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Rapidly Repeated Notes On Ec


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On rapidly repeated notes, many tutors recommend that the same finger should not be used. I would like EC players to suggest fingers for the following two extracts.

 

1. The Flying Pieman

 

 

2. Lilting Banshee

 

 

Thanks

 

Nanette

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On rapidly repeated notes, many tutors recommend that the same finger should not be used. I would like EC players to suggest fingers for the following two extracts.

What I would do... and have just done, in order to be sure (using 1-2-3 to designate index-middle-ring fingers):

 

1. The Flying Pieman

R1 | L3_ L2 L1 L3 L1 | R3_ R2 R1 L1 R2| L3_ L2 L1 R2 L3 | R2 L3 R2 R1 L1 R1 |

 

Some people might find those 3-2-1 sequences easier as 3-1-2, but I find 3-2-1 more comfortable.

 

2. Lilting Banshee

| L1 R1 L3 R2 L3 R2 | R1 R2 R1 R2 R1 R2 | L2 R1 L2 L1_ R1 |

 

In this case there are multiple "reasonable" possibilities for that middle measure. Here are a couple of others:

 

1-2-3 1-3-2

 

1-2-3 2-3-2

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On rapidly repeated notes, many tutors recommend that the same finger should not be used. I would like EC players to suggest fingers for the following two extracts.

 

Nanette

 

An alternative to alternative fingering :) is to use a change in bellows direction. One possibility is to play a jig as "out out in, out out in, out out in, out out in". As an EC player who's used to going all the way out, then all the way in it seems technically difficult to change bellows direction every third note, press the buttons in coordination with the bellows and breathe at the same time but the effect is worth it. What this means is that for both pieces you give as examples the repeated notes are played with the same finger but opposite bellows direction. The whole effect is a very bouncy rendition that is remeniscent of an anglo.

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What I would do... and have just done, in order to be sure (using 1-2-3 to designate index-middle-ring fingers): …

 

Thanks for the suggestion Jim. I haven't tried it out yet. Actually I have been playing EC for a long time and have always used the same finger for rapidly repeated notes, but since I am re-learning to play after my stroke I thought I should try to correct my bad? habit. I have just remembered that one method I used was adding ornamentation as in the following example:

 

Edited by Poaceae
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I have just remembered that one method I used was adding ornamentation as in the following example:

Yep, I do that, too. It's a "roll", as I'm used to fiddlers playing one. (Whistles, pipes, etc. tend to use different separating grace notes, but the basic form is the same. Anglo players seem to use the word "roll" for a different structure. But that's already been discussed in other Topics.)

 

With those notes in the opposite hand jumping into the gaps, you can use the same finger for the repetitions and still sound very smooth.

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I must apologise for not puting in the key signatures for the extracts and congratulate Jim on working out that The Flying Pieman is in D, and the Lilting Banshee is in G.

 

Jim, I like your fingering for the Flyinig Pieman and will adopt this, but none of the fingering suggestions for that middle section of the Lilting Banshee are very easy for me. Mainly because it is my right side that is weak from my stroke. Perhaps a good exercise. Tenpenny Bit is another tune with similar repeated notes as Lilting Banshee (in the right hand), therefore it is also a good exercise for me. I have never liked 2 over 1 fingering (I hope you understand what I mean) but perhaps I should try to adopt this fingering technique.

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Jim, I like your fingering for the Flyinig Pieman and will adopt this, but none of the fingering suggestions for that middle section of the Lilting Banshee are very easy for me. ... Tenpenny Bit is another tune with similar repeated notes...

Here are a couple of alternative suggestions, both involving 1-2-2 for the E-A-A triplet:

... 1) When you play the two A's, don't think of lifting the finger and pressing it again. Instead, let the finger bounce. I.e., you should not feel that you're pulling the finger back between the two A's, but that you're pressing continuously and the finger is thrown back from the button as if by a spring. Of course, the "sping" is really in your fingers rather than in the button, but the visualization will help you get it feeling right. (It's like steering a bicycle, where you don't think about turning the handlebars -- which is what you're really doing, -- but about turning the bicycle itself.)

... 2) Rather than lifting the finger between the two A's, reverse the bellows. So E-A-A becomes either push-push-pull or pull-pull-push. If anglo players can do it for changing notes, then we English players should be allowed to do it for repeating the same note. You could even reverse the bellows for every note, but to me that feels like overdoing it.

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  • 2 weeks later...

When I was preparing the Burns song "The Slave's Lament" for black history month I faced the problem of playing repeated notes in as legato a style as possible. Repeated fingering always gives me a stacatto effect so I tried using a change of bellows direction. I think I managed to get a smooth repetition that way. Not that my session much likes laments...

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