what’s the most rolls you can play in succession on the pipes? I think it’s 4 (in a jig)
they seem to fit jigs more naturally than reels - in a reel they give a syncopated effect
they’re a very useful way to introduce a variation without having to think too much
Try playing short rolls in reels.
Surely you can play as many as you like. Whether or not it sounds good is a different question.
A good fluteplayer I learned flute (and a lot about the pipes) from back in the late 70s/early 80s would do a variation sometimes where he would park on a note and do a series of rolls on it.
For example in the 3rd part of Lark In The Morning instead of going back and forth between F# and D and/or E he might sometimes play a long series of F#s separated by a series of cuts and pats… not really “rolls” per se perhaps but the same finger action.
I don’t know how to do ABC notation properly but his variation might be something like this:
Lark In The Morning, 3rd part, normal:
| d2f# f#ef# | f#ef# f#ed |
variation:
| d2f# f#f#f# | f#f#f# f#ed |
Back in the 80s I used to attend sessions at which there was an old fluteplayer from Clare who would do something like this. He only did it on G in the upper octave, and the string of Gs would be separated by a series of pats only (no cuts) so no “rolls” per se.
Don’t know if this is a Traveller thing specifically (that which pancelticpiper describes), but it sure turned/turns up a lot in Johnny Doran’s & Paddy Keenan’s playing.
Cheers,
Mick