Hiatus

First posted Aug 6th, 2012 by newpiper

So, another hiatus, this one caused by our trip to Scotland. On the way to Glasgow we stopped off at Edzell to say hi to Ian Kinnear and to see, hear and play his pipes. Well, they look good, and they sound really lovely when he plays them! I also loved playing them. I had a go on a D set, which is strange for all or two minutes, and then fingers get their bearings, and you're off.

The pipes were so comfortable. Morag, as I think I have mentioned, is a bit of a strapping lass, somehow, a bit of an armful. I reach around the bag to hold it. I have to get the bellows strapped on just so. I have to hold the drones until there is enough air in the bag to keep them buoyant, and I can't let off the bag for a second because the pressure drops away very quickly. Ian's pipes - well, the bag is soft and tucks itself close to your body, like a monkey just cuddling in to its mother. The drones somehow rest themselves against your upper chest, like the pipes are laying their head on your shoulder - which also makes it easier to hear them. Even before we tightened the bellows strap the strap didn't chafe and the bellows just sat - they didn't drag. I think they are lighter than my bellows. And the sound - the sound had - oh - a vibrance, a clarity - especially the D - clear and bright - and the top and bottom notes on both chanters very satisfying indeed.

So I went away feeling as though I could still feel those pipes cuddled in to my side, and with pipe music playing in my head. I've been reading a book about pipe music, and in Glasgow there are pipers on the streets, and I heard a rather good border piper at a session in the Oran Mor, so I feel as though I've thought about nothing except pipe music all week. Came home yesterday and immediately got my pipes out and had a go, and thought - heavens, actually I'm not too bad at this.

But I need to really listen to the tunes in my head. To really listen and recognise and think "oh - that tune has that name" or "so that's how that bit goes". I also want to be able to select tunes, as it were, to take control of which tunes wander through my head. I feel as though this is something I need to do to become a musician. I feel that even if I'm not there yet I am identifying the steps I need to take, the road to follow.