Piping traditions

I've just finished reading Bridget Mackenzie's Piping Traditions of the Outer Isles of the West Coast of Scotland. This is a really informative book, covering the history of piping, but also touching on the way of life in the islands over the years, migration, island folklore and some military history.

There are some stories of Lewis pipers sitting drones over their right shoulders, or playing with their right hands on the top of the chanter. There are anecdotes aplenty on the various uses and abuses of alcohol in relation to pipes (I don't think I'll be pouring any wee drams into my pipe bag, thanks all the same!) There is also quite a lot of information about the different piping styles and how the full range has dwindled over the years in favour of a more regimented approach where there is considered to be a right and a wrong way to play a tune. Some of that seems to be related to the reach and influence a single teacher can have, although it seems some teachers actively encouraged pipers to interpret the music in their own way. It's one to dip in and out of, peppered with anecdotes, never dry or dull.

Unfortunately her reluctance to even name currently competing pipers means that it really stops in the back end of the last century. I suppose that stated reluctance should also have alerted me to the fact that when she says "piping" she means GHB, competition piping, pipe bands and the army. There is no mention of the cauld wind revival, piping for dancing is only mentioned in passing, and pipers in folk bands not at all.

There is also no discussion about why girls were not taught to play while their brothers were, although only one judge is noted as actively saying he disliked women playing pipes. One or two clearly did learn alongside brothers but abandoned playing, perhaps as family duties overtook them. She doesn't say when pipe bands started to accept women pipers, whether there was ever an absolute prohibition on them joining or whether it was just custom and practice. Perhaps there are women  players whom she has overlooked simply because they are not competition pipers.

Still, these are minor quibbles about an interesting book and a good read.