I've been working on some faster tunes: Troy, which has really fallen by the wayside of late, and Athol Highlanders. I need to find dots to remind myself how the fourth part goes. The first part is OK, third ok-ish. But the second! For some reason I cannot fathom the first ACE is a doddle: it makes nice shapes with my fingers, it's good to play. The second, which comes straight after the first is next to impossible. Nearly every time I play I get it wrong, or just grind to halt. Then following that is the ADF, which is even worse, because I can't get it right even the one time. I've tried speeding up, slowing right down, repeating, repeating, repeating... I should record. At one stage I had more recordings of the Highlanders than anything else, but since I moved blogs and lost tunes I seem to have none at all...
Here's another odd thing. I only played briefly yesterday for headache-removing purposes, and decided to play D only. In D again today, and perhaps because I was going fast and getting things wrong and thrashing out bars rather than playing tunes I felt the need to give myself a treat to finish, so moved to A for a tune.... Actually feeling, just after 2 days of D, that I'm losing comfort with A, although much had to do with my hands being so cold and unable to stretch, and A is my favourite right now.
I'm also being plagued by a mysterious tune. I can hear it very clearly, although only as a plain tune: I can't hear any accompaniment, but I am sure it is a Mr MacInnes tune. I hum it, and after a while it morphs into the Heights of Cassino, which I haven't played or heard for an age. Very odd.
The other reason for the brevity of my playing yesterday was that we were going out to hear a spot of music from Messrs McGoldrick, Doyle and McCusker. No mystery there - just some great tunes and some great musicians and a really good night out.
Ramblings of an easily distracted learner piper
Tuesday 25 February 2014
Sunday 23 February 2014
Three's company
February is nearly over and I'm still playing more days than not, although still not playing as much as I could!
Thinking of my recent revelation that it's only a year since I first put one and one together to make a set I thought I'd see how I could better that. I strung tunes together, not necessarily because I feel they would be good sets, but just because that was the way they came in to my head. So I began with Flett, Bee and Magersfontein, moved on to Trail, Captain and Whaling and thence to Town, Galloway and Farewell. Three lots of threes!
After that I played the King and proved one of my theories that I can think about pretty much anything I like while I am playing and not get distracted, provide it's nothing creative. As soon as I started thinking about a design for a pair of fingerless mitts (my hands were frozen) I lost the plot entirely and had to stop.
No such excuse for Dargai, which I played straight after the Tree and just ran into problems with the B part and had to get the dots out. I also got the dots out to fiddle with gracing in the Novia Scotia tunes. I'd like to say that I was being flummoxed by a GED where you might expect a GDE, but I think it's just too many months of grace note laziness on my part. I'm noticing a lot D graces where a C follows an A and I should work on using that.
Still with the dots I went for Troy. Hands way too cold by this stage, but I played through 3 or 4 times and repeated some troublesome phrases over and over.
Thinking of my recent revelation that it's only a year since I first put one and one together to make a set I thought I'd see how I could better that. I strung tunes together, not necessarily because I feel they would be good sets, but just because that was the way they came in to my head. So I began with Flett, Bee and Magersfontein, moved on to Trail, Captain and Whaling and thence to Town, Galloway and Farewell. Three lots of threes!
After that I played the King and proved one of my theories that I can think about pretty much anything I like while I am playing and not get distracted, provide it's nothing creative. As soon as I started thinking about a design for a pair of fingerless mitts (my hands were frozen) I lost the plot entirely and had to stop.
No such excuse for Dargai, which I played straight after the Tree and just ran into problems with the B part and had to get the dots out. I also got the dots out to fiddle with gracing in the Novia Scotia tunes. I'd like to say that I was being flummoxed by a GED where you might expect a GDE, but I think it's just too many months of grace note laziness on my part. I'm noticing a lot D graces where a C follows an A and I should work on using that.
Still with the dots I went for Troy. Hands way too cold by this stage, but I played through 3 or 4 times and repeated some troublesome phrases over and over.
Friday 21 February 2014
The more I look the more I see...
I have the world's worst memory. The fan can list the names of every child who was in his class at primary school, I struggle to name more than four people who taught me. I do remember my art teacher (name long forgotten) giving me one piece of advice, which was to draw what I saw, not what I thought I saw.
Drawing is about looking, and music is about listening, but somehow it's not until you become a musician that you really understand what it means to listen. It's more than not blocking your ears to sound: it's active, not passive. I think it is also selective. I am sure I listen better to other pipers and to Scottish music than to other musicians, instruments, genres: it's a matter of knowing what I am listening to, what I am looking for, of understanding what I am hearing.
Traditional music, like any other sphere of interest, grows the more you know about it. The more you look the more you see connections and patterns. Acknowledgements lists on sleeves notes that once were apparently full of random names become clearer the more of them I read. Ian Green is the guiding star behind Greentrax that releases many fine CDs of traditional music. My own pipe maker, Ian Kinnear, is mentioned on the sleeve notes for The Carrying Stream. Various people pop up in different places, different bands at different times.
Tunes gather their own listening history. I probably heard The Kathryn Tickell Band CD some years ago. The tunes would have meant nothing to me. I dug it out of the cupboard this evening in a search for something different, and immediately found the same old. The second track opens with Out On the Ocean, which I am sure is one the fan is currently playing (unless I am confusing it with The Rolling Waves). Track 3 is Peacock Followed the Hen, which is one of the alternative names for Brose and Butter, although this is longer and has more parts than Brose, which I know from Tryst and Ossian. Track 6 includes All Night I Lay With Jockey, which I could have sworn was on Tryst or Sealbh, but perhaps I am confusing it with another lowland or border tune... And track 10 opens with a "Highland pipe lament" called Dargai - I'm not sure if it's the Heights thereof, or not: too slow and too much like a Northumbrian tune.
Hearing a tune in different places, played in different ways by different people on different instruments adds to my enjoyment and understanding of the tune, as well as giving me the confidence to play tunes in the way I want to play them.
Drawing is about looking, and music is about listening, but somehow it's not until you become a musician that you really understand what it means to listen. It's more than not blocking your ears to sound: it's active, not passive. I think it is also selective. I am sure I listen better to other pipers and to Scottish music than to other musicians, instruments, genres: it's a matter of knowing what I am listening to, what I am looking for, of understanding what I am hearing.
Traditional music, like any other sphere of interest, grows the more you know about it. The more you look the more you see connections and patterns. Acknowledgements lists on sleeves notes that once were apparently full of random names become clearer the more of them I read. Ian Green is the guiding star behind Greentrax that releases many fine CDs of traditional music. My own pipe maker, Ian Kinnear, is mentioned on the sleeve notes for The Carrying Stream. Various people pop up in different places, different bands at different times.
Tunes gather their own listening history. I probably heard The Kathryn Tickell Band CD some years ago. The tunes would have meant nothing to me. I dug it out of the cupboard this evening in a search for something different, and immediately found the same old. The second track opens with Out On the Ocean, which I am sure is one the fan is currently playing (unless I am confusing it with The Rolling Waves). Track 3 is Peacock Followed the Hen, which is one of the alternative names for Brose and Butter, although this is longer and has more parts than Brose, which I know from Tryst and Ossian. Track 6 includes All Night I Lay With Jockey, which I could have sworn was on Tryst or Sealbh, but perhaps I am confusing it with another lowland or border tune... And track 10 opens with a "Highland pipe lament" called Dargai - I'm not sure if it's the Heights thereof, or not: too slow and too much like a Northumbrian tune.
Hearing a tune in different places, played in different ways by different people on different instruments adds to my enjoyment and understanding of the tune, as well as giving me the confidence to play tunes in the way I want to play them.
Thursday 20 February 2014
The goat and monkey
We went out on the spur of the moment to a local acoustic session, the fan and I. It was lively, and mixed in terms of styles, abilities etc. Alarmingly it was organised in a taking turns round the table sort of way, which meant I had to get organised. I was a little worried about stage fright and a little worried because my drones have been sadly neglected.
Luckily the drones weren't too much of an issue, and the stage fright didn't get past making my hands stiff and shaky. I managed to scrape through the Tree, Home Town, McIntyre's Farewell and Flett. Slight mishap during Flett due to the connector coming out - my own fault entirely for sitting badly. McIntyre I think I missed out an A part, but otherwise not bad for a first outing.
I was supported by the fan and the fiddle player from the band on the first two, but was pretty much on my own for the others. The fan says we must play together so he can work on accompaniments.
Luckily the drones weren't too much of an issue, and the stage fright didn't get past making my hands stiff and shaky. I managed to scrape through the Tree, Home Town, McIntyre's Farewell and Flett. Slight mishap during Flett due to the connector coming out - my own fault entirely for sitting badly. McIntyre I think I missed out an A part, but otherwise not bad for a first outing.
I was supported by the fan and the fiddle player from the band on the first two, but was pretty much on my own for the others. The fan says we must play together so he can work on accompaniments.
Monday 17 February 2014
Mosaic
I wondered today about creating a word picture of my musical year, something like the picture mosaics so popular on craft blogs. But somehow the thought of trawling through 178 blog posts to pick out the highs and lows really doesn't appeal.
I played on D this evening. I played the various tunes and meant to play Bee and was half way through before I realised I was actually playing the Trail. Maybe I have to stop thinking about what I am going to play and just play.
I played on D this evening. I played the various tunes and meant to play Bee and was half way through before I realised I was actually playing the Trail. Maybe I have to stop thinking about what I am going to play and just play.
Wednesday 12 February 2014
A tale of two tunes
I played a bit with D today. I feel as though I am definitely defining some of my tunes as A tunes and thought I'd play something different if I moved to D. I played the Novia Scotia set, Flett, and the Whaling Song. For some reason I struggle with this on A - the opening triple A with its GDE gracing causes me problems. Generally I found myself playing the usual suspects: My Home Town, Loch Bee, McIntyre's Farewell, Atholl Highlanders and Troy. Oddly enough the first time I tried to play the Highlanders my fingers went straight in to Loch Bee. I thought about playing Magersfontein but my fingers never once started it. Having butted in every where over the last few days it seems to have decided to give itself a rest.
I also played the Barren Rocks. I've been humming this at work, at a slow and stately pace, and it's on my favourite pipe tunes CD (not that they are necessarily my favourites: it's just the sort of album it is and I've forgotten the proper title) also played slow and steady. The fan long ago encouraged me to speed up on it and I often found I was playing too fast so the whole thing gets garbled.
Anyway, I was playing it and feeling glad that I've got it by heart again, because it had been rested for so long that I have been using dots to refresh my memory. It occurred to me, as I sat and played on my little stool, feeling relaxed and happy, that the Rocks started life with the Tree but their fortunes have been very different.
The Rocks is, I think, the only tune from the Green Book that I have stuck with. The two tunes formed my very first set, and the first time I played two tunes through without dots was this very pairing.* For that reason, I suppose, I tried them at my first Foresters session. As I remember it I made a complete hash: I was in a state of terror, everything went black and tunnel like, I was struck deaf, I fudged my way through the Tree - I butchered it, to be precise. Then I thought I'd cut my losses and moved on to the Rocks and mangled that horribly.
Thereafter I think I decided it was best to go through one tune and leave it at that. That one tune - the Tree - long ago became my go to tune. It's the one I've played most times, I guess. Apart from the blip the other day it's the one I play most often, with most ease. I play it at pretty much every session I go to.
But the Rocks, they were somehow cast aside, and although they were on early playlists they fell out of favour, until, as I've said, I had to resort to dots to reinstate them. Still hoping to play the Rocks with Murray, and maybe the Dragon. I feel the Rocks' time has come.
(*Just a year ago! Less than a year ago that I was cock-a-hoop about playing two tunes together without dots. How times have changed!!)
I also played the Barren Rocks. I've been humming this at work, at a slow and stately pace, and it's on my favourite pipe tunes CD (not that they are necessarily my favourites: it's just the sort of album it is and I've forgotten the proper title) also played slow and steady. The fan long ago encouraged me to speed up on it and I often found I was playing too fast so the whole thing gets garbled.
Anyway, I was playing it and feeling glad that I've got it by heart again, because it had been rested for so long that I have been using dots to refresh my memory. It occurred to me, as I sat and played on my little stool, feeling relaxed and happy, that the Rocks started life with the Tree but their fortunes have been very different.
The Rocks is, I think, the only tune from the Green Book that I have stuck with. The two tunes formed my very first set, and the first time I played two tunes through without dots was this very pairing.* For that reason, I suppose, I tried them at my first Foresters session. As I remember it I made a complete hash: I was in a state of terror, everything went black and tunnel like, I was struck deaf, I fudged my way through the Tree - I butchered it, to be precise. Then I thought I'd cut my losses and moved on to the Rocks and mangled that horribly.
Thereafter I think I decided it was best to go through one tune and leave it at that. That one tune - the Tree - long ago became my go to tune. It's the one I've played most times, I guess. Apart from the blip the other day it's the one I play most often, with most ease. I play it at pretty much every session I go to.
But the Rocks, they were somehow cast aside, and although they were on early playlists they fell out of favour, until, as I've said, I had to resort to dots to reinstate them. Still hoping to play the Rocks with Murray, and maybe the Dragon. I feel the Rocks' time has come.
(*Just a year ago! Less than a year ago that I was cock-a-hoop about playing two tunes together without dots. How times have changed!!)
Monday 10 February 2014
Starting from here
I noticed an interesting discussion on The Session today. The subject was the length of time it takes to become a reasonably decent musician. The genre is naturally Irish Traditional Music, and the instrument specifically under consideration was the fiddle. The Sessioneers are less caustic than of old, but still enjoy a disagreement wherever possible, so I was quite surprised to see a general consensus that yes, five years is what it takes to get to a decent level in most instruments.
At the risk of causing a riot (a very low risk, considering the miniscule readership of this blog) the 5 years seems really rather fatuous. It's like saying that it takes 3 months to drop two stone in weight, or (more helpfully, considering the thread was titled "road maps for progress") that it takes four hours to get to Dublin. Much depends on where you are starting out from and your method of travel. The weather, your map/sat nav/navigator, the state of the roads/rail/sea, or of your chosen jet plane/donkey/bicycle will all also have an influence on your trip.
And what do we mean by "Dublin" exactly: the airport or the harbour; College Green or Phoenix Park?
I started pipes just over two years ago. I'd never played pipes before, but I have played several other instruments, albeit not to any great level of proficiency. I've played recorders and whistles but never had any experience of bags and bellows. I was familiar with Irish and Scottish traditional music in a general sort of way, but couldn't really tell them apart. I could read music, and had done some picking up of simple tunes by ear, but hadn't committed pieces to memory in any systematic way.
So I just about know where I'm starting from, but I have less idea where I am going to. I'm not sure that I will continue on the same direction of travel. Suppose I find three extra hours a day to play, or suddenly can't play at all for 6 months? Suppose I fall madly in love with Northumbrian pipes or decide to take up a box or a banjo? And even if I say I want to be a good piper, what does that mean? Is it Iain MacInnes or Fred Morrison or Mike Katz?
The two useful points I got from the discussion were firstly that we all hit plateaus on our journey and often feel as though we are going backwards, and, secondly, that we should enjoy the trip.
At the risk of causing a riot (a very low risk, considering the miniscule readership of this blog) the 5 years seems really rather fatuous. It's like saying that it takes 3 months to drop two stone in weight, or (more helpfully, considering the thread was titled "road maps for progress") that it takes four hours to get to Dublin. Much depends on where you are starting out from and your method of travel. The weather, your map/sat nav/navigator, the state of the roads/rail/sea, or of your chosen jet plane/donkey/bicycle will all also have an influence on your trip.
And what do we mean by "Dublin" exactly: the airport or the harbour; College Green or Phoenix Park?
I started pipes just over two years ago. I'd never played pipes before, but I have played several other instruments, albeit not to any great level of proficiency. I've played recorders and whistles but never had any experience of bags and bellows. I was familiar with Irish and Scottish traditional music in a general sort of way, but couldn't really tell them apart. I could read music, and had done some picking up of simple tunes by ear, but hadn't committed pieces to memory in any systematic way.
So I just about know where I'm starting from, but I have less idea where I am going to. I'm not sure that I will continue on the same direction of travel. Suppose I find three extra hours a day to play, or suddenly can't play at all for 6 months? Suppose I fall madly in love with Northumbrian pipes or decide to take up a box or a banjo? And even if I say I want to be a good piper, what does that mean? Is it Iain MacInnes or Fred Morrison or Mike Katz?
The two useful points I got from the discussion were firstly that we all hit plateaus on our journey and often feel as though we are going backwards, and, secondly, that we should enjoy the trip.
Friday 7 February 2014
Any tune you like
I seem only able to play one tune today: Magersfontein. It kept just falling out of my fingers. I had to resort to dots to get to play the Bee, and I couldn't remember the Tree at all. The Tree! the one I can play in my sleep, the one I've been listening to on CD all week - totally and utterly gone, just that blasted Highland Brigade, tramping up and down at Magersfontein.
I've been fiddling about with the Atholl Highlanders again. It's a long time since I played it, but I often seem to be humming it. I've lost the fourth part entirely, and the whole thing is a bit short on gracing, but otherwise OK.
Tune is one I recorded the other day with Home Town: it's the Barren Rocks (which I am slowly knocking in to shape, forcing it to slow down) with the full set of rather clunky gracing. Doubling on F a particular mess.
Check this out on Chirbit
I've been fiddling about with the Atholl Highlanders again. It's a long time since I played it, but I often seem to be humming it. I've lost the fourth part entirely, and the whole thing is a bit short on gracing, but otherwise OK.
Tune is one I recorded the other day with Home Town: it's the Barren Rocks (which I am slowly knocking in to shape, forcing it to slow down) with the full set of rather clunky gracing. Doubling on F a particular mess.
Check this out on Chirbit
Tuesday 4 February 2014
New tunes for old
I recorded this on Sunday - My Home Town. This is now a regular on my play list so there should be improvement since last I recorded this tune.
Sound quality is poor, not helped by lack of drones. I really must get back to drones.
I think the throw on D is cleaner than it was. Still room for improvement. Some of the difference is between D and A. Heavens, the drones are wavery on that earlier recording: really bad. Some phrases are rushed, some are garbled. The whole thing feels a bit rushed.
This new version is more sedate, more relaxed. Some nice gracing in there. Am I playing the B faster than the A? Do I speed up generally as the tune goes on? I think so. Slight change of tone in the last set of repeats. Not sure if the chanter was coming lose at that point. Nice clean finish. Start (not edited at all) not too tatty. It's OK, actually. Not bad for a beginner!
Check this out on Chirbit
Sound quality is poor, not helped by lack of drones. I really must get back to drones.
I think the throw on D is cleaner than it was. Still room for improvement. Some of the difference is between D and A. Heavens, the drones are wavery on that earlier recording: really bad. Some phrases are rushed, some are garbled. The whole thing feels a bit rushed.
This new version is more sedate, more relaxed. Some nice gracing in there. Am I playing the B faster than the A? Do I speed up generally as the tune goes on? I think so. Slight change of tone in the last set of repeats. Not sure if the chanter was coming lose at that point. Nice clean finish. Start (not edited at all) not too tatty. It's OK, actually. Not bad for a beginner!
Check this out on Chirbit
Sunday 2 February 2014
Mitigating circumstances
I've had a productive day today, making a batch of cheese, cutting back the raspberry canes and a good hour's piping, although some of that was wasted fiddling around with the recorder. (I need to get to the fan's PC before I can upload recordings: my netbook isn't keen to speak to the recorder).
It occurred to me that I'm perhaps being a bit hard on myself when it comes to progress and improvements. As I've already mentioned being able to play dotless once meant that I could scrabble through one playing, with gaps and pauses for thinking, now it means pretty much note perfect when I play the tune over and over and over.
My benchmark for a tune well played used to be a handful of tunes I could just about hold together, now it is a handful of tunes that I've been playing regularly for a year or more, that I am relaxed and easy with.
When I learn tunes I am getting fussier about timing, tempo, grace notes. I don't pick a tune and learn it, I pick three, four, five or more and learn them. I spend time going over my new tunes, repeating phrases I'm not happy with, fiddling about with gracing, and then I run through half a dozen tunes that I know well and feel comfortable with, just to enjoy playing some music. I don't play everything in my repertoire because I just don't play for long enough to fit everything in. I suppose I could make an effort with some of the tunes I'm not playing so much, but I expect their time will come.
It's not that I am getting worse; it's just that I have set my sights higher, and have bigger expectations for my myself. I suppose that's how we all learn and improve.
It occurred to me that I'm perhaps being a bit hard on myself when it comes to progress and improvements. As I've already mentioned being able to play dotless once meant that I could scrabble through one playing, with gaps and pauses for thinking, now it means pretty much note perfect when I play the tune over and over and over.
My benchmark for a tune well played used to be a handful of tunes I could just about hold together, now it is a handful of tunes that I've been playing regularly for a year or more, that I am relaxed and easy with.
When I learn tunes I am getting fussier about timing, tempo, grace notes. I don't pick a tune and learn it, I pick three, four, five or more and learn them. I spend time going over my new tunes, repeating phrases I'm not happy with, fiddling about with gracing, and then I run through half a dozen tunes that I know well and feel comfortable with, just to enjoy playing some music. I don't play everything in my repertoire because I just don't play for long enough to fit everything in. I suppose I could make an effort with some of the tunes I'm not playing so much, but I expect their time will come.
It's not that I am getting worse; it's just that I have set my sights higher, and have bigger expectations for my myself. I suppose that's how we all learn and improve.
Saturday 1 February 2014
With all the trimmings
I played today for about an hour and a half. I thought about recording. I need to find out about hemping: the chanter popped out several times as I played. It's for practical stuff like this that I miss having a teacher, more than anything. I got Bee, Magersfontein and Dargai muddled up again. I played the Rocks with every last grace note as written. Actually sounded rather good that way.
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