New shoes

New pipes are like new shoes. You wear your comfortable old shoes to the shoe shop. You try on tightly snug new shoes. They feel very odd indeed, but you know eventually they will be comfortable. You buy your new shoes, and slip your old dependables back on, but they suddenly feel odd, too: loose and sloppy and not at all right.

I tried the Monkey yesterday, without drones and doing lots of practice at keeping the bag going and not touching the bellows. I can get the whole of the A part of the Rocks out in this way. Then it all felt too much so I swapped to Morag, hoping to feel that old comfort that comes from familiarity, and she felt very strange indeed. The oddest thing is that the Monkey, other than his slim and elegant drones, actually feels bigger and heavier than Morag. Bellows felt loose, straps felt loose, and there's no way I could get the Rocks played without more air from the bellows. I quickly gave up. I feel as though I now have two sets of pipes to get to know, and today I've decided to stick to household chores and knitting instead.