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.)
Ramblings of an easily distracted learner piper
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