Okay, I admit, I’ve been playing the whistle for awhile, but haven’t made an effort to dig into some aspects of playing properly. I do have Grey Larson’s book and I’m reading about slurs (pg. 29). What’s nagging me is the tonguing at the beginning of the slurs. I understand the concept. Easy enough. But trying to add in the slurring on something I know at the proper places, well, that’s a bit frustrating.
So at the expense of opening the floodgate of opinions on this, I’m hoping to get people’s thoughts on how necessary it is for me to slow down and force myself to get tonguing down at the beginning of every slur. I confess, I don’t know that I’ll ever get every one, and from listening to CD’s I don’t know that I can tell that others get every one, they’re usually playing so fast.
My goal is to learn as close to proper playing style as I can get so my tunes have a more authentic traditional sound to them. Up until about a week ago, I was used to tonguing and using my breath to articulate notes, whereas know after watching some of Tony Hinnigans videos, I’m practicing on breathing a steady stream of air (plus control volume of air for second octave) and using my fingers more to cut, tap and so on. It’s challenging and fun, but it also gives the tune a different sound.
I’ve had the book since it came out and hope to seriously get into reading it one of these days.
I’m hoping to get people’s thoughts on how necessary it is for me to slow down and force myself to get tonguing down at the beginning of every slur.
Tonguing every slurred note is most certainly not necessary. Some nice effects can be obtained by not tonguing some slurs, either at the beginning or in the middle of a phrase. Listen to Jerry O’Sullivan’s rendition of O’Carolan’s Farewell to Music for some beautiful and subtle use of slurring.
More generally, you don’t necessarily have to tongue a beginning note slurred or not. Same thing goes for tonguing and not tonguing the start of rolls, or cuts, or whatever. You have options. Figure out what sounds good. Record yourself for more feedback.
Tony
Hello all. I’ve been whistling for a few years now and have never herd of a slur on a whislte. My son plays fiddle and uses an ornament called a slur. Is slur on a whistle simply another name for a different ornament such as a slide? Thanks!
To slur means to connect two or more notes such that only the first note of the group is articulated. A slurred group of notes is played using an uninterrupted, continuous stream of air. Only the first note of a slurred group is articulated by the use of tonguing or throating.
Note: Some people use the word slur (or smear) to mean a gradual, continuous pitch change. I call such pitch changes slides.
That’s pretty much the textbook definition we learned of “slur” in junior high school band, too. By definition, you have to do something akin to tonguing to start a slur (otherwise the slur begins earlier, if you see what I mean.)
I’ve got to say that while I apply that sort of thinking to (most of) my bassoon playing, I never ever think that way playing traditional music on the whistle. In band or orchestra, tonguing every note is the default, and slurs are the exception to the rule. In most styles of ITM whistle-playing, connecting every note to the previous is the default, and tonguing is what you (might) occasionally do when you want to articulate certain notes. It’s a very different perspective.
