I was listening to Cherish the Ladies on a road trip a couple weeks ago and heard in the whistling on a couple of the slower tunes these nice little popping sounds, usually near the end of a long note or phrase. They didn’t really sound like grace notes, but more like what one might hear from Uillean pipes. How does one make “pops”?
I’m pretty sure the ornament you heard is a cran. It differs from rolls in that the grace notes occur above the base note, and so they “pop up” from the base note. There are lots of fingerings which you’ll find if you do a search. I’m at work, so I can’t do a long post, but someone else will help you out, I’m sure!
Hmm. I’m going to have to check that out…
Cranns go something like this (from book):
Imagine playing a D note, then it’s separated by four higher notes.
e.g. D → A D G D F D A D
pretty FAST from what I can hear from the Cd from the “low whistle book”
The album was “The Girls Won’t Leave the Boys Alone”.
Thanks for the replies. I’ll see if I can learn how to do crans and see if they sound similar to what I was hearing.
It appears that Joanie sometimes uses reverse rolls and multi-fingered cuts, as well as several other unconventional techniques, so it’s pretty much a mystery to me how she gets many of these sounds. I would say either ask her after a show or try some of this yourself and see how it turns out. Remember, she is also a flute player, so a good flute tutorial may reveal some of her secrets.