Rolling

[fearfaoin]

@Peter Laban

A song is something you sing, a tune is something you play. Seems pretty clear cut to me.

Excellent. I noticed the distinction in CD liner notes, then started
seeing it crop up here. Thought I’d verify.

[Bloomfield]

@Cynth

I think I remember Bloomfield saying it took a year of steady work to get his rolls right—he said he did them over and over for a year. This is meant to be encouraging—if Bloomfield can do it, anyone can! JUST KIDDING!!! It is encouraging because it shows that you aren’t trying to do something easy and that it takes a long time for anyone to do it well.

Well, anything that’s worth doing takes a long time to do well.

@dwinterfield

Rolls are hard. As my teacher says, learn to love mind numbing repetition.

Stop right here. Rolls are not hard. It takes a bit to get the knack, sure, but if you think rolls are difficult in the sense that there is some illusive magic to them, that’s not so. The only thing that makes them hard is getting your head in the way of your playing.

Three easy steps:

1. Listen to good playing until you can hear all the rolls and know exactly what a roll sounds like. You have to be able to hear it first. Grab a flute or whistle player and ask him to play rolls for you.

2. Train your fingers to do crisp cuts and taps: blips. Biggest issue is taps, particularly on B and A. Practise them by throwing down your middle or ring finger until you get really crisp, blippy blips.

3. Use a metronome or your foot to tap a slow beat. Play Pedal-note-cut-note-tap-note landing on 4 beats, eg.: EA{B}A{G}A until you really land on the beats. Lilt it: Yah-Dah-Blah-Blah, Yah-Dah-Blah-Blah… place the yah, dah, blah and blah on a beat. feel free to tongue the Dah. Next Put the whole figure into one beat (start at 40 bpm or so): Yah-dah-blah-blah, Yah-dah-blah-blah. Do this exercise for 10 min a day. Consistency is key.

There’s nothing that could possibly stop you from playing beautiful rolls. It is not hard if you hear what you are working toward and keep the beat. If I could do it, you can (thanks, Cynth… )

There is an old thread floating around somewhere, chronicling my rolling epiphany (someone sitting next to me telling me to slow down, no really slow down…), called Roll Over Bloomfield. Might show up in a search.

[Montana]

“…crisp, blippy blips”?
That’s been my problem; I’ve been practicing bloppy blips…

[fearfaoin]

@Bloomfield

There is an old thread floating around somewhere, chronicling my rolling epiphany… called Roll Over Bloomfield. Might show up in a search.

Or even here:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=3563

[Cynth]

@fearfaoin

@Bloomfield

There is an old thread floating around somewhere, chronicling my rolling epiphany… called Roll Over Bloomfield. Might show up in a search.

Or even here:
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=3563

Well, thank you for finding that. I just bookmarked it and put it in my whistle tips folder. And children, you should all do the same.

[feadog39]

of course it’s a paradox: one you know them (rolls), they’re easy. But until then, they’re befuddling. In the end, the essence of rolls in my opinion lie in timing. Consider what rolls bring to a tune: rhythmic interest and lift. the better you get staying steady on the beat through an entire tune, the better you will be able to insert rolls. Listen to great fiddlers and the rolls they do, and how rolls lift a tune if done right. yes, there are some technical things, but in the end it become more about getting the feel of it. listen, listen, listen. Moreover, i’d recommend getting the timing down on cuts first, before venturing onto rolls. In any case, good luck! They’ll come along in due time and you’ll wonder how you ever couldn’t play them.

[shadeclan]

Pardon my ignorance, but I think that you would have to play a roll a few times and say “That Is A Roll” before I completely understand what you are talking about. I know that it involves gracenotes - notes played quickly between the notes in the regular melody - and I’m sure that I have heard them in the Celtic music that I have, but I don’t identify them as rolls yet. Ditto for triplets, etc.

Pardon me while I wipe the drool from my slacked jaw .

[Bloomfield]