I find that F# is a tough note to ornament when playing slow airs on the pipes. Venting the E and Eb (for vibratto) or popping the chanter affect the volume and tuning of the F# too much for my liking. For this reason I don’t like sliding from E to F# - while the E and F# holes are open the F# is louder and a little sharp.
Any suggestions for ornamenting F#? The tune that I have the most trouble with is “Slieve Gallion Braes”.
Get a different chanter 
!
On mine the F# can be played in tune with a variety of fingerings, both on and off the leg, all of which give different volume and tone. Cutting, vibrato, rolls, pops, all of these can be used effectively. You might try cutting with the F# finger (B1).
I am surprised that lifting off fingers, below the F# hole, makes the chanter sharp, as on mine it generally makes the note flatter.
Although, are you referring to first or second octave. Different fingerings work differently on my chanters.
Hi Nick,
No way am I changing my chanter. I’m even considering being buried with this one!!
I’m referring to the 2nd octave. When I play 2nd octave F# off the knee or with the E open, and then play the standard F#, there seems to be a slight drop in pitch and volume. I’ll have to record myself and listen back to make sure. It’s something that I don’t notice when playing jigs, reels, etc., and many other slow airs. However, for some reason, it bothers me when I play Slieve Gallion Braes!! Then again it could be that the particular tune mixes up major and minor and my ear is expecting to hear Fnat but instead hears F# and says to my brain “Something not quite right about that!!”.
Or maybe I just talk to myself too much…
Can you post a sound clip of what you are doing ?
If it’s only a slight drop then maybe you are just being too picky.
On the other hand, try X XXX XOOX O (top X is back D, bottom O is off the leg), X XXX XOOO X, X XXX XOOO O, and possibly X XXX XOXO O.
The first one is one I often use off the leg for the F# in the second octave, and it is nicely in tune.
I’ve tried X XXX XOOO X and that seems to work. It allows me to do a little vibratto on the D# hole.
Thanks.
You can accomplish a clean slide from E to F# in the second octave. The trick is to make sure that by the time you’re fully onto the note F#, your E fingers are back on the chanter, and, if you’re also lifting the chanter off the knee, that the chanter is back down on the knee when you reach F#. If you don’t have your E fingers back down when you sound the F#, it will be out of tune. It takes practice and control, but that’s how it’s done.
Good luck!
Kieran O’Hare
Don’t know what I was thinking. I meant to write that it makes the note flat!!
Right, that makes more sense then.
What Kieran says about sliding is also how I’d approach other ways of ornamenting the F#, such as lifting off the leg to “swell” the note. Just have to get those E fingers back on when you go back to the leg, or you know, whatever fingers your chanter requires, to get that note back in tune. Unless you want it flat, which I definitely do, sometimes, depending on the context!
Funny, I was just going to post something about the upper octave F#.
Lately I’ve discovered lifting the (rt) pinky, (after the note is played in a the usual fashion). It gives a “ghost F#” or a “supernatural” F#. It is a whole new look on F#. I’ll see if I can post a sound file of this somewhere. What’s a good, free site for uploading and sharing mp3s?
tommykleen
http://www.box.net is used quite a lot here.
Yes, it gives a nice howling F# especially if you vibrato with the E finger at the same time. Wild like Willie 
Our particular chaters have a good capacity for this I think.
Patrick.
I must say your post peaked my curiosity. After some mucking about I’ve found that if you have an F natural key you can utilize that for a bit of vibrato with less pitch variation than venting with either E fingers. Also cutting with a G, instead of an A or B, gives a more subtle cut effect.
Hope that helps,
Paul
[quote=Lately I’ve discovered lifting the (rt) pinky, (after the note is played in a the usual fashion). It gives a “ghost F#” or a “supernatural” F#. tommykleen[/quote]
That is so cool. I think I’m hearing an extra note, some kind of harmonic. It gives the sound of a full chord with just the drones going.