Blaming the tools

The fan is out this evening: he's playing rather than drinking, not being a real ale fan. I'm mucking about here on my pipes. Feeling that I'm getting OK at tuning my drones. I can hear when they are wrong and am starting to have a better hit rate at getting them right again.

Playing about with the Battle of Waterloo this evening. It's OK. Much of it by heart. Pretty pleased with the speed. The Green Book, well, the third volume, which I bought and have barely glanced at, gives bpm for tunes. I seem to recall that 140 is a number that crops up from time to time, so when the fan was trying the metronome app out yesterday and worked out I was playing one tune at 118bpm I felt as though I was finally getting some speed up.

I need to think about some pipe maintenance: those collapsing drones sound awful and it's very distracting when they go mid-tune. I have hemp, I just need to use it. Maybe when I have the Monkey I can send Morag back to Simon for some maintenance. Watching me play yesterday Vicki commented that she thought there was a lot of air going through my pipes and maybe I (or Morag) had a leak. She also talked about being ready for a better instrument, and how there are things one can do on a better instrument that aren't possible on a less good one. It's a shame, in a way, that beginners start out with the cheap stuff - in all sorts of fields - because often the best quality materials are easier to work with and give a better result. The most basic square knitted with a gorgeous hand-dyed merino is always going to look a million times nicer than a square of acrylic, although admittedly a plain DK acrylic will be easier to handle than angora, or a lace weight yarn. What I am trying to avoid, though, is this feeling that any lack of quality in my playing is down to Morag and not me. Morag may hinder where the Monkey will (hopefully) help, but it's a bad workwoman who blames her tools...

Anyway, back to the Battle. I played better this evening, but managed not to capture those efforts on the recorder, of course. I've even managed my favourite trick of discovering I've not hit record and have therefore not captured the version I thought I had, then I did a better version and got an error message form the recorder ...

Lots of errors in this one, and I'm using dots. Partly trying not to distract myself by checking the recorder for more messages, and partly massive drone collapse in the middle, after which everything sounds foul, but I wasn't going to get a semi-decent run through get away just because of that.

I vary from the dots to play the tune how the fan does it, and that mismatch catches me out. Still managing GDG instead of GDE on the triple As - in fact sometimes I think it's only GD or even just a solitary G. Presumably I should have a squillion other graces in there, but... Timing: bad: too many places where I stumble at speed through a bar and muck it up. Oh, and while I'm throwing a bucket of criticism at it, I seem to have no idea how to stop this tune. Speed is OK thought, isn't it?


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Pick 'n' Mix

We've got a wintry version of April showers today, with glorious sun following dark clouds and snow on what feels like a minute by minute basis. I'm feeling much the same about my playing.

Yesterday we had an invitation to go and play some tunes. It's always fun to do something spur of the moment and it was a small group of people we mostly know so I didn't mind getting Morag out. The Tree was fine, Home Town I fluffed the same bar in the B part over and over. Eagle's Whistle, the King, Galloway and Teribus just totally fell apart.

The Whistle and the King were on my mind because Peter Puma Hedlund himself was there! I managed not to do embarrassing gushy fan stuff at him, but it was very exciting. He's a fantastic musician, as well as being a very nice chap. I think having him there caused the nerves that meant I couldn't play those tunes. The last two tunes I fluffed because it was after midnight and my brain had gone to sleep some time before: I am not a late night person. Whatever the reason I rather felt that I had disgraced myself and that the people I was playing with probably thought I hadn't improved one jot since the last time I played with them.

On the plus side I realised when I was playing that my hands weren't shaking. Whether this was to do with being in a smaller crowd, or whether my stage fright is starting to go away I don't know. I also managed to tumble headlong out of the zone during the third playing of Home: I accidentally caught someone's eye and at that moment realised I had no idea at all what I was doing; it really was like being suddenly woken and having that "where am I?" moment.

I've played through all my tunes, with dots, today, keen to get them back into my head. The fan has been trying to help my timing with a metronome app, but the tick, tick, tick makes me feel anxious: it's like skipping and standing endlessly by that blasted rope as it turns, knowing that you have to jump in at just the right moment, and only ever managing to spot the moment at which you've just missed your chance. I worked more on foot tapping and the fan said it was noticeable. But mostly I am feeling as though I've made negligible progress over the 18 months since I've had my pipes.

Digging the dots out I discovered that on one set I had added up how many days it would be from ordering my pipes at the end of August to collection. At the time it was 215. I've now got a date to collect my monkey - just 12 days away.

Not long now!

Mr Kinnear says that the Monkey - my Monkey - is very nearly ready and I can go up at the end of the Easter holidays. The end of the Easter holidays! Easter never felt so much like Christmas - and it's not just the weather.

Patting my head...

Actually tapping my foot, but when piping it's like patting your head and rubbing your tummy. For a long time I couldn't move my feet while piping at all. In the last few days I've managed to get my right leg to do fast jigging up and down, but it's nervous movement more than beating time. Today I've managed to slow it down a bit, if I start tapping first, but the tapping is fairly independent of the playing.

Yesterday the fan and I worked on Home and the Tree, then I got him to help me with The Battle of Waterloo. As often happens his version wasn't the same as my dots,causing some confusion. I also pulled out my CD of pipes tunes that includes the Tree and he had to concede that it's the tune and not me making it hard to keep time throughout. We finished with him talking me through the first few bars of Cam Ye O'er Frae France. I've managed to recall it today, but only on the chanter.

He's out today and I ought to be managing a lot of playing, but it's cold: we have snow. Morag seems to be feeling the cold, and I certainly am - my fingers aren't nimble enough. I've played a few tunes, but it's hard work and I'm going back to my knitting and pile of books on the sofa.

Playlist again

It's a while since I updated this.

Tunes I can play without dots

• The Atholl Highlanders (not touched this in an age and ought to refresh it)
• Banks of Allen (getting a decent speed up, ought to play it more often)
• Bonnie Galloway
• The Barren Rocks of Aden (fast - accuracy needs to improve a lot)
• Castle Dangerous (too slow, no grace notes)
• Eagle's Whistle (B part still needs a little work)
• Flett from Flotta (three times round, no problem, but lacks gracenotes)
• The March of the King of Laoise
• My Home Town
• The Rowan Tree (my old faithful)
• Teribus

Tunes I am actively learning

• Heights of Cassino
• Troy's Wedding

Other stuff I want to learn/sort of started to learn/printed dots out for/am playing around with

• Alick C McGregor
• Battle of Waterloo
• The Boy's Lament for his Dragon
• Delvinside
• Leaving Barra
• The Thornton

That's three more on the top list since January. Still a long way to go until I know the "thousands" of tunes the fan says I ought to manage. At the rate I am going that's several lifetime's work...

Good vibrations

Yesterday when I played I complained that my drones were TOO LOUD. The fan says it's a matter of atmospherics. Well, despite it being spring it's bitterly cold here today, with snow forecast. I guess for Scottish pipes it's weather to make you feel at home, and maybe that's why Morag sounds (to my ear) fantastic this evening. I'm droneless, because I'm working on new tunes, but the chanter is really resonating, with a rich, full sound.

The very new tunes I'm just playing with are two I've been enjoying on the Seudan CD: Alick C McGregor and John Morrison of Assynt House. Alick is doable: I can play the A part (slowly) in a recognisable form. Interesting how the pipe dots differ from the plain dots. John is another kettle of fish. Too many of those damned AAAs that need GDEs and need to be fast. I can't play anything that sounds even vaguely like. Think I'll be ditching this, but I may play around with Alick, see what happens.

Other than that I ran through Tree. I played a bit on Sunday with the fan and he pointed out that some bits of the tune didn't fit the rhythm  On closer inspection I've missed some notes, or merged and shortened some. I think I've fixed that now. Also worked on timings for the King (faster where I am confident and love the particular note combinations) and Home (thinking pauses that had become permanently lengthened notes).

Also on today's playlist Flett (quite pleased with that), Teribus, Troy (A part almost by heart, but see comments above re AAA and GDE), Barren Rocks. (Speaking of playlists, I should update mine).

Recording is Heights. With dots - I've not played it for a bit and having trouble remembering it. I wanted to check timing as the fan keeps saying there's something wrong with it. I suspect the pipe version would be slightly different. Not happy with the four Es in a row, and the three As aren't great either, especially the first time round. It does need work, definitely. No improvement on the last time, either. OK - maybe this version is a tiny bit tidier. Maybe.


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Concentrate

Trying to record today. Recording going well, in that I'm not suffering from red-button-itis as much as I did - the level of mistakes and idiocy is about the same whether I hit record or not. This is surely good.

Technically things aren't going too badly. No particular problems with drones or bellows or fingers. More accuracy would be nice, my drones aren't 100% properly tuned, and, as with most things I play, I could do with throwing in some nice gracing. Pace is OK, and I think I've got the rolling gait that the tune aims at. I'm also improving on the tidiness of my starting and stopping, although sticking my hand out to flick the recorder never helps. As I think I've mentioned previously I'm getting better at readjusting, passing the mistake and moving on, instead of stopping in a heap.

My problem today has been with concentration. As often happens I'd got the recorder plugged into my laptop for power, so in between playing I was checking the news headlines, blogs I read, my email, ordering some contact lens solution, thinking about this blog...and those things and a sudden heavy squall of rain hitting the windows kept distracting me. The upshot is that I didn't capture a single perfect run through.

An aside on drones - the fan is meanly saying that he will only adjust my drones if I tell him what the problem is. My feeling is that I can't because I can't hear them individually, only en masse. However, in between looking at the size of the gaps, and guesswork, I seem to be having a reasonable guess most times, and I can always tell when the adjustment works and everything sounds good. Still having days when the drones sound awful but the fan assures me they are pretty much in tune.



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Headache 0, Pipes 1

I know that playing a very loud instrument doesn't spring to mind as the obvious cure for a headache, but when it's a tension (read bad-day-at-work) headache it actually works wonders. And I nailed the B part of Flett, mostly because when I looked at it the second half was the same as the second half of the A part, so there were only a few bars to learn.

I keep checking my emails, waiting to hear from Mr Kinnear when the monkey will be ready....

Over and over

I ignored Monday's note to self and cooked and piped again today. The problem is that if I pipe before I cook I've got an eye on the clock always so can't relax, and dinner ends up being late. After cooking it's time to eat, and then time to sit in peace for bit, and then it's too late because I'm tired. Trying to pipe and cook I get too hot, forget key ingredients, and generally muck up the timing. I think dinner is in one piece this evening, just delayed by a good 20 minutes.

However, let's talk music. I was humming Flett this morning, but then lost it and wasn't sure I could play it this evening. I managed it. Not right first time, and not right every time, and still only the A part, but I've just played it over and over, correcting myself as I went along, not once referring to dots. It felt good. I threw in Home Town and Rowan Tree for a bit of light relief, but just kept on and on. B part next.

All of the above

I was listening to Tryst yesterday evening and vaguely thinking that it was lovely, but that what I do isn’t sounding the same. I’m not sure why that is. It might be because I never lie back with some knitting and listen to myself. By definition if I’m listening to my pipes it’s because I’m playing them (unless I listen to recordings here, which I do with a mixture of great alertness trying to spot all the mistakes, and a cringing away because it sounds so bad I can’t bear to listen). Tryst is professionally recorded in a studio. I record mostly in the sitting room with a small hand held recorder: There is no mixing, dubbing, fading, balancing or any other wizardry applied. I’m also playing alone – I have no whistle players, fiddle players, Laud players, harpists or others to bolster the sound, except on those few recordings that include the fan. Perhaps it’s repertoire (although we have some overlap many of Ian’s tunes are beyond my abilities) and perhaps it’s a lack of grace notes. I suppose it will also be that his pipes and mine are different: he often plays in D and I believe his pipes are by Hamish Moore, I play in A on Hope Pipes (until my Monkey comes).

I suppose it could just be that Mr MacInnes is a damn fine piper with years of experience and I’m just a beginner.

 

Or all of the above.

Floating towards Flotta

Note to self - do not attempt to cook and play at the same time. It really doesn't work....

Trying Flett from Flotta today. It's been kicking round a while now, but I don't often play it. I was going to try other tunes as well, but then got really determined to play it through without dots, so I've played over and over - trying without, playing with, trying without again. Got there eventually - and I've got the recording to prove it! Except it is only the A part, and as soon as I got it right it was time for the Archers, so I stopped. Hope I can play it again.

Two recordings. One is me fiddling around between memory and dots. Can you spot which is which? The other, shorter, is me playing without dots.

The fiddling about version


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The finished version



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And there's more

It's grey, damp and not very light: welcome to the English spring. I've spent a lot of time on a sofa with some books thinking about playing... But the fan's gone out, which tends to make time drag, so I finally crawled off the sofa and managed almost an hour's practice. I should go back to playing every day - it wasn't such a hardship.

Anyway - I seem to have been humming The Battle of Waterloo for much of the day, so I dug out some dots and gave it a whirl. When the tune's already in your head you can play (bits) very quickly without dots. Flett also creeping towards a dotless state. Heights ... well, let's just say there's a bit of a landslip going on there today. Galloway, Banks and Home Town, and the King, of course.

Oh - I played without drones because I couldn't get them in tune. I must learn to do this without the fan, but it's playing a note and fiddling with drones at the same time that isn't easy. Odd how I used to think it easier to pay without drones or with only one or two going. Now I find it difficult to restrict bellows action to feed the chanter alone, and sometimes a drone peg will pop out under pressure (normally the middle drone, which is the one that wavers and whinges most).

(Eek - just realised I used this blog post title only a few days back.)

Long live the King

I almost called this post "best yet" or "Morag's triumph". We went out to a session yesterday and I wasn't quite sure about playing. It took a while for us to find a seat and I was angled into a corner and a little worried about my sister who had come along to listen but got seated elsewhere. But she soon got chatting to someone and I got chatting to a couple of the other musicians, so when I was asked to play I went for it.

I decided to live dangerously and go with the King. As I suspected they might a handful of people joined in. I managed twice through, with mistakes - some quite clunky big mistakes - but I managed to keep going each time and pick up the tune again. My birls were poor, just because my hands were shaking so much I couldn't make a clean G.

When I'd done the fiddler (who is in the band) pronounced it my "best yet" and the applause seemed quite enthusiastic. The fan says my extra practice has paid off. I suppose if I normally only play two or three times a week then I actually got a couple of month's worth of usual practice into February. Or maybe I've just moved up into the next stage of beginnerdom now that I've been playing almost 18 months, or I'm just losing my stage fright, or maybe it was sheer fluke.

I played once more. I tried humming tunes to myself and couldn't reliably hum the one I wanted to play, so I stuck with the Rowan Tree, because it's so reliable and just falls out of my fingers somehow. I played twice through and ended with a long note so people could tell I was stopping.

I do definitely feel that I could - and should  do better. But secretly I'm just a tiny bit pleased.

Ready made

Here is the last of the recordings I made last week. It's the King again. Like the others from the same day I speed up where I am feeling confident, but generally the tempo is even, I think. Some mistakes. A version from February (not so bad, but more mistakes than this versions) and January (slow, and lacking that marching gait, that swing, not to mention that considering I had dots it's not even that accurate) to compare with.

Today I've been working on the Heights, Troy (both still need work on the GDE on the triple As), Flett and Banks (which just gets worse and worse - it's the very simple gracing that throws me for some reason - its only G all through and I keep missing half of them). Also played the King and the Tree. I love the Tree: I feel I could almost drift off to sleep playing it, it's so soothing.

I've also been listening to Enlightenment again - in the car this time, with enough distractions that I can mentally block out the accompanying keyboards and focus on the pipes. I've enjoyed it more this time round. In style he reminds more of Vicki Swan than Iain MacInnes. I'm not sure if that't the repertoire or the arrangements or something else.

Morag has an outing without me tomorrow. She's going to school to help some children find out about traditional music. They'll be looking at her rather than listening to her. Hope she'll be OK.


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One I made earlier

This is another of those recorded a day or two ago. It's Teribus, which I really want to have on the back of Bonnie Galloway. I was listening to it so I could record its faults...but I can't actually hear too many. Tempo varies - I pick up speed where I'm feeling most confident. The D throws are clunky. I can't actually hear those grips that don't make it all the way down to G and only get to A. It's OK, actually, not bad. (And I've just listened to the version with Galloway and actually, although it lacks accuracy, it's in some ways a better version than this.)

By means of comparison here is a version from January (which doesn't seem that much slower, but perhaps less fluent, D throws less clunky, struggling to get through the tune more - this isn't so much better, maybe). And a much slower and more hesitant version (with dots) from November.

I didn't play Teribus today - Flett, Heights, Banks, Whistle, Tree, King, oh, and Troy's Wedding.


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Cheating

I went up to London yesterday. I went out humming the Heights and came back humming Cheek to Cheek. I didn't play at all...

Today I've been working on the heights again. I've noticed that my supposed GDE on the A's is actually GDG. I think G is just more natural - I play it a lot more often. So I've had to stop and watch my fingers and play it over and over. I know that on Teribus for the grips where I should be dropping right down to G I'm somehow only making it as far as A. Work needed there.

Also played the Rocks and the Banks and the King and tried to go round twice or more, not stopping when I made mistakes, but just going round and round. I think accuracy on the Rocks is improving, if I slow it down a little, but the Banks still needs work.

Towards the end I thought I'd just try a bit of Heights without dots and discovered that actually the first three parts I can pretty nearly do, which was a nice surprise. Then I found myself humming something familiar, wondering what it was, picking it out on the pipes...and realising I was playing Troy's Wedding.

The cheat is in the recording because I didn't record today and so this is one of the batch from Friday. Seemed a shame to waste them. It's the Barren Rocks of Aden, on their own. Also recorded 21st Feb with Bonnie Galloway when Galloway was OK although the tempo seems to vary a bit, and the Rocks are too fast for me to play comfortably - I almost immediately slow down and need to find my way, then I slur and elide notes and the tempo is shot. Also recorded on 29th December where I started very slow, speeded right up, slowed down, speeded up... Patchy indeed.

As to this version. More even tempo, but it still comes and goes a bit. Do you hear the awful wavery drones. Mistakes aplenty. Better? Actually - go back to this version (don't ask how long ago) and the improvement is big, isn't it?



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And there's more

I suppose I could have had a break from piping today, but I didn't want to. I even braved the blasted recorder and out of another batch of ten got an amount of growling, but no rude words. I just played round with a few tunes. I'm realising I have enough in my repertoire to play regularly for reasonable amounts of time and still have tunes that I haven't played for an age so I can ring the changes if I ever do get bored. Still working on timing for the Heights, reasonably pleased with it. None of it seems to be seeping in to my brain:  totally tied to dots.

Actually I salvaged four reasonable recordings today and I'm going for the Heights. It needs a lot of work but I have to keep remembering this blog is about me improving, which means posting the bad as well as the good. I was pretty sure I had posted it once before, but apparently not. In fact, looking over the blog for previous recordings I realised how rarely I've recorded and how many times I've recorded the same old tunes.

Over dinner the fan and I discussed, among other things, forms of meditation. I mentioned the feeling I get at the plot of being totally relaxed and engaged and the fan asked if I didn't feel that when when I played my pipes. Actually I don't because playing is still quite hard work and there's lots to think abut. But with the Whistle and the King I can see how it might be - I shut my eyes and just imagine the music and play the music and listen to the music and I'm almost in that space...


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