Dear Sirs
forgive my ignorance. Would someone be kind enough to explain to me the technique of vibrato? I have read an “explanation” in the book “Learning to play Uilleann Pipes”(Armagh Pipers Club), but I do not understand it.
Thank you and my apologies if this is covered somewhere in the FAQs.
S.Johnson
It’s potentially a big topic. But a few quick things to note:
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it’s an ornament, not something to do all the time. Use it on particular notes that need emphasis in a tune.
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it requires opening more fingers than the “minimum”, “closed” fingering for a particular note.
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you can (and probably should) vary the speed and intensity, otherwise it can be monotonous.
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different fingerings may be used for different effects, or may be needed in order to stay in tune, depending on your particular chanter.
The technique involves raising and lowering one or more fingers, (either completely or partially covering toneholes when lowering them), below the tonehole(s) which are normally left open for a given note. This means that vibrato on E and D is more-or-less impossible (at least, that is the short answer).
As an example, while playing the back d, you can experiment with lifting fingers such as the “F#” finger (my favorite), the G finger, or the B finger, etc. I find the vibrato effect using the B finger too harsh most of the time, but some people really like it - this is an area of piping style. Listen to good pipers and try to figure out what they are doing.
Bill
Basically Vibrato is changing the “tone colour” of a note, by slightly varying the frequency. On the fiddle you would rock the finger stopping the note back and forth, more or less rapidly to produce the change in tone. On the pipes it is slightly more complex. As a first rule you should use the vibrato on the second note below the highest open note. That is; if you are playing “A” then you should cover and uncover the “F#”. Play “G” and you cover “E”. “B” and cover “E”. To produce vibrato on Back “D” flap your finger on the “C#” hole.*
What I mean by “cover” is the flapping of the alleged finger over the second lower hole. You can vary the speed of the flapping, and this will affect the timbre of the tone. It should not be so slow as to produce a Wow-Wow kind of noise, or so fast that it becomes a trill.
Listen to the variations in tone in the playing of slow airs. This will give you a good idea of what can be done with a good vibrato.
- You can play vibrato on C#, by flapping (or venting as it is also called) the A finger hole, but this has been construed as very similar to skinning up a joint, so you should only try this at home. or in The Netherlands/Colombia, where it is legal/no-one gives a damn.
It’s such a complex subject because there are so many different ways to do it on certain notes, and the various ways sound different on different chanters. There’s really no substitute for 1) listening to a lot of players and decide for yourself what sounds good to you, and 2) doing a lot of experimenting on your particular chanter to discover which types sound best to you.
For example, back D could be done:
o xxv xxxx
o vxx xxxx
o xxx vxxx
or really any other. (o=open hole, x=closed hole, v=hole the finger moves up and down on).
And another issue is that there are two basic approaches as to what the finger that moves up and down does: 1) the finger completely closes and opens the hole, or 2) the finger(s) strike at the side(s) of the hole(s).
So I do back D vibrato with the “v” finger completely opening and closing its hole, but for A I do:
x xxo vvxx (on the leg, v fingers only striking at sides of holes)
which can also work for B:
x xoo vvxx
A especially lends itself to many ways of doing vibrato, and each can be tried with both open and closed fingerings, and both with the chanter on the leg and off the leg. Each manner will give a distinctive sound.
For G, I prefer:
x xxx ovxx (on the leg, v finger striking side of hole)
The advantage to using the manner where the side of the hole is struck is that you can vary the intensity of the vibrato by changing the angle of the finger(s). The vibrato can be very subtle, or strong, depending on the effect you want. This flexibility comes in handy when playing airs.