I new video clip on youtube made me realized I completely forgot about this bottom hand slip ornamentation. Last time I’ve seen this discussed here was a long time ago, back in the “cool board” days. I guess it must have slipped my mind since then, until today.
If I recall it was referred to as the “lazy mans roll” but does seem to work really well for this tune, nice illustration of the technique too:
You are cool Tucson, Wanderer was right.
Cool board was the one of the old premature versions of C&F forums.
I notice his right hand fingers are sliding downwards all the time,-is that what you mean?
The times where he slides over the bottom three holes with the index finger to get some sort of short roll.
There is also one take where the down slide is followed by an instant up slide.
I think it was an interesting take on that tune which could be used for variations.
Great piping by Paddy as well
I haven’t looked at the vid clip yet, but I have heard of what I think you are describing, though usually done with all 3 bottom hand fingers, as otherwise it only really does anything noticeable on the top open hole. The effect of doing it with one finger is much the same as something I learned yesterday at a workshop about Welsh pibgorns and bag-pibgorns - which have a back thumb-hole as the top hole to sound an open upper d (they only have a 1 8ve range). Ceri Matthews, the tutor, taught us what I believe is a technique used in both Highland and uillean piping (about neither of which I have more than general knowledge) which he called “stitching” the open D by swiftly rubbing the side of the thumb down then up across its hole, producing a kind of cran effect by twice briefly closing the open tone-hole as the thumb slides across it - similarly to a tap or strike really - two very brief visits to the C# below the D. The sound effect is analogous to the 2nd D cran on flute or whistle with L1 raised so that the “cuts” of the cran actually sound a sequence of pseudo C#s below the D.
Clearly, much the same thing can be done just about anywhere in the scale if desired, but IMO the “lazy” name applied to it as a described above is pretty fair; where available and practised to achieve correct execution, proper rolls or crans are far preferable in effect. I’d advise learning to do them and save fudge techniques for places where the “proper”, full version isn’t technically available (like the pipes “stitching”). That said, any technique which works can offer a viable and interesting alternative worth having in the armoury, as MarcusR suggests.
There is a section in Steafan Hannigan’s Low whistle book covering C#rolls where they discribe doing the same action but with the top three fingers.
He explains starting with a C# ‘rapidly and simultaeously rub the three fingers over the three finger holes and take them off again’
He doesn’t know what they are called but says it works
You are right Jem, that was what I meant with the bottom hand slip, all three fingers slide down with the index finger passing all the bottom holes to get the roll sound, might even start with a cut on g, hard to tell from the clip.
Interesting with the Hanningan description for the top hand. Steafan is a very talanded piper with a personal style of playing, maybe he has incorporated some of this in his piping as well…
A strange style of ornamentation in that clip, three times through and I can’t really hear what effect this downslide is having, if any. I am listening through headphones, it is late at night!!
I thought it may have been something similar to a three finger slide that I do, but on viewing I see it is nothing like anything I have done or seen done before.
Any more thoughts on this?
After watching the vid multiple times, and a bit of experimentation, here’s what I think is going on, for what it’s worth.
First, the guy uses a sort of piper’s grip / fluter’s grip on the right hand, playing with the 2nd joints, which disguises the fact that …
… what we are seeing, I think, is just a playing affectation, and not an actual ornament. When he executes an upward slide from, say, an F# or E to a note with the right hand completely off, he just tends to come off the note by sliding his hand down as a kind of physical flourish.
You can’t hear any kind of stuttering ornament, because there’s nothing to hear. He even does it when tapping the F# in G rolls, which makes it seem like there’s something more there. But there isn’t. It’s just a G roll.
Think about it. On most whistles (including a Gen), the only bottom hole that affects any of the top hand fingerings strongly enough to produce an audible stutter is the B1 hole when ornamenting a G xxxooo. Otherwise, rubbing 1, 2 or 3 fingers across any of the bottom holes does nothing for any top hand fingerings. Nada. It’s just useless movement.
Conversely, bouncing your fingers 3-2-1 on the open hole below any left hand note (like the B1 hole while playing G) definitely produces … something. Rather like a triplet on a piano accordion. A triple tap. The same goes for bouncing on T1 while playing c#. I guess that describes Steafan Hannigan’s technique. The problem is then getting your hand back into position quickly enough at speed to continue playing. Seems more like a parlor trick than a useful technique.
But as far as I can tell, that’s not what the YouTuber is doing anyway.
?
