A New Ornament: Roll

Hi, friends.

In this video I introduce a new ornament for our low whistle playing, the roll.

Ornaments are a perfect way to enhance and personalize tunes as we play them. We have made enough progress that it is time to add the roll to our ornament tool kit.

The roll is played by playing the starting note, adding a cut, return to the note, add a tap, and end on the note. This sounds like it will take a while, but the roll is to played in the rhythm of the tune.This means the roll is likely to last one and a half beats in a quick tune.

Play a roll when you see three of the same notes in a row (they will normally be eighth notes), or when you see a held note, like a dotted quarter note.

Experiment with the roll. Play a scale, beginning with the E on a D whistle, and play a roll for each note moving up the scale. This helps us become accustomed to playing the roll, and will also help us develop speed.

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