Depends how many notes you want to ‘roll’, usually 3 or 4 notes so for a cran that would be 2 or 3 cuts (with different fingers) respectively. Remember there’s different kinds of rolls with different timings.
I can’t imagine cutting every note, I will search YouTube for some examples of this.
I realized today that I’ve been tonguing the first of three 8th notes, and that instead of tonguing them I could be cutting them. This was not as easy as I thought itd be so I need to keep practicing it.
I agree about listening. I have to admit I often have to slow down the mp3 from the tunebooks in order to hear what they’re doing. One thing really interesting is that two tunes from Larson’s toolbox are also in LL McCollough’s complete tunebook, so I have been studying both to see how each one uses ornaments in different ways. McC does seem to tongue a lot!
If you go here:
http://www.bagpipe-tutorials.com/centers-bonnet.html
You can click the PDF to see sheet music of a tune written out that way, and then click the video right under it to see a highly accomplished piper play it on practice chanter.
I’m definitely not advocating that you should play whistle that way though – especially not if you’re trying to play in an Irish style! Piping technique doesn’t necessarily transfer to whistle, and vice versa. But sometimes I apply various bits of highland fingering to whistle – usually unintentionally. Sometimes it sounds good and sometimes not.. Don’t be afraid to experiment.
Instead… You can of course tongue and cut these notes at the same time. I do this a lot.
But don’t forget that doing neither is also a valid choice. “Slurring across the beats” will help you to get a characteristic swing in both jigs and reels.
In jigs, where notes 2 and 3 of a group are repeated (say Swallowtail jig, GEE BEE GEE etc.) you could tongue the two
Es in each groups but slur into the Gs and Bs, without a cut (or with one, for a different effect). Whistlers such as Mary Bergin, Sean Potts and Paddy Moloney do this kind of thing all the time. Discussed on this hoary old page: http://www.rogermillington.com/siamsa/brosteve/jigsI.html
OK so I’m replying to a thread that’s drifted pretty far down on the page but I wasn’t here when it was fresh so put up with me 
What I wanted to say was that, when I was learning ornaments but not knowing where to put them, it was very enlightening for me to use a slow-downer program and transcribe recordings by “real” traditional players, often doing multiple versions of the same tune by different artists. And then of course I’d work at imitating my experts, which seemed to give me a better feel for varying styles of ornamentation/articulation. It also helped me get a better handle on the different ways a player might vary a tune as s/he plays the repeats.
Now if you have a great ear this may not be worth your while, but I have a lame-to-average ear, so getting it all written helps my learning process. It also helps me get analytical, which for my brain is an important part of the learning process. Over the years it’s become very clear that I’m not an immersion/osmosis intuitive learner. I do much better when I just sit down and RTFM. As I said in my intro post, when confused, I get methodical.
Anyway, I personally really like the program Transcribe for this purpose, but other people also like the Amazing SlowDowner.
Thank you for this input! I listen to various recordings while driving (mostly), and starting to get ideas about “where” to put ornaments. Also, Bill Och’s tutorial is really helpful. I slowed down a bit, and returned to practicing cuts rather then rushing to rolls. 