Ornamentation

[Sean M]

I've been playing concertina for about 6 months now. I still only know a few tunes but I've been working on playing all the tunes I know at a tempo about the same as I've heard them played at sessions. I have a question about one tune in particular. I play a Rochelle C/G and when I start the tune I play 3 'E's in a row from the C row. When I play it it sounds a little awkward because I'm just playing the notes in a row. Does anyone have any ornamentation that they do here to spice it up a little? A roll or anything? Please let me know how you normal play it and like I said I'm self taught so I know about music but not a lot about concertina technique.

[Michael Reid]

Sean, a simple thing you can do is to 'cut' the second E with the G on the adjacent button. That is, play the first E (presumably with your middle finger), and then, just before playing the second E, play a very brief G with your index finger. Maintain the rhythm of the three E's when you do this, so that the second E occurs as the same time as you have been playing it.

[michael sam wild]

Good advice , as the tune is usually played in Eminor that fits in with the chord which has EGB notes in it all on the push on LHS

Another way is to imitate pipes regulators and put in a few chord 'blahrts' here and there on the beat.

[Sean M]

Thanks for the advice. I love that sound from the uilleann pipe regulators and was actually wondering about that too.

[michael sam wild]

I think it is best to use chords of the note and the 5th above it only. That gives a sound that is neither major or minor and has a 'modal' feel that is appropriate for traditional music, paricularly Irish music. .Used sensitively they can be another drone or embellishment.

 

The 'Three chord trick' that guitarists use indicates the appropriate chords and component notes for a particular key and it is a good exercise making a chord chart on a duplicated button layout diagram to show how they can be found on both the the push or the pull.

 

Keys of C, F, G, D, Am, Dm, Em , Bm are good for a start and will keep you busy for ages.

 

In fact I have found that it is a good way to get deeper into cross row playing on a C/G Anglo and it informs and passes over into single row melody playing.

 

another useful exercise is to play simultaneous notes in octaves as older style players did/do

[Kelteglow]

Hi Michael Sound's very interesting .Have you got a sound clip video or maybe score as an example? Bob

[Azalin]

Hey Sean,

 

Ornamentation on concertina is such a pain sometimes. I'm really not that great with cuts so I would'nt know how to use one efficiently in the first 3 E's, but you could mix playing "crans" and playing the octave. The way I learned it in workshops, concertina "crans" are a simulation of crans on the pipes, and also when there's 3 identical notes following each other you can play three times the same notes, but the second note will be in the lower octave. I just recorded a small clip to give you an example, I also play a "reverse" octave and play the higher E at one point. In my "slow" version at the beginning, I play the 3 E's passage 6 six times, here's what I do:

 

1) Cran

2) E, high E, E

3) E, low E, E

4) Cran

5) Long E

6) 3 times E

 

I personnaly think variety is the key when you play irish music, you don't want to always do the same thing to make the melody a bit more intersting, so mixing different ornaments or way of playing is important (again, in my opinion).

 

I'd stay away from "chords" at this point, you should try to master the melody, work on phrasing and basic ornaments first. Just remember irish music is about melody, so the most important thing is to get the melody right. Many people end up polluting the melody a lot by adding too much ornaments and "tricks", and often the rhythm will suffer. Melody and rhythm should come first!

 

That being said, I'd be curious to hear a clip about how to use cuts with the first 3 E's, I need to learn to use them more...

 

PS: Edited to add, I can't teach you how to play crans, I'm not even sure mine are good enough, but the clip was just to give you an idea of what's possible to do. There's much more you can do I'm sure. Going to workhops and learning from a real teacher is the best way :-)

R09_0008.MP3

Edited December 3, 2010 by Azalin

[Michael Reid]

Azalin, here's how I would use cuts in the first part of Morrison's. I've left out other ornamentation in this short clip.

E cuts.mp3

[Azalin]

Azalin, here's how I would use cuts in the first part of Morrison's. I've left out other ornamentation in this short clip.

 

Thanks Michael, your cuts are very subtle and it took me a while to hear them. It's very similar to playing simply the three notes in a row, but with an added 'punch' in them. Did you make your cuts very soft in purpose? Using this tune, when you have time could you send me a recording of the whole clip, using cuts at different places?