Jack Coen and the bubble effect

JeffS · Post by **JeffS** » Wed Jul 12, 2006 8:20 pm

Does anyone who has listened closely to Jack Coens playing know how he gets that - for lack of a better word - bubble sound, especially on the B and A notes?

Example: Blarney Pilgrim Part C, with the A and B bubble effect. I assume much of it is simply style, but I'd like to get a sense of the actual fingering. He also does it on other notes as well.

chas · Post by **chas** » Thu Jul 13, 2006 5:28 am

To my ears it sounds basically like a mordent/short trill -- the base note with a quick wiggle of the finger above it. So it would go A(B)A. I suspect the way Jack Coen executes it isn't quite that straightforward, though.

I know we have a few people who have studied with him on the board; hopefully they will have some more concrete info.

mimcgann · Post by **mimcgann** » Mon Jul 17, 2006 1:28 pm

I took lessons with Jack for a while. I asked him about it once, and he described it as a sort of tickle or wiggle--just something you did, but he couldn't break it down for me. (I was never able to do it myself.)

I have a tape of him playing Larkin's Advance with that sort of grace note coming into the first phrase, and he and it does beautifully, light and spot on.

He also does something like it at the beginning of Felix the Cat on his latest recording.

As most know, he wouldn't roll, but he does do this.

--Mike

maire · Post by **maire** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 3:42 am

The name I have for that ornamentation is the trill.
It just something that you get in the habit of doing the longer you are playing.
Practise is what you need.

Cathy Wilde · Post by **Cathy Wilde** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 9:26 am

I think that's what Kevin Henry got me working on, and I'm still struggling with it. It's easier on the whistle than the flute for me (partially because of my danged left-hand death grip on the flute). ANYWAY, he described it as basically an almost continuous "blipping" of the left hand, venting different notes with one or the other left finger (basically, whichever finger works best for your instrument and physiognomy) every time.

i.e.,

D "bubble" = (this one's beastly for me)

OXX XXX
OOX XXX or OXO XXX
OXX XXX

I find this one easier =

XXX XXX (overblown)
XOX XXX
XXX XXX

E "bubble" =

XXX XXO
XOX XXO or XXO XXO
XXX XXO

F "bubble" =

XXX XOO
XOX XOO
XXX XOO

G "bubble" =

XXX OOO
XOX OOO
XXX OOO

A "bubble" =

XXO OOO
XOO OOO
XXO OOO

Now play these notes in sequence, up and down the scale, over and over and over again. See how many other notes you can make bubble this way, too. Then start trying to incorporate the "bubblings" into simple passages and tune segments. Ideally you have to make them happen super-fast and BARELY raise a finger, so that it's just a blip. What's more, you have to make it happen in rhythm, as he also described it as something you do pretty much constantly.

Don't take this as gospel, though, because I may not have understood properly -- it was in the context of him coming over while I was playing something and suggesting I give it a try -- but it's AMAZING how you can still sound notes like E and D with left-finger 1, 2, or 3 up (altho' only for an instant); I never realized that in 35 years of Boehm playing.

My rhythm's still pretty spastic, but FWIW, it does seem I'm getting more "burbly." Now how to grok the style that accommodates all this bubble, bubble toil and trouble (ain't that the truth!

) is another question.

JeffS · Post by **JeffS** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 10:08 am

Okay then. That's good info. Cathy, thanks for breaking it down for me. I'll try these when I get a chance.

regards,
Jeff

rama · Post by **rama** » Tue Jul 18, 2006 4:47 pm

as best as i can recall, jack once said : 'i just give it a good shake' . i think that is what he may have called it. as others have said, he describes it as simply wiggling the fingers.

the bubbly effect is sometimes actually more like a double cut,
xxxooo
xoxooo
xxxooo
xxoooo
xxxooo
or
xxxooo
oxxooo
xxxooo
xoxooo
xxxooo
something i ascribe to jack and some of the older flute styles where only few rolls if any appear in their playing, making for more lyrical or melodic music. thank God (tommy whelan) for that.

Berti66 · Post by **Berti66** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 1:21 am

I find this confusing....could someone please describe the difference between a bubble and a cut?

berti

rama · Post by **rama** » Wed Jul 19, 2006 7:31 am

terminology can be confusing, but i think maybe the bubbly effect is a form of cutting notes more like a cran, usually to seperate the same note to give it a bubbly sound. whereas a 'cut' can also be a grace note that might not seperate the same note but act as a lead into it, seperating it from the previous note, not really bubbling it but more like giving it a bit more emphasis or a little punch.

bubbly (ggg, g2g, or g3)
xxxooo
xoxooo
xxxooo
xxoooo
xxxooo

cut (g)
xxooo
xxxooo