Cats Go Down Alleys

St Patrick's Day and I'm practicing penny whistle (also known as tin whistle, irish whistle, etc.)

Sort of. I was listening to some random stuff and thought it might be fun to cover the Terminator main theme using folk instruments. In any case it was time to get to know the tin whistle. I'm learning "Washerwoman" for speed and "Misty Mountains Cold" for long legato passages.

The tin whistle is stubbornly diatonic; out-of-scale notes usually require difficult half-holing, although there are a couple of cross fingerings possible. Because of the way the overblow happens, though, there is some funny fingering around the octave break. "Ornaments" is a bit of a misnomer, also; the instrument is generally not tongued, so accenting the notes in legato lines is done by adding cuts and strikes and trills.

And while I'm on scales...still lots of fun relating between different instruments. Most of them are not transposing, but many of the ones I'm working with have a practical range of about two octaves so it is a lot of fun to try to find matching pitches.

That and changing between different string patterns; the JR2 -- which I am slowly getting used to despite the cramped nut width of 1.6875" -- is E, A, D, G, B, E, the Ubass is the standard E, A, D, G (Elves And Dwarves Gather) an octave below those same strings on the guitar. And of course the ukulele is on G, C, A, E with the typical "re-entrant" tuning that makes the C the lowest string.

Then violin at G, D, A, E -- the viola is pitched a fifth below, the cello a fifth below that, so the new strings I'm having shipped will be C, G, D, A -- that top string at two scale tones below Middle C. I'll be putting the Sensicore's on the Cecilio, then possibly switch the Alphayue's to the Pfetchner to see if I get a sweeter tone there. I also have a two-dollar set of Pesca's I may try out on the JR2 if I get really tired of cutting my fingers fretting those steel strings (I do love the tone, though).

With that, and the Yamaha mute I've also got coming in the mail, I'm down to only a handful of instruments that need a practice room. I can even record most of what I've got at home, which is a lot more practical than any of the alternatives. In addition. I had to make a personal visit to find out but the local Guitar Center has piano rooms for $10/hour. And they are just down the road from my workplace.




On that home front, however. The Terminator title has a hard-panned drum. I tried taping lapel mics an inch from the head (which meant I also spent a part of St Patrick's Day with soldering iron repairing mic elements) but that didn't get the necessary separation. I tried recording one half of the drums at a time but that weird meter is bad enough (I've tried it in 6/8 and 5/4 but nothing really lines up right). Finally damped the bodhran with a t-shirt then manually panned all the beats in Reaper automation. No amount of effects, however, would make them sound like the original drums -- and adding a bunch of effects seems contrary to the idea of doing on folk instruments in the first place, nicht was?

For the low pad, I am not running out to get Great Highland Pipes -- so I'm simulating bagpipe drone with digitally manipulated crumhorn. It sounds...okay.

I've seen various interpretations of the little synth arpeggiation that happens a few bars before the drums enter. I tried doing it finger-tapping on the guitar and I don't really care for that, either. Basically, the mix isn't working, not as a slavish copy of the material that's in the original.

So best bet is to do a free interpretation of the musical ideas. Which really seems to cry for some serious fiddle and whistle work as well as folk guitar. None of which I'm good at, not yet. Practicing parts is no good. I need to learn some traditional pieces and get decent at playing them so I can internalize the construction and techniques.

Well, the octave strings don't show up until next week, anyhow. And the "high" Bb Feadóg is coming by Royal Mail and will be another week again.

Maybe I should jump on another piece. The Hellboy theme is kind of cute for bass guitar and brass and a little cello might finish it up. I'm feeling very amateur at the moment, though. The practice is not going well.