Epic fail

Well, a slight exaggeration perhaps. Yesterday was the first day of June and my latest challenge month and I played not one note. We raced out of the house straight after breakfast and didn't get back until bed time. It was a planned day out (to Birmingham, which I can heartily recommend to those who enjoy modern architecture, Victorian architecture, Victorian art, well kept civic spaces, English baroque  churches, railway stations, canals and shopping).

I printed out three tunes to try this morning. The first is fairly standard, just The Bloody Fields of Flanders, which I have been enjoying on Polbain to Oranmore. The other two are somewhat different, being modern tunes for border pipes. I was googling for Flanders, ended up on The Session and noted a comment by a Matt Seattle, who appeared to be a piper...and does indeed turn out to be that same Matt Seattle who gets mentioned in association with William Dixon in Common Stock from time to time. He has has own website and includes some tunes on it. The two I have chosen are Lindisfarne and Pringle Planxty. They are proving problematic, if only because they are, to my ear, very much not Scottish tunes and the things they do are not the things I expect tunes to do. The fan is quite taken with them. I am intrigued by Mr Seattle's bellows strap: it looks as though he has a shoulder strap, which I think is in addition to the body strap.

I've also been thinking about The Barren Rocks of Aden, one of my first tunes, long since abandoned. I've been wondering if it would make a good introduction for Athol Highlanders, also not played for an age.