My question is about which notes one actually plays to execute a roll. I don’t know if that term means the same thing to everyone, so I’ll describe what it sounds like. Here it is: main note + grace note above and main note + grace note below and main note.
Now, I have scoured my Clarke Tin Whistle book and Brother Steve’s site, and from their description I am still really not sure WHICH note are actually sounded as the above and below grace notes. It seems logical to me that it would be the ones immediately above and below the main note, but I realize that may not be the case.
And I also want to know: does it matter – are there particular notes that are right to play and notes that are wrong? I’m not against being an iconoclast but I’d like to at least start out doing it the traditional way. I mean, maybe you just play whichever notes sound best and fit most easily under your finger in a particular musical passage. Is that true? Or, is there an exact formula which notes to play?
For instance, when the main note is A… would I play this: A-BA-GA? Or, would I play A-C#A-GA?
I just love what these rolls sound like fast. That’s why I’m trying to figure out which notes she’s playing. When I try to understand the roll from my reference sources, it’s really unclear which notes end up being the above and below grace notes.
Next to having a personal teacher for this complex topic, you’ll be best off using a good whistle tutor book like Bill Ochs’ The Clarke Tinwhistle. Bill plays each example from the book on the CD, so you can see what the “extra” notes of the roll are, and hear how they sound.
Grey Larsen’s book is exhaustive on the topic. More of a reference than an actual teaching book.
The answer is, there are not set specific notes that everyone uses every time, but there are fairly common ones. Exactly which ones to use are a source of some debate. The real answer is whatever sounds good.
There’s a bigger issue here – if you’re thinking of it as grace notes above and below, there’s a good chance you’re getting the basic idea wrong. They aren’t grace notes at all, at least in the classical sense; they are simply little blips in the sound that splits the base note of the roll into three distinct notes. (Assuming a standard long roll.)
That’s why the exact notes to use aren’t that important; you mostly don’t hear the note above or the note below.
While I don’t agree with everything he says, I think Grey Larsen explains this very well.
Grey Larsen’s book really helped me get around this…I kept thinking “grace notes” and ending up with something that was more like a turn than a proper roll. When I started thinking in terms of “articulation,” all of a sudden it clicked for me.
