I’ve been poking into the “Ireland’s Best Slow Airs” book and CD. Both present a simple line of the melody. Now I’m trying to sort out how to get from those simple outlines to the more “expanded” versions I’ve heard played. Most of the recordings or performances I’ve heard have been done on pipes - and differ widely from the basic melody. So, questions:
1- Is there a good source for listening to airs played on whistles?
2- Is there a good source for learning about the various embellishments unique to, or at least heavily used in, airs?
3- Is there a good source for finding the correct pronunciation of the Gaelic names of the various airs?
When it comes to playing Slow Airs (a special category of tune), the general idea is that a Slow Air is the melody of a particular song and the musician tries to remain somewhat faithful to the way it is sung by a traditional singer. So if you want to play a Slow Air, some would say that you should start by learning the song (or at least one verse of it) so that you can get the phrasing right.
However, many of the classic Slow Air are based on songs in the Irish language, so if you don’t know the language, it’s hard to learn the song. In that case, if you can find a recording of the song being performed by a traditional singer, try to follow what he/she does and base your phrasing and ornamentation on what the singer does.
One thing that was explained to me when I started playing Slow Airs: some people wrongly consider all Slow Airs to be laments. While this is true of some Slow Airs, many more are based on love songs or songs of patriotism and their subject-matter is uplifting and should be played that way.
About the embellishments, I can’t remember ever seeing the embellishments peculiar to air playing ever covered or mentioned in any book.
The best book I’ve ever seen on Irish traditional woodwind playing, The Dance Music of Willie Clancy, does not cover his air playing.
All the books on whistle, flute, or pipes I’ve seen only cover the sorts of embellishments used in playing reels and jigs: cuts, pats, rolls, crans, staccato triplets, etc.
There are a number of embellishments I’ve heard traditional Irish woodwind players do, and several I do myself, which I’ve never seen in print and never heard discussed by anyone, so I have no names for them. Many resemble the sorts of embellishments non-traditional-Irish musicians (jazz, classical, and pop musicians) put in their music, in that the notes are not as quick as cuts or rolls but are closer to melody notes.
One is very much like a classical music “turn” (and completely unlike an Irish “roll”). Sometimes the upper note is shorter than it would be in a turn, so it’s sort of halfway between a turn and a roll.
Then there are the little trilllike things called “praltrillers” in classical music. These and actual trills are often combined with other notes to make decorative little phrases I have no name for.
Then there’s the thing of rapidly running up the scale, which used to be a lot more common in air playing than it is today. You’ll hear Paddy Keenan and other good air players do it sometimes.
Is there a good source for finding the correct pronunciation of the Gaelic names of the various airs?
Here’s how an Irishman explained Irish Gaelic to me: “The thing about the written Gaelic word is that you must first ignore any and all vowels. They are meaningless. Then, as to the consonants, it is useful to rearrange them randomly. While attempting to speak the resulting word, try to imagine you have a fishbone stuck in your throat.” He went on to say Welsh was much worse.
