I was playing this evening, for the first time in days. I played Return to India because I've been humming it a lot, Dargai, Bee, Flett, John Macmillan.
As I played I thought of of how there are some friends we see very rarely, then we meet, and after they have gone we say "what lovely people! What good company they are! I can't believe they've really been here for five hours, is it really almost 1am? We should see them more often!" Somehow, though, what with one thing and another, you know it will be a year or 18 months or more before you finally get round to meeting again.
Hope it's not like that with the monkey, because that is how I was thinking as I was playing: how enjoyable it was, how I should do it more often.
Ramblings of an easily distracted learner piper
Tuesday 26 April 2016
Thursday 21 April 2016
Stock take
I've managed a little piping this evening while the fan has been out. I don't seem to be finding time for it. The worrying thing is that I have no idea what I am doing with my time. The socks I am knitting are taking forever, I seem to have abandoned the jumper I'm working on, and haven't even ordered yarn for a baby shawl, so it's not that. The weather in the evenings is poor so I've not got to the allotment. My mail box is full of mail that I really do mean to get around to replying to...sometime. I seem to have been reading the same novel for the last month. I'm having trouble switching from the Indy to the Grauniad crossword and am giving up in disgust after the first 20 minutes or so. I can't even blame Pinterest as I have weaned myself off it.
I also have a pile of tunes going nowhere fast. I've cleared off my music stand and this is what I have.
1. Tunes that I actually know and I just need to get round to filing the music.
That'll be Heroes of St Valery. I had thought that this or Heroes of Vittoria might make a pair with Magersfontein or maybe Dargai, but they seem to prefer to be a twosome themselves.
2. Tunes that need work
The Hills of Perth. It's all there, just the 3rd and 4th parts keep getting transposed.
3. Tunes that are just ... meh
These are tune that I've played, and played, and probably have (mostly) by heart, and that I love listening to and that I wanted to learn and sometimes hum, but somehow never fancy playing now, so they don't get played and haven't bedded in and will join that long list of tunes that I can in theory play but never actually do.
Arthur Bignold of Lochrosque
John MacColl's Farewell to Argyll Squadron, Scottish Horse
Kilbowie Cottage
Farewell to the Creeks
The Hag at the Churn
And probably Braemar Gathering belongs on this list too
4. Meh tunes that I haven't quite given up on...yet
The Radical Road
Leaving Barra
The Return from India
The Rejected Suitor
5. Tunes I have printed out in a fit of optimism but not looked at
The Birken Tree
Jeannie Carruthers
The Pap of Glencoe
Leaving Glen Urquhart
Major David Manson
Mrs Macdougall
The Banjo Breakdown
The Pipe on the Hob
6. Tunes the presence of which I cannot explain
Well, the likeliest explanation is that the fan printed these for himself.
The Mist Covered Mountains
Janine's
The Easy Club
I maybe need some new tunes. I certainly need to embed my most recent tunes (Heroes of Vittoria and St Valery, Sound of Sleat, Women of the Glen). I need to play more.
I also have a pile of tunes going nowhere fast. I've cleared off my music stand and this is what I have.
1. Tunes that I actually know and I just need to get round to filing the music.
That'll be Heroes of St Valery. I had thought that this or Heroes of Vittoria might make a pair with Magersfontein or maybe Dargai, but they seem to prefer to be a twosome themselves.
2. Tunes that need work
The Hills of Perth. It's all there, just the 3rd and 4th parts keep getting transposed.
3. Tunes that are just ... meh
These are tune that I've played, and played, and probably have (mostly) by heart, and that I love listening to and that I wanted to learn and sometimes hum, but somehow never fancy playing now, so they don't get played and haven't bedded in and will join that long list of tunes that I can in theory play but never actually do.
Arthur Bignold of Lochrosque
John MacColl's Farewell to Argyll Squadron, Scottish Horse
Kilbowie Cottage
Farewell to the Creeks
The Hag at the Churn
And probably Braemar Gathering belongs on this list too
4. Meh tunes that I haven't quite given up on...yet
The Radical Road
Leaving Barra
The Return from India
The Rejected Suitor
5. Tunes I have printed out in a fit of optimism but not looked at
The Birken Tree
Jeannie Carruthers
The Pap of Glencoe
Leaving Glen Urquhart
Major David Manson
Mrs Macdougall
The Banjo Breakdown
The Pipe on the Hob
6. Tunes the presence of which I cannot explain
Well, the likeliest explanation is that the fan printed these for himself.
The Mist Covered Mountains
Janine's
The Easy Club
I maybe need some new tunes. I certainly need to embed my most recent tunes (Heroes of Vittoria and St Valery, Sound of Sleat, Women of the Glen). I need to play more.
Wednesday 13 April 2016
Five novels about musicians
Novels don't tend to cover the world of work much. Somehow the 9 to 5 grind lacks literary possibilities. In children's fiction it is normally the school holidays, and parents are conveniently abroad or dead, allowing children to get on with fun and adventure.
In adult fiction characters are perhaps off work sick, have inherited a lot of money, or do something vaguely creative in a freelance way. Even in police procedurals, where you might expect a dose of realism, the cops rarely sit at a desk answering emails or filling forms for any length of time. Similarly, apart from Sherlock Holmes pottering about with a bit of chemistry, you don't often come across characters in novels with much in the way of hobbies.
Not many novels have musicians as the protagonists, which is odd, as they don't lead the 9 to 5 office life. Perhaps novelists aren't generally musical, or don't know many musicians. Perhaps it's the difficulty of writing meaningfully about music that no one can hear, although I can think of novels about artists that include detailed descriptions of non-existent paintings...
Here are five novels that do involve musicans, two (or possibly three), include folk music, two focus on pianists, two have composers, and there is a fair smattering of fiddlers and violinists. This isn't an exhaustive list. There are no pipers (but there could be if I included a book I meant to reread and meant to write about here: Kirsty Gunn's The Big Music).
The Fountain Overflows - Rebecca West. We get to hear a lot about the super talented Richard Quin, who can't quite be bothered, amd the terribly untalented Cordeila with her "greasy tone". Of the talented twins we are only told that they practice a lot and will be concert pianists one day, but somehow we never really know what it is to love music, to enjoy playing it.
The Song Collector - Natasha Solomons
The protaginist here, Harry Fox-Talbot, is a collector of folk song, musician, and composer. Solomons talks of him losing music when his wife dies, of getting tunes stuck in his head, of the joy and frustrations of music. It makes me feel as though she is either a musician herself or knows musicans well.
Under the Greenwood Tree - Thomas Hardy
The tale of the choir (or quire) of Mellstock village and how their voices, violoncello, treble and tenor fiddles and are ousted from the church by flighty Fancy Day and her harmonium. There is much about the importance of music for dance and community gatherings and about folk song.
Casanova's Chinese Restaurant - Anthony Powell. Despite the series to which this novel belongs being known as A Dance to the Music of Time there are lots of pictorial references in it and not much of music. However, a key character is the composer Hugh Moreland, who drifts in and out of several of the books in this series. He doesn't seem to do much composing and the focus is on his drinking and difficult relationships with women. Moreland was based on Constant Lambert.
A Study in Scarlet - Arthur Conan Doyle. We like our fictional detectives to have some sort of quirk, aside from the usually abysmal home life. Some paint, some grow orchids and some listen to music but there is only one I can think of who plays music - the great Sherlock Holmes. Although, apparently, he doesn't play very well (although what he does play may be folk music).
In adult fiction characters are perhaps off work sick, have inherited a lot of money, or do something vaguely creative in a freelance way. Even in police procedurals, where you might expect a dose of realism, the cops rarely sit at a desk answering emails or filling forms for any length of time. Similarly, apart from Sherlock Holmes pottering about with a bit of chemistry, you don't often come across characters in novels with much in the way of hobbies.
Not many novels have musicians as the protagonists, which is odd, as they don't lead the 9 to 5 office life. Perhaps novelists aren't generally musical, or don't know many musicians. Perhaps it's the difficulty of writing meaningfully about music that no one can hear, although I can think of novels about artists that include detailed descriptions of non-existent paintings...
Here are five novels that do involve musicans, two (or possibly three), include folk music, two focus on pianists, two have composers, and there is a fair smattering of fiddlers and violinists. This isn't an exhaustive list. There are no pipers (but there could be if I included a book I meant to reread and meant to write about here: Kirsty Gunn's The Big Music).
The Fountain Overflows - Rebecca West. We get to hear a lot about the super talented Richard Quin, who can't quite be bothered, amd the terribly untalented Cordeila with her "greasy tone". Of the talented twins we are only told that they practice a lot and will be concert pianists one day, but somehow we never really know what it is to love music, to enjoy playing it.
The Song Collector - Natasha Solomons
The protaginist here, Harry Fox-Talbot, is a collector of folk song, musician, and composer. Solomons talks of him losing music when his wife dies, of getting tunes stuck in his head, of the joy and frustrations of music. It makes me feel as though she is either a musician herself or knows musicans well.
Under the Greenwood Tree - Thomas Hardy
The tale of the choir (or quire) of Mellstock village and how their voices, violoncello, treble and tenor fiddles and are ousted from the church by flighty Fancy Day and her harmonium. There is much about the importance of music for dance and community gatherings and about folk song.
Casanova's Chinese Restaurant - Anthony Powell. Despite the series to which this novel belongs being known as A Dance to the Music of Time there are lots of pictorial references in it and not much of music. However, a key character is the composer Hugh Moreland, who drifts in and out of several of the books in this series. He doesn't seem to do much composing and the focus is on his drinking and difficult relationships with women. Moreland was based on Constant Lambert.
A Study in Scarlet - Arthur Conan Doyle. We like our fictional detectives to have some sort of quirk, aside from the usually abysmal home life. Some paint, some grow orchids and some listen to music but there is only one I can think of who plays music - the great Sherlock Holmes. Although, apparently, he doesn't play very well (although what he does play may be folk music).
Saturday 9 April 2016
Fortune cookie
It's damp and grey, so indoor pursuits are on the agenda for today. I've written letters, done a pile of ironing, wiped round the kitchen, run some washing, cooked lunch...but feel no inclination to pipe.
I'm thinking about Hector the Hero a lot. It was one of my early tunes, not played in years, but the flautist played it at the session on Sunday and it sounded good. I didn't join in, mostly because although I knew the tune was familiar I could't name it, I'm not sure if I actually know it well enough to play, and, my usual problem, that I had no idea if it was being played in "my" key.
I've also been listening to a new CD of Scottish fiddle music, which includes a few pipe sets, one actually with some pipes.
We've been away this week. We ate Chinese one evening. There were fortune cookies. My fortune said "just try your best". It feels like sage advice.
I'm thinking about Hector the Hero a lot. It was one of my early tunes, not played in years, but the flautist played it at the session on Sunday and it sounded good. I didn't join in, mostly because although I knew the tune was familiar I could't name it, I'm not sure if I actually know it well enough to play, and, my usual problem, that I had no idea if it was being played in "my" key.
I've also been listening to a new CD of Scottish fiddle music, which includes a few pipe sets, one actually with some pipes.
We've been away this week. We ate Chinese one evening. There were fortune cookies. My fortune said "just try your best". It feels like sage advice.
Monday 4 April 2016
Playing gooseberry
We had a really good session yesterday. Just five of us, but two who don't come often, so the vibe was quite different. The standard of playing was high and we had a real buzz, with the various musicians bouncing ideas off each other, sharing tunes, playing alternative groupings of tunes. Instead of limping towards, and often of late not reaching, our supposed finish time, we were 20 minutes or more past it before anyone asked what the time was.
It wasn't my best evening. I'm not sure if it was new sessioneers, the pub being buzzier than usual, or the impending storm, but I felt a little nervous and didn't play well. I was also reminded that at a proper Irish (OK, so there were a couple of Scots tunes) session with really good players an amateur smallpiper can really only play a couple of guest spots of an evening. I didn't want to break up the flow of music, so mostly I just sat.
One of the musicians took some pictures for the usual social media platform, which confirms my worry that when I play I look as though I'm about to burst into tears...
It wasn't my best evening. I'm not sure if it was new sessioneers, the pub being buzzier than usual, or the impending storm, but I felt a little nervous and didn't play well. I was also reminded that at a proper Irish (OK, so there were a couple of Scots tunes) session with really good players an amateur smallpiper can really only play a couple of guest spots of an evening. I didn't want to break up the flow of music, so mostly I just sat.
One of the musicians took some pictures for the usual social media platform, which confirms my worry that when I play I look as though I'm about to burst into tears...
Saturday 2 April 2016
Frustrations
A bigger gap than I had intended.... I've played a little, but not much. I've been thinking a bit about classical music, which I've not listened to for years.
Today I've seen (in The Living Tradition) a review of a Scottish fiddle CD involving pipes and pipe tunes. I'd have ordered a copy only AllCeltic don't stock it, and I can't remember my Coda password. While I was at it I was going to buy Polbain to Oranmore, but it seems to be out of print and the only copy I can find is in a shop new to me, which sneakily swapped my request for standard (free) postage and then Paypal crashed out on me. So I've come away empty handed.
It's a bit of a theme today. I had to trudge round three separate garden centres before being able to track down asparagus crowns and seed potatoes, and even there I had to settle for Juliettes as there were no Charlottes.
(Mr Macleod himself sells Polbain, but Paypal isn't playing ball there either...)
Today I've seen (in The Living Tradition) a review of a Scottish fiddle CD involving pipes and pipe tunes. I'd have ordered a copy only AllCeltic don't stock it, and I can't remember my Coda password. While I was at it I was going to buy Polbain to Oranmore, but it seems to be out of print and the only copy I can find is in a shop new to me, which sneakily swapped my request for standard (free) postage and then Paypal crashed out on me. So I've come away empty handed.
It's a bit of a theme today. I had to trudge round three separate garden centres before being able to track down asparagus crowns and seed potatoes, and even there I had to settle for Juliettes as there were no Charlottes.
(Mr Macleod himself sells Polbain, but Paypal isn't playing ball there either...)
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