Has anyone thought of gracing the e in the g f e tight triplet? It’s easier to do if you use a as grace note rather that g. Please try it if you haven’t and tell me what you think of it.
Left hand trills. Liam O’Flynn does these a lot especially in slow airs, although he uses it in the 3rd part of an phis fliuch too. Has anyone got any tips on how to practice these? I was in a class with a famous and very technically accomplished piper a few years ago and even he couldn’t really do them properly.
Gracing f#. I don’t like to grace f# in the second octave with a unless I have the chanter off my knee and and go up to the f# from e (played with bottom hole closed). Popping f# and gracing it with a at the same time sounds alright to my ear. I also pop e whilst gracing it with g.
In the lower octave I think you can get away with using a to grace f# although as far as I can tell pipers like Ronan Browne and Liam O’FLynn will always ‘nip’ the note with g. Does anyone have an opinion on this?
Playing fga triplet in lower octave off the leg a bit like when you play the Ennis cran. I find this effective in Garret Barry’s eg:
a/f-g-a d g(roll)/a g a c…
Getting a sort of cran in the second octave by lifting during g-f-d triplet. Anyone else do this?
It is an interesting thread but there’s not been much activity on the pipes forum for the last few days. Probably, everyone’s too busy watching the flautists go at it on the other forum.
I’m currently waiting to get my chanter back (getting a few keys added) and when I do I’ll try what you suggest and let you know how it works out.
296 views on this topic as I write this, so maybe folk just don’t want to post…
It is an interesting thread but there’s not been much activity on the pipes forum for the last few days. Probably, everyone’s too busy watching the flautists go at it on the other forum.
So now I guess I’d better say something.
-I can do No 2 but have no idea how to tell someone else to practise it.
-I always grace F#, in both octaves [lots of ways to do so].
-I’ve done your No 4 but felt guilty immediately 'cos I was trying to play it on the knee. Where, by the way, in Garrett Barry’s, do you play it?
-No 5…don’t think i’ll do that one. What note are you playing before you play it…and is that preceding note off the knee…or on it?
I’ve been mucking with this idea since you posted it. I find, as you, that popping the f# with the a does sound alright. Not all that different sound than from popping alone really, but it does give it more of a clean edge.
I did experiment a bit and found that when popping the f# giving a quick cut with the c gives a really cool barking sound! (A not so quick cut with the c sends the effect straight to the dogs though.)
I do agree with boyd that a recording of what you mean on #1 would be helpful, because to be honest, I can’t quite picture it.
I’ve been working on upper hand trills for GHBs on and off for a bit now and though their not totally under control yet their getting there.
What I do is practice them slowly and relaxedly, increasing the number of repetitions starting at 2 working up to 4 which seems to be most useful in the music.
They’re very satisfying to get right and not entirely unknown on the GHBs (John D Burgess).
As with all these things the secret is to practice slowly, rhythmically and often.
Interestingly when you do a trill (or finger vibrato) you can reach the physiological speed limit for motor movement.
In order cut down on computational overhead the CNS quantises movements in 1/10th(ish) of a second bits, and this limits the maximum frequency of your trill to 10-12Hz.
(A not so quick cut with the c sends the effect straight to the dogs though.) 