I posted this question in another thread but I thought it deserved its own thread, so…
I have been wanting to ask this for a while: Is it really possible to half hole Cnat when playing a fast reel, assuming that you are not an extra-terrestrial like Mary Bergin? Is anybody here able to do this?
Mike
Depends on the context.
I don’t see how you can half-hole a Cnat in a B-Cnat-D run, without it becoming a slur (unless you tongue every note), but popping a Cnat half-hole should be no harder than the G# in second half of Anne’s Reel, which is one of my favourites.
Unfortunately whenever I see a Cnat it usually is followed by a B or D, so I seem to always cross-finger.
Sure, why not? And the faster the note is, the less accurate you need to be.
Hello
I find half holing on the whistle more effective than using a cross fingered approach for Cnat…mainly because you can tune the half holed note more accurately. Speed I find is not an obstacle to this approach (once you practice enough).
Beir Bua
Conal O Grada
http://www.scoiltrad.com
…the virtual music school
I haven’t learned well the art of half holing but I have begun to work on it. Especially F natural because I’ve got some tunes in Am that use the F and I don’t want to have to use a “regualar” flute to play them.
Conal,
How do you do the half-hole? Do you roll the finger toward your face or slide it off the hole horizontally?
Mike
Tried playing them on a C whistle? If your tunes have F# as well as F= , it may still be eaiser to half-hole (xxø ooo) or cross-finger (xxo xxx).
Hello Mike
I play the half-holed Cnat by leaning the top finger back towards my wrist. This causes the hole to be gradually exposed thereby allowing you to tune the note on the fly.
Hope this helps
Conal
http://www.scoiltrad.com
…the virtual music school
Conal,
Thanks for that tip. I’ll try half holing the Cnat that way.
Mike