I have noticed that some people, having failed in part to do something, then go ahead and sabotage the rest of it. Like being ravenously hungry on a diet, eating a biscuit, deciding your diet is thereby ruined, and therefore having the rest of the packet, some cake, and three large glasses of wine.
I thought about this yesterday. On Monday I played, the first time in ages, it seems. I thought about playing daily. Then yesterday I skipped down to the plot for 15 minutes and came back...well...quite a lot more than 15 minutes later, and only just in time to cook dinner hurriedly, and with no time at all to pipe. So I blew (no pun intended) my attempt to play daily on day two...and for half a second I nearly threw the towel in. Then I thought that with the plot season being upon us perhaps three times a week would be more realistic.
The fan was late home this evening, so I played for a while before he got in. He mentioned that we'd not played together for a while, which is mostly down to his work commitments. We agreed to play this evening. It was a brief half hour, but fun. It reminded me that I shouldn't give up on drones...and that makes me think I should bite the bullet and get the A chanter out.
Each time I play I work steadily through Father John, Troy and Braemar. Still trying to improve speed. Still having problems with getting really comfortable with bellows. Still feel as though I am getting nowhere, like my aubergine, pepper and tomato seedlings which I swear haven't grown one millimetre for at least a month. If I was feeling rash I'd throw them all on the compost and rush out and buy plants instead...
Ramblings of an easily distracted learner piper
Wednesday 29 April 2015
Thursday 23 April 2015
Cheshire cat
Things come and go. Sometimes I feel like playing, sometimes not. The lure of the plot is getting stronger as the evenings lengthen, and I have an ever increasing list of things I'd like to knit or sew.
I listen over and over to John Macmillan in the car. Sometimes I can hear him, hum him, sometimes not. Generally hearing coincides with being at work, not hearing with being at home. So I struggle on with dots. The first and second parts are there, and part three is coming.
Braemar Gathering is better if I stop fussing about gracing. Sometimes they appear, othertimes not.
I listen to Sealbh. Some things in life are constant.
I listen over and over to John Macmillan in the car. Sometimes I can hear him, hum him, sometimes not. Generally hearing coincides with being at work, not hearing with being at home. So I struggle on with dots. The first and second parts are there, and part three is coming.
Braemar Gathering is better if I stop fussing about gracing. Sometimes they appear, othertimes not.
I listen to Sealbh. Some things in life are constant.
Thursday 16 April 2015
Concentrate
I feel as though too many tunes have been hanging around my music stand for too long. There seem to be too many that I'm just having a go at now and then, and despite the previously mentioned issued about my perceived need to get tunes far more polished before I consider them to be officially tunes I know and can take to a session, I just don't seem to be getting anywhere with some of them. So I've had a bit of a cull, as follows.
Seaforth Highlanders. One book, way too many tunes. There are those I keep vaguely trying to learn, but fail to play with any regularity (Blue Bonnets, Captain Grant, Fingal's Weeping, Portree Men). There are those I worked on at one stage, which have never quite clicked but which somehow I can never quite drop (Murray's Welcome, Dragon). I can get rid of all of these by putting the book back on the shelf.
The Gathering of the Clans I'm not really playing anything from, but it's on the music stand and causing a distraction. It also gets returned to the shelf.
Donald MacLennan's Tuning Phrase. I like this. The fan does not, which has put me off, so I got so far and then...
The Curlew. No idea why this is on the stand. The fan says it isn't his. Tried once or twice, not impressed.
Dick Gossip's. I think this may be one the fan tried to press on me....
Drops of Brandy. Actually, I do know this, but it's not fast enough. It's also not as nice as Mr MacInnes' version on Tryst...
South Georgia Whaling Song. I used to play this at sessions until it got fatally confused with one of the nova scotia tunes and I needed dots to bring it back. Sorted now, although snaps need consistency and it needs to lilt and roll and be more measured. But I don't need dots.
Horsburgh Castle. Despite being the tune I hum most it lacks something in the playing. I do really know it, other than a minor hesitation over the removed bar.
Troy's Wedding. Surely the longest standing incumbent of the music stand. Sometimes I play it inte sively, then I give it a break before going back to it. Cannot consistently get the 3rd and 4th parts everytime. I'm not giving up on this one.
The Braemar Gathering. I know this really, it just needs one last push so I am going to be working on this one.
John Macmillan. Still needs work on parts 3 and 4, but getting there.
Alick C Macgregor. Probably in the "bitten off more than I can chew" category. I refuse to give in. It's better than it was and I learn more if I stretch myself, but I will put it to one side for now.
So that really means just working on John and Braemar. Hopefully if I focus on just those two I will be able to move them on and make space for something else on my music stand.
Seaforth Highlanders. One book, way too many tunes. There are those I keep vaguely trying to learn, but fail to play with any regularity (Blue Bonnets, Captain Grant, Fingal's Weeping, Portree Men). There are those I worked on at one stage, which have never quite clicked but which somehow I can never quite drop (Murray's Welcome, Dragon). I can get rid of all of these by putting the book back on the shelf.
The Gathering of the Clans I'm not really playing anything from, but it's on the music stand and causing a distraction. It also gets returned to the shelf.
Donald MacLennan's Tuning Phrase. I like this. The fan does not, which has put me off, so I got so far and then...
The Curlew. No idea why this is on the stand. The fan says it isn't his. Tried once or twice, not impressed.
Dick Gossip's. I think this may be one the fan tried to press on me....
Drops of Brandy. Actually, I do know this, but it's not fast enough. It's also not as nice as Mr MacInnes' version on Tryst...
South Georgia Whaling Song. I used to play this at sessions until it got fatally confused with one of the nova scotia tunes and I needed dots to bring it back. Sorted now, although snaps need consistency and it needs to lilt and roll and be more measured. But I don't need dots.
Horsburgh Castle. Despite being the tune I hum most it lacks something in the playing. I do really know it, other than a minor hesitation over the removed bar.
Troy's Wedding. Surely the longest standing incumbent of the music stand. Sometimes I play it inte sively, then I give it a break before going back to it. Cannot consistently get the 3rd and 4th parts everytime. I'm not giving up on this one.
The Braemar Gathering. I know this really, it just needs one last push so I am going to be working on this one.
John Macmillan. Still needs work on parts 3 and 4, but getting there.
Alick C Macgregor. Probably in the "bitten off more than I can chew" category. I refuse to give in. It's better than it was and I learn more if I stretch myself, but I will put it to one side for now.
So that really means just working on John and Braemar. Hopefully if I focus on just those two I will be able to move them on and make space for something else on my music stand.
Monday 13 April 2015
Omission
It doesn't matter how long or short any break I get from work might be, or how much I cram in to it, towards the end of it I will sit and list to myself all the very many things I meant to do and just didn't squeeze in.
This last break was two whole weeks. We did lots. We visited relatives, lunched with friends, and with just the two of us. I swept out the shed, weeded the lavender bed, planted potatoes, sowed seeds. I did a pile of household chores. I read four or five books. I did some knitting, I finally got round to a sewing project that I half abandoned well over a year ago.
The list of things I didn't get round to is probably twice this length, and for every book I read I have three still untouched, for evey load of washing I did there is a pile of ironing, for every email sent a letter unwritten...
Before the break one of the things I had definitely planned to do was some piping and some recording. As it happens I just sat at that musical crossroads. I played, twice, very briefly, for relatives. The fan and I played together once, putting together a putative set for this semi-mythical first gig, and another day I ran through the set on my own. But mostly, nothing.
Sometimes when I don't play I have a little panic. Suppose I've stopped piping? Suppose I'll never be in the mood again? Suppose the whole thing was a fad, a stage I've grown out of? Presumably the fact that I panic means it isn't so... I played tonight, because I had been humming tunes all day, and because I needed a de-stress and because, crossroads or not, I just wanted to. So I did. And I loved it, of course I did. It's just what I do, who I am.
This last break was two whole weeks. We did lots. We visited relatives, lunched with friends, and with just the two of us. I swept out the shed, weeded the lavender bed, planted potatoes, sowed seeds. I did a pile of household chores. I read four or five books. I did some knitting, I finally got round to a sewing project that I half abandoned well over a year ago.
The list of things I didn't get round to is probably twice this length, and for every book I read I have three still untouched, for evey load of washing I did there is a pile of ironing, for every email sent a letter unwritten...
Before the break one of the things I had definitely planned to do was some piping and some recording. As it happens I just sat at that musical crossroads. I played, twice, very briefly, for relatives. The fan and I played together once, putting together a putative set for this semi-mythical first gig, and another day I ran through the set on my own. But mostly, nothing.
Sometimes when I don't play I have a little panic. Suppose I've stopped piping? Suppose I'll never be in the mood again? Suppose the whole thing was a fad, a stage I've grown out of? Presumably the fact that I panic means it isn't so... I played tonight, because I had been humming tunes all day, and because I needed a de-stress and because, crossroads or not, I just wanted to. So I did. And I loved it, of course I did. It's just what I do, who I am.
Monday 6 April 2015
Looking back
I though it might be useful, while I'm sat at the crossroads, to remind myself how I got here and where I've come from.
In the first place, it's helpful to remember that it's only four and a half years since I bought a chanter in Edinburgh. It was actually part of a practice set - a "goose": two metal drones, a plasticy bag and basic chanter. My first set of pipes, Morag, I didn't buy until November 2011, and I haven't had my little monkey quite two years yet. So all in all I've been playing pipes for three and a half years.
During that time I've learned to play tunes from memory, and to play not just one, but two, three or even more back to back. I've even started playing short sets at sessions. I seem to have forgotten a lot of tunes, although to be fair I may still be able to play them, I just don't try much, having others I prefer.
I can play for a decent period of time without feeling in need of a little lie down. I sometimes have problems holding the pipes comfortably, but generally I don't pump more air than I need, twitch, hunch, snatch at the bellows or give myself neck ache. I also rarely now find that my fingers are tight on the chanter.
I've played at sessions pretty much from the outset, although it was never really my intention. It turns out that I rather enjoy it. Playing at sessions I have developed stage fright...and eventually got over it (just about) again. It's also at sessions that I have learned to play with other people, and not get distracted by them and to fudge my way through when I momentarily forget the tune.
So on the whole I've moved forward. I'm not moving as fast as I'd like, and as a consequence I'm not as far down the road as I wanted, but I'm on the road.
In the first place, it's helpful to remember that it's only four and a half years since I bought a chanter in Edinburgh. It was actually part of a practice set - a "goose": two metal drones, a plasticy bag and basic chanter. My first set of pipes, Morag, I didn't buy until November 2011, and I haven't had my little monkey quite two years yet. So all in all I've been playing pipes for three and a half years.
During that time I've learned to play tunes from memory, and to play not just one, but two, three or even more back to back. I've even started playing short sets at sessions. I seem to have forgotten a lot of tunes, although to be fair I may still be able to play them, I just don't try much, having others I prefer.
I can play for a decent period of time without feeling in need of a little lie down. I sometimes have problems holding the pipes comfortably, but generally I don't pump more air than I need, twitch, hunch, snatch at the bellows or give myself neck ache. I also rarely now find that my fingers are tight on the chanter.
I've played at sessions pretty much from the outset, although it was never really my intention. It turns out that I rather enjoy it. Playing at sessions I have developed stage fright...and eventually got over it (just about) again. It's also at sessions that I have learned to play with other people, and not get distracted by them and to fudge my way through when I momentarily forget the tune.
So on the whole I've moved forward. I'm not moving as fast as I'd like, and as a consequence I'm not as far down the road as I wanted, but I'm on the road.
Sunday 5 April 2015
Five places to die in Scotland
I initially planned a post called "five writers/novels who/that evoke Scotland". I had in mind something literary and well written. I would start with The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie...and then I got stuck. But it did occur to me that Ian Rankin's crime novels give you a chance to visit Edinburgh in imagination - even to follow Rebus around the city on a map. Then I remembered a couple of other crime series with Scottish settings, and tracked down a few more.
These books don't give you the Scottish tourist board view of the country, but they all give you a feel for the different cities and regions, including local dialect and delicacies. Despite showing the underbelly they all make me want to pack a bag and head North.
Ian Rankin. The Rebus novels - 19 of them in total. Set largely in Edinburgh and the Kingdom of Fife many of the places, down to the bars, are real and can be visited by the devotee. Expect views from the Forth bridge, bars, tenements, prisons and pints of 80/-.
Unlike Ian Rankin Anne Cleeves isn't actually from Scotland, and doesn't even live there. Her Shetland Quartet has crofting, incomers, tightly knit communities and island life.
Aline Templeton grew up on the east of Scotland, but sets her D I Marjory Fleming novels in Galloway. Market towns, Glaswegian second-homers, lifeboats and lighthouses, and the reality of farming life give these books their flavour.
Denise Mina sets her Garnethill trilogy in Glasgow, the city where she lives. It's a city of Celtic shirts, views of the Campsie hills, burgers, bridies and hospitals.
Stuart MacBride also sets his novels in his home town, the Granite City, aka Aberdeen. D S Logan McRae eats stovies, drinks Irn Bru, everyone either chain smokes or lives on sweets, and it only stops raining when it snows.
These books don't give you the Scottish tourist board view of the country, but they all give you a feel for the different cities and regions, including local dialect and delicacies. Despite showing the underbelly they all make me want to pack a bag and head North.
Ian Rankin. The Rebus novels - 19 of them in total. Set largely in Edinburgh and the Kingdom of Fife many of the places, down to the bars, are real and can be visited by the devotee. Expect views from the Forth bridge, bars, tenements, prisons and pints of 80/-.
Unlike Ian Rankin Anne Cleeves isn't actually from Scotland, and doesn't even live there. Her Shetland Quartet has crofting, incomers, tightly knit communities and island life.
Aline Templeton grew up on the east of Scotland, but sets her D I Marjory Fleming novels in Galloway. Market towns, Glaswegian second-homers, lifeboats and lighthouses, and the reality of farming life give these books their flavour.
Denise Mina sets her Garnethill trilogy in Glasgow, the city where she lives. It's a city of Celtic shirts, views of the Campsie hills, burgers, bridies and hospitals.
Stuart MacBride also sets his novels in his home town, the Granite City, aka Aberdeen. D S Logan McRae eats stovies, drinks Irn Bru, everyone either chain smokes or lives on sweets, and it only stops raining when it snows.
Saturday 4 April 2015
Crossroads
I've not being playing much of late. Work has been difficult, and then we've been away. Perhaps I needed a break from it after a period when I've played pretty much every day.
I've vaguely been feeling that in a way I've got as far as I can go, that I've hit a plateau, or a comfort zone. Hopefully it's not a brick wall. Hopefully it's actually more of a crossroads. I can play in an OK sort of a way that people can apparently enjoy listening to. I can play in a way that I enjoy, and know enough tunes to keep playing for around an hour, without having to repeat myself. I still enjoy learning new tunes: not just the point of having learned, having acquired a new tune, but the actual breaking a tune into pieces, putting it back again, playing bits over and over. I know enough tunes that I can play three or four times at a session and not have to play the same tunes each time.
So I feel I've arrived at a point that we might call "good enough". My playing is OK, it sounds nice, people are happy to listen, I'm happy to play. I could stop here, maybe sometimes learn more tunes, do my thing at sessions, play to amuse myself at home. This could be as far as I get on my piping journey, and I come across various folk at sessions who seem to have just got to a stage where they are never going to set the world alight, but they are happy with what they do, and it's enough.
I could stop here...but I don't want to. I want to keep on getting better, I want to move on to the next stage, but I am not sure what the next stage looks like or how I get there. I have wondered about finding a teacher, especially to help get me back to holding the bellows in a way that is comfortable. I feel I need some more solid goals and someone to help get me there. The fan suggests that this is the stage to move on to performance in some small way. He thinks we could make a duo, although he has a potential third in mind. I'm not even sure how you go about asking somone if they'd like to play with you, out of sessions, but perhaps only to work on sets for sessions. How do you even go about choosing someone to ask?
For now I suppose I just sit here, at the crossroads, and play my pipes, and hope that eventually the way will become clear, I will be able to get up and carry on my journey.
I've vaguely been feeling that in a way I've got as far as I can go, that I've hit a plateau, or a comfort zone. Hopefully it's not a brick wall. Hopefully it's actually more of a crossroads. I can play in an OK sort of a way that people can apparently enjoy listening to. I can play in a way that I enjoy, and know enough tunes to keep playing for around an hour, without having to repeat myself. I still enjoy learning new tunes: not just the point of having learned, having acquired a new tune, but the actual breaking a tune into pieces, putting it back again, playing bits over and over. I know enough tunes that I can play three or four times at a session and not have to play the same tunes each time.
So I feel I've arrived at a point that we might call "good enough". My playing is OK, it sounds nice, people are happy to listen, I'm happy to play. I could stop here, maybe sometimes learn more tunes, do my thing at sessions, play to amuse myself at home. This could be as far as I get on my piping journey, and I come across various folk at sessions who seem to have just got to a stage where they are never going to set the world alight, but they are happy with what they do, and it's enough.
I could stop here...but I don't want to. I want to keep on getting better, I want to move on to the next stage, but I am not sure what the next stage looks like or how I get there. I have wondered about finding a teacher, especially to help get me back to holding the bellows in a way that is comfortable. I feel I need some more solid goals and someone to help get me there. The fan suggests that this is the stage to move on to performance in some small way. He thinks we could make a duo, although he has a potential third in mind. I'm not even sure how you go about asking somone if they'd like to play with you, out of sessions, but perhaps only to work on sets for sessions. How do you even go about choosing someone to ask?
For now I suppose I just sit here, at the crossroads, and play my pipes, and hope that eventually the way will become clear, I will be able to get up and carry on my journey.
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