Outside of rolls, are taps as common as cuts in ITM?
Where might taps might be used to better effect than cuts?
Phill
I thought this was going to be about how to play “Taps” on the whistle. 
A nice option: when descending
to G, say (you play B, A, G,
as your finger covers the G hole
and you sound the note,
SIMULTANEOUSLY strike on
the F sharp hole.
This accents the G, it can be used elsewhere too.
Thanks - I missed that. Good information there. I always think of cuts to separate two notes of equal pitch. I will try the addition of the taps to the slow air (with which I am already slightly familiar). Is the choice of a tap, rather than a cut, as a separator something that can be partly rationalised, or is it always an artistic ‘gut feel’ thing?
Again, thanks. I will try that sequence. This is the sort of example/explanation I was hoping for. I guess what I need are small fragments to practice until I can ‘feel’ where they are appropriate in a tune.
Phill
There are a lot of situations where a pat sounds better than a cut.
Most trad players tend to cut when it’s on the beat and pat when it’s off the beat but there are no “rules”.
An example is that part in The Gold Ring where it goes
DBB DBB | DAA DAA |
and most players would put a pat in there to seperate the B’s and A’s.
But sometimes it’s cool to use pats in unexpected places, for example when a roll is followed by another of the same note you can put in another pat.
For example the start of the Kesh Jig
GGG GAB | AAA ABd |
The first GGG and AAA can be a normal roll, but then put in a second pat on the beat to articulate the next note:
G cut G pat G | pat G A B | A cut A pat A | pat A B d |
Here’s my little videos where I show a lot of different ways to vary this stuff around:
Ha. I had been thinking of asking about those bits in the Kesh Jig. And just this week after realising I had been playing taps on the beat I been have trying to get into the habit of doing it the other way ! How about the last measure of each part of Merrily Kissed the Quaker’s Wife if playing them GGG G.. ? I have settled on roll + tap in there for now.
Here’s Trotting to Larne that I learned from John Skelton which has taps that give the tune a bouncy feel:
A2f A2f fed | A2f A2f fed | B2d G2B … tapping the G for A2f and the A for B2d, etc.
I wouldn’t say this is done a lot, though.
http://www.box.net/shared/1yabsvmecg
Michael
Thanks PanCelticPiper - useful info. I think I need to train my ears and eyes a bit more before I can learn from those video clips - but I have bookmarked them on my ‘to learn’ list.
Thanks Michael (mahanpots) that’s a nice tune too. Is it a slip jig? I will get the dots and try to learn enough to practice the taps you suggest. My ‘to learn’ list gets ever longer, but that is good - when winter comes I will have plenty of time to fill.
Phill
Trotting to Larne is a slip jig, yes. Session.org has it in Amajor. I learned it in D.
http://www.thesession.org/tunes/display/3511
It’s a fun tune.
No, they’re not.
Examining the current (and ever-morphing) state of my own playing, I find I almost never use taps as a separate articulation, with a few exceptions:
o At the start of a long roll, I’ll sometimes begin with a quick slide from below. Technically, it’s the same as a tap, but is intended to smooth the attack, not accentuate it.
o In situations that call for two quick quaver cuts in a row, I’ll sometimes substitute a tap for the first one for ease of fingering. For example, here’s the A part of a tune I’m learning this week, Christy Barry’s #1 (double jig in G)
D|GDG BAG|A2B d2e|ged BG{F}G|{c}AGA AGE|
DG{F}G {c}BAG|A2B d2e|ged BG{F}G|{c}AGF G2:|
Whenever that GG figure occurs throughout, I find myself using a separating tap to facilitate the following cut.
I love that they named a hole for me.
I use it sometimes. For example, in Finnish Polka in the B part, second measure there are two C#'s which I separate with taps instead of tongue.
In Banish Misfortune in the b part there are two Cnats back to back and sometimes I try to tap those.
I forgot to mention that a great old Miltown Malbay fluteplayer I used to know, Ray Tubridy (RIP, cousin to Michael Tubridy ex-Cheiftans) would do a really cool variation which was just a long series of pats. He only did this on G.
So in the 2nd part of Craig’s Pipes for example where it goes
DGGG DGBG | DGBG AGEG |
he would go
DGGG GGGG | GGBG AGEG |
all those Gs seperated by pats.
I would have to go back and listen to some of my tapes of Ray, but I think he was pretty much 50-50 cut-pat.
Clarification (backpeddling?) Last night I tried to do the tap in the B part and I cannot do it when we play it fast. I INTEND to do the tap but I end up not doing it.
I added a quick clip to illustrate the taps. Slow - medium - faster.
Thank you MTGuru - that clip is going to be very helpful. It sounds good and I think I can hear the reason for the taps and what they do for the tune. I will study it later today - alongside dots so I can make sure that correctly interpretting what I hear.
It was very kind of you to take the time and trouble to record and post it.
This thread has justified my practising of stand-alone taps, and given me lots of help finding uses for them. Thank you everyone who has responded, or indeed those who still might.
Phill