Sorry, this isn’t like my last thread. I want to know what McGoldrick is doing at about 2.03 and 2.09 on this lovely tune by Ruth Moody http://open.spotify.com/track/3Mnr2wgw5yug8kORxeCaPX. He starts his solo at about 2.03 with an emotive high note repeated about six seconds later that sounds sort of like a slide and cut combined but I’m not sure how they are combine even slowing down the track to 20%. Wonderful gut-wrenching effect though. Help me out guys. I love it.
Sorry, no Spotify account …
Here it is on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZb_-j7vReU. I notice that McGoldrick repeats the same phrase throughout the song but always starting on this higher note where I don’t know what he’s doing.
I’m not sure what you mean, but it sounds to me like he’s doing a double-cut at the following places:
0:18
0:20
0:27
2:03
2:21
which sound to me like they’re on a low whistle, and at
2:09
the same thing on a high whistle. I didn’t go further than 2:21 on the song.
So what’s a double-cut? It’s two cuts instead of one, like a roll but with two cuts and no pat.
Like rolls they can happen to separate two notes of the same pitch, or can be used to attack a note.
I only do them on certain notes, for example on A like this:
xxo ooo
oxo ooo
xxo ooo
xoo ooo
xxo ooo
In other words, A cut first with the upperhand index finger, then with the upperhand middle finger.
I also do them on E like this:
xxx xxo
xxx oxo
xxx xxo
xxx xoo
xxx xxo
Same finger action, just using different fingers.
I guess they could be considered as being related to crans, just shorter.
They could be done on any note in theory.
Leave off the first melody note, and crisply attack with the first cut, for a different effect. (Just as you can attack a note with a short roll, attacking with the cut of the roll.)
Highland pipers have a whole system of them, called ‘doublings’.
Now on that recording he’s doing a different thing at
0:13
0:35
which is what Leo Rowsome called an ‘upper mordent’ and I would call a Praltriller, a very short trill consisting of a single upper neighbor-tone played upon the melody note.
Thanks for the reply. It doesn’t look as though we’re talking about the same thing but I’m curious to look into what you’ve found. always happy to learn more. On the YouTube video the note I’m talking about is right at the beginning of the whistle solo (2 min 5sec to 2 min 16 sec), at 2min 5sec and again at 2min 11sec. It’s a plaintive note almost discordant sound that, as I said sounds like a cut and slide together but I’m not sure how he’s doing it.
Sounds to me like he’s attacking the note and/or accentuating it by tapping the note below it. He might be doing a tiny cut before the note, or a combination of the two - a very short roll.
Sometimes it’s hard to hear but at 0:27 it sounds quite clear that he’s doing a double-cut, no ‘pat’. And I think I’m hearing the same thing at the other spots I mentioned, I just went back and listened again.
Yes the timing would be the same as a roll, but different finger action.
I’d like to see a video of him playing this, where you can see his fingers closeup, to confirm or refute my thinking.
I was referring to the passage between 2:05 and 2:16.
Oh I see. At 2:05 he’s attacking a note with an upper gracenote, but I can’t hear if he’s doing a short roll there, he could be, if so very quickly!
Yes, he does it again at 2:11.
Thanks for the reply.
He’s attacking a note with an upper gracenote
Sorry, can you clarify what you mean? You mean a cut? There does seem to be an element of bending the note but maybe that comes afterwards with a slide to the next note.
Edit: I think I’ve got it now thanks, cutting Fsharp with T3 but immediately sliding up to G. Cool sound.