whistle and I’ve read that tonguing is the worst thing a whistle player could do when playing trad music (http://alan-ng.net/irish/learning/). I realize that all tonguing would not give that beautiful characteristic whistle sound we all love, but I would have to say that some tonguing is ok…just curious what other players think.
As was said in earlier threads ye olde time whistle players used tonguing, if you get a chance to listen to Packie Manus Byrne who I would consider a traditional player, he used an awful lot of tonguing but as far as I know he did not play pipes. Anyway in a 100 years time we will see what becomes tradition and what not …