Am I getting better yet? I do wish I knew. When I started teaching myself the chanter I had the College of Piping Green Book and this chap. I knew I was getting better because every now and then I would feel that I had got the hang of a tune and its grace notes and I’d move on to the next chapter. Grace notes did get better, I am sure, because having learnt one in one chapter it was invariably repeated in other chapters, other tunes.
But did I get better at the tunes themselves? Once I had them I repeated them briefly at the start of each “lesson” and tunes that initially seemed very hard later seemed easy. But I didn’t spend time making those tunes sound better – more tuneful, better timed.
Some of those who listen have kindly said that Lochanside is my best effort yet. I think it’s awful. I muff notes, I play the wrong notes, I merge one note into another, I miss grace notes I intended to play, I fluff grace notes. But my fan says I have a good steady tone, my timing is better, and it sounds more like music.
Music is one of those things that’s difficult to measure. I can see that I’ve come a way since the days when half the first measure of Scots Wha Hae left me with my head between my knees gasping for air, but am I better this week than I was last week, or the week before? What does "better" mean, anyway? Is Fred Morrison a better piper than Allan MacDonald, or Iain MacInnes better than Calum MacCrimmon? I’ve gone more seriously to Vicki’s smallpipe tutor in the hope I can feel that I am at least making progress through another book.
P.S. Wot no sound clip? The fan has gone out to a session and apparently taken the recorder with him. The 8-track is here beside me, but having fiddled with it I've come to the conclusion that's life too short...
P.P.S. I've spent the best part of two hours playing this evening - not nonstop, obviously, but nevertheless that represents pretty much my longest session, and I'm not exhausted. Progress of a sort.
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