Chiff and Fipple Forums

kenny wrote: ↑Sat Jun 17, 2023 5:36 am PS - compare with this from Roger Sherlock, another Sligo player :
https://youtu.be/ZdfU2Gc1ZlE

He's raising them higher than one might think, a split-second prior to the pat, I would guess around 20mm on the 2nd octave pats on G.

That's around four times higher than the "guide position" I was mentioning.

I'd like to second pancelticpiper's observations regarding finger height and speed for effective pats/taps and rolls. My playing really improved once I started to think of the Irish flute as being as much a percussion instrument as a woodwind. Some of the sound effects we strive for really depend a lot on the attack speed of the finger as it closes the hole. I imagine the impact of the finger on the open tone hole sending a shock wave through the air column in the bore, similar to how a drum stick strikes the head. Think of the problems you would encounter if you tried playing a drum without allowing the sticks to get far from the head. This is not to say that your fingers should always be far from the flute, but I think it is critical for those ornaments in which you need to quickly and cleanly strike the tone hole.

He's raising them higher than one might think, a split-second prior to the pat, I would guess around 20mm on the 2nd octave pats on G.

20mm sounds like a reasonable lift, I seem to lift fingers about that much going into rolls etc, at a maximum, when playing the whistle (I just checked).

When posting earlier about economy of movement, I was really thinking about some players who seem to lift fingers excessively, pipers like Robbie Hannon perhaps, it seems inefficient and I think best avoid that if you can. But then again, if you can make it work, work away.

" if you can make it work, work away." There you have it. End of.