This tune is by Vicki Swan - it's Dusty Pipes from her tutor book. The title is apt as I do seem to be out of practice. Like playing the chanter the pipes are quite physical and muscles that take weeks to build take days to get flabby again. I managed to play for 45 minutes pretty much non-stop today, but I am pumping too much instead of relying on pressure on the bag - pumping is easier to do - and I think that's why the sound is so uneven.
Anyway, this is from Lesson 4 in Vicki's tutor book and it's a lesson about timing. My fan asked if I had been singing with my playing (the awfulness of my singing is legendary) but I had just been calling out the timings to myself. Timing not too bad on this. I waver when I am not sure what's coming next, or need to ward off a grace note, or accidentally play grace note. I feel like one of those pesky learner drivers who slows time every time they see another car, or a tree, or a road sign...
Grace notes do keep just popping out - I suppose it's ingrained from the chanter. However, the tunes at this stage in the tutor are grace-note free and I want to play them as they are written. I do like the simplicity of smallpipes with limited ornamentation, although I'm listening to Iain McInnes a lot at the moment and he uses quite a lot of ornamentation, and I am really enjoying his sound.
More lessons about recording. The best take will be the one where you didn't actually hit the record button. Second and third best takes are the ones where the connector hose pops out mid tune.
Recording: dusty pipes - retrieved, to be added
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