Y’know…those 3 quavers of the same note tied together with the no.3 on the bottom? I’ve read somewhere that tongueing is a no-no…so what do I do? I find that if I tongue it, my airflow doesn’t stop..so I don’t have to inhale and blow again. Or am I suppose to do the cut & tap thing? (which I can never do fast enough).
Life doesn’t look to bright when you’re listening to the CD. These people started when they were like age 4, and here I am, an old person trying to hitch-hike my way through Irish music-dom
I am not in a position to answer this authoritatively, but…
If it’s a triplet run, like B-c#-d or F#-G-A, then you don’t have to tongue it. You might tongue the first one for emphasis, but you might not. See Brother Steve’s whistle page on how these triplets, which are often ornaments for two eigth notes a third apart, are played stylistically.
Then there is a differnt animal, tongued triplets. These are an ornament and replace a quarter note with triplets of the same pitch (A-A-A, etc). Obviously these have to be tongued and they will require triple-tonguing to play them at speed. These tongued triplets are the whistler’s version of bowed triplets on the fiddle. To hear those listen to good Donegal fiddlers, like Tommy Peoples on the first Bothy Band album or any of his solo albums. (I am not working on these for a while yet, while I am still toddling in the rhythm, phrasing, cut & tap departments.)
/bloomfield
[ This Message was edited by: Bloomfield on 2002-07-03 16:47 ]
In general, triplets on the same note are intended for fiddle and banjo players, who generally call them “trebles”. A minority of whistle players will execute them, though, and this requires triple-tonguing (making a ta-ka-ta or diddle-dee movement with your tongue, for example).
A more conventional treatment for whistle players would be to use another form of ornamentation.
If the triplet occurs on an on-beat, you could play a short roll. If it’s on an off-beat, you’d do what I call an offbeat roll.
Or you could play something simpler. Depends where you’re at and what the tune is… but you don’t have to play what’s written. This is a good illustration of the need to be able to interpret written settings with some knowledge of the tradition as it applies to your instrument.
HTH
Steve
Edit PS My posting overlapped with Bloomfield’s - didn’t mean to ignore his contribution.
PPS Tonguing is not a no-no. Who told you that?
[ This Message was edited by: StevieJ on 2002-07-03 16:49 ]
On 2002-07-03 16:43, DazedinLA wrote:
Yeah, Loren, I had the same thought: Buy a case of earplugs and gazllion cases of Pampers.
Uh, no Kevin…I was thinking about triplets maybe a wee bit older, say over 18 perhaps? =;^)
Loren
(edited to compensate for that dman lsydexia nagia)
“The truth knocks on the door, and you say, ‘Go away, I’m looking for the truth,’ and so it goes away. Puzzling.” --Robert M. Pirsig, “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance”
[ This Message was edited by: Loren on 2002-07-03 16:52 ]
On 2002-07-03 16:43, DazedinLA wrote:
Yeah, Loren, I had the same thought: Buy a case of earplugs and gazllion cases of Pampers.
Loren & Dazed, I actually had two thoughts. hmmm … now how do I put this… well both were about babes, and the pun is very much intended.
Enjoy Your Music,
Lee Marsh
Edited to note the simultaneous post with Loren’s second comment… Between Loren and dazed they capture my thought in one.. ahh …errrr no two but about three. Some time I’m quicker with these posts and less tongue tied.
[ This Message was edited by: LeeMarsh on 2002-07-03 16:55 ]
Ha! I should have waited a minute for Steve to chime in…
One more thing: It helped me in listening for the bowed triplets in Peoples’ fiddling to know that they end up sounding almost like a rough, raspy tchk sound. Pretty cool.
/bloomfield
[ This Message was edited by: Bloomfield on 2002-07-03 16:51 ]
Well, Loren, yes that was my real thought, but since this is a family board, I opted for a more familyoriented retort…one can lead to the other, of course…
I am anxously awaiting the arrival of my Molloy/Peoples/Whoever CD, and hope to hear more of his trebling. I guess my fiddling is getting better…the bartenders at McSwiggins have stopped walking into the room with blunt objects in their hands and glares in their eyes, and one actually asked me to play in the main room, but the room was mostly empty at the time and those who were there were sufficienty anaesthetized to endure the experience.
The easiest thing to do with a triplet is to play it as a quarter-note… if this doesn’t sound right, the next easiest thing is to play it as two eighth notes, which will give it a bit more oomph in the middle… if -this- doesn’t sound right, it probably wants to be a roll (as already described). You can also play an adjacent note, turning e-e-e into e-d-e or e-f-e, but many people seem to think that rolls are ‘better’ than triplets, and particularly that same-note triplets on whistle are ‘weird’. If you want to go to a lot of hardcore trad sessions you’ll need your cuts and taps down, and your rolls, so you can do it whatever ‘the right way’ is at that pub, but otherwise, play what works for you.
I just gave my 4 1/2 yr old triplets their own Megs and they are quite proud of them. Now we can all learn to play together. They love listening to Irish trad. music and can’t wait to start step dancing next year. If I just keep them busy, maybe they won’t kill each other.
Bob
thanks everyone…i’ll see what i can come up with and rest assured, my next post will not be about twins. about tongueing being a no-no: i think i read it in rob greenway’s flute pages…but i could be wrong.
Chih
“A whistle a day keeps the doctor away”
[ This Message was edited by: psychih on 2002-07-04 07:52 ]
I don’t think that a bit of subtle tongueing hurts a bit on triplets. Try triple-tongueing them. Instead of trying to go “T-T-T” with your tongue, say " ticket-ta" with your tongue as you play the note. With a bit of practice, you will get 3 distinct notes much more quickly and cleanly than you can tongueing each one separately.
You can also double tongue eighth notes in fast tunes by saying “tick-a” to separate pairs of notes. These are techniques from classical wind music playing, but don’t hold that against them
As one of those who also (well mostly) plays the Highland Bagpipe, I approach same note triplets by seperating them with gracenotes. Cuts or whatever it may be called here. I call it a GDE embellishment.
I’ll be the bad guy (gal? Cat?) here. When I see a 3-same-note triplet and I don’t feel I have the time for a roll, or really want to make it sound ‘gritty’, but still want something more than one note I’ll do the glottal thing and let the back of my throat vibrate it. If I have the time, I’ll use the aforementioned ‘ticketa’, or change it from a ddd to a ded.
and rest assured, my next post will not be about twins. about tongueing being a no-no: i think i read it in rob greenway’s flute pages…but i could be wrong.