Hi everyone…I need a little advice here to help my playing become less "flute"like (for lack of a better term) and more Irish.
I have studied Bro Steve’s pages on cuts and taps (I don’t dare go any further yet ) and understand the uses of these but I play mostly by ear and am struggling on when, where, and how often to add these in. Are there any hard and fast rules or is it mostly by trial and error?
Thanks for your expertise (or if you don’t feel like experts, your humble opinion! )
Deb
I’ll become even more undignified than this!
(King David, II Samuel 6)
[ This Message was edited by: WhistlerWannaBe on 2002-04-18 09:15 ]
An easy way to get started is to look for downbeats in the melody where an ornament would improve it. It’s also useful to put one between repeated notes, to separate them.
There are lots of ways of looking at the subject of ornamentation, but one that has helped me is the thought that the practice derives from the playing of bagpipes. These can’t be tongued and “ornaments” were developed to punctuate the flow of a tune, with the practice subsequently spreading to the playing of other instruments. ( It’s doubtless more complex than that, but this works for me to a first approximation. ) I understand that a very traditional approach to playing the whistle is to do a lot of slurring, a la pipes, so if you play this way I expect that ornaments will begin to suggest themselves very quickly to you once you get started with them.
Don’t worry about getting it all “right” the first time, but fiddle ( ) with the tune – listening to it as you play – and develop an ear for what works and what doesn’t.
Listening carefully to accomplished players will also help build musical judgement and help you to see the possibilities. When I first listened to Mary Bergen’s playing of Aisling Gheal, I was struck by how simple and spare the melody seemed. Then I started learning it by ear from her playing, and realized that what she was doing with it really wasn’t so simple after all. The difference, of course, was that I was now listening carefully to her performance.
Do beware of over-ornamenting a tune, though. I think it’s better to be a little spare with ornamentation than to try to do too much.
Ornamentation should be put in when it helps or improves the tune and left out when it doesn’t. Now it’s time to go back and listen and develop musical taste buds.
To elaborate on Peter’s very accurate, but sparse advice: Listening to a lot of different good musicians is very helpful. Noting the differences and similarities between players and different renditions of the same tune is instructive. In the absence of a teacher, I’m all for experimenting recklessly with ornamentation. It will improve your skill at executing it. (Much of it may not be for public consumption, however.) As you become familiar with the mechanics of playing ornaments, they will become more identifiable as you listen to players putting them in the right places. You’ll recognize the particulars of a cut, tap, short roll, or whatever, because you know what it sounds like when you play it yourself. The practice and the listening go together. You have to learn to play and learn to listen. Putting the right amount of stuff in the right places is a very gradual development. You have to be able to execute for yourself what you hear someone else playing and you have to know what they are playing. Finally, record yourself. You’ll be amazed, for better or worse. Things that sound cool to you while you’re playing them may not sound so cool listening back to a recording. (Or it might.) Good luck and make it fun.
Tony
I understand that a very traditional approach to playing the whistle is to do a lot of slurring, a la pipes, so if you play this way I expect that ornaments will begin to suggest themselves very quickly to you once you get started with them.
I do a LOT of slurring, and I’ve found that what Neil says is absolutely true. Until I recorded myself I didn’t realize I was using “ornaments” at all - but in a long, slurred phrase, at least taps or cuts are essential to not break up the phrase. I practice ornaments quite a bit even though I don’t consciously use them, but apparently they are “there” for me when I need them Oh, how I LOVE playing the whistle!
(edited to correct quote source)
[ This Message was edited by: Kendra on 2002-04-18 12:42 ]
see when your drunk and trying to play a toon or two, when you make a mistake its easy to back up or slide back into it, thus ornemenitation was born. It’s brilliant, instead of having to memorise a tune note for note, you just need the jist of it 'ben yer heid’and awa ye go. Even a simple tune like ‘happy birthday to you’, instead of the standard 25 notes, when slightly drunk, can be understood as a 97 note, 2 melody 16 rythms work of art. God bless whisky!!
) and understand the uses of these but I play mostly by ear and am struggling on when, where, and how often to add these in. Are there any hard and fast rules or is it mostly by trial and error?
) with the tune – listening to it as you play – and develop an ear for what works and what doesn’t.