Things don't always turn out as you expect. I couldn't muster the enthusiasm to play on Saturday, day 7 of the pop-up. But that was fine, because Sunday was the session and I knew I'd be playing then. Except I didn't - I felt under the weather and the fan went out leaving me to mope on the sofa.
Of course, unexpected changes of plan aren't always bad.
Ramblings of an easily distracted learner piper
Showing posts with label plans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label plans. Show all posts
Monday, 7 November 2016
Thursday, 3 November 2016
Ghost in the machine
Of course, having decided that the buzz is simply the result of a certain level of pressure I played around with bag, bellows and elbows in the hope of finding that perfect point. I could't find it.
Not only could I not find it, I suffered from the opposite of the buzz - a thing so awful that it has no name. It feels as though everything is flat - not musically flat, but dampened and dulled like a grey day or a really drab shade of brown. The sound seems to lack any vibrancy, is almost muffled, and the chanter feels lifeless in my hands. After a while things improved, but whether that was to do with the reed warming up, my fingers warming up (it has turned cold here rather suddenly), or a change in pressure I don't know.
Something else I thought I understood the workings of is my musical memory. It only takes me a handful of play throughs to pick up a simple two parter. That may be generally true, but it doesn't work for Isles, which I play over and round and the moment I stop I can neither hear, see, nor hum a single bar.
I've been playing Flanders slowly and plainly with only the necessary graces (I think, although other may creep in if my fingers feel so inclined) but listening to the rather more ornate, and rather wistfully lovely, version of Mr Macleod I'm wondering if that needs to change.
Not only could I not find it, I suffered from the opposite of the buzz - a thing so awful that it has no name. It feels as though everything is flat - not musically flat, but dampened and dulled like a grey day or a really drab shade of brown. The sound seems to lack any vibrancy, is almost muffled, and the chanter feels lifeless in my hands. After a while things improved, but whether that was to do with the reed warming up, my fingers warming up (it has turned cold here rather suddenly), or a change in pressure I don't know.
Something else I thought I understood the workings of is my musical memory. It only takes me a handful of play throughs to pick up a simple two parter. That may be generally true, but it doesn't work for Isles, which I play over and round and the moment I stop I can neither hear, see, nor hum a single bar.
I've been playing Flanders slowly and plainly with only the necessary graces (I think, although other may creep in if my fingers feel so inclined) but listening to the rather more ornate, and rather wistfully lovely, version of Mr Macleod I'm wondering if that needs to change.
Sunday, 30 October 2016
Pop-up piping practice
I've been thinking about getting back to playing, and playing regularly. We've just been away for a week, so of course I've played nothing at all until this evening. It went well today. I played for over an hour, everything was reasonably comfortable, I had good, even pressure in the bag, my fingers wre reasonable nimble. I played tunes I know and mostly had few problems with them. I ran through a pile of tunes, mostly sight reading things I have heard, things I used to play and never nail down, and The Road to the Isles (aka The Bens of Jura, among other aliases), just because it was there in the book and the fan had mentioned it recently.
You'd think that, considering how well everything went, I would have got the buzz, but there was no sign of it.
But it's the session (again!) at the weekend, and I need to get back into practice, and somehow a whole month is too much to commit to for daily playing. So my plan is that I do a pop-up practice and play every day for week from time to time, and hopefully least monthly, with the sessions there to remind me.
You'd think that, considering how well everything went, I would have got the buzz, but there was no sign of it.
But it's the session (again!) at the weekend, and I need to get back into practice, and somehow a whole month is too much to commit to for daily playing. So my plan is that I do a pop-up practice and play every day for week from time to time, and hopefully least monthly, with the sessions there to remind me.
Friday, 3 June 2016
Character building
The new tunes are The Bloody Fields of Flanders, Pringle Planxty and potentially Lindisfarne. I am saying potentially because the style being so new to me I am afraid that the two Matt Seattle tunes will clump together in my head amd become entangled if I attempt to learn them both at once. I think I was humming one earlier, but am also aware that the opening of one of them is stirring vague memories of a baroque tune, possibly one from recorder playing days, and maybe that is what I was humming.
The refurbishment is needed for Aden and Atholl Highlanders. I know them, I've played them, I've never got them up to session standard, they need some work, and I am pretty sure they will make a good set.
Then those that need polish. Father John I feel is getting rusty, so a bit of repetiton there won't go amiss. Both Perth and St Valery keep getting their B and D parts switched and confused, so they need work. I'm also wondering if the driving rhythm of Perth might make an interesting change if stuck on the end of Flanders.
The others in need of polish are Women of the Glen and The Sound of Sleat. I like Sleat. It seems to me to be, if you get the timing right, rather evocative of a boat on water, of the bubbling and sucking that water does around an obstacle.
Which brings me to the title of this post. I think I have stopped thinking about notes and parts and repeats and fingering, i.e. the nuts and bolts and mechanics of tunes. I think I am now thinking, as I hum, and as I play, of the character of the tune - of its bounce or lilt or sway, and where I think of individual phrases I am thinking of the sad bit, the upbeat bit, the joyful bit. I think that if this awareness of character comes out in my playing I will be a better piper and will also be on my way to developing my own musical voice.
Thursday, 2 June 2016
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.
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.
Monday, 30 May 2016
Hello stranger
I've gone for morning playing again today. I'm slightly wary because I don't want playing to be one of the chores I have to get out of the way before I start on things I'd really like to do. The weather being a Bank Holiday special - grey, dull and cool - I've got nothing much planned other than more knitting and snuggling up with an Angela Thirkell.
I started off with a sudden urge to play in A, so dusted off the long neglected chanter. From the very first note I loved it: it's such a rich sound. The chanter felt huge, and it took an amount of adjusting hand position and stretching to achieve a half decent low G. I played through Perth, Women and Sleat. The wobbly G meant that the third part of Sleat was a mess, but otherwise it went surprisingly well. It did feel as though I needed a lot more effort on the bellows, and as if the whole instrument had doubled in size, so I gave up after those three but must go back to it again, maybe returning to my old plan of starting with A then switching after a couple of tunes.
After that I dug out music books and discovered that tunes I thought I had forgotten (Battle of the Somme, Green Hills of Tyrol, Over the Cabot, Trail Captn Angus L MacDonald, Compliments to Roy A Chisholm, Donald Dhu) are all actually still in the back of my mind somewhere.
I discovered Jacky Latin in one of the Willie Ross books. I also found that I do actually know several tunes that I had abandoned, feeling I'd never learn them. I found different versions of them (Return to India in Barry Shear's book and The Rejected Suitor in the Ross) and struggled to play them because the versions I already know kept trying to push their way in. Right at the end I played Dargai and Bee suddenly appeared, minus its new grace notes...
I gave up after over an hour, feeling like my arms might fall off. For my playing next month I might try to resurrect some of the pile of tunes that fell by the way (Farewell to the Creeks, Blue Bonnets I also played today). I'm half inclined to buy one of the music books on my list. The one thing that is still certainly a stranger to my play list is the strathspey: not a single one can I play. I feel that's a serious omission.
I started off with a sudden urge to play in A, so dusted off the long neglected chanter. From the very first note I loved it: it's such a rich sound. The chanter felt huge, and it took an amount of adjusting hand position and stretching to achieve a half decent low G. I played through Perth, Women and Sleat. The wobbly G meant that the third part of Sleat was a mess, but otherwise it went surprisingly well. It did feel as though I needed a lot more effort on the bellows, and as if the whole instrument had doubled in size, so I gave up after those three but must go back to it again, maybe returning to my old plan of starting with A then switching after a couple of tunes.
After that I dug out music books and discovered that tunes I thought I had forgotten (Battle of the Somme, Green Hills of Tyrol, Over the Cabot, Trail Captn Angus L MacDonald, Compliments to Roy A Chisholm, Donald Dhu) are all actually still in the back of my mind somewhere.
I discovered Jacky Latin in one of the Willie Ross books. I also found that I do actually know several tunes that I had abandoned, feeling I'd never learn them. I found different versions of them (Return to India in Barry Shear's book and The Rejected Suitor in the Ross) and struggled to play them because the versions I already know kept trying to push their way in. Right at the end I played Dargai and Bee suddenly appeared, minus its new grace notes...
I gave up after over an hour, feeling like my arms might fall off. For my playing next month I might try to resurrect some of the pile of tunes that fell by the way (Farewell to the Creeks, Blue Bonnets I also played today). I'm half inclined to buy one of the music books on my list. The one thing that is still certainly a stranger to my play list is the strathspey: not a single one can I play. I feel that's a serious omission.
Wednesday, 11 May 2016
Doh!
I used to play The Heights of Dargai with The Shores of Loch Bee. More recently I've been playing Bee with Flett from Flotta, a pairing which I borrowed from Skippinish (although they have a third tune in the middle).
This has left Dargai as a singleton tune. This evening it finally occured to me that if Dargai goes with Bee and Bee goes with Flett, then surely Dargai could pair with the two of them? Actually, as experience tells me, just because various pairings work it doesn't mean that a three will do as well. Good job I don't listen to experience over much: this turns out to be a good set of three.
I have half an eye on next month which should be a challenge month. I need to find some new tunes...
This has left Dargai as a singleton tune. This evening it finally occured to me that if Dargai goes with Bee and Bee goes with Flett, then surely Dargai could pair with the two of them? Actually, as experience tells me, just because various pairings work it doesn't mean that a three will do as well. Good job I don't listen to experience over much: this turns out to be a good set of three.
I have half an eye on next month which should be a challenge month. I need to find some new tunes...
Monday, 21 December 2015
Jock's
I'm gearing myself up for another challenge month, probably January, although there are changes at work and while I've no idea what the impact will be I am hoping it will leave me some time and energy for the important things in life.
Where there is a challenge there needs to be new tunes. It helps to have new tunes to give variety to daily playing, and daily playing is the best way to learn new tunes. Much as I regret the trail of abandoned tunes (Kilbowie Cottage has died a death....) I seem to leave in my wake it seems to work best if I try a handful of new tunes, so that I find at least one I can stick with.
I dug out A Jock Tamson's Bairns earlier this week - the double CD that combines their eponymous album with The Lasses Fashion - and was instantly reminded what a good band they were, and what great tunes they selected. Thanks to the wonderful Ceol Sean site I have dots for Hills of Perth, Peter Mackinnon of Skeabost (which I also know from the playing of Iain MacInnes), The Skyeman's Jig and Arthur Bignold Esq of Lochresque.
I tried out Perth and Peter yesterday. Peter is going to take some work, Perth, which I am sure in the past I have failed to find and then failed to play, came on quite nicely yesterday, first and second parts, at least. It has one of those tricky drops to low G - well, the drop isn't difficult, it's getting up again cleanly and in a dignified manner that's the real challenge. In the end I was defeated by kinks in the tubing. It's definitely time to shave a bit off and try a shorter piece for size.
I wanted to throw Mrs MacDougall into the mix, but ended up with too much choice: Ceol Sean offers a Mrs MacDougall and a Mrs McDougall, a reel, a march by D McDougall and another by Archibald Campbell. The notes, which are the weakest point of this otherwise excellent CD are no help, and as I can't tell what the tune will sound like from the dots I need to potentially print out and try 8 tunes, or pass. I think I'll be passing...
Where there is a challenge there needs to be new tunes. It helps to have new tunes to give variety to daily playing, and daily playing is the best way to learn new tunes. Much as I regret the trail of abandoned tunes (Kilbowie Cottage has died a death....) I seem to leave in my wake it seems to work best if I try a handful of new tunes, so that I find at least one I can stick with.
I dug out A Jock Tamson's Bairns earlier this week - the double CD that combines their eponymous album with The Lasses Fashion - and was instantly reminded what a good band they were, and what great tunes they selected. Thanks to the wonderful Ceol Sean site I have dots for Hills of Perth, Peter Mackinnon of Skeabost (which I also know from the playing of Iain MacInnes), The Skyeman's Jig and Arthur Bignold Esq of Lochresque.
I tried out Perth and Peter yesterday. Peter is going to take some work, Perth, which I am sure in the past I have failed to find and then failed to play, came on quite nicely yesterday, first and second parts, at least. It has one of those tricky drops to low G - well, the drop isn't difficult, it's getting up again cleanly and in a dignified manner that's the real challenge. In the end I was defeated by kinks in the tubing. It's definitely time to shave a bit off and try a shorter piece for size.
I wanted to throw Mrs MacDougall into the mix, but ended up with too much choice: Ceol Sean offers a Mrs MacDougall and a Mrs McDougall, a reel, a march by D McDougall and another by Archibald Campbell. The notes, which are the weakest point of this otherwise excellent CD are no help, and as I can't tell what the tune will sound like from the dots I need to potentially print out and try 8 tunes, or pass. I think I'll be passing...
Tuesday, 3 November 2015
Gimme five
I wasn't really intending to play, but got hit by the urge as I slid dinner into the oven. Women, Sleat, Heroes, Braemar and Troy. Heroes and Braemar I hoped would make a pairing, but they won't. Did a little work on that A, D grace, C movement in Braemar that I had and have since lost, but otherwise just straight play throughs. I need to keep up with Troy: it has a terrible tendency to fall apart very quickly. Today I couldn't get the third part to behave.
I really should pick another new tune, although I am also attempted to go back over one of the (very many) previously tried and abandoned tunes, in the hope that for some of them their time has come. Some I didn't like as much in the playing as in the hearing, but some fell by the wayside due to my lack of competence, especially when it came to speed, and it's those that I can perhaps resurrect.
I really should pick another new tune, although I am also attempted to go back over one of the (very many) previously tried and abandoned tunes, in the hope that for some of them their time has come. Some I didn't like as much in the playing as in the hearing, but some fell by the wayside due to my lack of competence, especially when it came to speed, and it's those that I can perhaps resurrect.
Wednesday, 30 September 2015
The scores on the doors
Here we are at the end of another month. It's never as difficult as I think to find time to play every day, although it isn't easy, simply because I find it hard to play soon after I've eaten, which means I have a small patch where I can play between arriving home from work and sitting down to dinner.
I suppose the other hurdle is a feeling that I want to enjoy my hobbies, not make a chore of them. I don't ever knit or read or try the crossword because I feel I ought, only ever because the fancy takes me. But I very nearly always enjoy my piping once I start, and the month does still make a difference. I did wonder whether it still would, just because a month every day when you've only played for 2 years is a chunk of one's piping life, whereas a month is much smaller fraction of 5 years.
So, what have I achieved? I think my biggest milestone is getting 4-parters comfortably by heart, including some I've been playing around with for way too long, namely Braemar and Troy I've improved Father John and made it into another set, potentially with 2 other tunes. I've learned two tunes from scratch: Sleat and Heroes.
As ever, there are things I planned on doing and didn't. Neither Dragon nor Teribus got played much. Brandy has fizzled out, despite my working out a variation - a milestone in itself. Ocean is good, learned from the fan, not from dots - another milestone - but only the A part. Miss G sometimes rocks - goes as fast as my fingers can fly, provided I don't stop to think - and sometimes is miserably bad. More work needed. Not sure that the Highlanders have progressed much.
I'm looking forward to a break, even if only for a day or two, then I need to work on the tunes, keep polishing, and maybe pick one new one to work on. The journey continues.
I suppose the other hurdle is a feeling that I want to enjoy my hobbies, not make a chore of them. I don't ever knit or read or try the crossword because I feel I ought, only ever because the fancy takes me. But I very nearly always enjoy my piping once I start, and the month does still make a difference. I did wonder whether it still would, just because a month every day when you've only played for 2 years is a chunk of one's piping life, whereas a month is much smaller fraction of 5 years.
So, what have I achieved? I think my biggest milestone is getting 4-parters comfortably by heart, including some I've been playing around with for way too long, namely Braemar and Troy I've improved Father John and made it into another set, potentially with 2 other tunes. I've learned two tunes from scratch: Sleat and Heroes.
As ever, there are things I planned on doing and didn't. Neither Dragon nor Teribus got played much. Brandy has fizzled out, despite my working out a variation - a milestone in itself. Ocean is good, learned from the fan, not from dots - another milestone - but only the A part. Miss G sometimes rocks - goes as fast as my fingers can fly, provided I don't stop to think - and sometimes is miserably bad. More work needed. Not sure that the Highlanders have progressed much.
I'm looking forward to a break, even if only for a day or two, then I need to work on the tunes, keep polishing, and maybe pick one new one to work on. The journey continues.
Monday, 28 September 2015
Caught speeding
Things went well this evening. I played through several tunes slowly, so I thought, intending to get them right. When I finished the fan said I'd been going at quite a speed.
Two more days then I think I'll take break and then aim to play maybe 3 times a week. I will also try one of the new tunes I'm pondering, with the aim of getting one learned in a month, while the other new tunes continue to be polished, and the old favourites are kept free of dust.
Two more days then I think I'll take break and then aim to play maybe 3 times a week. I will also try one of the new tunes I'm pondering, with the aim of getting one learned in a month, while the other new tunes continue to be polished, and the old favourites are kept free of dust.
Friday, 18 September 2015
Forward look
I've been thinking of new tunes. Not the new tunes I've been learning - am still learning - this month, but tunes for the future. I feel it might be best to concentrate on one at a time, so I am trying to keep the collection small so that tunes don't suffer from the same problem as knitting projects, where I have already lined up more than I could knit in a lifetime, and haven't yet stopped adding to the list...
I feel that I should move on from marches and work on some jigs and reels. I don't yet aspire to Strathspeys, but I will.
Having said that my first tune is another march. It's John MacColl's March to Kilbowie Cottage, which I know from The Big Spree. The second tune is The College of Piping at Summerside PEI, which is on Whistlebinkies' Inner Sound. I am going to have to take the plunge and sign up to Pipetunes for these, I think (where PEI is described as a hornpipe). There are other tunes I like, but can't find dots for. I'm listening to plenty of Breabach at present, so no shortage of pipe tunes to choose from.
I'm sure there was a third, but I've forgotten it. A fourth might be Good Drying, but there I must stop because that already takes me into next year at the rate at a new tune a month....
Today's tunes were hampered by a bad bellows day. I tried with jumper on, jumper off, bellows high, bellows low, I readjusted the strap. Much had to do with cold hands. I really must knit some fingerless mitts.
John Macmillan to start again, going nowhere, because I didn't play the other pieces in the set. I have parts of the third part in my head and should go back to that as I am only playing two parts at the moment.
Struggled to find the 4th part of Sleat or the non-variant of Brandy and resorted to dots for both. Miss G got herself into a muddle. Home fell out by accident when I was looking for Heroes. Highlanders, whihc went with Heroes today, came out at such an alarmingly rip-roaring speed that the fan asked if I was taking off...
No Dragon, and no Troy. Hopefully it will emerge from hibernation soon.
I feel that I should move on from marches and work on some jigs and reels. I don't yet aspire to Strathspeys, but I will.
Having said that my first tune is another march. It's John MacColl's March to Kilbowie Cottage, which I know from The Big Spree. The second tune is The College of Piping at Summerside PEI, which is on Whistlebinkies' Inner Sound. I am going to have to take the plunge and sign up to Pipetunes for these, I think (where PEI is described as a hornpipe). There are other tunes I like, but can't find dots for. I'm listening to plenty of Breabach at present, so no shortage of pipe tunes to choose from.
I'm sure there was a third, but I've forgotten it. A fourth might be Good Drying, but there I must stop because that already takes me into next year at the rate at a new tune a month....
Today's tunes were hampered by a bad bellows day. I tried with jumper on, jumper off, bellows high, bellows low, I readjusted the strap. Much had to do with cold hands. I really must knit some fingerless mitts.
John Macmillan to start again, going nowhere, because I didn't play the other pieces in the set. I have parts of the third part in my head and should go back to that as I am only playing two parts at the moment.
Struggled to find the 4th part of Sleat or the non-variant of Brandy and resorted to dots for both. Miss G got herself into a muddle. Home fell out by accident when I was looking for Heroes. Highlanders, whihc went with Heroes today, came out at such an alarmingly rip-roaring speed that the fan asked if I was taking off...
No Dragon, and no Troy. Hopefully it will emerge from hibernation soon.
Thursday, 17 September 2015
As good as a rest
I thought I'd give myself a break from new tunes today and just play whatever came to mind or fingers. Oddly enough the first tune in my head was Father John, so I played his Boat Trip to Nova Scotia.
After that the play list looked like this:
The Rowan Tree
Magersfontein, Flett, Dargai, Bee (too many for a set, but that's how they came out)
Bonnie Galloway
My Home Town
King of Laoise
Amazing Grace
I've been considering making a list of all the half-learned, or learned and abandoned tunes I have left behind, but I feel it would be a very long list and perhaps rather depressing.
I do also need to record. Maybe at the weekend.
After that the play list looked like this:
The Rowan Tree
Magersfontein, Flett, Dargai, Bee (too many for a set, but that's how they came out)
Bonnie Galloway
My Home Town
King of Laoise
Amazing Grace
I've been considering making a list of all the half-learned, or learned and abandoned tunes I have left behind, but I feel it would be a very long list and perhaps rather depressing.
I do also need to record. Maybe at the weekend.
Wednesday, 16 September 2015
Counting chickens
The more I thought of the fan's plans for three of us to play together regularly the more I liked it. I began to think of sets and arrangements...and then our putative third replied to say he had plenty on his musical plate at present, and declined our offer...
Almost everything on the list played today, except Troy (which seems to have vanished entirely from my head), and Braemar, which probably won't suffer for another day of hibernation. I've got Even in the Rain on the stereo right now in the hope of encouraging it along.
Brandy has got a bit confused between where I do and don't insert variations, and I confused the issue further by realising that I've got some ungraced low A to C changes... The variation still quite clear, but the original of the varied bar quite lost, and even with dots I was needing to think hard to get it right.
I tried pairing Ocean with Sleat. Could work, I think. I need to do more thinking about sets.
Almost everything on the list played today, except Troy (which seems to have vanished entirely from my head), and Braemar, which probably won't suffer for another day of hibernation. I've got Even in the Rain on the stereo right now in the hope of encouraging it along.
Brandy has got a bit confused between where I do and don't insert variations, and I confused the issue further by realising that I've got some ungraced low A to C changes... The variation still quite clear, but the original of the varied bar quite lost, and even with dots I was needing to think hard to get it right.
I tried pairing Ocean with Sleat. Could work, I think. I need to do more thinking about sets.
Monday, 31 August 2015
Preliminaries
Something of a trial run for September today. Problems feeling that the bag lacked air, and difficulty in getting my bellows elbow or wrist comfortable. My fingers were a little tense, too, perhaps because I don't feel very warm today. I notice that these days hitches like this don't put me off or spoil my enjoyment of playing at all, perhaps because I know they are only passing fads.
I looked at the handwritten dots that the fan had found in a pile and quickly discovered that it wasn't the Ocean. Had in mind a bouncing finger on F, tried that...and there it was: part A of the Ocean. The fan heard it, asked if I'd found the dots. In a way I had - albeit the tune rather than the dots, and that was in my head all along. I think I'll need the fan to walk me through the B part again, and probably write that down.
Othe tunes played were The Sound of Sleat, Atholl Highlanders, Troy's Wedding, Braemar Gathering, Horsburgh Castle, Heroes of Vittoria and Teribus.
Drops of Brandy is having problems where I keep forgetting that the final triplet in each part drops to G, and I am playing A instead. Oddly this is one where I find the B easier than the A, or at least the transition from A to B is easier than that from B to A. Then the Dragon. Still doesn't feel right, but I still can't put my finger on what exactly is wrong with it. Maybe a recording is needed so I can listen. It seems to have a good amount of gracing, the speed is good, I like it as a tune to play. Maybe it's that it doesn't feel very complete by itself.
Still, a good start, I think.
I looked at the handwritten dots that the fan had found in a pile and quickly discovered that it wasn't the Ocean. Had in mind a bouncing finger on F, tried that...and there it was: part A of the Ocean. The fan heard it, asked if I'd found the dots. In a way I had - albeit the tune rather than the dots, and that was in my head all along. I think I'll need the fan to walk me through the B part again, and probably write that down.
Othe tunes played were The Sound of Sleat, Atholl Highlanders, Troy's Wedding, Braemar Gathering, Horsburgh Castle, Heroes of Vittoria and Teribus.
Drops of Brandy is having problems where I keep forgetting that the final triplet in each part drops to G, and I am playing A instead. Oddly this is one where I find the B easier than the A, or at least the transition from A to B is easier than that from B to A. Then the Dragon. Still doesn't feel right, but I still can't put my finger on what exactly is wrong with it. Maybe a recording is needed so I can listen. It seems to have a good amount of gracing, the speed is good, I like it as a tune to play. Maybe it's that it doesn't feel very complete by itself.
Still, a good start, I think.
Sunday, 30 August 2015
Summer's lease
Summer is about over, it seems. It's cool, grey and damp today, and on Tuesday the fan's long summer break ends. But I don't mind: I have plans. I am going to play every day. I'm going to play the old favourites and work on any that have got a bit worn and faded. I'm also intending to move some new tunes and some that have been kicking round for way too long onto the "session ready" pile.
The new(ish) tunes are The Heroes of Vittoria, The Sound of Sleat and On the Ocean.
The tunes that have been on the learning pile for too long are:
Atholl Highlanders
Braemar Gathering
Troy's Wedding
Drops of Brandy
Miss Girdle
It's not that I don't know the tunes, just that I've not yet got that balance of speed and accuracy that I am looking for. I could add Father John to those. He's generally in good shape, but stubbornly missing the 4th part.
I'd also quite like to work on some tunes that I've given up on but keep finding myself playing by accident, often taking a bar or two before I remember what they are, that I can't really play them, don't much care for them. This list will include The Dragon, Teribus, Barren Rocks.
And the tunes I can play? Well, the goalposts are still all over the place on this one and my current definition of a tune I can play is a tune I can play comfortably at a session, reasonably sure that I can easily fudge as needed.
The new(ish) tunes are The Heroes of Vittoria, The Sound of Sleat and On the Ocean.
The tunes that have been on the learning pile for too long are:
Atholl Highlanders
Braemar Gathering
Troy's Wedding
Drops of Brandy
Miss Girdle
It's not that I don't know the tunes, just that I've not yet got that balance of speed and accuracy that I am looking for. I could add Father John to those. He's generally in good shape, but stubbornly missing the 4th part.
I'd also quite like to work on some tunes that I've given up on but keep finding myself playing by accident, often taking a bar or two before I remember what they are, that I can't really play them, don't much care for them. This list will include The Dragon, Teribus, Barren Rocks.
And the tunes I can play? Well, the goalposts are still all over the place on this one and my current definition of a tune I can play is a tune I can play comfortably at a session, reasonably sure that I can easily fudge as needed.
Thursday, 6 August 2015
Mulling it over
I‘ve been thinking for a while now that I should try again to play every day for a month. I seem to be very patchy with my playing at present. That’s partly down to the usual distractions and partly just feeling less need to play at the moment, maybe because there is less music around to inspire me now that the band has gone. When I do play daily it’s never as hard to fit it in as I think, the more I play the more I feel I want to play, and each time I’ve played daily for a month I’ve made real strides forward. Now I’m a more established player I expect that those strides will be smaller or less obvious, but even if it only means learning a new tune or two and getting my piping mojo back it will be worthwhile.
In some ways it isn’t a bad thing to have a break. I find I can pick up my pipes up again without feeling that I’ve gone backwards at all. Some of my tunes need a moment’s thought or a pause for adjustment, but in terms of speed some tunes seem to be faster after a break.
I recently read a discussion on The Session about coming back to tunes after a break, which suggested playing through tunes each day, leaving the ones that are still working, carrying the ones that need fixing on to the next day. This feels a bit restrictive to me: sometimes I am just not in the mood for a tune, although now that my repertoire is expanding it would be useful to brush up on the tunes that I don’t play often. Some tunes I play from time to time but never feel I’m playing as well as I’d want to, so that they are fit to be played at a session. I’d like to brush those up.
I’d also like to try some new tunes and I know from bitter experience that I never learn them as fast as I want to, and some never click for me, either because I never really learn them well, or because I somehow don’t enjoy playing them.
I don’t want to restrict myself with a specific plan. I never seem to follow plans, and I’ve never wanted my playing to feel like a chore, a set of things to do. I prefer to go with the flow, working on what I feel comfortable with and interested in at that time, having the space to be inspired, to experiment, to go with the flow. So I think I’ll keep it vague: I’ll play every day, I will aim to play everything in my repertoire at least once, I will have a fiddle with some new tunes. I’ll try to do some recording. Oh, and the chosen month is September.
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.
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.
Saturday, 3 January 2015
I know where I'm going
Sometimes on gloomy winter evenings, the fan will look about him and ask "what is it all for?" It's a good question, in a way, except that it is likely to drive you nuts if you think about it too much. We're born and sometime later we die, and we tend to want to find ways of filling the gaps in between. Some climb mountains or make money or sail around the world or become famous. Others of us go to work and back, and potter about with various hobbies and distractions.
Some of those distractions seem to have a direct point or purpose: baking provides us with bread, cake and biscuits, knitting provides socks, jumpers and various accessories. But what is piping for? If I were younger, or perhaps playing a different sort of instrument, or just a different sort of person, I might be considering taking exams or joining a band. If I were better at it (when I am better at it) I could use it to entertain others, but generally I enjoy it as a thing in itself. I enjoy the process of learning, and improving, and I enjoy just sitting down and playing.
The change of year has set me thinking about change, goals, things to do. I don't do New Year's Resolutions, but sometimes it's a useful point for taking stock. I've been wondering if I can describe what it is I want to do with my piping, where I want to get to on my journey. I think I have an end point (or possibly just a staging post) in sight, although I don't have any idea how long it is going to take me to get there.
I'd like to make more use of grace notes. I do insert grace notes when dots have none, and not just the bare minimum, but not a lot more. I'd like to get to a point where I am adding more grace notes without having to think it through.
I'd like to be able to learn tunes faster. Actually, I think as I've mentioned before, that I do pick up tunes faster, it's just my definition of what it means to "know" or "have learned" a tune has changed from "managed to play it once through without mistakes and only a few pauses" to "can play it at a session and even if I am very tired I can play it without thinking about it with no mistakes".
I'd like to be able to play a greater variety of tunes. I think this is actually about timing. I can generally do marches, reels are harder, strathspeys totally beyond me. I'd like to be able to pick up dots for Mrs McLeod of Raasay or The Mason's Apron, or the Caber Feidh (all of which I have) and be able to play those tunes, but somehow I can't get speed or timing and they don't sound even half right. It's not that I can't sight read - I'm not too bad at that - but just pulling together timing and gracing and speed seems to be beyond me.
I'd like to be able to pick up tunes by ear. This is a reasonably big ask, I suppose. It's something I can do to some extent. In the old days fiddling about on a keyboard of recorder I'd expect to be able to pick out bits of tunes. Apart from the Halsway Schottische, which I got in parts before someone gave me the dots, I've not managed it on pipes, despite the lure of several tunes that I love and can't find the dots for (The New House in St Peters, for example, or The Hills of Perth).
I'd like to be better at creating sets. Piping has a tradition, for bands playing GHB, of putting together marches, reels and strathspeys. For playing in sessions three of the same helps others with playing along. The tunes I've abandoned along the way seem to be the ones that I can't find partners for. The fan says that to some extent any tune can go with another: there is no magic formula. I quite like tunes that have similar sounding phrases in them, but that can cause problems with one tune morphing in to the other. Perhaps I just need to know more tunes or to listen to more sets for inspiration, or learn to play a greater variety of tunes (see above) so that I can play sets I hear on CDs. Often I find I can play one or two of the tunes, but then another I won't be able to find dots for, and another I just won't be able to play.
I'd like to be able to switch easily and comfortably between D and A. I've been neglecting A a lot, and I can only think of one time at a session when I've used both chanters. The chanters aren't the issue so much as bellows and bag, which feel very different.
So, there we have it: I just want to use more grace notes, learn faster, play a wider variety of tunes, pick up tunes by ear, be able to put sets together more easily and switch comfortably between chanters. That should keep me occupied and ward off existential angst for a while.
Some of those distractions seem to have a direct point or purpose: baking provides us with bread, cake and biscuits, knitting provides socks, jumpers and various accessories. But what is piping for? If I were younger, or perhaps playing a different sort of instrument, or just a different sort of person, I might be considering taking exams or joining a band. If I were better at it (when I am better at it) I could use it to entertain others, but generally I enjoy it as a thing in itself. I enjoy the process of learning, and improving, and I enjoy just sitting down and playing.
The change of year has set me thinking about change, goals, things to do. I don't do New Year's Resolutions, but sometimes it's a useful point for taking stock. I've been wondering if I can describe what it is I want to do with my piping, where I want to get to on my journey. I think I have an end point (or possibly just a staging post) in sight, although I don't have any idea how long it is going to take me to get there.
I'd like to make more use of grace notes. I do insert grace notes when dots have none, and not just the bare minimum, but not a lot more. I'd like to get to a point where I am adding more grace notes without having to think it through.
I'd like to be able to learn tunes faster. Actually, I think as I've mentioned before, that I do pick up tunes faster, it's just my definition of what it means to "know" or "have learned" a tune has changed from "managed to play it once through without mistakes and only a few pauses" to "can play it at a session and even if I am very tired I can play it without thinking about it with no mistakes".
I'd like to be able to play a greater variety of tunes. I think this is actually about timing. I can generally do marches, reels are harder, strathspeys totally beyond me. I'd like to be able to pick up dots for Mrs McLeod of Raasay or The Mason's Apron, or the Caber Feidh (all of which I have) and be able to play those tunes, but somehow I can't get speed or timing and they don't sound even half right. It's not that I can't sight read - I'm not too bad at that - but just pulling together timing and gracing and speed seems to be beyond me.
I'd like to be able to pick up tunes by ear. This is a reasonably big ask, I suppose. It's something I can do to some extent. In the old days fiddling about on a keyboard of recorder I'd expect to be able to pick out bits of tunes. Apart from the Halsway Schottische, which I got in parts before someone gave me the dots, I've not managed it on pipes, despite the lure of several tunes that I love and can't find the dots for (The New House in St Peters, for example, or The Hills of Perth).
I'd like to be better at creating sets. Piping has a tradition, for bands playing GHB, of putting together marches, reels and strathspeys. For playing in sessions three of the same helps others with playing along. The tunes I've abandoned along the way seem to be the ones that I can't find partners for. The fan says that to some extent any tune can go with another: there is no magic formula. I quite like tunes that have similar sounding phrases in them, but that can cause problems with one tune morphing in to the other. Perhaps I just need to know more tunes or to listen to more sets for inspiration, or learn to play a greater variety of tunes (see above) so that I can play sets I hear on CDs. Often I find I can play one or two of the tunes, but then another I won't be able to find dots for, and another I just won't be able to play.
I'd like to be able to switch easily and comfortably between D and A. I've been neglecting A a lot, and I can only think of one time at a session when I've used both chanters. The chanters aren't the issue so much as bellows and bag, which feel very different.
So, there we have it: I just want to use more grace notes, learn faster, play a wider variety of tunes, pick up tunes by ear, be able to put sets together more easily and switch comfortably between chanters. That should keep me occupied and ward off existential angst for a while.
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