psoutowood wrote:
On the GHB and Scottish smallpipes a continuous supply of air means the only way to differentiate notes is with grace notes and ornamentation...why are whistles played with the same "steady-stream" ornamentation when you have the option for tonguing?
Yes with bagpipe chanters having unstopped bottoms you have to articulate with the fingers. (That's any sort of bagpipe made like that, not just Scottish.)
As to why Irish flute and whistle players choose to use bagpipe-style articulation when they don't need to, I think it's a matter of the bagpipes influencing the styles of flute and whistle.
In the general mainstream flute and whistle styles I usually hear, flute players tend to do less tonguing and more finger articulation, while whistle players tend to do more tonguing. I think players, through endless trial and error, have found what styles sound best on each type of instrument.
It's not just in Ireland. Bulgarian traditional dance music also has a bagpipe and a flute, and the bagpipe has to use finger articulation while for the flute players it's a choice. In Bulgaria there are different flute styles depending on region, some are more "flutelike" with lots of tongued articulation and some are more "bagpipelike" with mostly finger articulation.
In Ireland you'll sometimes hear fife-style flute playing where they tongue most notes and do little in the way of bagpipe-like ornamentation.
As you say, it's a choice.
And by the way it's not just whistle and flute players who can choose to do bagpipelike finger articulation, fiddlers do it too. Because a fiddler can articulate only with the bow if they choose, or they can choose to play a group of notes on a single bow, articulating them with fingered ornamentation.