Here’s a little one-off demo I posted to a different thread, but which may be worthwhile in a thread of its own (or maybe not!).
One of the most common beginner’s questions concerns the even timing of rolls (and cuts). Brother Steve’s “dah-blah-blah” description and short clips are very helpful. And tune demos sometimes offer slow and fast versions. But I don’t think I’ve heard roll demos that start very slow, then ramp up to allow the ear to adjust to the timing as the speed increases.
So I tried this approach on the A part of The Kesh Jig. In this mp3, I start each section slowly, then repeat it until it’s up to speed. First rolls, then cuts, then a complete A part.
Of course this example is not very musical, and there are subtle ways to vary the timing. But this illustrates the sort of “mechanical” timing that beginners can use as the basis for more expressive ornamentation later.
Also, it’s interesting to note that these ornaments can be much harder to play slow than fast:
o There’s a tendency to want to slow the speed of cuts and taps in proportion to the speed of the tune. But that’s a mistake! Cuts and taps should (usually) be equally crisp whether the tune is played slow or fast.
o The bubbly blur of rolls played up to speed can fool the ear into thinking that the timing is OK when it’s not. But if they sound wrong when played slow, then they’re probably also wrong at any speed.
A very well-known and influencial recording of the Kesh Jig is that by the Bothy Band, where it begins with Paddy Keenan playing it on the pipes.
Paddy’s rolls are quite evenly timed, one could say “mechanistic” if his playing were not so utterly musical.
What makes “Kesh” good for a beginner is that in the opening phrases the player, if he is not to tongue, must generate four notes of the same pitch by using the fingers.
The usual way on whistle or flute is to play:
note (cut) note (pat) note (cut) note
which at the beginning of Kesh is:
G (A cut) G (F# pat) G (A cut) G
however Paddy does not begin the tune in this way. Instead he uses what some have called the “piper’s roll” which begins with a cut then has two pats in a row:
(cut) note (pat) note (pat) note (cut) note
Go back and listen to that recording if you have it.
As I recall Paddy does the normal roll when the same situation occurs on the note A in bar 2.
MT, how do you play the {a} cut at the beginning of the fourth full bar when going from d to e. Everything I try seems awkward and hard to get a clean cut.
XXX XXX
XXX OXO
XXX XXO
seems to work the best but the d doesn’t sound as good as OXX XXX and, of course, it’s a g cut. Suggestions appreciated - thanks.
But your fingering with the B1 finger g cut is perfectly OK, too. I gently tongue the cut to help define it, but that’s up to you. Really snap the cut finger down to keep it clean (mine was a little sloppy).
I don’t vent the d … Too much trouble here, and it makes no difference on this whistle (Gen D). A stable, in-tune unvented d is one of the things I look for in my preferred whistles.
MT, thanks for all that. A series of mp3s doing common tunes like that with the ABCs as given in the post above would be an awesome learning tool…hint, hint.
I’ve been working on second octave cuts and pulled this one out to practice. On the high G in the third measure, I get a “yelp” instead of a clean cut. When I play the cut slowly, I hear what sounds like a low A sound then the high A, indicating I’m not increasing the breath pressure as I move from the D up to the G. Does that cut just take practice or is there trick to making it crisper?
Don’t know, walrii. Could be you, or the whistle. Do T2 and T3 cuts the same? If you substitute a ~g3 roll, is it clean? Maybe post a clip for diagnosis?
Not bad form at all. Tongue, cut, tap, roll. Mix it up, be creative. Whatever fits and sounds good.
The whistle is a Mellow Dog that sounds great in all other respects, so I doubt it’s the whistle. T1, T2 and T3 cuts going from high D to high G all sound about the same. When I roll the high G, the cut sounds OK but I’m already at the higher breath pressure for the high G.
Where is a good, free place to host pictures and sound files? I’ve been meaning to figure out how to do that but keep putting it off.
For audio, the Box.net free service is good, and popular here on the board. Friendly interface, nice features (folders, tracking, security), no spam hassles or intrusive ads. A big thumbs up from me.
Box.net free doesn’t allow hot-linking, though. So for embedding pix in posts, people use Imageshack.us or similar sites.
I get the strange feeling you’ve answered a really important question before I’d worked out it needed asking.
As a recently converted recorder player who learned to play at school a depressing number of years ago I was taught to tongue every note (unless the music specifies not to), and until finding this site less than a week ago had never heard of a cut or a roll. I think I’ve gathered what it means sort of - it’s like what I do accidently sometimes when I go to the wrong note but don’t play it just in time, but it makes the tune sound better not worse. It must be what gives irish jigs and reels that quality that I love so much but can’t define or replicate. Is it written into the music or do you ad-lib it. Is there anywhere I can learn more about it and how to do it (like in my dreams!)
P.S you are a fantastic player - not sure whether I feel inspired or depressed!!
TraceyX
You should look at Brother Steve’s site and Ryan Duns’ videos for help with the ornaments. Good timing and snappy execution are everything!
Application is a different story. In written transcriptions, rolls are often written in, and sometimes cuts. But there’s a good deal of improvisation in Irish trad music. And knowing how to apply different articulations is part of that aspect. Lots of listening and close imitation are important. And books such as Grey Larsen’s “Essential Guide” whistle/flute method devote much space to using ornaments in melodic context.
Also - and not to be discouraging - there’s much more to ornaments and articulation than the basic cuts, taps and rolls. And I don’t think I’ve ever seen a comprehensive treatment of all the possibilities gathered together in one place. But you have to start somewhere.
Me … I’m just a whistle duffer. Though I “played” whistle for many years, I came late to a serious effort at Irish whistle style. And for years I also wondered why I didn’t sound like Mary Bergin, even though I have a good ear and could “play all the notes”. The degree of micro-detail required to achieve “the sound” is mind-boggling at first, but becomes easier with time and effort.
