Too darn hot

I've played very little this week: a mix of a very busy week at work, and the heat. It's been too hot to do much other than flop about reading crime novels, and any energy I have managed to muster I've used up lugging a watering can about on the allotment.

Still, I've managed two hours, both chanters, still mostly without drones while I peg away at Dragon, Somme, Lochanside and Magersfontein. I've been playing old favourites, too, to stop them slipping away. Struggling a bit with matching opening bars - Rowan Tree keeps turning in to Magersfontein, and Home turns into Lochanside. I've got the A and B of Troy, almost.

More practice needed, of course, but we're going away next week and Morag and the Monkey will stay at home. It's not that long ago that 2 hours of play would have been a good week's play: that's 20 minutes a day for 6 days - but I want to play more, I look forward to playing, I think about playing, and recently, for the first time, I dreamed about playing. I rather miss blogging, too. May need to rethink how often I post, when I get back from my holiday. Hopefully it will be cooler by then....

Troy's Wedding

I've managed 2hrs 45mins playing time this week, plus a stint at the usual session. I'm not going to get much playing in this week because an event at work means I'm getting back late, and very hot and very tired. When I played yesterday I was very tired and was impressed at how many tunes I can practically now play in my sleep.

I've had Morag out this week. She felt more comfortable than the last time I tried, but still needing a lot of air. At one point I got no air out of the chanter at all and when I pulled it out I discovered a piece of fluff lodged in the top of the reed. I've pulled most of it out, but there is a small piece still in there which is dulling the sound.

I also played with my drones at the session. As I've noted before I flap about at home worrying about this, that and the other. In a session I just pick up the pipes and play, and playing with drones was fine, it was comfortable, the drones sounded good. I need to play with them more at home.

My three short tunes still only almost there. Still trying to decide if they work as a set. I listened to Single Track Road Trip for the first time in ages and discovered that they play Magersfontein with Lochanside. I haven't played Lochanside for ages and am not convinced the dots I found are quite what I had before. I keep ending up running in to My Home Town instead, but I don't think that will actually go with Magersfontein.

I'm still struggling to memorise Troy and having very little luck with Fiddler and Alick. The recording is Troy. I played it through really well a few times and then got the recorder out, which was of course where things went haywire.



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Nova Scotia

I've played for an hour today, there is washing on the line, the week's bread is made, dinner is on the hob, the place is reasonably clean, the ironing pile isn't utterly overflowing, and the bear for the person going on maternity leave at the end of this week is all  done bar an arm, so I feel I can spare 10 minutes for some blogging.

Two new books arrived this week, both by Barry Shears. Dance to the Piper I've already dipped in to. It's full of interesting things, not just about piping in Nova Scotia, but about migration and the way of life, too. It's the kind of book that makes you read bits out to anyone who will listen, or say to them "did you know..."

The other is a collection of tunes. I've tried a handful, and they are a challenge, simply because they don't do the things I expect pipe tunes to do. The most obvious example being the start and end notes. These begin on B, high A - all sorts of random notes. I wanted to play Yetts of Muchart, just because it's such a fabulous name (it's a place and looks as though it is more commonly spelled Yetts O' Muckhart), but have ended up going with Capt Angus L MacDonald by PM Fraser Holmes. Capt MacDonald, according to the book (which tells you a tiny bit about each tune) was the last Gaelic speaking Premier of Nova Scotia.

I can't promise any Cape Breton tunes here just yet: I really need to polish off the current crop of new tunes before I move on.

Along for the ride

A blog-free week, in which I should have had lots of spare time in which to do other things. I don't seem to have done anything earth shattering, other than watching Andy's magnificent win. I've also watered the allotment and done a fair amount of playing - just over 4 hours in total this week.

The playing is going very well. I'm finding that I am in good control of the bag, starting and stopping more cleanly. My fingers are light on the chanter. My grace notes sound good. My old tunes are all still playable, the new tunes are coming on well. Dragon, Somme and Magersfontein are almost dotless, the longer ones need more work but are speeding up, which is good. As I've mentioned before I am enjoying the music now. To go back to my favourite analogy of driving I'm passed the stage of staring manically at the road ahead, twitching when I change gear and panicking when I change lanes. I can cruise gently along and enjoy the scenery and the trip.

I must get back to playing with drones. I'm inclined to do a Vicki special and block the fourth drone with blue tac until I get used to them.  I do also need to get much better at switching between chanters. A to E I can do, with only a moment or two to adjust. E to A is really hard. I think that I hold the bag and position the drones differently with the two chanters. I need to take more note next time I get comfortable with A again.

Some tunes. These are the three military ones. I feel they should go together as a set, but I can't decide which order. Both Somme and Magersfontein tag nicely on to the end of the Dragon, although oddly I always want to play the B part of the Somme after the Dragon.

Recording isn't great - I was struggling the day I recorded and though I did endless takes I didn't get one good one. Didn't help that I was on the cusp of moving off dots so had them because I needed them but found them distracting me. My fingers ran away with the Dragon - too fast for accuracy. Also a hideous bit before Somme where I am, I'm afraid, shifting sheet music round on my stand. Timing not great. I can do better - I am doing better  - but I was cross by the time I got to this version of the recording.


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Spending spree

Yes, yes, I realise this wasn't the plan, but I can't be bothered to visit the plot this evening, and I fancied chatting about music. It's my blog - I make the rules, and break them!

I've had a bit of a spending spree of late. Currently listening to one new purchase: Canterach. As hoped it does feature the piping of Mr MacInnes. I was expecting to have to skip through the songs, but actually I've rather enjoyed the first one. There is a bit too much extraneous stuff going on - there's something that sounds a bit new age electric organ behind the strathspeys and reels, and on one track at least there is a <gasp> banjo. But they are good pipe tunes - some old favourites done in new ways and some tunes that are new to me. This CD also has Magersfontein, which will help me learn it. I was humming it as I left work today and fragment came when I tried to play this evening. Oh - and disappointment - it's played on whistle, not pipes!! Ah -no - here we go, pipes towards the end. Bliss.

I've also got The Royal Pipers' Society Recital, which has lots of new (to me) tunes, plus some old favourites, and tunes I know but have never heard on pipes. It has Flett with Waterloo. I thought I'd try that combination earlier, but just as at one stage my repertoire all began throw on D  half of it now starts with a triple A, and I was half way through the Whaling Song before I realised I'd got the wrong tune....

I've also ordered a book of Cape Breton pipe tunes. I've had to order direct from the publisher, who has answered my emails in person and been really helpful. Book has history as well as tunes. I found another Barry Shears title with another online book retailer, which I normally try to avoid in favour of Hive, which is small booksellers, but I had a gift token so... Hoping that will be here next week.

Looking ahead

I had a quick check for Magersfontein. As I thought it was a battle during the Boer War  and the cheerful, upbeat tune commemorates the brigade that suffered the heaviest losses. The phantom piper who can be heard playing “mournful notes” at the battle field must be playing some other tune. Presumably these endless upbeat tunes attached to terrible events celebrate the life and bravery of the troops rather than their deaths. I’m learning rather a lot about British military history as I go through these tunes names. A far cry from my usual fields of interest.

I do need to move my new tunes to dotlessness. I think with Troy, Alick and the Fiddler I should probably break them up into sections and learn a bit at a time. I know I just about had the A part of Troy a while back, and occasionally I get bits of the B part of the Fiddler, which is most unusual – its normally the A part that comes first. I must be nearly there with Somme and Dragon and perhaps not far off already with Magersfontein. I just need to try them really: I've been sticking to dots ever since I started these.

My plan now is to try to record more often, and to cut back on blogging to make time for piping. Perhaps I'll aim to post once a week with a tune. I'd like to try keep track of hours of play, too. I'm not intending to do this forever: maybe to 100 hours, that seems like a nice goal. Somehow  I feel as though I've passed a milestone this month. I'm celebrating by not playing at all this evening!