WARNING!: The remorseless flashing of A in morse code is a worldwide WhOA conspiracy! I’ve already ordered 300 key of A whistles since this image was posted … Does anyone know of MTGuru’s whereabouts and condition? Has Dale alerted the White House?
K
K
wow, how the devil finds work for idle hands 
I am mystified about her use of an A gracenote in the 2nd part.
Without stirring an over-complicated soup, it sounds awfully like a pretty straight forward A cut to me?
Yup. Perhaps since the OP comes from the pipes he is less familiar with combining a tongue or breath attack with the cut.
Greetings all,
I haven’t listened to the clip, but if this is a debate over the embellishment I think it is - and buffpiper has asked me about before - then I actually took the course at the St. Louis Tionol from Mary Bergin and one of the toons she taught us was The Congress… it is an interesting ornamentation. I will describe it the best I can - the experts and long standing members here can better define it for me in more professional terms…
The two most important ‘holes’ in question are…
OXOOOX
I start the entire process with a toungued note mainly just to start crisp and because it’s in the upper octave.
Here is the fun part. There are two ways to play this - I’ll go over the second at the end.
So the sequence is… starting with you fingers covering all but D…
XXXXXO
start a solid note, immediately cut or ‘chirp’ the A note then hammer down your finger over the D to close all holes maintaining the upper octave.
XXXXXO → XOXXXO → XXXXXO → XXXXXX
It should come out a nice smooth ‘doodley-yoo’
NOTE: This is a bit tricky. If you were to try and simply play an ‘A’ note this way it should squeak at you like nobody’s business - there is a bit of nearly unconscious slight breath relaxation for the millisecond that you have your finger off of the A note, but not enough to quiet the note if that makes any sense.
If you have too much trouble with your whistle or playing style supporting this - you can switch from A to G for the ‘chirp’ note → XXOXXO - this will give you a more crisp ornamentation flow, however it is up to you to decide which holds more charm Basically what the fellas are saying just before this post is what I’m trying to describe.
I simply prefer the A because of the sort of ‘slurry chime’ it creates with my whistle if I open up the fipple just a bit. Plus I really like the tune 
Take care all and sorry if that was a horrible description. It’s been a long time, a lot of programming, and I’ve lost my memories on correct naming conventions for my taps, cuts, rolls, and crans 
I’m lucky I can still play!!! ha!
My Best,
John McHaffie
Hey John, you made me have to go back and fix all the broken links! Now I have to read the thread again …
John, thanks for the inside scoop. It looks like you’re describing what would be called a condensed long roll - a full 3-beat roll played in the space of 2 beats. In this case, you’re cutting the E with the 2nd top finger, and tapping the D.
(3e{b}e{d}e d
xxx xxo e
xox xxo cut 2nd finger
xxx xxo e
xxx xxx tap the d
xxx xxo e
xxx xxx d
That’s a perfectly good thing to do at that point in the tune. BUT …
Listening to the clip again, I still don’t think that’s what is being played. It’s not a roll, and there’s no d-tap. It’s just a triplet.
That’s my story, and I’m sticking to it …
BTW, the link to Buffpiper’s original clip is still OK, repeated here:
http://www.jabuffington.com/music/MaryBergin-Congress.mp3
And here’s my slowed-down clip of just the triplet:
Ok I listened to to the clip again - shoot I think that’s a recording of her from the very class I took! Cool!
You may very well be right about the triplet, but I encourage you to try the method I posted - I think if you listen to the clip … then listen to yourself / a recording of youself … you will hear the same sound now. 
I will see about getting a clip up here of me making an attempt at it later on today - probably this evening after my wife is fully awake and not so inclined to box me about the ears for rummaging around for my microphone and blaring at my PC, playing with wave forms, etc. hahaha
Take care, and thanks for the clips - great job on the slow down clip.
John
Ok so here we go. I know my timing is a little off, but for what it is, this should do the trick.
http://www.fawkesbay.com/Files/ornamwhat.mp3
This sound clip contains first a clip from Mary’s playing, then my own, then myself playing the first half of the B part slower so you can kind of hear some variation.
Important Information however: I notice that Mary is playing using alternating styles on each round for variety. Sometimes it sounds like this, other times it sounds more like a roll, other times it sounds like a simple cut and move on.
So… since there was some intense discussion on the matter I chose to do the following in the above clip…
This clip is using a ‘G’ grace note rather than an ‘A’ grace note. reason being is for the more crisp or sharply defined sound for those of us that pick things out by ear, and to be able to more easily denote where things are happening.
Using the exact same methods with ‘A’ rather than ‘G’, you end up with a nifty slur / chime effect that can be heard in one or two spots in the Bergin clip as well.
Therefore - I honestly believe that this is the method she is using - the one she showed us - in most of the runs. I do however agree there are a couple of places where it sounds like she’s thrown in a C# cut or something lightening fast, particularly on one that gave it a nice ‘twitter’ or roll.
On an end note: I never had a more enjoyable whistle class / workshop then Mary’s. She is one of those delightful sorts you just love to meet but rarely get the chance to. She was even nice enough to play and sign one of my whistles for me so I could hear how one sounded from the seats