I have looked for information on the Crans, but there is no much. They have said to me that they are two cut followed, also heard to me that is three cut followed; That only they are used in note D, etc. Is confused.
That they are really crans and where and when to apply them?.
He buscado informacion sobre Crans, pero no he encontrado mucho. He oido que son dos cuts seguidos, tambien me han dicho que son tres cuts seguidos; que solo se usan en la nota D, etc. Es algo confuso!
Que son realmente los Crans, donde y cuando aplicarlos?
El cran es una técnica que viene de la gaita y hay varias maneras de ejecutarla, depende de la preferencia de cada uno. Una forma seria tocar
por ejemplo ADGDFD. Generalmente es utilizado en la nota RE grave como base y varios cuts (suelen ser 3 cuts). Como cualquier cut, el no debe sonar como una nota aislada, pero como un ruído, una rápida interrupción en la nota principal, que en este caso es RE. Hay también en la gaita el cran en E(MI).
Usted puede checar algunos ejemplos de la técnica en http://www.uilleannpipestutor.com/ en la parte BEGINNERS y después en PRACTICE ROOM BEGINNERS.
On a whistle, a cran is a way to roll one of the lower notes (d or e; perhaps f) by adding two higher but different grace notes rather than one higher and one lower as is played on a fiddle or on the higher notes on a flute or whistle.
So, D (E) D (F#) D might be a cran on D, and E (F#) E (G) E might be a cran on E. The letters in brackets represent grace notes that don't occupy any 'time' in the the bar. Other players use higher grace notes, and claim that makes for a crisper cran. It's worth a little experimentation.
A roll is a way to articulate a 2 or 3 beat run of the same note, played legato.
Both are played in a time that's easily heard but not easily written or notated--think of a bouncing ball, with each 'bounce' being shorter or lower than the one before.
Damned if I know what sense any of that even makes in english, let alone spanish, but best of luck.
And now there was no doubt that the trees were really moving - moving in and out through one another as if in a complicated country dance. ('And I suppose,' thought Lucy, 'when trees dance, it must be a very, very country dance indeed.')
Tell us something.: Playing Scottish and Irish music in California for 45 years. These days many discussions are migrating to Facebook but I prefer the online chat forum format.
To take a case in point, let's look at the part of the Gold Ring where people often put crans. The bare melody could be thought of as:
6/8 /B B B D D D / A A A D D D /
Now, of course we would play "long rolls" on the first half of each bar, a long roll on B (b-cut-b-tap-b) and A (likewise).
But what to do on the bottom D's? Since you can't tap bottom D, a sequence of cuts is used instead.
Simplest, and not really a cran per se, would be to play the three bottom D's seperated by cuts. The "rule" of a cran is that you can't use the same cut twice in a row. The cuts allowable are F#, G, and A (pipers never use any other cuts in cranning). So, any two of these would be perfectly acceptable and you will see players using every possible combination.
So you could play d-f#cut-d-gcut-d or d-gcut-d-f#cut-d or d-gcut-d-acut-d or any other. I would look on these as long rolls on bottom D rather than true crans.
True crans have four notes in the space of the three notes of a long roll. So, our barebones phrase in the Gold Ring now would go:
6/8 / BBB DDDD / AAA DDDD /
The timing of the four D's varies from player to player and from tune to tune. They can be fairly evenly spaced, or the first D can be held longest, or the last D can be held longest.
In any case, any of the cuts F#, G, or A can be used as long as none are played twice in a row.
Some pipers use an ascending cran, using the cuts F# G A in that order. Other pipers reverse that. Patsy Touhey used G F# A. Other pipers use G F# G or the reverse, not using an A cut at all.
On the pipes, an advantage of having the last cut be an A is that the A cut is the "hard bottom D" actuator. Though, many pipers use no A cut in the cran, using A cuts only to seperate bottom D's before and/or after the cran.
Now, these piping crans were not usually used by flute and whistle players in the old days. They had their own "flute cran" which, rather than a series of bottom D's seperated by cuts, was simply the figure D F# E D. The F# is the shortest note in the sequence, the E the next-shortest. Played well this is a fair simulation of a piper's cran.
Now about crans on E, since pipers don't use an E cut while cranning, the same cran can be used on either bottom D or low E. Cranning on high E, while obviously possible, was not traditionally done.
Of course anyone can invent cran-like figures on other notes, but what I've given above is the traditional way.
Matt Molloy is often credited with bringing the true piper's cran to the flute, and using the cran for middle D as well as bottom D. Nowadays this cranning on middle D is a standard technique, but wasn't done in the old days by traditional players.
Last edited by pancelticpiper on Sat Jul 21, 2007 8:48 am, edited 1 time in total.
Most of what you need to know has already been said, especially well by Romulo. (I can just about read/understand enough Spanish to suss out what he says!) I would add that in origin, a cran is essentially a substitute for a roll where a roll cannot be accomplished due to there being no lower pitch note available on the instrument to complete the second half (tap) of the roll.
In ITM a roll is an extended note that is rhythmically broken by brief visits to a higher note (a cut) and a lower note (a tap) within its duration. The precise pitches of those interrupting notes are not usually important as they are not part of the melody (or any harmony). Where the instrument does not allow a roll (e.g. lowest note) but a similar rhythmic, stuttering effect is desired, it may be achieved by a sequence of brief visits to different higher notes - a double or triple run of cuts. These cuts are not to specifically pitched notes, although some attempts to notate them may show them as such. It is usually virtually impossible to play them as written like that - the complex fingering changes do not allow the desired effect. Rather, one should just cut the finger indicated by the note name, with lower fingers still closing their holes; that note will not actually sound in tune or clearly, but it will break the main tone with a little "pop", and having those pops in the sequence at different pitches gives colour to the cran as well as being easier to do than a repeated cut to the same note (which would sound more like a trill anyway).
Crans were first used on the low D on Uillean pipes, and the technique has been adopted by flutes and whistles, and can also be used on 2nd octave D and on other notes (a la Highland pipes). It is also latterly imitated by some fiddlers where they encounter a similar technical situation, wanting to substitute for a roll where a note is on an open string, rather than executing a normal roll on the same pitch note fingered in a higher position on the next lower string. This fiddle usage is, I think, a nice pointer to the use of the cran - as an alternative, as a way of varying musical expression within the idiom.
Personally, I usually cran by cutting the bottom D to "A" (L3 finger-hop), then to "G" (R1 finger-hop) [and sometimes, depending on note length and required rhythm, to "F#" (R2 finger-hop) as well], thus - (xxx xxx)
(xxo xxx)
(xxx xxx)
(xxx oxx)
(xxx xxx)
[(xxx xox)
(xxx xxx)]
Note that the RH fingers stay down on their holes throughout save when actually cutting.
For a second octave cran, I do this exactly as for bottom D crans save that L1 is raised throughout. This produces a sequence of cuts to a variety of indeterminate-pitch notes in the region of the C natural below, which hardly matters – the desired effect is the staccato stutter breaking up the long D. [One can also keep L1 down and simply overblow the bottom octave cran, which does achieve cuts to higher notes, though with a rather over-toney sound, if preferred (not by me….).]
Like everything else, playing crans effectively requires relaxed control, not strained tension. Practise the fingering shapes slowly to begin with making sure you retain relaxation in the fingers as you speed up as the sequence becomes familiar.
Last edited by jemtheflute on Sat Jul 21, 2007 10:31 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I respect people's privilege to hold their beliefs, whatever those may be (within reason), but respect the beliefs themselves? You gotta be kidding!
The worst part about doing crans on a whistle is that the low D is such a soft note that nobody appreciates your effort because they can't hear you, at least in a group.
You've gotten great technical advice above, like Pan's. I would say that to achieve the cran sound , find a recording with pipes doing them and copy that. I learned to do a convincing cran by copying Jerry OSullivan (?) playing the Newly-Mown Meadow. That one I play by D cutF# cutA cutF#.
You really aren't going to use them much, but it's a nice feeling of accomplishment to have one. And like I said, most will never hear them.
If you use sheet music, you will find that music notation often shows a triplet above the low D rather than a roll marking (which would indicate a cran). It's up to you to insert the cran. Best example is the opening notes of the Salamanca. I always see a fast triplet notated there, but to my ears, a cran sounds better, because its more like the next roll on E.
I started off doing crans "wrong" that is, playing the low D, then only moving my F#, then A finger. To my ears. this sounds closer to a roll .
But in the piping world, which is the source of the cran, you are supposed to put in another finger cut within the same duration thereby speeding up the whole thing. Really, it's like you are "shaking" your hands...
. You have to experiment with what works for you. I have done cuts with, consecutively, F#, A, B, because they are strong fingers that move quickly. You can also to F# A and back down to F#. Some say to use a G cut, but that fundamentally changes the sound level coming out of your whistle and to me, interrupts the smoothness. Just an opinion.
Thank you for a very good instructional lesson on crans. I, like AlonE hopes this topic stays on for a time to return to. It was a very good lesson for us noobs.
KISS ME, I'M IRISH, Scotch, Dutch, Choctaw, and Okie!
|| ~A3 | D {F}D/{G}D/ {A}D ||
or
|| A2 D | {A}D {F}D/{G}D/ {A}D||
I play it exactly as written. You can make them very fast yet crisp on a whistle. I almost always play it in place of rolls for my D & E in Both Octaves (However, occasionally an E roll is better suited).
I have tried it like this (as I've seen it written, however more rarely):
|| ~A3 | D {A}D/{G}D/ {F}D ||
However, my fingers can't coordinate as fast and crisply in this order.
I also must disagree with "The Weekenders" - I use cranns a ton. Nearly everything with 3 E's, e's, D's, or d's in a row - although you must spice it up with other variations as well. Especially pipe tunes have cranns. And if you use a session whistle, and practice slowly to get your crann very crisp (by crisp, I mean articulating each note separately and in the correct beats, as I've written) then it can be well-heard. Particularly a Susato whistle should have a well-heard crann (although I don't really like Susasto myself).
Last edited by bay on Mon Jul 23, 2007 2:38 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Tell us something.: Playing Scottish and Irish music in California for 45 years. These days many discussions are migrating to Facebook but I prefer the online chat forum format.
I want to second bay's suggestion that it is very important for the cran to be crisp and clear. You must hear clear bottom D's between each of the cuts. The cranning effect depends on hearing an evenly-timed series of bottom D's rippling out. The danger is in running the cuts together so that some of the bottom D's are lost. The cuts have to be very short in duration. The sound should be of a series of bottom D's articulated by cuts, not of F# G A articulated by intervening bottom D's. The difference, though perhaps subtle, is crucial. Pipers who play crans using F# G A cuts in that order use the same fingering for their stacatto rising F# G A triplet, but the two have a rather different effect. On the whistle, if the cuts are too fat (long in duration) it will sound like the rising F# G A triplet rather than a cran.
