Hitting all the notes in Gravel Walks and Drowsy Maggie

[Mr.Gumby]

I actually noticed it some months ago when I read an old thread and thought Cayden made an awful lot of sense, so much so I could have said it myself. Then there was a yes but..-no but.. moment and I realised what had happened.

I notified both Cayden and the Mods but nobody seemed worried much about it at all.

[Tunborough]

... can't seem to get the low note to work. It doesn't want to go into the lower register as quickly as I'd like.

Seems to me that tonguing might help a leap from low register to high register, but be less benefit for a leap down from high register to low.

I play Dona Nobis Pacem (No, I realize that's not ITM), which drops an octave from d to D in a couple of places. Adding a cut, with B1 or B2, between the two notes makes for a clean transition. Without a cut, it takes impeccable breath control and synchronization to pull it off.

[trill]

They are NOT played at legato, but at high-flying speed.

Hi Magickdancer. I agree. Speed is a factor.

What tempo (bpm) do you have in mind here ?

[Nanohedron]

I actually noticed it some months ago when I read an old thread and thought Cayden made an awful lot of sense, so much so I could have said it myself. Then there was a yes but..-no but.. moment and I realised what had happened.

I notified both Cayden and the Mods but nobody seemed worried much about it at all.

My goodness, I'm afraid I remember nothing of that incident. My apologies.

[benhall.1]

I actually noticed it some months ago when I read an old thread and thought Cayden made an awful lot of sense, so much so I could have said it myself. Then there was a yes but..-no but.. moment and I realised what had happened.

I notified both Cayden and the Mods but nobody seemed worried much about it at all.

My goodness, I'm afraid I remember nothing of that incident. My apologies.

Neither do I, to be honest. Perhaps we're Moderately forgetful.

[Mr.Gumby]

MT said he'd 'look into it'. But it doesn't matter a lot, it's just a bit strange when I stumble into an old post.

[pancelticpiper]

...hitting the high and low notes in tunes such as Drowsy Maggie and Gravel Walks. I am having trouble getting the low note just after blowing the high note in each of these tunes, and wondered what the masters here would be willing to tell me about how they approach those songs. They are definitely highlight songs in the sessions in my town, and I'd really like to master them.

I played those tunes for many years on the flute with no tonguing at all, and now that I've given up the flute for the whistle I likewise have no trouble playing the phrases you're referring to (the 'rocking' phrases) without the use of tonguing. So, anyone saying that you must tongue these phrases to play them cleanly is simply not correct.

What is required is good breath control and clean fingering.

Drowsy Maggie shouldn't give much trouble, unless your whistle has a weak Low E.

The Gravel Walk is a bit more tricky, the part that goes high A > low A, high G > low A, high F# > low A. In my opinion it's simply a matter of practice.

Try exercise like doing octaves

Bottom D, middle D (closed) - alternate between the two repeatedly without tonguing, at first slowly then increasing speed.
low E, high E -ditto

and on up until

low B, high B -ditto (which can be challenging)

Also do the exercise where you alternate each note from low E to high B with Bottom D, all with no tonguing whatsoever.
D E D F# D G D A D B D c D d D e D f# D g D a D b

Start slowly and eventually build up speed.

To put it another way, you should be able to fluently go from any note to any note (in the traditional D > b range) at high speed without tonguing.

BTW in The Gravel Walk, Matt Molloy doesn't play octave A's, but rather plays two "short rolls" on A. Sounds great!

[Mr.Gumby]

Played around with the drowsy one for a bit. Tried to scrape some of the rust off it while trying not to get lost in some dark corner of the tune.

Drowsy Maggie

Which is in a way showing me up as being as rusty as anything but also making a point about taking things easy, playing through the tune while exploring different angles rather than going through it at 90 MPH and rolling it off as memorised.

[stanton135]

Nice rendition, Mr. Gumby! The variations kept me interested through three repeats of a tune I've heard too many times already.

[Mr.Gumby]

Hadn't played it for donkey's years, just messing about a bit on a misty afternoon.

[megapop]

Uh... oh....

[pancelticpiper]

Here's Matt Molloy's Gravel Walk.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7RPRVI0pWFg

It's nice because in the first two times through the tune he stays in the low octave in the 2nd part so you can clearly hear that he's playing two "short rolls" on A back-to-back.

Molloy often does that, keeping what would normally be a high part, or a part that leaps between the octaves, down in the low range for a time or two.

He comes up with a method of fingering, a version, which works fine when kept in the low octave, then at will can bump up any of the bits to the 2nd octave. In much of what sounds like variation he's actually fingering the same, just using breath control to vary which octaves the different bits are heard in.

[benhall.1]

I'm going to say what is probably a ridiculous thing to say: I've always appreciated Matt Molloy's playing, but I'd say it's only in the last year or so that I've really started to understand quite how brilliant the man is. Amazing stuff.

[pancelticpiper]

Matt does precisely the same thing in Jenny's Chickens, but one note higher.

Where on the fiddle etc one part goes

B2 bB aB gB

that is, a quarternote low B (or its equivalent) followed by b, a, and g in the 2nd octave alternating with a low B "pedal"

instead, Matt plays

BB bb aB gB

a short roll on low B, a short roll on high b, followed by high a and g alternating with a low B "pedal".

Here he is! The first time through that last part you can clearly see him doing two short rolls on B in a row

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWo0GyyYE5M

Taking this phrase up one note gives us his approach to the 2nd part of The Gravel Walk. Instead of

A2 aA gA f#A

he plays

AA aa gA f#A

that is, a short roll on low A, a short roll on high a, the g and f# in the 2nd octave with a low A 'pedal'.

The great advantage of having a "digital" solution to such a phrase (rather than a tonguing or breath-control solution) is that, at will, he can keep the phrase in the low octave for a cool-sounding variation without having to change what his fingers are doing. He can also keep the whole thing in the 2nd octave, or move different bits back and forth between the octaves, all without changing his fingering.

[pancelticpiper]

They are NOT played at legato, but at high-flying speed.

are you mixing the terms legato and largo?

Legato means "smooth" and refers to articulation, in the family of terms such as detache and staccato. Phrases played legato can be any tempo whatever.

Largo means "slow and broad"and refers to tempo, in the family of terms such as adagio and allegro. Pieces in largo can be played in any articulation whatever.