Taking Apart Your Piping II: A Guide to Self-Critique
By Eliot Grasso
Piping Instructor in Residence for Cumann na bPíobairí
Published in Iris na bPíobairí Vol. XXXV No. 3 Summer 2006
The cran is an ornament of some contention in the world of uilleann piping. There are many schools of thought as to just which grace notes are to occur between the bottom Ds, in which order they are to occur, and in what rhythm. Part of this article can be scored as my own contribution to the on-going discussion of a non-codified art.
When playing a cran, I cut with the notes F#, G, and B in that order (that’s the middle finger of the bottom hand, the top finger of the bottom hand, and the middle finger of the top hand). The majority of uilleann pipers cut with the note A (the bottom finger of the top hand) instead of the note B. I can only assume that whoever first invented the cran taught this cut to others and it was thenceforth subsumed into the tradition.
Physiologically, the middle finger (the note B) makes much more sense than the ring finger (the note A). The reason for this is simply an issue of anatomy. For starters, when you cut with the note A using the fourth/ring finger, your muscle motion is being misdirected and impeded by the involuntary sympathetic movement of the little finger. Try playing a cran and watch the little finger flail about. I have seen in some instances where block mounts have actually been damaged and worn down as a result of the sympathetic flicking of the little finger. One theory behind why the fifth finger moves sympathetically with the fourth is simply that rote muscle memory is developed from birth through the motion of grasping or holding.
Secondly, the middle fingers are operated by the larger, stronger, independent muscles. To demonstrate the drastic difference in the strength between the middle and fourth fingers, relax your hand and place it palm down flat on a table while seated. First, attempt to raise your fourth finger as high as possible without allowing your little fifth finger to leave the table. If your muscles are well developed or abnormally strong, you may be able to put about an inch of clearance between your finger pad and the flat surface. Now, try the same exercise with your middle finger. The distance cleared is significantly more. In addition, you may notice that while attempting to lift the fourth finger without lifting its sympathetic neighbor generates a considerable degree of stress in that side of the hand.
All anatomy aside, I am convinced that cutting with the middle B finger deserves a great deal of credence on an acoustic level. Let us examine the series of overtones resonating above the hard bottom D on your chanter. The first overtone manifests at the octave, then a fifth above that, etc. The second overtone is the note A which you may be using to cut the cran. The problem is that the A in the overtone series in not the same A you are using to cut the cran. The A of the overtone series is in fact a higher pitch (an octave higher) than the A you are using to polish off your cran.
The result of cutting with the A is a problem I see chronically: a student goes for that very last cut with A, lifts the ring finger of the top hand, replaces it, and gets a screeching bottom D an octave or more above what was intended (the note you are actually hearing is A in the second octave of the chanter). Cutting with the middle B finger eliminates this potential screech because the pitch “B” is much further away in the overtone series than the relatively close pitch “A”.
Another benefit to cutting with the B finger is that this grace note highlights the brighter tonal qualities of a concert pitch chanter. Because it is not close to the principal tone in the overtone series, it presents a sheerer contrast to the bottom D than the note A. The principal tone receives greater emphasis when it is divided by B because the grace note stands out more (i.e. a bleach white spot will stand out more on a black shirt than a gray spot because in the spectrum white is further from the color of the shirt than gray).
In addition to the D cran, cutting with B can be applied to the E roll, E cran, F-sharp roll, and G roll (in the first octave only). As in all cases of music, implement these grace notes at your discretion and what you, the musician, find most amenable to the ear. For a less conspicuous grace note, continue cutting with the note A or in a roll, with the finger directly above the principal note (i.e. when playing a G roll, cut above with the note A and tap with the F-sharp).
Before all you physicists say: “Why, the note B is a fifth above E: won’t cutting E with B pose the same problem as cutting D with A?” The answer is no. The hard bottom D, in most cases, requires more pressure than the E. The extra pressure requirement for D makes the octave jump more probable. Since E operates at a lower pressure, this pitch are less susceptible to jump the octave than hard bottom D.
Problem: Octave jumping when rolling E in the first octave or octave dropping when rolling E in the second octave
Suggestion: Instead of tapping with the bottom two fingers in either octave, tap with only the ring finger of the bottom hand.
When executing A or B rolls, try cutting with the thumb for back D. Again, I use this grace note for the same reasons as the B: it highlights the bright tone of the concert pitch chanter by presenting a relatively dissonant grace note in the course of the ornament. Again, it is more dissonant because it is further away in the overtone spectrum. The back D on your chanter is not one of the first three overtones in the series above either A or B.
Your best reason for committing any grace note anywhere is “I like the sound of it.” Just be sure that you decide that in advance before peppering your jigs and reels with stray grace notes.
Staccato notes and triplets: musical punctuation
Uilleann pipes are designed to produce a continuous sound. This is a huge advantage because the piper can play--ad infinitum--all the tunes, ornaments, and grace notes desired without being forced to decide where to breath or bow. The downside to being able to produce sound perpetually is the tendency to play run-on sentences or musical passages: because our instruments can produce continuous sound, we are not forced by the mechanics of our instrument to make any decisions regarding the beginnings and endings of phrases. In addition, some pipers may literally find themselves holding their breath.
In the history of Irish music, uilleann pipers have been notoriously reprimanded for having poor rhythm. One reason for this is that (with the exception of foot tapping or regulator playing) there is no part of our anatomy operating the instrument that is incidentally keeping time or rhythm in tact. The pumping of the bellows should not be used to keep time, nor should the squeezing of the bag. Our fingers are solely responsible for the rhythm of our melody being in tact, so we must make it our prerogative to do just that. Regulator playing can be used to exclaim rhythm by punctuating each and every down or up beat à la Leo Rowesome, but it is in melodic ornamentation on the chanter that we should first examine the way we are conveying rhythm and shaping our phrases.
Problem: Rhythm is unsteady or absent
Suggestion: Map out the down beats of the tune
In “Taking Apart Your Piping I: A Guide to Self-Critique,” I discussed a methodical way to use a metronome to aid in solidifying rhythmic accuracy. In conjunction with that method, I will now suggest mapping out your tune either mentally or on manuscript paper.
An excellent place to accent the tune is the downbeat. On the downbeat of your reel or jig, try inserting a grace note above the principle note of the downbeat (the first note or fifth eighth note of each measure). Perhaps you have time to insert a roll or cran. Devise some technical method to accent the downbeat so that you are consciously linking a finger movement with the downbeat and a sound.
After you have a steadfast command of the downbeat, try emphasizing the upbeat in the same fashion by placing a grace note right before the third or seventh eighth note in a measure. Continue to map out your tune and decide which ways effectively highlight that beat.
The main point of this practice is to get you to think about the down and upbeat and decide which you’d like to highlight. The goal is to highlight certain notes by gracing or tripleting to give your playing rhythmic stability, but also a mild lilt, swing, or syncopation.
Try also placing a staccato triplet so that it begins on the downbeat. The misplacement of staccato notes and triplets can do wonders in removing the punch from your playing. Throwing in staccato notes randomly or triplets in the same fashion would be equivalent to a flute player breathing on every downbeat. The silences can often do more damage to your rhythm that the continuity of sound. Conversely, you can use the space between notes in staccato figures to great effect.
Suggestion: Take every ornament out of your tune
First, try placing cuts on the down or upbeats. After you feel your rhythm solidifying, put in a roll or two while being conscious of how it is affecting the downbeat. Try adding some rolls (if there is space in the rhythm i.e. a quarter note or dotted quarter note) where the simple cuts were originally and finally try a few crans (again, rhythmic space permitting).
Playing in rhythm without ornaments present can be shockingly easy. After you have mapped out your tune and have decided on what you think sounds best regarding emphasizing the downbeat, upbeat etc, record yourself trying out these different combinations of ornaments in a single tune and decide what you like hearing best. You’ve formulated a musical hypothesis and the tape recorder is going to tell you if it is correct.
The process of slowly adding cuts, ornaments, and staccato punctuation to your playing is also relevant to the grace notes used in your rolls and should be applied to them as well. Perhaps you’ve been cutting your A rolls with C (the top finger of your top hand) from the beginning of time. Perhaps you’ll find that a back D cut would give a little more punch to the downbeat than the cut you’ve been using. You might even find that some rolls become much easier to play when you decide to change which grace notes you are implementing.
Conversely, you may want to give that down or upbeat slightly less emphasis depending on the shape of the melody and cut with the note B directly above A. When I play, I am using alternate cuts depending on how much I want the ornament to stand out. A general rule of thumb is that the further away the grace note is from the principle note (the note you’re rolling on or cutting), the more emphasis it will receive.
Eliot Grasso
Seattle, WA