Morag's Revenge

First posted Aug 24th, 2012 by newpiper

Yesterday was hopeless, in practical terms. Musically not too bad – I remembered a reasonable amount by heart. But the connector kept popping out, the tubing came adrift from the connector, the straps felt wrong. It was a short and bad-tempered session. I think Morag’s sulking over the putative new pipes (still not ordered because I still want keyless and the fan urges keys and I am paralysed by indecision).

This evening working on Banks of Allen, and not doing too badly dotless, but the drones sound bad, and that middle drone is really weak and wavery. I've closed it off in desperation, but I’m so used to the three that two sound odd and that distracts me. Also suffering from a tense thumb on the right hand this evening. I've played. I've twice been interrupted by the phone. Recorded towards the end of playing (and considering the fan is out with the band tonight I've not played for long – an hour at most including phone calls). I’m tired, perhaps, and struggling with remembering the tune and with putting fingers on the holes, mostly because my hands are now tensing up. I recorded some versions with the middle drone only, and you really can barely hear – once I kick in another drone I get a big sound. Surely it’s not right? But heavens – I still sound like a total numpty beginner. Feels like a long journey, and uphill all the way.