On the Whistle This site, re: The Sailor’s Wife MP3…what are those twiddly bits used to articulate the EE in the last measure of each section? I can’t figure it out for the life of me.
http://www.whistlethis.com/index.php?content=WTNWeWNtVnVkQT09
See next post below for sound clips.
One diddly approach would be to roll the first dotted quarter, then cut into the second, with a little emphasis on the cut:
|E3 E3| → |~E3 {A}E z2| = E{A}E{D}E {A}E
If you connect it all smoothly, you have an extended 4 beat roll.
I kind of like cranning it, with a tap last: E/{G}E/ {F}E {A}E {D}E
Many other things you could do. 
Added: I just listened to Alasdair Fraser’s Scottish fiddle setting in DDor on Fire and Grace. He plays the dotted eighths straight, no diddly. Which sounds better on fiddle than on whistle, IMO.
Mockingbird, I recorded a couple of demos for you (or anyone).
Roll and Cran: This shows the extended E roll and the high E cran notated above.
http://www.box.net/shared/1brx2bq9xk
The Sailor’s Wife: My setting of the tune, slightly different from the WhistleThis sheet.
http://www.box.net/shared/efpcpf5706
I forgot the reverb was on, and I’m not going to re-record it now.
The whistle is a Generation D. Actually a FrankenGen - a Gen head on a Clare tube.
Oh Wow! Thank you! The kids and I have been busy cleaning house this weekend, but I will sit down this evening and go through it all. Thanks a million!
I recently learned that for our local session. Time to relearn, and play it right. Thanks, MT.
Very nice! Thanks for posting the entire tune in public.
Thanks MT! That moves it from my “Gotta learn someday…” list onto the “Oh no, another urgent tune!” list.
It must be great fun to actually be able to play one of these here whistle thangs the way it wants to be played.
I’ve been practicing this with the roll as demonstrated (frankly, it’s taking me forever just to get the tune down with no flubs), but I’d like to study up on crans now and try that. Can’t thank you enough for the demos!
Had to laugh…I experienced that phenomenon (mentioned in a recent thread) of getting totally frustrated and discouraged over this tune (esp. part B on that Clarke of mine!), then coming back a couple of days later and playing it better than I ever did. Encouragement to press on!
dear Guru,
could you post the sheet music you’re using somewhere? the sheet music on whistle_this can’t even be played on a d whistle (unless you have earplugs
or the abc notation would be just as good
cheers,
eric
Sure, Eric. With the caveat that I wasn’t using sheet music.
The tune wasn’t in my repertoire, and I didn’t know it. So first I played once or twice through the dots Wynder posted on WhistleThis - that was the only sheet music I used. Then I listened to the Alasdair Fraser recording a couple of times to get a feel for his interpretation. At that point the tune was memorized, so I spent 15 minutes just playing and replaying through the tune, finding the breathings, and letting it morph into whatever it would be. Then I turned on the microphone and let 'er rip. I think the 3rd take is the one I used.
So here’s a rough transcription:
X:1
T:Sailor’s Wife, The
S:MTGuru for Chiff and Fipple
M:6/8
K:EDor
B|:E>FG F2E|e2f g2a|bag fed|B/c/dB AFD|
E>FG F2E|e2f gza|1 bag fed|~e3- eBG:|2 bag agf|~e3 ez|]
f|gab gab|gab bag|fda fda|~f3 agf|
gza bag|f2g aza|bag agf|e3- ezf||
geb geb|~g3 bag|fda d’ag|fdf agf|
g2a bag|f2g aza|bag fed|e3 ez2|]
As far as the earplugs go … My setting actually goes higher, up to the high d’. So the WhistleThis setting should be no problem on D whistle. That high c’ is a candidate for half-holing, just rolling the finger off and on.
thanks… wow, definitely a progression for me to aspire to… i’m hoping to get to the point where i can learn from hearing a tune, but i’m not there yet. my progression usually goes, struggle with the sheet music for several weeks, listening to a recording of the tune using it, until i get the tune to sound vaguely like what i’m listening to… then spend months working on it after that until it songs how i want it to sound. i’m up to about 4 now…
so i’ll start working on this one today (i was looking for a new one to start on and you’ll hear back from me in about a month.
I assume you’re talking about the Alasdair Fraser / Natalie Haas recording “Fire and Grace?” I just got this album yesterday… fantastic stuff!
Hi MTGuru
You are giving me bodhran players twitch listening to that tune 
It would be fun to throw you and young Mohsen, my competition instrumentalist, together and see what came out of it 
As you are doing requests, how about doing the Tailor’s Twist for me please.
David
hi, yeah, i forgot, i want to thank you for that too… i went and listened to a snippet on amazon, beautiful. almost makes me want to be a fiddle player.
almost.
Huh. Makes me want to marry a cellist.
At your service!
http://www.box.net/shared/dyv23qqogs
Though that was done a few years ago, and I might play it slightly differently now. 
Delightful!
Thanks MTGuru
I enjoyed that clip.
David
i won’t ask you for the sheet music on that one, since i’ve still got about 3 weeks to go to get the first one down but i agree, a beautiful tune.
do you remember if you were playing the lager or the stout gg whistle? i’ve been thinking about ordering one; i was leaning towards the lager; i’m thinking the narrow bore would give it a sweeter sound?
thanks again.
eric
actually, now that i’ve listened to them all again, i think i like Ann McGuire’s the best.
btw, is there any way to do boolean searches with the search for this board? i tried “lager” and all i get are threads about beer. so i tried “lager”+“gg” and “lager”&“gg” and got the same results… 