Vintage Pipes

First posted Jun 10th, 2012 by newpiper

Well, I've been out to see some "real" pipes today - pipes bands at Scotland in Colchester. The marching and the tartan and the drums are all very exciting, but I am glad to be playing smallpipes instead. I don't really want to be marching and having other people choose my tunes and my gracenotes for me. Still, I did come back inspired to play Green Hills and also to look for dots for Castle Dangerous.

We've been visiting family and friends and Morag and I have been on display, showing what we can do. To order, with an audience, the answer is not a lot at all. I struggled horribly with those blasted Highlanders. I did offer several people a go, which is rather alarming as drones collapse and one managed to come out altogether. Luckily Morag is quite robust, and if it doesn't inspire people to play at least they will now know what Scottish Smallpipes are.

The really great thing about handing Morag over to someone else is to see them struggle. This isn't quite as mean as it sounds. They asked how to hold the chanter, whether there was a thumb hole, how the straps go, whether they needed to keep pumping. Some confidently got three or four notes out before running out of air, most only managed to get sound from the drones, and anyone giving it more than a cursory go declared themselves exhausted after a minute or two. But that was me - just six months ago. I had to keep wondering how to hold it and where to put things, and then tired out before I'd begun. Now I can play tunes that are recognisable, and I can keep going over a period of time. I could still spend the rest of this evening and most of the coming week listing my faults and the things I can't do, but I have improved. I'm not a total newbie any more. I'm a beginner piper.

Two tunes today - both by Vicki - Vintage Puget and Dusty Pipes. I think they go nicely together. Too much pumping means wavery drones, and I'm a little hesitant in parts. I managed to chuck in some strikes as variation on the endless G grace, which was good.

Recording: Dusty Pipes and Vintage Puget. Status - lost.