I posted a clip of two versions of Dunphy’s Hornpipe, first one without hornpipe rhythm. Second, with hornpipe rhythm.
I’d like to know if I succeeded. Or did I just play two different styles of a hornpipe?
Thanks,
Michael
Many people play some hornpipes without the ‘hornpipe rhythm.’ Also I think it’s a matter or degrees, not necessarily either/or. For example Buck From the Mountain does well with little or no ‘swing.’ Harvest Home almost begs for heavy swing.
Good point, FJohn.
My example was created to assist someone in understanding a hornpipe rhythm. That’s why I was asking if I succeeded.
Michael
I’m no expert, but the second part sounded more “hornpipish” than the first part. You have nice rolls too 
Thanks for the reply emtor. I really like your clip on the low whistle. Very nice sound. Did you add some reverb? I haven’t figured out reverb yet. Every time I add some, it quiets to the clip too much.
Michael
Thank you Mahanpots
The low-D whistle recording is a stereo-recording with different amounts of echo in each channel. I try to add as little as possible. First I do the settings until I like the echo-effect, and then I pull the level down to at least -30 or -40 decibels. I try to aim for an airy and spacious sound, and if people ask wether there’s echo involved or not, I guess I’ve added at least not too much of it. I always liked that zen-approach of “less is more”.
I really liked you rolls, you should teach us how to play them . . .
Mahanpots - I think I am your target audience. I’ve been struggling with this tune for a few weeks. Now I can hear how in the second version the rhythm flows better, I guess this is more “hornpipish”. I can get the B part to do this but am not even close on the first part. My problem is I need to listen more and stop trying to “read”. Thanks for the listening help.
I’ll try a little echo then and see how it sounds
I’m using Audacity and when I mess with Echo effects I’ve got two settings
DELAY TIME:
and
DECAY FACTOR:
Any ideas?
TC: I’m glad it helped. Made posting the clip all the better.
Michael
I use Goldwave myself, and the terms are a bit different, but delay-time would be how long time it takes for the echo to happen. Try 500 milliseconds.
Decay-factor is possibly how long it takes for the echo to die down.
A tip: Record a short duration sound, beat a stick on a table or some other object and record the sound. The sound should be a short click. Then you can play with the settings to hear what the echo-gizmo does to the single click sound.
That should give you some idea of how it works.
Also remember that reverb and echo are two different beasts. Play with both.
I’m a n00b, but I also think that the second performance was more “hornpipish” (lol, that word is maybe the funniest I’ve read).
You play awesome, and you know it! 
Here’s what the echo window in Goldwave looks like. These settings were used for the Christmas-tune.
It generates 1 echo, and the echo occurs 0.5 milliseconds after the original sound, which means it “widens” the sound more than acting like a regular echo.
The volume of the echo is much less than the original sound, 34.7 dB which is a lot less than the volume of the original sound.
Feedback is set as low as possible.
To answer your original question I can definitely hear the difference, and the second clip has the swing that I associate with hornpipes.
However, I’m not sure that’s the best hornpipe to use as a teaching example. A more common hornpipe would be better, and best would be one that works well in both reel and hornpipe rhythms. “Red-Haired Boy” is the one that springs to mind, because you’ll often hear it played in sessions both in fast reel rhythm as well as a slower more swung hornpipe rhythm.
In teaching bodhran, Jesse Winch says that one should accent the 3 beat in accompanying a hornpipe. I can’t reliably do that on the bodhran, much less in my whistle playing, but I think that may be something that distinguishes really good hornpipe playing.
mahanpots,
The first time through you succeeded in playing it as a 4/4 tune with no hornpipe rhythm. Well done, I know how hard it is to try not to play a certain type of rhythm in a tune I already know, and then switch back as a way of demonstrating how to play that type of rhythm.
Second time through you played it as a very slow hornpipe, just a bit too slow to capture the real swing of the hornpipe rhythm.
I’m looking at this objectively here, not bagging your playing, I am just comparing your speed with the way I have heard Dunphy’s played, and also the way I would play it.
Man, I wish people would not so solidly associate dotted (or “pointed”, or “swung”) rhythm with “hornpipish”. When it comes to ITM, the stereotype seems to be a New World phenomenon. You either play 'em straight, or pointed, or somewhere in between; that’s all. It’s according to taste. To perhaps oversimplify, hornpipes are hornpipes not because of their rhythm, but their overall phrasing and pulse, and are also knowable in that you can easily plug in a lot more ornamental triplets than one can in reels; also, they can often be transcribed in 12/8 time. Reels can’t, unless you play reels Old Time style with a strong dotted rhythm. This is where you get into the ways different traditions approach the same thing; for instance, Old Time players frequently treat hornpipes in the way ITM players would think more of reels - fast and straight - but I’m talking ITM as I know the beast, here.
That said, if you’re playing for dancers, you want hornpipes with a good, dotted rhythm because apparently it’s easier for them to do all that hardshoe stuff to dotted rhythms for some reason.
This might be of some help (although these things can blur some): although both reels and hornpipes can be saddled for convenience’s sake with a 4/4 count, think of the hornpipe’s pulse as having a 1-2 3-4, 1-2 3-4 thing going on. A reel’s pulse would be **1**234 **1**234 **1**234 **1**234, basically speaking.
Ditto what Nano said. Many ways to play a hornpipe well, and just as many to play one badly.
But - forgive me for being blunt - what do you expect to gain from asking a bunch of people, some of whom may know less about the subject than you, whether this or that example of your playing sounds like a hornpipe? (Unless of course you’re just looking for pats on the back.)
Obviously, what you really need is to know yourself what hornpipes sound like. My (friendly) advice is that you put in the time listening to a wide variety of people who know what they’re doing, on a variety of instruments. Because until you’ve listened enough, and internalized the possibilities, you’ll never be able to have confidence in what you’re doing.