About rolls in Irish music:
>>...used more in fiddle or pipe music.
>
>Well it's not known in pipe music. They use a particular form of
>embellishment known generically as a doubling and it takes many forms,
>which are written out.
>
Depends on the pipes. They're used a lot for uilleann pipes, but
not for highland pipes. Highland pipers tend to write out every last
gracenote, so there's no need for a roll sign. And for that matter they
don't think of playing rolls. But a reel like the Wind that Shakes the
Barley, which starts:
|{g}A>{d}A{e}A{d}B {g}<{d}G {g}A2|{g}B>{d}B{e}A {g}Bc{g}d<B|
could be written (tho my old pipe major would have kittens)
|~A3B A<GA2|~B3A B<cD<B|
>>>It is used at least in Irish music as a general ornamentation mark. I've
>>>come across the notation a.o. in "Traditional Irish Music: Karen Tweed's
>>>Irish Choice," Dave Mallinson Publications, 1994.
>>
>> Thanks. But what does it mean? What would say an autoharp make of it,
>> say perhaps to make it a tremolo.
>
>It means "play any ornamentation here". The exact meaning is unspecified.
Correction: in Irish music, a roll is a specific way of playing
several repeated notes, not a general ornament on a given note. It's
basic to the music, which is why it's part of abc. I'm not at all
surprised rolls aren't in the standard notation texts. Matter of fact,
I'd be surprised if they were.
The rhythmic effect is about the same on all instruments, give or
take a little, but the exact playing depends strongly on the instrument.
Breathnach, in Ceol Rince na hEireann V. 3, gives a table of rolls on the
different notes as played on different instruments. For example, for the
long roll on A, written ~A3, he gives A2 {B}A/{G}A for the pipes and
whistle, ABA for the fiddle, and {AB}A>^GA for the accordion. (That's a
B/C button box, by the way; a piano accordion would probably play a G
natural instead of a G sharp. Whatever makes for the easiest fingering.)
To show how instrument-specific they can be, for the long roll on D on the
uilleann pipes---a cran, really---Breathnach gives D(8GDEFGEAD . Three
guesses why we don't want to write these things out in detail!
If you want to know how rolls should sound on playback, check
Henrik's abcmus. They sound fine there.
Autoharp? Hmm... chuckle... Well, that'd take some
experimentation, but I'd start with A>AA and work from there. Whatever,
~A3 is *not* played A3 (except as a variation, of course :-).
Cheers,
John Walsh
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