Tours of the Roller

The sound we are listening for when the Roller sings is an "oo" or "o" note with the little "r" sound to make it a continuous roll. The name says what it is - a continuous hollow sounding roll. The difficulty in describing the tour is that there is so much scope for the Roller to sing it in different ways. It can vary in tone from a very deep "rooroorooroo" in its better versions to a higher pitched "rararararara" or 'rererererere" when it is nothing like so good.
Most Rollers sing it on one level note without varying the pitch. It may be sung rising from a deeper note to a higher one or falling from a higher tone to a lower one or best of all gently falling to rise again, which gives a very beautiful effect.

This is the deepest part of the Roller's song. We are listening for a hollow sound like a very deep musical growling note very similar to the deep purring of a cat. In some Rollers there is a tendency for Bass to be a bit hard - a sort of "knarring" instead of the sonorous "knorr" and in either case you will hear the "rr" sound at the end of the vowels. When you hear a Roller singing a continuous knorring roll in the deepest of tones he is singing BASS.

Not too many Rollers sing a really good version of this tour. This tour is a simple succession of notes - something like the deep clucking of a hen, the Roller quite clearly singing the word "glook glook glook glook" several times in succession.
Different Rollers sing Glucke in may different ways but all are basically this clucking. The main emphasis in the tour should be on the deep pure vowel and not on the hard consonants at the beginning and end of the note.
The Glucke is usually repeated at about the same tempo as Flutes, sometimes a bit faster and should be sung in as deep a tone as possible.

Most Rollers sing a Water Roll. It is not a smooth hollow sounding roll like Hollow Roll or Bass. You can hear a rippling effect in the delivery, the "r" sound being replaced by an extremely quickly repeated "bl" sound instead. Some Rollers sing it fairly smoothly with a trickling effect though it must not be high pitched; others broaden it out a bit more to give a splashy effect.

Schockel is a rather uncommon tour consisting of a series of truncated Flutes fairly quickly repeated in the deep middle or lower registers. Whereas Flute notes are drawn out and lingered over in Schockel they are cut off abruptly and follow each other in quicker succession. The Roller exerts more effort and pushes air out of his body in a series of huffs so that it has the same sort of rhythm and structure as laughter. It sounds like "hu hu hu" or "ho ho ho" and is repeated four or five times.

If we listen to a Roller singing somewhere in his song he will sing a series of about four separate single drawn out notes - fairly slowly - at about one or two a second. These are Flutes. They may occur anywhere in the song and may be sung in any register; the most valued are sung at a deep tone and sound something like "hoo hoo hoo" or "dau dau dau". They are still quite good at a medium tone like "ho ho ho" but if they are high and sound like "he he he" they are much less valued.

If we hear the Roller change from the smooth rolling sound of the Hollow Roll and slow the delivery so that separate notes can be heard the Roller is now singing Hollow Bell.
Instead of the rolling delivery of Hollw Roll the Roller sings "lul lul lul lul". the "l" sound just links the separate beats together due to the fairly rapid tempo at which they follow each other. As in all parts of the song depth and fullness of tone give value.

If the Roller sings a high trilling roll in treble voice this will be Bell Roll. The sound is "ee" with the "r" making it into a roll like "reereereereeree".
When Rollers sing Hollow Roll there is always considerable scope for variation and modulation of tone but with Bell Roll bcause it is always high toned with the thin "ee" vowel the only real variation is between those versions that are quietly sung with a clear pure sound and others which are forced and sharp and subsequently faulty.

Instead of singing the trilling high Bell Roll the Roller breaks the sound into a series of quickly repeated notes sounding like "lee lee lee lee". There is always a danger with Bell Tour that the Roller will force his song and make the notes sharp and faulty particularly if the tempo at which they are sung is slowed down

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