Any Tips on Executing a Hit?

Whistle
1

I thought i was doing alright, but it doesn’t sound that great to me anymore. I was wondering if you actually put your finger all the way down, or just enough to disrupt the airflow?

2

Both. You must cleanly and completely cover the hole to get maximum snap, but only for an instant. The trick is to pretend you are touching a hot stove element.

3

Good advice from Guinness. And the first hit is free! :laughing:

4

thank you! it’s sounding a little bit better now, but i’m afraid of making my downstairs neighbors angry by practicing on one note at a time.. EEK! lol

5

http://www.rogermillington.com/siamsa/brosteve/twiddlybits1.html

6

whoohoo!! In my quest to succesfully do a tap, i managed to be able to actually do a roll after doing it well!!! :smiley:

7

Hi

Reading the title, I was sure you were in the wrong forum.

I’m sure there is a forum for amateur hitmen somewhere. You could try the Proctology forum, there’s some shady charachters there…

Regards,

Owen Morgan

Yacht Magic
Anchored in the lagoon, St Maarten

My new blog.
Click here for my latest reported position. (Use the satellite view.)

8

One trick is to use the hard knuckle joint of the finger, or right next to the knuckle, for the tap. This part of the finger is not as “squishy” as the fleshy part, so it doesn’t compress as much, and you can come down and off the hole a bit more cleanly. The difference is a matter of milliseconds, but that can make the difference between a nice clean blip and sounding a definite note.

9

Really, it’s just practice practice practice. Nobody’s doing good, clean ornamentation within their first week or so of playing. Well, maybe somebody, but us mortals have to practice.

10

I agree, Practice, Practice, Practice (And some patience). You will probably drive your family and neighbours nuts but persistance pays off. It has taken me 5 months to reach to this stage: The Kesh Jig :slight_smile: -I know, the sound quality of the clip sucks but it was a quick recording in my office using only my laptop’s built-in microphone… I don’t consider myself as a good whistle player but my learning pace is pretty fast… :smiley:

I have never played any woodwind instruments before though I did play the Electric Bass for some 10 years. Remembering how long it took to learn that instrument I’m rather happy with my progress so far.

11

Is there a reason that you are cranning your A’s instead of rolling them? It’s possible but not usual, and it sounds odd. Also, you should work on the even timing of your rolls: 1 - blip - blip. You are waiting too long after the first note. And your cuts aren’t really cuts. So keep practicing, but make sure you’re practicing the right things. :wink:

12

I’ll throw this in again for good measure…all about ornaments!

Susan

13

-Still learning… :slight_smile:

Re: The way I played the Kesh Jig in that clip. It’s tricky to figure out exactly HOW it’s supposed to sound on a whistle when hearing it played on other instruments… :slight_smile:

Cheers,
Anders

14

While on this topic. There seems to be two ways of doing a cut, depending on who you ask. “Brother Steve” describes them as being done with the B or G finger, others describe them as being done with the finger “above” the note you are doing the cut on IE: an A if you are doing a cut on a G or F if you are doing a cut on E.

Which way is considered the “right” way of doing it?

Cheers,
Anders

15

And making good progress!

Your interpretation of The Kesh is not bad. It’s your technical execution of the ornaments themselves that needs more work, apart from any particular tune.

Sure, fiddle or box might take a different approach. But whistle, flute and pipes all play the same basic ornaments, and there are plenty of examples of those.

In the Bothy Band’s classic recording of The Kesh, Paddy Keenan’s pipes and Matt Molloy’s flute dominate the first few repetitions, and they play standard rolls and cuts, which are easy to hear.

And for some whistle-only examples, there are: Kilfarboy on WhistleThis; eskin on WhistleThis and tradlessons.com ; and Ryan Duns on YouTube.

So as Tommy Emmanuel told me when I asked him for advice: Get to work! :stuck_out_tongue:

16

There’s no right or wrong fingering per se. The first approach - G finger and B finger - is easier to master and remember at first, it sounds perfectly good, and it’s more common.

For the second approach … ANY finger (not just the next finger) above a played note can be used to cut that note, depending on the melody and the sound you want. That’s the kind of flexibility you eventually want to develop.

The main problem with your cuts is not the fingering, but the timing and shape. For example, at the end of the A part instead of playing |{a}edd gdB|{c}AGF G2| you play |{efef}edd gdB|(3A/B/A/ GF G2|. That’s a trill and a triplet instead of 2 cuts. :slight_smile:

So if you work on those basic ornaments slowly to get the precise timing as accurate as possible, it will pay off in the long run. Hope that helps!

17

Thanks to all of you… i’ve got it down now. :slight_smile: Not perfectly clean, but getting there.

18

Aha, I found out yet another thing that might explain what was going on. After listening to the Bothy Band’s recording and the ABC’s in your posting I realized that there was something wrong in the ABC I’ve been using. Sure enough, the ABC from www.thesession.org is |edd gdd|BAF G3| which doesn’t match |{a}edd gdB|{c}AGF G2| but on the other hand it didn’t match the way I played it either… :slight_smile: Changing it to |edd gdB|AGF G3| makes the ABC from The Session sound right.

It makes it a lot easier to work on the ornamentation if the piece is written down right… :smiley:

Cheers,
Anders

19

Here’s an mp3 example that may help. I start each section slowly, then repeat it up to speed. First rolls, then cuts, then a complete A part.

Kesh Rolls and Cuts ← Click for mp3

D|~G3 {A}GAB|~A3 {c}A (3B^cd|ezd {a}gdd|{a}edB d>BA|
~G3 {A}GAB|~A3 {c}A (3B^cd|{a}edd {a}gdB|{c}AGF {b}G3||

This example is not very musical, but it illustrates the sort of mechanical timing you can use as the basis for more expressive ornamentation later.

Oh, and for the benefit of CrazedHavoc, I’m using the knuckles of my fingers for the taps. :slight_smile:

20

Thanks! -Listen and learn, that’s what this is all about. With that little clip I figured out what I did wrong. Now it’s back to what was said before. Practice, practice, practice… I’ll probably drive my neighbours nuts practicing taps, cuts and rolls… :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: