First posted Sep 20th, 2012 by newpiper
Yesterday was hideous. Tunes wouldn't come, drones
sounded vile, and I was really struggling with pressure and bellows. I seem to
be keeping a steady amount in the bag and relying on somehow crashing down on
the bellows and forcing air right through to the chanter and drones. Although
both arms hurt, so that can’t be quite the whole story. Certainly the connector is flipping out, which suggests too much movement – and sometimes it’s whole
upper-body movement when I hunch, twitch and sway. Not good at all.
Today is better. I’m still feeling uncomfortable
with the pressure levels. I wonder if the drop in temperature is affecting
Morag. Still, the tunes are coming today – notes in the right places, and I’m
playing tunes through twice without too much trouble. Looser fingers, also: they've been tense of late. Not that they are helping with those clunky D
throws...
The same old tunes today. You’d think I’d be sick
to death of them by now – I certainly expected to never want to play them again
the amount time it’s taking me to memorise them. But actually I love them: they
are really great tunes and I am so glad to be able to play them, and I’m
starting to feel that I know them well enough that they feel like old friends.
Recording is My Home Town. The usual
red-button-itis, a few wrong notes, and once I hit the wrong note which sent me
straight into the b part instead of the second A. At the end, thinking to
decelerate slightly in order to come to a graceful and dignified halt, I held a
grace note as well as an actual note. Doh! Oh, and two drones only as the third
sounds foul and there’s no fan here to adjust. I really need to learn to tune them
for myself.
Recording - despite the the text I never actually uploaded a tune with this post.
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