First posted Jun 1st, 2012 by newpiper
The fan is at a session and much as I like to be
with him when it’s a choice between sitting in a corner watching other people
play and actually playing myself there’s not much competition, especially as I
find that watching other people play really makes me want to play.
I’m again being reminded of the difference between
a chanter and pipes. The chanter is for dull and dreary practice and the pipes
are an instrument on which you play and that play just happens to be practice.
On the chanter more than twice through a tune drove me mad. I've spent nearly
two hours so far this evening on just two tunes over and over. I flip between
the two to give myself some variety and also because I find sometimes when I
begin on the Highlanders I find I am actually playing Nigel’s Tune. Yes,
dotless! I still need to glance at the dots to remind me which order things
come in, but it’s coming. Listening to lots of versions online. And that’s what
I am posting this evening*. Not the best – have still fluffed notes and timing,
but that’s more red button-itis than any lack of ability. I also garble some of
the faster parts - I sort of gabble them out at speed and it's not quite right.
But look at the timing – run through twice in the same time that Nigel plays it**, so my speed is coming along
well! I feel I could put some nice ornamentation in this, but the basics and
the speed aren't leaving room for experimentation at present.
What I can’t get is the order of the phrase
for part four of the highlanders. Will need the fan to run through it again for
me.
Oh – and spot the difference. Playing with the full
three drones tonight. The fan says it adds a layer of harmony and makes it
sound more GHB-ish. It sounds a bit out of tune to me – and quite probably one
or more drone is adrift, as I have no fan on tuning duty tonight.
*The first attempt a month ago here, and I do feel there's some
serious improvement since the last time.
**Mysteriously added a few seconds between
transferring off the recorder and converting from wav to mp3. Still close
though when you remove the faffing about at each end.
Recording - Halsway Schottische. Two version on the old blog - just one retrieved, not sure which this is!
Halsway Schottische on Chirbit
Ramblings of an easily distracted learner piper
Monday, 3 December 2012
Three Things I Learned Today
First posted May 31st, 2012 by newpiper
1. You can't play pipes straight after dinner. The
bellows strap sits right on top of your dinner in a gastric band type set-up -
not comfortable.
2. You need to warm up - the best doesn't happen in
the first 15 minutes or so.
3. Parts three and four of the Highlanders.
Technically I already knew part three. I'd learned from dots and somehow it
didn't sound right - and certainly wasn't what the fan was playing when he
decided to accompany me this evening. He has told me that I should go with the
tune as I hear it in preference to dots, but I still trust dots more. He
played, I listened, he played, I asked for names of notes, he played, I played.
And that was it! I learned part of tune in the proper oral/aural style.
The fan says I look relaxed with my pipes, and also
that I am getting better. I point out that when you start at rock bottom it is
only possible to go up (or bump along the bottom forever - but let's not, as
they say, even go there). And I have still only been playing six months.
My Home Town Revisited
First posted May 27th, 2012 by newpiper
The fan has been out at a pre-gig practice session today, so I’ve had the place to myself. I’ve played for about an hour over an hour and a half period and it has again gone really well. I am tantalisingly close to nailing That Tune. How close? One record button away from it – not perfect pretty much every time, but as soon as I hit record I fluff. I’m pleased with the tempo, although I would like to get some gracenoting in and don’t seem to be managing that at the moment.
The Highlanders are coming on nicely although I really do need to concentrate.
This is a rerun of My Home Town, which, as the composer was John MacLellan, must be a tune about Dumfermline. The timing needs to improve and those D throws! They are so slow and clunk by a note at a time. There should also be grip on the B in the second part, but for some reason I don’t seem to be able to play that at all. Odd, as grips normally work well for me, although I am most comfortable with them on C. I've also chickened out of the strike on D because I have never managed to get that to sound like a grace note. Not note perfect, but otherwise sounding OK, I thought. I wish I'd repeated the whole tune the second time, but I was getting tired and wanted to quit while it was OK. A heap better than last time, certainly.
Oh – I’m not sure about the tuning of my drones. Not easy to tune with one hand and I normally get the fan to help. They don’t sound quite right: when I try each drone in turn they seem OK, but as soon as they are both going (I only use the two As) with the chanter something sounds adrift.
Recording - My Home Town.
My Home Town on Chirbit
The fan has been out at a pre-gig practice session today, so I’ve had the place to myself. I’ve played for about an hour over an hour and a half period and it has again gone really well. I am tantalisingly close to nailing That Tune. How close? One record button away from it – not perfect pretty much every time, but as soon as I hit record I fluff. I’m pleased with the tempo, although I would like to get some gracenoting in and don’t seem to be managing that at the moment.
The Highlanders are coming on nicely although I really do need to concentrate.
This is a rerun of My Home Town, which, as the composer was John MacLellan, must be a tune about Dumfermline. The timing needs to improve and those D throws! They are so slow and clunk by a note at a time. There should also be grip on the B in the second part, but for some reason I don’t seem to be able to play that at all. Odd, as grips normally work well for me, although I am most comfortable with them on C. I've also chickened out of the strike on D because I have never managed to get that to sound like a grace note. Not note perfect, but otherwise sounding OK, I thought. I wish I'd repeated the whole tune the second time, but I was getting tired and wanted to quit while it was OK. A heap better than last time, certainly.
Oh – I’m not sure about the tuning of my drones. Not easy to tune with one hand and I normally get the fan to help. They don’t sound quite right: when I try each drone in turn they seem OK, but as soon as they are both going (I only use the two As) with the chanter something sounds adrift.
Recording - My Home Town.
My Home Town on Chirbit
Cooking with Gas
First posted May 25th, 2012 by newpiper
I was persuaded by the Fan to play this evening, despite the fact that it's Friday, I'm tired, it has been rather warm, and I've had two glasses of wine. I had very low expectations, and perhaps it was that, or perhaps the wine clouded my judgement, but this evening things went very well indeed. I had good steady pressure, I remembered notes and played them in the right order at a decent speed. Both the Highlanders and That Tune sounded very good indeed.
I did fiddle with my bellows strap as I've finally worked out the it's the strap itself dropping down my arm that rubs in the crook of my elbow. I tightened it up and ended up with it pinching my upper arm instead.
Of course I didn't even get the recorder out, so you have to take my word for it.
I was persuaded by the Fan to play this evening, despite the fact that it's Friday, I'm tired, it has been rather warm, and I've had two glasses of wine. I had very low expectations, and perhaps it was that, or perhaps the wine clouded my judgement, but this evening things went very well indeed. I had good steady pressure, I remembered notes and played them in the right order at a decent speed. Both the Highlanders and That Tune sounded very good indeed.
I did fiddle with my bellows strap as I've finally worked out the it's the strap itself dropping down my arm that rubs in the crook of my elbow. I tightened it up and ended up with it pinching my upper arm instead.
Of course I didn't even get the recorder out, so you have to take my word for it.
Sunny Day Blues
First posted May 23rd, 2012 by newpiper
I passed a dead cat on my way to work this morning
and it rather put the kibosh on my day, so that despite the glorious weather
I've not felt at all cheerful. I thought perhaps some music would cheer me up,
but it only made things worse. I feel I am stuck in a bit of a downward spiral.
I don't practice for a while...I pick up the pipes and am rusty... I'm unhappy
with my playing so I don't feel inclined to play again...when I pick them up
again I am even rustier...things go badly...repeat. I must practice more.
The fan says I'm sounding fluent. Unfortunately I'm
not hitting the right notes. The Highlanders are infuriating because I
know three parts by heart and as soon as I speed up my fingers run ahead and I
hit wrong notes. I tried That Tune and kept losing the place for my bottom
hand, a problem I've only ever had playing this tune, oddly. Recording is of
the Highlanders again - it's a mess but a reasonable speed.
One thing that is getting better is stopping. The
answer is not to leave the bag to run down towards the end, but to end with a
fullish bag so I can hit a good, firm, longish final note and then just cut by
taking my arm smartly away, avoiding any hissing, mooing or sighing sounds.
Having said that I manage an odd squeak on this recording, and I still can't
start cleanly for toffee.
The fan says I ought not to write another
suicidally dismal post. So on a happier note I can confirm that several
seedlings in the greenhouse have been persuaded to sprout by this warmer
weather. Let's not mention the fact that I didn't label the pots, relying on
position to remind me what they were, and then rearranged them while watering
one day so have no idea which are what....
Recording - Atholl Highlanders. Status: lost.
Dandelions
First posted May 22nd, 2012 by newpiper
Another period without playing. I played two tunes at the session on Sunday before last. Much as I enjoyed going the first time the session is changing in nature as it grows and it makes less sense for me to be there. I don’t think I’ll go again, so if I want to play with other people then I do need to get some tunes up to scratch – dotless and a decent speed. After the session I had my knitting deadline, which I miserably failed to hit, so I still have knitting to do, and one day has been lost due to arm ache following a blood test. I can’t work out why having blood taken should make your arm ache for a day, but it does. I did manage half an hour on Sunday evening and it didn’t go too badly, and I actually felt – if it hadn’t been dinner time – that I could have gone on because I felt I was breaking through the tiredness. At least these days I am primed to know what bad habits tiredness and lack of practice cause - like pumping madly instead of putting pressure through from my bag arm – so I can watch out for those things and avoid them or adjust them. Today is band practice which means everyone gets to play music all evening, except me. I’ll be down the allotment addressing my dandelion problem.
Another period without playing. I played two tunes at the session on Sunday before last. Much as I enjoyed going the first time the session is changing in nature as it grows and it makes less sense for me to be there. I don’t think I’ll go again, so if I want to play with other people then I do need to get some tunes up to scratch – dotless and a decent speed. After the session I had my knitting deadline, which I miserably failed to hit, so I still have knitting to do, and one day has been lost due to arm ache following a blood test. I can’t work out why having blood taken should make your arm ache for a day, but it does. I did manage half an hour on Sunday evening and it didn’t go too badly, and I actually felt – if it hadn’t been dinner time – that I could have gone on because I felt I was breaking through the tiredness. At least these days I am primed to know what bad habits tiredness and lack of practice cause - like pumping madly instead of putting pressure through from my bag arm – so I can watch out for those things and avoid them or adjust them. Today is band practice which means everyone gets to play music all evening, except me. I’ll be down the allotment addressing my dandelion problem.
Tunes to Knit With
First posted May 14th, 2012 by newpiper
No piping - knitting to a deadline. I can listen as I knit - I've just bought Mike Katz's Month of Sundays. To be honest I'm rather disappointed with it. I'm not a mad fan of the Battlefield Band (although I saw them live a year or two back), but a nice clip on YouTube of Mr Katz playing smallpipes persuaded me. Sadly, the SSP only get a look in on once track. Many of the tunes just seem very fast, and although fast can be fun and impressive I feel you miss so much when a tune flies past. The last couple of tracks seem to have an odd ringing like a doorbell in the background. I am sure the guitarist is a fine musician, but to my mind heavy guitar work adds nothing to pipes, especially when the guitar sounds very close, and the pipes as though Mike was out the back of the studio.
I'm still mostly listening to Sealbh, Tryst, Smalltalk and the Carrying Stream. Between us the fan and I own a lot of CDs - not all of them folk, by any means - but if the place was burning down these are the four I would want to grab right now.
No piping - knitting to a deadline. I can listen as I knit - I've just bought Mike Katz's Month of Sundays. To be honest I'm rather disappointed with it. I'm not a mad fan of the Battlefield Band (although I saw them live a year or two back), but a nice clip on YouTube of Mr Katz playing smallpipes persuaded me. Sadly, the SSP only get a look in on once track. Many of the tunes just seem very fast, and although fast can be fun and impressive I feel you miss so much when a tune flies past. The last couple of tracks seem to have an odd ringing like a doorbell in the background. I am sure the guitarist is a fine musician, but to my mind heavy guitar work adds nothing to pipes, especially when the guitar sounds very close, and the pipes as though Mike was out the back of the studio.
I'm still mostly listening to Sealbh, Tryst, Smalltalk and the Carrying Stream. Between us the fan and I own a lot of CDs - not all of them folk, by any means - but if the place was burning down these are the four I would want to grab right now.
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