A New Ornament: Tonguing

Hi, friends.

In this video we introduce a new ornament, tonguing. We talk about how and when to do it as well as look at some practice recommendations. I’ll also give you some rules for the road.

I was surprised to realize that tonguing is not the default way of playing every note in a song. It is an ornament.

Some famous players use very little tonguing, except as like a really crisp expression. And other famous players of traditional music use tonguing quite a bit in the way they play. You and I can and should develop our style as we grow in playing this whistle that we have.

What I love is the freedom we have to learn and honor the style and rhythm of the tunes we are learning while we personalize them in agreement with our favorite styles of Irish low whistle playing.

We learn this skill so that we can add it to our Irish whistle tool kit. The more skills we have, the better we will be able to express what we feel is the heart of a tune.

Select the video to the right to access the video lesson.