Help me add embellishments

Uilleann Pipes
1

I am learning sets of tunes played at a local session so I can be more productuive there. I have sheet music for these tunes, but at my present level I do not invent very many embellishments. (One nice thing about music for my GHBs: it’s all written in. One nice thing about UPs: we make our own…)

Here’s a tune I’m playing with that I think has perhaps lots of potential for embellishments because of the runs and quarter notes.

Would any of you like to help me by suggesting embellishments for particular areas? Triplets here, rolls thee, etc. I am not working toward a highly elaborate personal style.

Thanks -
Dave Jones

2

Dave,

do you have a recording of this piece to listen to again and again and again and again…

This would help you far more than anything anyone can write about, in fact, what you absolutely need to do is to sit down with an experienced piper and go over the various embellishments that one could apply here and there. If you are trying to embellish without the wisdom of an experienced piper you will be doing yourself a disservice by possibly developing bad habits that will need to be broken down at a later date… trust me, I speak with authority on that matter. :laughing:

Having said that, I would like to add that it is far more important to get the feel and timing of the tune correctly. If you are able to do this, then the majority of embellishments become window dressings… IMHO.

I am not certain how long you have been playing, but I am guessing not very long. If this is the case then, again, It would be wiser to concentrate on feel, time and the flow of the tune… and listening listening listening…

3

Hi Dave,

How about trying an E roll at the beginning of the first bar? Replace the crotchet and quaver E with a standard 3 quaver length roll.

The phrase appears a few times in the tune so you can swop between rolling and as written.

Hope that is some help.

David

4

I wouldn’t add a whole lot to this tune, myself. I’d roll the E note beginning at the first bar and other similar measures and do some cuts on the quarter notes. I’d keep it simple and uncluttered, especially for session playing. The tune strikes me more like a march, frankly, but that’s just me, I suppose.

5

You might consider sliding into the B’s in the tune - the ‘money’ note in that tune - wherever it’s a whole note on its own.

6

I would suggest learning ornaments separately. Learn the tune until you can play it unconsciously. Then listen to a lot of trad recordings. Don’t just limit yourself to piping recordings. Fiddlers can teach you a lot as well. You want to learn how to play the music with the right amount of ornamentation and in the right places. If you have the ornaments down, and the tune down, and then learn what ITM sounds/feels like, you won’t have to ask, you will know.

djm

7

Thanks for advice, all.

Re: listening – yes, good idea – no recordings have I found, although I might record them playing at the session if they permit.

Re: learning tune first and add embellishments later – well, I’m not partial to that from my experience with other instruments: with GHBs, it’s a definite no-no to try to add embellishments later and with piano the same. I realise that UPs playing is more fluid: that is, the skilled player is expected to improvise periodically, making learning embellishments any time all right, but I’m not comfortable with it yet. Except for a few minor changes I might make once the tune is learned, I like to learn it at the outset mostly as it will be played.

I agree with the respondant who said it was more like a march. Has a nice swing even when up to speed. It’s an easy tune.

The replies that suggested rolls reflect some of my own experimentation. Sliding into the B is a fine idea I will implement.

Will post recording my version when completed and composed …

Cheers,
Dave Jones

8

What you’re suggesting sounds like you intend to play it one way and only one way every time, whereas you should plan to play it differently every time. That is the benefit of getting an understanding of the music itself. You will need to be able to adapt your version with every new group of players you session with, as everyone has different versions, and many versions will not fit with your rigid ornamentation. Flexibility is the name of the game, here.

djm

9

Nothing to do with embellishments. but does this tune get played much in Irish sessions? I’m more familiar with it in an American contra-dance situation. I don’t get around much, but I’ve never heard it played in any Irish music sessions I’ve attended. Any Irish recordings with this tune?

10

does this tune get played much in Irish sessions?

I think it may be a local thing. Organizer gave me a list of common tunes, this was on it. It’s easy enough to get it under my belt without too much headache.

What you’re suggesting sounds like you intend to play it one way and only one way every time, whereas you should plan to play it differently every time.

Yes, I see your point. My outlook probably is shaded by my other experience. I have skill with GHBs (I compete succesfully in grade 3 and give lessons). Partly because much of that music is to be played in a band situation, partly from a rigidity that has grown into the tradition for other reasons I do not fathom (because even solo tunes are pretty fixed), having a variety of ways to play a tune is unheard of in this context (aside from small variations in settings that people grumble about). I am not yet wrapping my head around this, perhaps more jazz-like, orientation.

Thanks - your point is well taken and I appreciate it.

Dave Jones[/code]

11

Dave,

Send me your email address so I can send you an mp3 of the reel.

Wally

12

No, not exactly. I call the differences improvisation and variation.

I love (most) jazz for it’s improvisation, and I love Irish music for it’s variation. Some jazz will actually work on the whistle and pipes (you need keys for jazz on pipes), but I have tried some that I can’t find anything that “fits” in jazz.

Jazz-like improvisation is based on the chord progression of the tune whereas Irish music uses variations which are based on the “bare bones” of the melody.

The general rules I use to “fill out” a tune and make it my own go something like this:

I like to cut, double cut, or yelp the downbeat note (e, f, and g of the second octave for yelps) in order to emphasize the downbeat.

For a dotted quarter note, I substitute a roll, or use a run with the note, a note above or below that note, then the note again, splitting the note into 3, perhaps holding the note for the dotted quarter time if it is one of the “special” notes of the chanter, such as C natural or bottom hard D. Suprise the listener by doing something differently each turn.

For a quarter note, I tend to cut or use a short roll for variety.

For a 3 note run, I like to invert the run or substitute a roll on the first or third notes of the run.

Play around with these until something “sounds right” or suprise the listener. Try to do something differently each turn.

As others have said, other instruments can give you hints. Mary Bergin’s tinwhistle albums are crammed with variations and I got lots of mine from her playing.

Variations were one of the things that first drew me to Irish music, then I heard Willy Clancey on an album I had bought for the whistle tunes and I got hooked on the Irish Octopus… :swear: