I was listening to a Joanie Madden album. She’s playing a high D whistle and vibrating on the “F#” note.
The only way I can figure out that she’s creating the vibrato on this note is that she is rhythmically moving the whole whistle around–bouncing it gently… versus doing the usual flutter with her fingers. IS THIS POSSIBLY WHAT SHE’S DOING?
Meaning, is there a vibrato technique where you jiggle the whistle? I’ve tried it and like the effect, but I’m not sure that there isn’t a better way it’s traditionally done.
ALERT: The following paragraph is erroneous. Please skip past it and go the posts below, which are correcter. I won’t delete, as I’m not all that concerned that people know I’m not perfect.
Much of the vibrato on her Songs of the Irish Whistle album is diaphram vibrato, ala classical players. I haven’t heard all of her work but I don’t remember hearing her do finger vibrato. I’m sure she can, though, I’ve just never heard it.
Without listening to the soundbite to which you refer, I can only posit
possibilities. But I don’t see why she couldn’t use finger vibrato on an
F#; she would only need to tap the whistle with her right ring and pinky
fingers. Another alternative is breath vibrato, which uses the diaphram,
but that wouldn’t sound quite the same. Again, without hearing it, I
couldn’t say for sure.
She taught a workshop at the St. Louis Tionol this past year, and showed us how to get vibrato out of a note above D by ‘almost’ tapping the note below… sort of vibrating the air above the hole below the note you are playing… i.e. playing the F#, you would tap by the hole for E, though not actually covering it.
I had her workshop for a week during Gaelic Roots 2000 at Boston College. What she was doing then and I assume still is doing is pretty much all finger vibrato. What she showed us was happening, with one open hole between the fingered note and and the action, was waggling her finger up and down above the hole in question. Did that make any sence at all?
Nancy has a good description for it. It looks to me like her finger never actually contacts the whistle. Instead, it looks like it just barely misses the hole.
(P.S. - I will admit to probably having the weirdest vibrato on this forum. I use my right thumb. Yes, you read it right.)
Jim, I think she not only touches the whistle body, but actually bumps it fairly hard, remember there is one and sometimes two holes open between the note being played and the vibrato spot. In fact it may be the bumping causing it to move in your mouth that causes the effect.
Heh, I remember once counting all the notes (including grace notes) in a Mary Bergin tune and it was something obnoixious like 250 over just a few seconds. I’ll have to perform that experiment again
See, this is what threw me. Joanie does her finger vibrato much slower than most people, very much like a diaphragm vibrato. I was waiting for my daughter last night for her violin lesson (she makes me wait in the car) and I put on a bunch of Joanie’s stuff. “I’ll be damned,” I said aloud, as I could hear the finger vibrato. It’s very smooth and lush, not choppy and frantic like some finger vibratos.
I saw CTL last night (I was in row 9, KDMARTINKY - if I had known, I would have said “Hi!”) and Joanie was vibrato-izing by fluttering her fingers below the open hole. On higher notes, it looked like she was fluttering 2 or 3 fingers on her right hand.
BTW, they were GREAT! The other act was Abigail Washburn with celloist Ben Sollee and they just blew my mind. And then Bela Fleck got up and sat in on the last number after the broadcast and the whole evening was just fantastic.
… and Joanie was vibrato-izing by fluttering her fingers below the open hole.
She was placing her fingers BELOW the whistle? I’m confused. Can you give me a bit more info, because I don’t get it (or perhaps I am misunderstanding you and I’d really like to get this straight).
The only way I can imagine affecting the tone is to flutter my fingers ABOVE the open hole…
She taps next to the open hole below the note she is playing. On a D whistle, playing the F#, you would tap with your right middle finger, next to the E hole, vibrating the sound without fully changing the note… same for say, the G - you tap next to the F# hole …
The reason it’s around 10Hz (up to 12Hz in some people) as this is the fastest speed you can perform a repeated physical action; the motor systems smallest resolution. All continuous movement are actualy lots of 1/10 second movements joined together.
