being a big fan of Solas and Seamus Egan; I just recently bought the madfortrad tutorial. One of the things I was keen on getting a peek at, was how the man manages to play repetitive notes (same notes) on e.g. a B… He does this all the time, doesnt he…sigh. Very cool.
There are several ornaments presented on the tutorial; and I must admit I haven’t studied it too deep yet. But at a glance, I cant seem to find exactly what I was impatiently looking for
The performance in the “tutor” section of the disc is immense; and there he does this all the time; plays rythmically and even 8ths on a B…SO; anybody has dechiffred how this is actually done.
Oh, and dont think i imagine there’s any quick way to this little nugget…I’d just like to know if there is something else to it than doing this extremely precise, relaxed and really fast (sigh x 2):
ooo ooo
xoo ooo
xxx xxx
ooo ooo
xoo ooo
I.e. some kind of a cut + roll scheme.
(Forgive me if I am using the wrong names here…hope you see what I mean…)
Best regards,
Eivind
PS: oh, and does anyone know the name of that tune?
Not sure I understand the question really… I have that tutorial and from what I’ve seen and heard, he’s using glottal stops to play multiples of the same note (eg B)? Also, his cuts are very fast, all you see is something that looks like a finger “spasm”, even when the video’s slowed down.
Actually, I think the video stream has been so compressed that we’re missing a lot of detail in his playing. I find a lot of stuff is not explained on several of the Mad4Trad CDs. Either you pick it up by ear, or you go elsewhere for the finer details. Nonetheless, they are a good study form for ear training and playing along with a not-too-complicated version of each tune.
Hi, the name of the tune you’re looking for is Emily’s reel. I’ve actually emailed someone from MadforTrad (its a FAQ email address if you go to the members section of the website) and he said that the ornament is a triple tongue (t-k-t), but it wasn’t covered in the tutorial. Well either way I’m not very fond of this tutorial for reasons stated before (and accessible via search function if interested!).
really appreciate your points - the only way is by ear.
But when you dont even have a clue as to how the man produces a certain sound, you cant just keep listening and never find out. Right?
So glottal stops or triple-tongue are perhaps it? Humm.
Anyway; found Emily’s reel on TheSession. Now I’ll take it home and see if it matches my transcription
Seamus does mention glottal stopping as a technique for separating same consecutive notes, under the first jig (Connaughtman’s rambles) intro. I suppose he thought it was emphasized enough but it may not be for people new to flute, as the stopping he actually performs as a demonstration is quite subtle, I think. Perhaps tutors should really exaggerate these things. In real life I hear both tonguing (which is the only technique permitted in classical flute playing to the best of my knowledge and is the way I have always played) and glottal used by ITRAD players. I think glottal is much more common however in ITRAD. If tonguing is used strongly in a striking fashion, more for an effect than separating notes, it has a place as well, in my view.
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