I did play yesterday. I felt it went rather well. Feeling comfortable with my pipes (no drones. I know, I know...) Some of my clunky doublings are turning into the merest flutter of finger on chanter. Some of my single graces are barely a breaking of the seal between finger and chanter before closing it up again. They sound good. Oddly this is some gracings and doublings on some tunes: same doubling, different tune and the result may be different.
Still playing about with Trail, Captain and Whaling. I am sure the three will work together, but I need to try different combinations. I probably need to record variations, so I can sit and listen and see which works best.
Still pegging away at Troy. A part is fine, except for the ending. There are several variations of this ending through the tune and I keep picking the wrong one. I had GDE on AAA sussed at one stage, only whenever I play it, it sounds good, but seems to be saying "that's not right", and I have lapsed back into the bad habit of playing GDG. Even without catching what my fingers are doing I can hear that's it's wrong. The second AAA in that part I am mysteriously playing three Gs on. I don't know why.
The B is OK, mostly. The C is coming, but its that pesky run up with high As interspersed because it is two high A's, one, two, one, one, two, instead of a steady one, two, one throughout. I also, and I think it's because I am concentrating on the number or As, keep playing the run up as A, B, C, D, F, E, so the last two notes are backwards.
And the D part...bits, slowly, maybe. But my speed is coming along, too. In fact, I played for a while and then treated myself and switched to D and ran through the tune at a fair old lick.
I think I'm really starting to get the hang of this piping business.
Ramblings of an easily distracted learner piper
Saturday, 31 August 2013
Thursday, 29 August 2013
Lost in translation
Yesterday evening I listened to St Kilda Wedding, mostly because I'd been humming The Braes o' Strathblane for a day or two. I'd forgotten that there are some good pipe tunes on the album, and I'd forgotten because they are not played on pipes. They are played on whistles (which is fair enough, I suppose - pipers seem to play whistles from time to time), fiddle, and Irish pipes. The tunes sound faintly familiar and feel oddly wrong played on Uillean pipes. It's like being abroad and catching a programme you know that has been dubbed. Characters you know as American or Cockney or northern are suddenly spouting in French or German or Italian. It's all the familiar faces, but the voices are all wrong. As well as the language they never seem to try to match the tone or timbre of the original actors' voices.
There was a time when I wondered why a band keen on exploring Scottish music would play Irish pipes. I suppose the answer is that St Kilda was recorded in 1978 before smallpipes were revived or reinvented. Although I do wonder why they couldn't have made a go of it with GHB. By the time we reach 1997 and the Carrying Stream (one of my all time favourite albums) we have smallpipes played by Iain MacInnes and made by Ian Kinnear, the Monkey's maker.
I didn't play yesterday. Today I had two minor breakthroughs. The first was finally cracking Trail and Captn, dotless. I tried them with the Whaling Song - the three seem to go quite nicely together. The second was a small patch where I felt as comfortable with the A as I do with D, felt the bellows and bag pliant and soft, tucked close to me and breathing with me. I had it...and then it went. It's like cats. D is the one that will snuggle and cuddle and purr into your face, A will momentarily rest on you under duress, but then with a switch of the tail is out of your arms and gone.
There was a time when I wondered why a band keen on exploring Scottish music would play Irish pipes. I suppose the answer is that St Kilda was recorded in 1978 before smallpipes were revived or reinvented. Although I do wonder why they couldn't have made a go of it with GHB. By the time we reach 1997 and the Carrying Stream (one of my all time favourite albums) we have smallpipes played by Iain MacInnes and made by Ian Kinnear, the Monkey's maker.
I didn't play yesterday. Today I had two minor breakthroughs. The first was finally cracking Trail and Captn, dotless. I tried them with the Whaling Song - the three seem to go quite nicely together. The second was a small patch where I felt as comfortable with the A as I do with D, felt the bellows and bag pliant and soft, tucked close to me and breathing with me. I had it...and then it went. It's like cats. D is the one that will snuggle and cuddle and purr into your face, A will momentarily rest on you under duress, but then with a switch of the tail is out of your arms and gone.
Tuesday, 27 August 2013
Times tables
I've been thinking about how many times to play a tune. The session standard hereabouts seems to be three times. I think the point is that it gives fellow sessioneers one time to listen, once to try, and the third time to play along. Then you move on to the next tune in the set.
I suppose different tunes in a set is to do with the link between music and dance. Trad music tunes are short, even played three times round they might be all done and dusted in 3 minutes, which isn't much of a dance. Presumably playing different tunes rather than the same one over and over keeps things interesting for the musicians, and listeners. I suppose, not being much of a dancer, that the dancers' main interest is the tempo remaining the same.
In Highland pipe band piping the tradition is a little different. There is MSR and medleys, but each tune is played only once or twice through. I guess much here is to do with the fact that it's a performance, and you need to be playing with great accuracy, so the fewer times you play something the less chance there is of making a mistake. Pipes are also very physical, and if you're marching as well...you don't want half the band passed out on the floor before you reach the end of the set.
And what is the tradition for small pipers playing folk music? I've still yet to attend our local Scottish session, but I do know that even in Scotland most of the sessions are Irish, and that most of the pipes will be Irish, too. Perhaps small pipers need to fall in with whatever happens at local sessions, or perhaps, because our repertoire is strange and people don't seem inclined to join in much, we just need to chose our own methods, create our own traditions.
Not going too badly today. Still working on the Captain and the Trail. Home kept morphing into Locahanside and I ended up getting the dots out. Still not feeling totally comfortable with A, with bag and bellows, but getting there.
I suppose different tunes in a set is to do with the link between music and dance. Trad music tunes are short, even played three times round they might be all done and dusted in 3 minutes, which isn't much of a dance. Presumably playing different tunes rather than the same one over and over keeps things interesting for the musicians, and listeners. I suppose, not being much of a dancer, that the dancers' main interest is the tempo remaining the same.
In Highland pipe band piping the tradition is a little different. There is MSR and medleys, but each tune is played only once or twice through. I guess much here is to do with the fact that it's a performance, and you need to be playing with great accuracy, so the fewer times you play something the less chance there is of making a mistake. Pipes are also very physical, and if you're marching as well...you don't want half the band passed out on the floor before you reach the end of the set.
And what is the tradition for small pipers playing folk music? I've still yet to attend our local Scottish session, but I do know that even in Scotland most of the sessions are Irish, and that most of the pipes will be Irish, too. Perhaps small pipers need to fall in with whatever happens at local sessions, or perhaps, because our repertoire is strange and people don't seem inclined to join in much, we just need to chose our own methods, create our own traditions.
Not going too badly today. Still working on the Captain and the Trail. Home kept morphing into Locahanside and I ended up getting the dots out. Still not feeling totally comfortable with A, with bag and bellows, but getting there.
Monday, 26 August 2013
Little and large
I decided this morning to cut loose from the dots with the Trail and the Captn. I'd been idly thinking that I didn't really know those tunes, but then managed to call them into mind so that they went round in my head. I didn't do too badly - bits and bobs, with bits missing and bits misplaced.
This afternoon I've played Trail over and over. Often I find in a tune that there is one note, a repeating note, that I get wrong every time, and I just need to name that note, and then I can remember it. It's a B in the Dragon, a D in Galloway, and a C in the Trail.
But I'm still not comfortable with A. As I've mentioned before it feels like a different instrument, bigger, more robust. I need more air in the bag, more bellows action. I struggle to hold the chanter in a comfortable spot. And this afternoon I just seemed to have too much chest, and it all seemed to be in the way. Still, I persevered. I will be as comfortable with A as I am with D. It's just going to take time.
I wish I knew, though, how people flip between similar instruments of different size; different sized whistles, say, or mandolin and bouzouki, as the fan does. Maybe having a different repertoire for each helps split them in your mind.
I need to think what the call this switching and adjustment; I need a blog label for it, because this isn't the first time I've written about it and it certainly won't be the last.
This afternoon I've played Trail over and over. Often I find in a tune that there is one note, a repeating note, that I get wrong every time, and I just need to name that note, and then I can remember it. It's a B in the Dragon, a D in Galloway, and a C in the Trail.
But I'm still not comfortable with A. As I've mentioned before it feels like a different instrument, bigger, more robust. I need more air in the bag, more bellows action. I struggle to hold the chanter in a comfortable spot. And this afternoon I just seemed to have too much chest, and it all seemed to be in the way. Still, I persevered. I will be as comfortable with A as I am with D. It's just going to take time.
I wish I knew, though, how people flip between similar instruments of different size; different sized whistles, say, or mandolin and bouzouki, as the fan does. Maybe having a different repertoire for each helps split them in your mind.
I need to think what the call this switching and adjustment; I need a blog label for it, because this isn't the first time I've written about it and it certainly won't be the last.
Sunday, 25 August 2013
How can you have any pudding?
When I was at primary school there was a rule that you couldn't go up and queue for pudding until you'd finished your main course. I don't think we had to clear our plates entirely, and it may have been the vegetables that we were really to eat as I distinctly remember pushing green vegetables of some sort under a scoop of that awful, almost slimy (but containing mysterious crystalline lumps) mashed potato, which also had to be bashed about to look eaten.
It was the same at home. A request for pudding, even a piece of fruit, would be met with the standard "finish what's on your plate first". My parents, and presumably those who made the rules at school, grew up in wartime and knew the value of food.
I suppose I inherited the waste not want not approach to life. I go to the farm shop each week and I calculate roughly what meals I'll cook in the week and I buy just what I need to make those. Food waste makes me miserable, although knowing it can feed the worms, which in turn feed my allotment, helps.
The point it that I don't like to start one thing until I've finished another. I do this a little with knitting. I won't cast on a proper big project (although I have my eye on one) until I've finished the long abandoned cardigan. Socks, baby items and mittens don't count as actual projects in this world view...
I have some unfinished tunes. Troy is close, but not there yet. The Fiddler and Alick languish, to be honest, barely touched on the side of my musical plate. But I can see other tunes that make my mouth water. I've been listening to Springwell again: I rather like pipe tunes played on strings. I want to play Balmacara,Oh! But will you come to town and, my current favourite, Heroes of St Valery. I can't find Heroes or Will You. Balmacara is by Donald McLeod and according to a Canadian site is in volume 5 of his books. The listing for the same title on Footstompin doesn't include it. So I think I need to look at the books in the flesh. I wonder if Nicholson's open on bank holidays...
It was the same at home. A request for pudding, even a piece of fruit, would be met with the standard "finish what's on your plate first". My parents, and presumably those who made the rules at school, grew up in wartime and knew the value of food.
I suppose I inherited the waste not want not approach to life. I go to the farm shop each week and I calculate roughly what meals I'll cook in the week and I buy just what I need to make those. Food waste makes me miserable, although knowing it can feed the worms, which in turn feed my allotment, helps.
The point it that I don't like to start one thing until I've finished another. I do this a little with knitting. I won't cast on a proper big project (although I have my eye on one) until I've finished the long abandoned cardigan. Socks, baby items and mittens don't count as actual projects in this world view...
I have some unfinished tunes. Troy is close, but not there yet. The Fiddler and Alick languish, to be honest, barely touched on the side of my musical plate. But I can see other tunes that make my mouth water. I've been listening to Springwell again: I rather like pipe tunes played on strings. I want to play Balmacara,Oh! But will you come to town and, my current favourite, Heroes of St Valery. I can't find Heroes or Will You. Balmacara is by Donald McLeod and according to a Canadian site is in volume 5 of his books. The listing for the same title on Footstompin doesn't include it. So I think I need to look at the books in the flesh. I wonder if Nicholson's open on bank holidays...
Saturday, 24 August 2013
A you're adorable
I've gone back to A today, after a brief farewell fling with D. I've got 9 whole days without work and I'm hoping to get to know the A again over that time.
It took about a tune and half to remember where my fingers went. My bottom hand isn't sitting totally clean on the holes, especially that low G. My right thumb got a bit tense - sometimes I worry that I will snap the chanter in half - but I made a conscious effort to relax my hands and slid my thumb down the chanter and inch or two, which helped.
I'm finding that if things aren't quite comfortable I am actually able to make some adjustments while I am playing. One thing that has to be right before I play is the bellows - I can't get away with a loose strap with A as I don't get enough air through. It is the air pressure that's the challenge. Bag and bellows seem to be rubbing the insides of my arms raw. My shoulders feel tense. I'm hunching a little, and also pressing the bellows down on my hip bones.
But I'll get there, back into the swing of A. And its worth it - that big, deep, rich sound, full and rounded. Adorable.
It took about a tune and half to remember where my fingers went. My bottom hand isn't sitting totally clean on the holes, especially that low G. My right thumb got a bit tense - sometimes I worry that I will snap the chanter in half - but I made a conscious effort to relax my hands and slid my thumb down the chanter and inch or two, which helped.
I'm finding that if things aren't quite comfortable I am actually able to make some adjustments while I am playing. One thing that has to be right before I play is the bellows - I can't get away with a loose strap with A as I don't get enough air through. It is the air pressure that's the challenge. Bag and bellows seem to be rubbing the insides of my arms raw. My shoulders feel tense. I'm hunching a little, and also pressing the bellows down on my hip bones.
But I'll get there, back into the swing of A. And its worth it - that big, deep, rich sound, full and rounded. Adorable.
Wednesday, 21 August 2013
Play list update for August
Finally I feel it's time to add some titles to my play list. I'm a little worried because several tunes seem to be falling off the bottom. I'm not sure if that's because actually I didn't really like them as much as I like the new tunes, or whether it's just what I happen to feel like playing at the moment - Bonnie Galloway, for instance has usurped The Rowan Tree as my go to tune for when I have no brain or just want to feel totally relaxed when playing. My worry is that I will only ever be able to remember a dozen tunes and the more I cram in one end the more they will fall out the other...
Tunes I can play without dots
Tunes almost there
Tunes I am actively learning
I'm surprised to see that, checking over the tunes I've recorded, the only tunes on my play list haven't done are Atholl (which I recorded about a million times on the previous blog and lost), Castle Dangerous. Shetland Fiddler and Leaving Barra (which is odd - I could have sworn I had done that one).
I feel I need some more new tunes to learn....
Tunes I can play without dots
- The Atholl Highlanders (rare)
- Banks of Allen (very rare)
- Battle of the Somme
- Battle of Waterloo (rare)
- Bonnie Galloway (my current go to tune)
- The Boy's Lament for His Dragon (with a tendency to go to fast and garble it)
- The Barren Rocks of Aden (same problem as the Dragon)
- Castle Dangerous
- Eagle's Whistle (very rare)
- Flett from Flotta (I play this a lot)
- The Highland Brigade at Magersfontein
- The March of the King of Laoise (Still lets me down from time to time...)
- My Home Town
- The Rowan Tree
- South Georgia Whaling Song
- Teribus (the mice currently love this)
Tunes almost there
- Capt Angus L MacDonald
- Leaving Barra (ha, ha, ha)
- Lochanside (remember this? It seems to go well with the Highland Brigade...)
- Over the Cabot Trail
- Troy's Wedding (A and B I have, C is nearly there, D part needs some work)
Tunes I am actively learning
- Alick C McGregor
- The Shetland Fiddler
I'm surprised to see that, checking over the tunes I've recorded, the only tunes on my play list haven't done are Atholl (which I recorded about a million times on the previous blog and lost), Castle Dangerous. Shetland Fiddler and Leaving Barra (which is odd - I could have sworn I had done that one).
I feel I need some more new tunes to learn....
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