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Riding on the short (roll) bus

Riding on the short (roll) bus

For the fiddlers here, I am curious how much use you make of short rolls (rolls that take up a quarter note) in your playing. Do you use them at all? If so, do you find that you vary between using bowed triplets and short rolls for the same phrase? Do you use short rolls in certain specific tunes because you learned the tunes that way or do you incorporate short rolls as ornaments where you please?

Another question: does it make sense to play short rolls in sessions, or do they get lost in the mix? This question also applies to other ornamentation in sessions, but in particular I am concerned with short rolls because, at least to my ears, short rolls are subtle and hard to hear in sessions.

# Posted on September 2nd 2007 by crazy_fingerz

Re: Riding on the short (roll) bus

Yes

# Posted on September 2nd 2007 by benhall.1

Re: Riding on the short (roll) bus

Yes, I use them. Yes, I vary with bowed triplets. I use short rolls on pretty much all tunes because they sound nifty. I play them in sessions because I'm playing to improve the rolls whether they're heard by others or not. Play away!

--DtM

# Posted on September 2nd 2007 by Dan the Man

Re: Riding on the short (roll) bus

For me it's question of speed and how well I know the tune. In a session often I'm just trying to get the bowing and rhythm happening - and possibly the intonation :(

BTW can somebody suggest a few examples of 'short rolling' recordings? Doesn't have to be fiddle - I think whistle, flute and concertina use it a lot --- if I understand it correctly. Matt Cranitch is not very helpful on this point in the Irish Fiddle Book.

# Posted on September 3rd 2007 by Hup

Re: Riding on the short (roll) bus

I use them quite a lot, as with everything though, don't overuse them. Vary it with triplets or double stopping or just playing the quarter note itself- which I notice more and more people *not* doing enough (IMO)

# Posted on September 3rd 2007 by Sean Clery

Re: Riding on the short (roll) bus

Sean: Good point about just playing the unadorned quarter note sometimes.

mhuppert: Some example recordings would be pretty much any reel played by Kevin Burke, Frankie Gavin, or Sean Keane, just to name a few.

# Posted on September 4th 2007 by crazy_fingerz

Re: Riding on the short (roll) bus

I use them too, like Sean Clery. A couple of tunes in particular -- the b part of Fermoy Lasses and n Julia Delaney. They are a nice variation of the unadorned quarter note or the bowed triplet.

# Posted on September 4th 2007 by John Culhane

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