Editing Tin whistle (section)

=== Ornamentation ===
Traditional whistle playing uses a number of [[ornament (music)|ornaments]] to embellish the music, including cuts, strikes and rolls. Most playing is [[legato]] with ornaments to create breaks between notes, rather than tongued. The traditional music concept of the word "ornamentation" differs somewhat from that of [[European classical music]] in that ornaments are more commonly changes in how a note is articulated rather than the addition of separately-perceived notes to the piece.<ref name="LarsenOrnamentation">Larsen</ref> Common ornaments and articulations include:

;Cuts: ''Cuts'' are very briefly lifting a finger above the note being sounded without interrupting airflow into the whistle. For example, a player playing a low D on a D whistle can cut the note by very briefly lifting the first finger of their lower hand. This causes the pitch to briefly shift upward. The cut can be performed either at the very start of the note or after the note has begun to sound; some people call the latter a "''double cut''" or a "''mid-note cut''."
;Strikes: ''Strikes'' or ''taps'' are similar to cuts except that a finger below the sounded note is briefly lowered to the whistle. For example, if a player is playing a low E on a D whistle the player could tap by quickly lowering and raising their bottom finger. Both cuts and taps are essentially instantaneous; the listener should not perceive them as separate notes.
;Rolls: A ''roll'' is a note with first a cut and then a strike. Alternatively, a roll can be considered as a group of notes of identical pitch and duration with different articulations.<ref name="LarsenOrnamentation"/> There are two common types of rolls:
:* The ''long roll'' is a group of three slurred notes of equal pitch and duration, the first sounded without a cut or strike, the second sounded with a cut, and the third sounded with a strike.
:* The ''short roll'' is a group of two slurred notes of equal pitch and duration, the first sounded with a cut and the second sounded with a strike.
;Cranns: ''Cranns'' (or ''crans'') are ornaments borrowed from the [[Uilleann pipes|Uilleann piping]] tradition. They are similar to rolls except that only cuts are used, not taps or strikes. On the tin whistle they are generally only used for notes where a roll is impossible, such as the lowest note of the instrument.
;Slides: ''Slides'' are similar to [[portamento]]s in classical music; a note below or above (usually below) the intended note is fingered, and then the fingering is gradually shifted in order to smoothly raise or lower the pitch to the intended note. The slide is generally a longer duration ornament than, for example, the cut or the tap and the listener should perceive the pitch changing.
;Tonguing: ''Tonguing'' is used as a means of emphasizing certain notes, such as the first note in a tune. Some tin whistle players usually do not tongue most notes, but this varies depending on the player and their background. To tongue a note a player briefly touches their tongue to the front of the roof of the mouth at the start of the note (as if articulating a 't'), creating a percussive [[ADSR envelope|attack]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://learntinwhistle.com/lessons/tin-whistle-tonguing/|title=Tin Whistle Tonguing Techniques|date=10 May 2020}}</ref>
;Vibrato: ''[[Vibrato]]'' can be achieved on most notes by opening and closing one of the open holes, or by variation of breath pressure (this last is actually both vibrato (pitch modulation), and tremolo (amplitude modulation)). Of the two, fingered (i.e., true) vibrato is much more common than diaphragmatic (breath) vibrato (i.e., tremolo), except on notes like the lowest note on the whistle where fingered vibrato is much more difficult.  A common method of achieving vibrato is to finger a note, and then quickly flick a finger on and off, not the hole below the fingered note, but the hole two below the fingered note, leaving an open hole in between.  This technique can be heard on [[The Chieftains]]' iconic air, Women of Ireland (Chieftains IV).