I have been trying to learn vibrato techniques. Any good suggestions?
For example: what fingers work well for vibratoing (if that’s a word) a
certain note? Does open fingering give a better vibrato tone? Should
I use vibrato on notes in the second octive?
What I’m in the midst of doing is using various charts for vibrato as a starting point, then sorta going around and playing around with variations on those charts to see what different sounds I can get. For example,trying different tone holes to get vibrato, taking the chanter off the knee in lower octave. My suggestion is to play around and see what sounds best to you. Also, listen to recordings and try your best to emulate the various types of vibrato which sound good to you. Like all ambellishments though, vibrato shouldn’t be used all the time, just to accent certain phrases or notes with a phrase.
Have fun,
Mike
I totally agree on just playing around to find what works best. I have two chanters and use different fingers on both of them for the vibrato as the tuning is better if I use differnet fingerings.
Just on this subject of particular fingerings to ornament your playing, I recently stumbled on a different way to get the third octave D, which my reed is reluctant to play in the normal manner - you just have to slightly uncover the bottom quarter of the back D hole from the normal C# note (this allows you to slur in and out of the note to add character and I have found it easier to hold this note without it dropping out).
All the best.
General rule for vibrato is two tone holes below the note. This works for back D too - when the back D is open, vibrato with the 2nd finger from the top in front.
Vibrato on back D using the ring finger of the bottom hand gives a nice silky tone.
P.
Also, using the middle finger, or the index finger of the lower hand are other options to consider. Vibrato fingering, as Jim McGuire has pointed out, is usually executed two tone holes below the played note, but this isn’t always the case as chanters vary from one to the next. Experiment with it, discover what works best for you or sounds the best to your ears.
vibrato the bottom D by shaking the chanter up and down.
This is a good question. I have been experimenting with this lately. It does seem to vary with chanters. My D and C chanters behave differently.
I have been trying to get vibrato on the “E” for the Eagles Whistle. That E needs vibrato but there is little room to do much. I have been tapping my ring finger and pinky (bottom hand) against the side of the tone holes. It sounds pretty bad at this time, but I think this is the way to do it.
Maybe I will try lifting the chanter next time. I don’t think I have tried that.
For E or e you need to do a trill instead of vibrato. This is wavering the note above your chosen note, i.e. F# on E. This works well for other notes as well, except for back d, of course. I should also say that this sounds better in jigs and reels than in slow airs.
djm
you don’t have to necessarily do a trill - you can shake the chanter to get the desired vibrato effect.
Mine tends to get seasick when I shake it and puke all over my lap. 
djm
Hi Douglas:
I don’t know of anyone who puts vibrato there; you might try rolling into the E from the ‘Eflat’ (aka ghost d) instead, to put some color into that note.
You could try a subtle bark type ornament, but that’s likely to be a little too “woop woop”. Are you thinking of a particular piper’s version of this tune?
Bill
Douglas asks:
I have been trying to get vibrato on the “E” for the Eagles Whistle.
I’ll agree with billh and DJM on this one:
For E or e you need to do a trill instead of vibrato. This is wavering the note above your chosen note
try trilling with the G index finger for a great sounding E, keeping the F middle finger down.
Sorry for contributing to off-topic “drift,” but Eagle’s Whistle is one of my favorites . . .
JVF
Thanks everyone, I will try these techniques out.
The version that Mikie Smyth plays is the one that stands out the best. I have seen him play this tune but I was not paying attention to that part at the time. I was first taught the tune by Caoimhin O’Raghallaigh, at a Tionol. Caoimhin can play the tune fairly well but when I heard Mikie play it, it sounded really great.
The ornamentation on the E, whatever it is, seem crucial to the tune. I guess I could email Mikie and bug him.
OT - The only piper I can think of who has recorded the march The Eagle’s Whistle is Pat Mitchell. He says he got it from Séamus Ennis. I do not have any recording of Ennis playing this tune as a march. However, Ennis did record this on whistle as a slow air, called Gol na mBan 'San Ar (The Weeping of the Women at the Slaughter), on his The Bonnie Bunch of Roses album. Weird, eh?
djm
I think Mikie Smyth plays it on his new CD too. No info on his site… the CD is at home… shame on me 
PD.
Ennis played Fead an Iolair on Feidlim Tonn Ri’s Castle, on both whistle and pipes. Leo Rickard plays the march on his Pure Piping record.
I’ve been playing a 2/4 version I learned from the Sheila na Gig record - thanks Mr. Sean!
You can put very mild vibrato on an E with a D# key but those are mostly found on 19th century chanters. You can vibrato the low E and D by shaking or wobbling the chanter around, Tom Standeven used to get vibrato on the low notes this way.
Oh, right. FTRC has so many problems that I often forget about it (said Freud). I’ll have to dig that one out again.
So, Mikie Smith has a second solo piping CD out? When will this become available?
djm
Michael Tubridy called his album The Eagle’s Whistle, I assume he plays it on there (don’t have a copy). Joe & Antoinette McKenna recorded it on their first as well, sounds like something Joe picked up from his teacher Leo R.
It’s the one called “The Wild Keys” that I’m talking about.
I am pretty sure it’s on there. Lemme have a look on the web for it… no I was wrong… great record all the same 
PD.