After what feels like a piping lifetime of trying to play ever faster, I am starting to appreciate the slow. I've been hearing tunes that are played more slowly than "my" version (Shores of Loch Bee, South Georgia Whaling Song, Flett from Flotta). I've been playing tunes that I feel need to be taken slowly (Flanders Fields). I've also been going back to tunes I feel I am, not exactly struggling with, but failing to get comfortable with (Troy's Wedding, Braemar Gathering, Sound of Sleat), despite the fact that I've been playing them, off and on, for quite some time now.
It's possible that I may speed them up again when I'm ready, but at the moment I feel that a slower pace gives me more control. It stops me tensing fingers, rushing through bits I'm not confident on, messing up the timing. It allows me to concentrate more - or perhaps I just have to concentrate more in order to bring the speed down, and that's why the problems slip away. I'm not sure that this is going to fix things, but these are three tunes I would very much like to have settled into my session repertoire.
I do wonder to what extent my "slow" is actually faster than the "fast" I used to play. Speed is relative. 30mph seems reasonable from a standing stop, a little odd if you're slowing from 70mph as you come off a dual carriage way and, if you are actually travelling along that dual carriage way with traffic tearing by at 70mph, 80mph or more, positively suicidal.
Ramblings of an easily distracted learner piper
Showing posts with label tempo. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tempo. Show all posts
Sunday, 11 September 2016
Sunday, 31 January 2016
A horse, a horse...
The horse has been trotting about my head all night and all day. It's a lively beast, more like a skittish pony than an old warhorse. It was inevitable that the moment I picked up my pipes the horse fled. (This was going to be my cue to link to a video clip of Peter Cook as Richard lll in Blackadder whistling for a horse...a horse..., but I've failed to find one).
Still, I listened to the CD, then worked on the horse, the cottage, Arthur and the Creeks. I think that possibly Farewell to the Creeks, if not played very slow on its own, might pair well with Heights of Dargai, now that Flett and Bee have run off together.
This is the end of my challenge month, and it will be nice not to feel obliged to play, but I think the call of these new tunes will keep me going. This month I've improved my speed, I think, and improved the balance between speed and accuracy. That is, the speed at which accuracy goes out of the window is faster than it used to be. I feel I'm also gracing more neatly, and thinking more about what gracing I want.
Still, I listened to the CD, then worked on the horse, the cottage, Arthur and the Creeks. I think that possibly Farewell to the Creeks, if not played very slow on its own, might pair well with Heights of Dargai, now that Flett and Bee have run off together.
This is the end of my challenge month, and it will be nice not to feel obliged to play, but I think the call of these new tunes will keep me going. This month I've improved my speed, I think, and improved the balance between speed and accuracy. That is, the speed at which accuracy goes out of the window is faster than it used to be. I feel I'm also gracing more neatly, and thinking more about what gracing I want.
Saturday, 30 January 2016
Four part mystery
I'm never quite sure why it takes me so long to learn four-parter tunes. By definition they are twice as long as two-parters, but as I seem to be able to learn a number of two-parters in less time than it takes me to learn a four-parter that can't quite be it.
I suppose one of the difficulties is that a four-parter is like two very similar two-parters, and there is always plenty of scope to muddle the A part with the C or the B with the D. There is also more scope for bars that are almost repeated, but each time have some subtle difference. Then the timing might change from one part to another.
In the past, when stamina, or lack of it, was a problem, then I would tend to play the first two parts and then run out of steam and maybe not even play through the final parts. Even now I am inclined to work on the first part and wait until I feel I've got at least the basic shape of it until I move onto the next, so by the time I work my way round to the final part the first two are familiar and the second half is always the bit I haven't played as often. (Others I only play as two-parters, which is what I do with Father John.)
In a way I think that this was the problem with Loch Bee: because I only ever played it as part of a set (with Dargai) if I ran out of steam, ran out of time or patience, ran into trouble, it was always Bee on the end that got ditched or lost a repeat or two. Hopefully playing it (mostly) on its own this month will have helped.
I've picked up two more four-parters despite being far from session-standard with either Arthur or the Cottage. The first is Mrs MacDougall. Despite my earlier confusion when I got round to looking at the various versions they were all about the same, (Mrs Mac, anyway - I overlooked Mrs Mc this time round) so I picked the one with the cleanest layout on the page. I've played it through...and it sounds like no tune I've ever heard, so I need to listen to the tune a bit before I try again.
The other is John MacColl's Farewell to the Scottish Horse. Ceol Sean has a tune with that title, and another - John MacColl's Farewell to Argyll Squadron, Scottish Horse. I assumed they would turn out to be the same tune. They looked different on the page but I've been thrown before by different gracing and layout...but these are two different tunes, and the first is the horse I wanted, the one I know from Highland Strands.
The mystery is that according to the listing on The Bagpipe Shop for what they describe as "the complete works" of Mr MacColl there are only two horse-related tunes, John MacColl's Farewell to the Scottish Horse and The Second Regiment Scottish Horse. As for the Argylls, they receive mention as Major Byng M. Wright's Farewell to the 8th Argylls and The 9th Argylls at Ypres. Also odd is the inclusion of two Kilbowie tunes, a plain Kilbowie Cottage and John MacColl's March to Kilbowie Cottage. How these relate to William Lawrie's tune Kilbowie Cottage, which seems also to be known as John MacColl's March to Kilbowie Cottage I don't know. It's not as these are tunes from the mists of time: Lawrie only died in 1916, MacColl not until 1943.
The other mystery is the speed at which I seem to be picking up all four parts of Farewell to the Creeks.
I suppose one of the difficulties is that a four-parter is like two very similar two-parters, and there is always plenty of scope to muddle the A part with the C or the B with the D. There is also more scope for bars that are almost repeated, but each time have some subtle difference. Then the timing might change from one part to another.
In the past, when stamina, or lack of it, was a problem, then I would tend to play the first two parts and then run out of steam and maybe not even play through the final parts. Even now I am inclined to work on the first part and wait until I feel I've got at least the basic shape of it until I move onto the next, so by the time I work my way round to the final part the first two are familiar and the second half is always the bit I haven't played as often. (Others I only play as two-parters, which is what I do with Father John.)
In a way I think that this was the problem with Loch Bee: because I only ever played it as part of a set (with Dargai) if I ran out of steam, ran out of time or patience, ran into trouble, it was always Bee on the end that got ditched or lost a repeat or two. Hopefully playing it (mostly) on its own this month will have helped.
I've picked up two more four-parters despite being far from session-standard with either Arthur or the Cottage. The first is Mrs MacDougall. Despite my earlier confusion when I got round to looking at the various versions they were all about the same, (Mrs Mac, anyway - I overlooked Mrs Mc this time round) so I picked the one with the cleanest layout on the page. I've played it through...and it sounds like no tune I've ever heard, so I need to listen to the tune a bit before I try again.
The other is John MacColl's Farewell to the Scottish Horse. Ceol Sean has a tune with that title, and another - John MacColl's Farewell to Argyll Squadron, Scottish Horse. I assumed they would turn out to be the same tune. They looked different on the page but I've been thrown before by different gracing and layout...but these are two different tunes, and the first is the horse I wanted, the one I know from Highland Strands.
The mystery is that according to the listing on The Bagpipe Shop for what they describe as "the complete works" of Mr MacColl there are only two horse-related tunes, John MacColl's Farewell to the Scottish Horse and The Second Regiment Scottish Horse. As for the Argylls, they receive mention as Major Byng M. Wright's Farewell to the 8th Argylls and The 9th Argylls at Ypres. Also odd is the inclusion of two Kilbowie tunes, a plain Kilbowie Cottage and John MacColl's March to Kilbowie Cottage. How these relate to William Lawrie's tune Kilbowie Cottage, which seems also to be known as John MacColl's March to Kilbowie Cottage I don't know. It's not as these are tunes from the mists of time: Lawrie only died in 1916, MacColl not until 1943.
The other mystery is the speed at which I seem to be picking up all four parts of Farewell to the Creeks.
Thursday, 28 January 2016
One more time
Or 27 more times. I've been quite single-minded this challenge in sticking to the tunes I particularly want to learn or improve. Once or twice I've thrown in Flett, King or Home Town but mostly my playlist looks like this:
Arthur Bignold
Troy's Wedding
Miss Girdle
Shores of Loch Bee
Women of the Glen
Sound of Sleat
The Braemar Gathering
Recently I've been throwing in Farewell to the Creeks and Kilbowie Cottage, which seems to have drifted into my head again. I'm wondering whether the Cottage and Arthur might suit each other.
I like all of these tunes, I enjoy playing them, and there is enough of them to give variety over half an hour or so of playing, so it's been no hardship just playing these.
Despite ongoing problems with holding the pipes I feel I am making decent progress. Arthur, as with all 4 parters, is taking while to commit to memory. I think Creeks might get there first. I'm shaking off the tenseness in my fingers that was throwing the run up in the third part of Troy, random bars in Braemar and the not-quite-repeats in the third and fourth of Women. Bee is becoming more reliable, and everything is getting faster and I'm managing to improve the balance between increasing speed and lack of accuracy, although some thumb graces in Troy just vanish when I hit a certain speed.
It's been a long month and I am looking forward to having a break at the end, but, as ever, it has been worth the effort.
Arthur Bignold
Troy's Wedding
Miss Girdle
Shores of Loch Bee
Women of the Glen
Sound of Sleat
The Braemar Gathering
Recently I've been throwing in Farewell to the Creeks and Kilbowie Cottage, which seems to have drifted into my head again. I'm wondering whether the Cottage and Arthur might suit each other.
I like all of these tunes, I enjoy playing them, and there is enough of them to give variety over half an hour or so of playing, so it's been no hardship just playing these.
Despite ongoing problems with holding the pipes I feel I am making decent progress. Arthur, as with all 4 parters, is taking while to commit to memory. I think Creeks might get there first. I'm shaking off the tenseness in my fingers that was throwing the run up in the third part of Troy, random bars in Braemar and the not-quite-repeats in the third and fourth of Women. Bee is becoming more reliable, and everything is getting faster and I'm managing to improve the balance between increasing speed and lack of accuracy, although some thumb graces in Troy just vanish when I hit a certain speed.
It's been a long month and I am looking forward to having a break at the end, but, as ever, it has been worth the effort.
Saturday, 9 January 2016
You've changed
I logged into Chirbit today, only to find they have gone for the same tedious web design as everyone else on the planet. It took a moment or two to remember my username and then I was in. The first tune I uploaded was The Braemar Gathering. Turns out it was also the last tune I uploaded, four months ago. Took a little bit of head scratching to find the bit that gives me the html to drop the link into here, but I got there in the end.
Now, I've not listened to this or the previous version since recording. I will have to compare the two. For this new version, even though it's now a tune that just appears on my fingers rather than only coming when I specifically want it, it still has some errors. There are phrases I snatch at, garbling notes together, although generally I am more relaxed than I was. I've lost the D grace on the low A to C transition. It was making my fingers tense and although I've managed to relax my fingers I've not managed to bring the grace back. I'm not sure about the speed I am playing at, whether it wants to race, or be a little slower. I actually had the dots in front of me, but once I know a tune they are distracting more than anything else.
Recording itself was easier than I've found it in the past, although I did have to ask the fan to remind me of one or two of the various steps. I feel that I had no real red button-itis. It's just a recording, not a performance, and if I fluff bits (which I do) then that's fine. I seem to have taken the pressure off recording. Even so, the tune isn't yet reliable enough to play in sessions, and it is partnerless with no idea at all which tune it might sit with.
Check this out on Chirbit
Now, I've not listened to this or the previous version since recording. I will have to compare the two. For this new version, even though it's now a tune that just appears on my fingers rather than only coming when I specifically want it, it still has some errors. There are phrases I snatch at, garbling notes together, although generally I am more relaxed than I was. I've lost the D grace on the low A to C transition. It was making my fingers tense and although I've managed to relax my fingers I've not managed to bring the grace back. I'm not sure about the speed I am playing at, whether it wants to race, or be a little slower. I actually had the dots in front of me, but once I know a tune they are distracting more than anything else.
Recording itself was easier than I've found it in the past, although I did have to ask the fan to remind me of one or two of the various steps. I feel that I had no real red button-itis. It's just a recording, not a performance, and if I fluff bits (which I do) then that's fine. I seem to have taken the pressure off recording. Even so, the tune isn't yet reliable enough to play in sessions, and it is partnerless with no idea at all which tune it might sit with.
Check this out on Chirbit
Saturday, 21 November 2015
Picking and choosing
I love to eat, I love to cook, I love to think about food, and I love to read recipe books. I read cookery books for several reasons, only one of which is to identify new recipes might like to try. I might pick something because it has ingredients that I particularly enjoy (anything with aubergines) or because it has ingredients I normally have to hand so won’t require an extra shopping trip. I’m not likely to try recipes that involve ingredients I know I can’t get hold of, or those that look as though they are going to take three days and a couple of comis chefs to prepare. Pictures can help with the
selection process, but I don’t need them. The recipe is normally enough to allow me to visualise the dish and how it might taste.
The fan, on the other hand, cannot do this. If I show him a recipe I’m excited about and suggest I try it he tends to be non-committal. He’ll wait until it’s on the plate before him before he passes judgement.
What I can’t do is look at a printed tune and know whether or not I am going to like the sound of the tune or find it easy to pick up. Nor can I often easily envisage a tune just from looking at the dots. I need the equivalent of cookery book pictures, which for a tune means that I need to have heard it, or need to be able to find it being played online so I can have a listen.
If I hear a tune I can normally tell if it’s a pipe tune or not, basically through the limited number of notes used! I’m getting better at listening to tunes and being able to identify the grace notes and visualise (or whatever the aural equivalent for that is) how the tune would sound without those gracings, or with less complex gracings. There are tunes that will accept a paring down and others that are nothing without their gracings. I’m getting better, too, at hearing which tunes needs their speed and which could sound well played at a more sedate pace. I’ve been listening to Flett, played at a much more sedate pace than I play it, and I know I play Loch Bee faster than Mr MacInnes.
Conversely I’ve come across CD notes where a band will say that they have chosen to play a tune at a slower pace than is usual. So speed is a reasonably flexible thing, but there are some tunes that definitely need their speed. I think the thing I still find hardest is hearing a pipe tune played on fiddle and thinking how that will sound on pipes. Although pipes and fiddle sound good together the pipes never have the slide and glide that a fiddle can have.
It was after listening to Springfield a lot recently that I printed the dots for Heroes of both St Valery and Vittoria as both tunes got stuck in my head. The place that I found St Valery also had Sound of Sleat, which I hadn’t really thought of as a pipe tune before. When I first played it was as if I wasn’t reading anything new, more as though the dots were reminding me of a tune I already knew. I had the tune firmly in my head and felt that I was barely reading the dots as I went. The tune initially came together really quickly, then stalled.
I wrote this a while back and it has sat in drafts. Since then Sleat hasn't made much progress and The Session has had a discussion about whether or not musicians can "hear" tunes as they read the dots. Looks like I'm not alone in lacking this ability.
This has festered in draft mode for a while more. Sleat and Heroes are being assimilated into my repertoire. I've been playing them this week.
selection process, but I don’t need them. The recipe is normally enough to allow me to visualise the dish and how it might taste.
The fan, on the other hand, cannot do this. If I show him a recipe I’m excited about and suggest I try it he tends to be non-committal. He’ll wait until it’s on the plate before him before he passes judgement.
What I can’t do is look at a printed tune and know whether or not I am going to like the sound of the tune or find it easy to pick up. Nor can I often easily envisage a tune just from looking at the dots. I need the equivalent of cookery book pictures, which for a tune means that I need to have heard it, or need to be able to find it being played online so I can have a listen.
If I hear a tune I can normally tell if it’s a pipe tune or not, basically through the limited number of notes used! I’m getting better at listening to tunes and being able to identify the grace notes and visualise (or whatever the aural equivalent for that is) how the tune would sound without those gracings, or with less complex gracings. There are tunes that will accept a paring down and others that are nothing without their gracings. I’m getting better, too, at hearing which tunes needs their speed and which could sound well played at a more sedate pace. I’ve been listening to Flett, played at a much more sedate pace than I play it, and I know I play Loch Bee faster than Mr MacInnes.
Conversely I’ve come across CD notes where a band will say that they have chosen to play a tune at a slower pace than is usual. So speed is a reasonably flexible thing, but there are some tunes that definitely need their speed. I think the thing I still find hardest is hearing a pipe tune played on fiddle and thinking how that will sound on pipes. Although pipes and fiddle sound good together the pipes never have the slide and glide that a fiddle can have.
It was after listening to Springfield a lot recently that I printed the dots for Heroes of both St Valery and Vittoria as both tunes got stuck in my head. The place that I found St Valery also had Sound of Sleat, which I hadn’t really thought of as a pipe tune before. When I first played it was as if I wasn’t reading anything new, more as though the dots were reminding me of a tune I already knew. I had the tune firmly in my head and felt that I was barely reading the dots as I went. The tune initially came together really quickly, then stalled.
I wrote this a while back and it has sat in drafts. Since then Sleat hasn't made much progress and The Session has had a discussion about whether or not musicians can "hear" tunes as they read the dots. Looks like I'm not alone in lacking this ability.
This has festered in draft mode for a while more. Sleat and Heroes are being assimilated into my repertoire. I've been playing them this week.
Sunday, 4 October 2015
Missing you already
I'm glad that the month ended on Wednesday. Thursday was another long and stressful day in a long and stressful week and I was really glad not to have to fit in any piping, even with the fan cooking dinner. Friday evening was given over to the shopping, cleaning, tidying and arranging that is preparatory to hosting weekend house guests.
Saturday morning was more of the same, and then once everything was ready and I had only to sit and wait I picked up a book, then put it down and pulled out my pipes instead. I had a good 20 mins playing time, that ended with a round of applause from guests, who had been admitted by the fan: I hadn't heard the doorbell!
Twenty minutes of tunes old and new. I do need to have another look at the dots for Sleat as there are a couple of places where I am not confident that I have got it quite right. I had been humming Whaling Song, which has nice drops, pauses, swoops and snaps which I was convinced I wasn't playing, but when I listened to myself I was indeed playing the same nice version that I had been humming.
Troy just needs a bit more confidence, a more relaxed attitude. I've got into the habit of feeling I can't play and now that I can I reel between over-hesitancy, tense fingers, and way too much speed.
This evening is a session and I hope to try out a new tune or two.
Saturday morning was more of the same, and then once everything was ready and I had only to sit and wait I picked up a book, then put it down and pulled out my pipes instead. I had a good 20 mins playing time, that ended with a round of applause from guests, who had been admitted by the fan: I hadn't heard the doorbell!
Twenty minutes of tunes old and new. I do need to have another look at the dots for Sleat as there are a couple of places where I am not confident that I have got it quite right. I had been humming Whaling Song, which has nice drops, pauses, swoops and snaps which I was convinced I wasn't playing, but when I listened to myself I was indeed playing the same nice version that I had been humming.
Troy just needs a bit more confidence, a more relaxed attitude. I've got into the habit of feeling I can't play and now that I can I reel between over-hesitancy, tense fingers, and way too much speed.
This evening is a session and I hope to try out a new tune or two.
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.
Sunday, 13 September 2015
Tipping point
At last the daily playing is starting to bear fruit. The Sound of Sleat is almost there dotless, the escond part oddly being the most stubborn, but I played over and round it today and will work on it again tomorrow. Then I played something esle and intended to drop into Sleat, realised I had begun something else and took a moment to identify Braemar. I think this is the first time I've played it spontaneously, without a conscious decision to do so.
I played everything except Troy, Dragon and Brandy. Dragon is falling by the wayside again. Brandy I played later on when the fan and I played together for a while and he showed me a variation on the tune, which we then had to re-vary for the Monkey's (lack of) range. Some tunes seems quite fast. Too fast, for some, the fan said. He's out of practice and his finger tips are soft and he struggled to keep up. Sometimes I struggle to keep up...
The fan also tried to tempt me to play Troy, but I resisted because I know that if you disturb the chrysalis of a pupating tune too soon all you find is a messy green gunk. Troy will come to my fingers of its own accord when its ready to hatch.
And speaking of hatching, we conceive of an idea for a regular musical threesome, which may or may not go anywhere, but will at least ensure that we both play reasonably regulalry and that we we play together. The fan is typing the email invitation to the third now...
I played everything except Troy, Dragon and Brandy. Dragon is falling by the wayside again. Brandy I played later on when the fan and I played together for a while and he showed me a variation on the tune, which we then had to re-vary for the Monkey's (lack of) range. Some tunes seems quite fast. Too fast, for some, the fan said. He's out of practice and his finger tips are soft and he struggled to keep up. Sometimes I struggle to keep up...
The fan also tried to tempt me to play Troy, but I resisted because I know that if you disturb the chrysalis of a pupating tune too soon all you find is a messy green gunk. Troy will come to my fingers of its own accord when its ready to hatch.
And speaking of hatching, we conceive of an idea for a regular musical threesome, which may or may not go anywhere, but will at least ensure that we both play reasonably regulalry and that we we play together. The fan is typing the email invitation to the third now...
Friday, 11 September 2015
I do, I do, I don't
Troys's Wedding again. It started well. I wanted to slow it down, but fingers wanted fast. The more I played the more it fell apart, but I'm not worried: this has happened before, this whole getting worse before it gets better shtick. I need to give it a break now to let it simmer in my brain.
Also played Braemar, which is ok as long as I remember that the note I need in the run up to get it right is C. Father John's Boat Trip to Nova Scotia, Miss Girdle (the final phrase over, and over, and over....), Troy again, Brandy (which I am feeling quite fond of having listened to Realta yesterday). The door bell rang and I went to pieces, knowing I was being heard by an unknown quantity...so flipped in to Dargai and Bee and ended up with the Heroes.
Yesterday I listened to an elderly recording of Troy. I've improved since then. Must get around to recording.
Also played Braemar, which is ok as long as I remember that the note I need in the run up to get it right is C. Father John's Boat Trip to Nova Scotia, Miss Girdle (the final phrase over, and over, and over....), Troy again, Brandy (which I am feeling quite fond of having listened to Realta yesterday). The door bell rang and I went to pieces, knowing I was being heard by an unknown quantity...so flipped in to Dargai and Bee and ended up with the Heroes.
Yesterday I listened to an elderly recording of Troy. I've improved since then. Must get around to recording.
Wednesday, 2 September 2015
Silver lining
We have a plumbing issue, and I'm waiting for the plumber to arrive. This has worked out nicely in the end as it means I've managed to carve out some piping time on a day when I'm going out in the evening and wasn't sure how I was going to manage more than a token 5 minutes playing time.
Sound of Sleat - this is at the stage where things get worse before they get better. Struggling to remember the timing of the opening bars, although it's fine once I get going. The third part is trickiest, somehow, and I still can't play GDE graces on that row of Bs although they are fine on the As. I am gracing the Bs, I'm just not sure how. Maybe I'm just dropping down to A between each. This tune doesn't go with Brandy...
Braemar Gathering - I seem now to have got over fudging the run up in the middle of the A part, although I still seem a bit tense around the grace between a low A and a C. Garbling a few bits as tbe tempo comes and goes, slowing down for those A to C transitions, charging through other phrases.
Troy - lost this totally today: struggled through all of it. It's fast, but as for accuracy...
Heroes and Highlanders. Isn't that a nice name for a set? Not sure that they go together, but will work on it. Very nearly there with Heroes, just a few glitches. The 4th part of Highlanders has a tendency to be the slowest.
Father John's Boat Trip doing OK.
Sound of Sleat - this is at the stage where things get worse before they get better. Struggling to remember the timing of the opening bars, although it's fine once I get going. The third part is trickiest, somehow, and I still can't play GDE graces on that row of Bs although they are fine on the As. I am gracing the Bs, I'm just not sure how. Maybe I'm just dropping down to A between each. This tune doesn't go with Brandy...
Braemar Gathering - I seem now to have got over fudging the run up in the middle of the A part, although I still seem a bit tense around the grace between a low A and a C. Garbling a few bits as tbe tempo comes and goes, slowing down for those A to C transitions, charging through other phrases.
Troy - lost this totally today: struggled through all of it. It's fast, but as for accuracy...
Heroes and Highlanders. Isn't that a nice name for a set? Not sure that they go together, but will work on it. Very nearly there with Heroes, just a few glitches. The 4th part of Highlanders has a tendency to be the slowest.
Father John's Boat Trip doing OK.
Tuesday, 1 September 2015
Father John's boat trip
As I walked to the allotment this evening to fetch spinach for cannelloni I found myself humming a medley of tunes that merged one into the other. One of them was Do You Love an Apple. Well, there's not much I can do about that, but the others were Father John and the Whaling Song so I thought I'd see if I could pair them up. Surely a man from Barra can't be adverse to water, and the narrator of the whaling song sounds as though some spiritual guidance wouldn't go amiss. They don't go badly together, as it happens, so it's a pairing I'll work on.
Other tunes this evening were:
Vittoria
Sleat and Braemar (I tried these two together but it was a non-starter, sadly)
Teribus (which randomly lost its D throws today)
Brandy, which I tried with Ocean, but it was hard to gauge the effect with only the A part of the Ocean. I did want to follow Brandy with the Dragon, but the dragon was nowhere to be found this evening.
Troy and Atholl Highlanders: not together, but both still giving problems with the interface between speed and accuracy.
Miss G.
Elbow problems again, although it was already tender from over use of my PC's keyboard at work today. I enjoyed my playing and am really looking forward to this month of piping.
Other tunes this evening were:
Vittoria
Sleat and Braemar (I tried these two together but it was a non-starter, sadly)
Teribus (which randomly lost its D throws today)
Brandy, which I tried with Ocean, but it was hard to gauge the effect with only the A part of the Ocean. I did want to follow Brandy with the Dragon, but the dragon was nowhere to be found this evening.
Troy and Atholl Highlanders: not together, but both still giving problems with the interface between speed and accuracy.
Miss G.
Elbow problems again, although it was already tender from over use of my PC's keyboard at work today. I enjoyed my playing and am really looking forward to this month of piping.
Thursday, 7 May 2015
Relative velocity
I had a few tunes with the fan earlier in the week. It was the second time in the space of about a week, which meant I was slightly less unused to drones. I really have to use drones every time I play, even if it is for just the first or last tune or set.
Some tunes he tells me I start slowly and then speed up. When I was a child, if I thought I was short of paper for the piece I was writing I would write faster, as if somehow hoping I’d reach the end of my piece before the paper ran out. It’s the same urge that leads me to read faster when coming to the end of a book that I don’t want to finish: as if perhaps if I can reach the end sooner there will be more book to read. I realise this makes no sense at all, but it’s what I do. I have a tendency to do the same with tunes. If I feel as though I am not playing well, my hands aren't quite right on the chanter, or I’m not 100% confident in my musical memory of the tune at hand then I tend to speed up in the hope of getting to the end of the tune before the mistakes arrive….
On another tune I speeded up because I felt I was going rather slowly and the fan seemed to be going much faster. He pointed out that he was simply playing more notes to the bar than me, so the second time around I tried to ignore it and just carry on at my own pace.
I've fiddled about with some faster tunes: Atholl Highlanders, Miss Girdle. I’m still stuck between slow but accurate or fast but messy. I think the messy is moving from wholesale chaos to general untidiness. And the fast must be improving as the fan notes that there were points when he felt it was a push to keep up with me.
Monday, 9 March 2015
Tipping point
I’ve been playing Miss G, over and over, round and round, with dots and without, on her own, with other tunes. I’ve been playing fast and slow. The fast is getting faster, but it’s lacking the rhythm and the gracing of the slow. It also has some nasty crossing notes.
What I haven’t yet worked out is the speed at which slows tips into fast and the grace notes vanish and the different between long and short notes becomes infinitesimal (or possibly non-existent). Nor do I know if there is a fixed point at which slow, with its rhythm and gracing, becomes fast, or whether it’s movable, so that eventually I will be fast with rhythm and gracing.
Father John is definitely slow, and almost fully graced. I’ve hummed it once or twice, but generally struggle to bring it to mid at all. Not sure why. It’s a lovely tune, both to listen to and to play. I need to dig out Synergy and do some serious listening.
Monday, 26 January 2015
The reel thing
Now I've got the right dots everything is falling into place. I've been humming Alick C today: first time ever. Getting a decent speed up, too. Work needed on speed (getting faster, being fast and in control, keeping the speed even), on grace notes, and on the C part where I am struggling with timing in a couple of bars. Am going to work on the A and B, maybe get those by heart before I start on the C and D.
The fan suggests a new sort of challenge: that I set myself to learn a new tune between now and the next session. Not sure I'm up to this. I wouldn't be happy about taking a single tune, with no companion. I would need to find a tune, and decent dots. I think maybe if it was a march I might manage it, maybe if I played it a lot. Maybe. I'm so conscious of the tunes (Dragon, Rocks, Troy, Cudgel. Highlanders, Braemar, to name but a few) that I've pegged away at for so long and never got to be happy with. I don't chose tunes: they chose me. Still, it's an idea I haven't totally rejected...
The fan suggests a new sort of challenge: that I set myself to learn a new tune between now and the next session. Not sure I'm up to this. I wouldn't be happy about taking a single tune, with no companion. I would need to find a tune, and decent dots. I think maybe if it was a march I might manage it, maybe if I played it a lot. Maybe. I'm so conscious of the tunes (Dragon, Rocks, Troy, Cudgel. Highlanders, Braemar, to name but a few) that I've pegged away at for so long and never got to be happy with. I don't chose tunes: they chose me. Still, it's an idea I haven't totally rejected...
Sunday, 25 January 2015
Notes from the tune clinic
This is the current list of tunes being nurtured. The goal for each of them is that they are fit to be seen out at a session. Their problems are varied.
Horsburgh Castle. Diagnosis: unclear. I did wonder if actually I just don't like it, but I hum it often, and when I play it...yes, I do like it. Maybe it would sound better in A. Almost committed to memory, but regular lapses. Perhaps it's just waiting for its set-mate, Miss G.
Miss Girdle. Now she has got over her identity crisis she's recovering well. Suffering from a lack of grace notes. Slow in her movements, but gradually getting faster.
Troy's Wedding. Long term patient. A part fine and dandy. B part OK if I get the gracing right - a slightly sticky finger prolonging a grace throws me into confusion. C part either goes very well or goes too fast and goes wrong. Fingers often too tense at this point. D part - intermittent memory loss.
South Georgia Whaling Song. Tendency to go to fast and for snaps to either not appear at all or go so fast they are almost invisible. Despite ongoing attachment issues with the Cabot Trail has tendency for B part to morph into the Trail (which itself is suffering form a lack of speed control and a lack of grace notes.) It's annoying because this is a total relapse: I first played it at a session just weeks after starting to learn it.
Alick M McGregor. Much better now that I have moved from Session dots to proper dots. My problem is that whoever transcribed for the session clearly heard doublings as two notes, and wrote them as such, and I've been trying to add more grace notes, and this proliferation of notes has severely affected speed. Improving well.
The Irishman's Cudgel. Tendency to get stuck in a loop of B part, unable to recall how to get back to the A part. Those drops down to G don't always work very cleanly. Lack of grace notes. Generally improving.
The Braemar Gatheirng. Unhealthy attachment to dots, some stiffening of fingers, especially in the C part where I am having problems with D graces on the move from A to C.
Compliments to Roy A Chisholm. New patient, progressing well. Actually found myself humming the tune this morning for the first time and some of the repeating bars I already have by heart. A few more grace notes and a tad more speed wouldn't go amiss.
Horsburgh Castle. Diagnosis: unclear. I did wonder if actually I just don't like it, but I hum it often, and when I play it...yes, I do like it. Maybe it would sound better in A. Almost committed to memory, but regular lapses. Perhaps it's just waiting for its set-mate, Miss G.
Miss Girdle. Now she has got over her identity crisis she's recovering well. Suffering from a lack of grace notes. Slow in her movements, but gradually getting faster.
Troy's Wedding. Long term patient. A part fine and dandy. B part OK if I get the gracing right - a slightly sticky finger prolonging a grace throws me into confusion. C part either goes very well or goes too fast and goes wrong. Fingers often too tense at this point. D part - intermittent memory loss.
South Georgia Whaling Song. Tendency to go to fast and for snaps to either not appear at all or go so fast they are almost invisible. Despite ongoing attachment issues with the Cabot Trail has tendency for B part to morph into the Trail (which itself is suffering form a lack of speed control and a lack of grace notes.) It's annoying because this is a total relapse: I first played it at a session just weeks after starting to learn it.
Alick M McGregor. Much better now that I have moved from Session dots to proper dots. My problem is that whoever transcribed for the session clearly heard doublings as two notes, and wrote them as such, and I've been trying to add more grace notes, and this proliferation of notes has severely affected speed. Improving well.
The Irishman's Cudgel. Tendency to get stuck in a loop of B part, unable to recall how to get back to the A part. Those drops down to G don't always work very cleanly. Lack of grace notes. Generally improving.
The Braemar Gatheirng. Unhealthy attachment to dots, some stiffening of fingers, especially in the C part where I am having problems with D graces on the move from A to C.
Compliments to Roy A Chisholm. New patient, progressing well. Actually found myself humming the tune this morning for the first time and some of the repeating bars I already have by heart. A few more grace notes and a tad more speed wouldn't go amiss.
Sunday, 15 June 2014
Small beginnings
Some while ago now I read Kirsty Gunn's beautiful novel The Big Music and I remember being just a tad depressed by the Piping Grading Table that appears in the appendices. There are 6 levels, and by the fourth level you've still only managed to become a novice.
I was reminded of this recently while listening to the Food Programme (the 1 June 2014 episode). The programme was about knives and knife makers. There was an alarming clip of Sheila Dillon apparently closeted in a kitchen with a man with an unhealthy interest in knives who muttered "chop, chop, chop" and "Sever! Sever!" as he whipped the knives about. You could hear them cutting through the air as he wielded them and I worried for Sheila's safety.
But the point of interest was that in Japan where there are apparently some very fine knife makers, a man (apparently they are always men: no women were mentioned) may work with a master craftsman for 10 (yes: ten) years before he is allowed to become a student. After a further 14 years he moves on to become an apprentice. A far cry from the days when a boy was apprenticed at 14 to learn a trade in seven years.
It made me think how far I have come. I can play a tune on my pipes. I can play a reasonably fastish tune. I can play several tunes from memory. I can play a number of tunes one after the other without stopping to wonder what tunes I know or how they go, or having a little lie down to rest aching arms. I can play in front of other people without it being a major ordeal. I can switch between A and D chanter with reasonable ease. None of these things could I do when I collected Morag back in November 2011. In fact, some of those things I still couldn't do when I collected the Monkey just over a year ago.
I still want to use more grace notes, play better grace notes, increase my speed (while maintaining accuracy), learn more tunes and become more comfortable with playing with or for other people. I need to improve my timing. I want to be a better piper.
I was reminded of this recently while listening to the Food Programme (the 1 June 2014 episode). The programme was about knives and knife makers. There was an alarming clip of Sheila Dillon apparently closeted in a kitchen with a man with an unhealthy interest in knives who muttered "chop, chop, chop" and "Sever! Sever!" as he whipped the knives about. You could hear them cutting through the air as he wielded them and I worried for Sheila's safety.
But the point of interest was that in Japan where there are apparently some very fine knife makers, a man (apparently they are always men: no women were mentioned) may work with a master craftsman for 10 (yes: ten) years before he is allowed to become a student. After a further 14 years he moves on to become an apprentice. A far cry from the days when a boy was apprenticed at 14 to learn a trade in seven years.
It made me think how far I have come. I can play a tune on my pipes. I can play a reasonably fastish tune. I can play several tunes from memory. I can play a number of tunes one after the other without stopping to wonder what tunes I know or how they go, or having a little lie down to rest aching arms. I can play in front of other people without it being a major ordeal. I can switch between A and D chanter with reasonable ease. None of these things could I do when I collected Morag back in November 2011. In fact, some of those things I still couldn't do when I collected the Monkey just over a year ago.
I still want to use more grace notes, play better grace notes, increase my speed (while maintaining accuracy), learn more tunes and become more comfortable with playing with or for other people. I need to improve my timing. I want to be a better piper.
Friday, 6 June 2014
Adjusting
The neighbours have gone again. They only pass through for a week or so a couple of times a year. They know we are musicians. We've asked and asked and they are quite clear. Mostly they can't hear us at all, and when they can they enjoy it. Still, when I am playing and I know they are there I always imaging throwing down the TV remote and stamping downstairs to demand that I take my pipes and stick them... I have to remember that they have gone, that creaks are the floorboards settling, not the precursor to a confrontation.
I've lost a few pounds at some stage, and maybe the leather of the straps has loosened, too, but I have to take care when strapping myself in. Today it was all too loose and I ended up with a sore thumb because I was tensing fingers on the chanter to support the drooping bellows. I can fidget things round a bit while I play, but sometimes really need to stop and sort things properly before I go on.
I'm enjoying the Pickle Tow and the Cudgel, although I am having to call out "one-two-three, one-two-three" as I play to get the timing right. I've settled on the version of the Pickle with more notes, but rather missed the high A's in the opening bard of the B part. So I decided to play the B as written first time round, and second time to swap the low A's for high A's. It's sounding good. Recording to follow soon, sometime, eventually.
I've lost a few pounds at some stage, and maybe the leather of the straps has loosened, too, but I have to take care when strapping myself in. Today it was all too loose and I ended up with a sore thumb because I was tensing fingers on the chanter to support the drooping bellows. I can fidget things round a bit while I play, but sometimes really need to stop and sort things properly before I go on.
I'm enjoying the Pickle Tow and the Cudgel, although I am having to call out "one-two-three, one-two-three" as I play to get the timing right. I've settled on the version of the Pickle with more notes, but rather missed the high A's in the opening bard of the B part. So I decided to play the B as written first time round, and second time to swap the low A's for high A's. It's sounding good. Recording to follow soon, sometime, eventually.
Friday, 30 May 2014
Coincidence
I've been listening to Seadan in the car a lot, and liking all their tunes a lot. I've printed Blue Bonnets and the Wee Pickle Tow (again). Last time I think the Tow was hopeless, but this time I can get it to sound right, albeit rather slow.
Now I've got a few tunes up to warp speed slow feels...painful. I keep skipping along and tripping over things, and having to remind myself that fast has come suddenly to tunes that I've known as slow for a while. (The only irritating thing about the Cabot Trail suddenly revealing itself as a fast tune its that it has resolutely stripped out those blasted grace notes that I've worked so hard on).
Yesterday I flicked through my books looking for jigs and other fast tunes. Reels are, well, too fast, and rely too much on accurate timing, and let's not even think about strathspeys yet. Anyway, I could find nothing to take my fancy. The fan recommended a few, none of which appealed, other than The Drops of Brandy, which I've been working on. Easy peasy bar the bit that goes above high A. I have a key for a high B, but it's a challenge, especially at speed. I need to listen to how it's played on Tryst.
Anyway, I had dots out. I have two versions of the Tow - one with high A's in the second part, the other with low A's. Trying to work out which I prefer. But here's a thing: I notice that the version from the Thomas Glen Collection is followed by a brief tune called The Irishman's Cudgel, with the alternative title of The Drops of Brandy, and it is, just about, the same tune.
I've played every day since last Friday, sometimes only my chanter, and sometimes quite briefly, but I've been enjoying it. It's also preparation: I should have another month of playing every day. The fan will be away for a whole week next month and I will need something to keep me cheerful. I mustn't neglect A though: playing in D all this week to make the most of the sudden increase in tempo.
Now I've got a few tunes up to warp speed slow feels...painful. I keep skipping along and tripping over things, and having to remind myself that fast has come suddenly to tunes that I've known as slow for a while. (The only irritating thing about the Cabot Trail suddenly revealing itself as a fast tune its that it has resolutely stripped out those blasted grace notes that I've worked so hard on).
Yesterday I flicked through my books looking for jigs and other fast tunes. Reels are, well, too fast, and rely too much on accurate timing, and let's not even think about strathspeys yet. Anyway, I could find nothing to take my fancy. The fan recommended a few, none of which appealed, other than The Drops of Brandy, which I've been working on. Easy peasy bar the bit that goes above high A. I have a key for a high B, but it's a challenge, especially at speed. I need to listen to how it's played on Tryst.
Anyway, I had dots out. I have two versions of the Tow - one with high A's in the second part, the other with low A's. Trying to work out which I prefer. But here's a thing: I notice that the version from the Thomas Glen Collection is followed by a brief tune called The Irishman's Cudgel, with the alternative title of The Drops of Brandy, and it is, just about, the same tune.
I've played every day since last Friday, sometimes only my chanter, and sometimes quite briefly, but I've been enjoying it. It's also preparation: I should have another month of playing every day. The fan will be away for a whole week next month and I will need something to keep me cheerful. I mustn't neglect A though: playing in D all this week to make the most of the sudden increase in tempo.
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