Learning Kerrigan's Jig

bjs · Post by **bjs** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 5:18 am

I have been learning Kerrigan's jig from L.E.McCullough's book. I got the version with ornaments going quite fast and listened again. Not at all the same. I figured out that in the first few bars at least phrasing was the problem.

It goes soething like (first line)

di daah dah dah da da| di daah dah dah da da| ..........
daah dah di |daah dah di |daah dah di |daah dah di |

If any kind soul out there who can play rolls and double grace notes right could post a slooow mp3 of this first line so I can get it straight I would be most gratefull. Slowing down McCullough's CD doesn't do it for me. I think I need it even slower so I can hear every teeny weeny sound.

Yours Struggling.
Brian

vomitbunny · Post by **vomitbunny** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 5:54 am

bjs wrote:I have been learning Kerrigan's jig from L.E.McCullough's book. I got the version with ornaments going quite fast and listened again. Not at all the same. I figured out that in the first few bars at least phrasing was the problem.

It goes soething like (first line)

di daah dah dah da da| di daah dah dah da da| ..........
daah dah di |daah dah di |daah dah di |daah dah di |

If any kind soul out there who can play rolls and double grace notes right could post a slooow mp3 of this first line so I can get it straight I would be most gratefull. Slowing down McCullough's CD doesn't do it for me. I think I need it even slower so I can hear every teeny weeny sound.

Yours Struggling.
Brian

Look around on tucows.com and you'll find a slower downer of some sort. I occasionally use PowerDVD to slow it down to about half speed. Limited, but I alread had it, and it will get the job done.
I don't think you can save stuff in the slower speed, but you can play it slow.

vomitbunny · Post by **vomitbunny** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 8:42 am

http://www.ronimusic.com/winamp.htm
http://www.ronimusic.com
I don't know anything about this company, and havn't been able to try the software, but these guys have a winamp plug in that will slow down the music while keeping pitch and also another program, the Amazing Slower Downer (catchy name eh) that does similar stuff. I think you can try it fro free, or use it on a limited basis or something.
Here's another, and claims to be freeware. Plug in for winamp.
http://www.hitsquad.com/smm/programs/SlowMeDown/
and another
http://sky.prohosting.com/oparviai/pacemaker/
and there seems to be numerouse others, mostly winamp plug ins. I also ran across a few stand alone programs and programs for mac as well.

Wish I could vouch for some of this software, buy hey, all software seems to be some kind of risk now a days. I could recomend a piece of software I've had that worked great with no problems, and the next version out could be the worst piece of Malware/spyware/spamware/crashware known to man.
Up until now I just used PowerDVD occasionaly. Doesnt really bother me that pitch drops with speed.

Tyghress · Post by **Tyghress** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 8:52 am

Roni's Amazing Slow Downer is a great piece of software, absolutely worth its price.

I can also slow down music on my Zen Creative Jukebox, but the sound gets a little muddy.

vomitbunny · Post by **vomitbunny** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 9:56 am

Im betting there is a good freeware app, probably ported to windows from linux out there too. I didn't look , but you might be able to do the same thing with Audacity. Also, one of our dvd players at home can speed up (and maybe slow down) music and movies with out affecting the pitch. Pretty wild watching drum corps finals at 1.5 speed without changing the pitch . Those suckers REALLY move on the field.

The Weekenders · Post by **The Weekenders** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 10:30 am

Brian: Nobody mentioned it to ya here but its widely known as the Kesh Jig and you might find more instructional materials online and elsewhere under that name. I still don't know why he called it Kerrigan's in that book but there must be a reason. LM is quirky that way.

Many people play what LM showed as the opening triplet as a roll (see Brother Steve's site), as well as the second measure strong beat triplet. Then you can use it as a triplet for variety during repeats. This tune is oft-repeated...

That first roll is your big challenge as a new whistler. More than a few jigs have a g roll to begin with, so its a very useable place to begin.

Amazing SLowdowner is great. Free version plays only 1 and 2 track of a CD. Workaround is to burn your own cd with desired tune 1 or 2! But its well worth the $30.

If you knew all this already, sorry....

Norma · Post by **Norma** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 10:31 am

"If any kind soul out there who can play rolls and double grace notes right could post a slooow mp3 of this first line so I can get it straight I would be most gratefull. Slowing down McCullough's CD doesn't do it for me. I think I need it even slower so I can hear every teeny weeny sound. "

There's a great tutorial on ornaments in Brother Steve's tinwhistle website, if you haven't been there already...
http://www.rogermillington.com/siamsa/b ... index.html

buddhu · Post by **buddhu** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 2:42 pm

Another good ornamentation tute is at:

http://www.whistletutor.com/intermediate.htm

There are video lessons in Real Media format if you have Real Player that make the various techniques quite clear.

Bretton · Post by **Bretton** » Fri Feb 06, 2004 6:50 pm

Here's a quick recording of the Kesh:

http://www.bloomington.in.us/~brett/kesh.mp3

I screwed up the 2nd time thru the B part so I just copied the 1st time over again...

If anyone thinks this is a horrible example of the tune, please say so so I'm not leading Brian astray!

This is one of the first tunes I ever learned and it has retained some bad habbits that I've gotten rid of in later tunes I've learned.

by the way...i'm playing an Oak body topped by a Gary Humphrey Retro-Fit head.

-Brett

bjs · Post by **bjs** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 10:20 am

Thanks for all your suggestions. I knew about brother steve's site and I have the Roni slowdowner. I have now downloaded the roll lesson from http://www.whistletutor.com/intermediate.htm . That one is particularly clear. I guess my problem is that I can play a slow roll OK but getting it sounding right at speed is my problem - tap and cut are just too slow. Ahh well I'll just have to work at it. How many years do you think it will take?

Brian

buddhu · Post by **buddhu** » Sat Feb 07, 2004 11:56 am

Dude, speed is the least of your problems. Starting slow and learning accuracy first is the way to go with most instruments - it's the way I learned guitar solos, and the way I'm learning whistle. Get the chops down slow to begin with, then when you know what it is you're trying to do increase your speed *gradually*.

As for the ornament techniques: there seems to be no hard and fast rule about finger movement and which notes to use in cuts etc. Most instruction I've read/heard says don't lift your fingers higher than you have to - but watching vids of Spider Stacy (admittedly not a pure ITM virtuoso!) the guy waves his fingers miles above his nickel Gens and still sounds brilliant for a bloke who didn't really learn the instrument until he was invited to join the Pogues! Also, he and one of the whistle players in Dubliners vids I've seen use the note above the main note for cutting instead of a particular prescribed note. If it's good enough for them...

bjs · Post by **bjs** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 2:25 am

I have posted my effort at
http://www.maths.warwick.ac.uk/~bjs/Kesh-brian.mp3
comments welcome.

Brian

bjs · Post by **bjs** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 2:30 am

Just used the slow downer to speed up my effort. That makes it really obvious that I have it wrong! ie the rolls sound more like wobbles.
I guess tht's a good test.

Brian

amar · Post by **amar** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 2:59 am

I like that comparison, a bad roll is like a wobble.

Caj · Post by **Caj** » Tue Feb 10, 2004 3:23 am

bjs wrote:I have posted my effort at
http://www.maths.warwick.ac.uk/~bjs/Kesh-brian.mp3
comments welcome.

Hi Brian,

You have very good, steady rhythm for someone starting out.

But I think you shouldn't be worrying about putting ornaments everywhere just now. Best to practice those independently through the tutorials posted above, and add one here and there as you get comfortable with them.

That said, www.sessioneer.org has some lessons on ornamentation in the sidebar, under Tin Whistle Guide.

Caj

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Learning Kerrigan's Jig

Learning Kerrigan's Jig

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