The intermediate lessons introduce some of the stylistic embellishments that make up the characteristic Irish traditional sound.
The first two tutorials will give you an understanding of the embellishments themselves, while the following lessons are about applying them to tunes and learning where and when to use them in traditional music.
Note: If you want to save the lessons, you need to right click on the link and choose "Save As" or "Save Target As".
Lesson 6: Taps, Cuts, and Rolls
All three of these embellishments are made with shorter, faster notes called gracenotes. Gracenotes (and all embellishments, for that matter) are used to emphasize certain melody notes and/or to give the impression of repeating a melody note without simply playing the melody note twice.
You can either download the tutorials individually or get the complete version. Lessons are rather large file sizes, but if choose to save them, you'll have them for review whenever you need them.
View the Lessons:
- Complete Lesson (5.4 MB)
Lesson 7: Slides
A slide is a very common embellishment used to change between two notes. It gives the tune a more open sound, as opposed to tighter or "bubblier" ornaments that you'll learn about later.
- Complete Lesson (1.3 MB)
Lesson 8: Jig - Donnybrook Fair
This lesson will get you started using the embellishments that you have just learned. As you watch and listen to the tutorial, keep in mind where I'm playing the embellishments, but also remember that the way I play the tune is not the only way to do it. We'll get to more on variations in later lessons.
In addition to the RealVideo tutorial, you can download the sheet music in full-sized format by clicking the small image below.
- Complete Lesson (3.1 MB)
Lesson 9: Reel - Silver Spear
Silver Spear is a great traditional tune that is usually one of the first reels that whistle players will learn. As with Donnybrook Fair, bear in mind that I use certain embellishments because I feel that it works with the tune, but there's always more than one way to play it!
- Complete Lesson (3.8 MB)
