Missing

Missing the fan. He'll be back the day after tomorrow.

Missing the 27 degrees and glorious sun we were promised today. Where is the summer? I've had to stop playing tonight because my hands are too cold. (I need to knit fingerless mitts for piping in).

Missing the end of the first part of the Cudgel. I had it, but it has gone AWOL today. Lost the dots, too, so couldn't even check.

Missed a day's playing yesterday. Something big and unexpected cropped up at work this week to go with all the big and expected stuff. I got home late and after dinner I spent an hour an a half at the plot and after that I was very tired and curled up with a book and a cup of tea until it got dark and I went to bed.

Missing the fan. Did I already mention that? Only two more sleeps and he'll be home again.

The doctor will see you now...

For headache, loneliness (first whole day of the fan being away), weltschmerz, depression and a bad day at work we recommend one hour of tying in tomatoes, watering cabbages and picking strawberries, and half an hour of lovely pipe playing.

Works every time.

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.

The Pickled Cudgel

The fan was out this evening, and I didn't need to cook dinner until late, which gave me time to scoot to the plot and also grab the recorder and play. This recording is just as it happened: no bits taken off either end. I played better over the course of the session, as ever. I don't seem to be playing as fast today. I forgot the high A's on the B part of the Pickle first time round, and got lost with the timing of the Cudgel. Poor fingering/gracing on the repeated low A's in the Pickle and somehow fluffed the final bars of both parts of the Cudgel every time. At least I'm consistent!

No drones as no fan to tune them.

The fan will be on his annual trip next week so expect to see more of me here, hopefully with more recordings, unless I get distracted, of course.


Check this out on Chirbit

I'm a believer

More miracles. I switch to A for the first time in over a week, at least, and I have no problems at all. I go straight into tunes. The pressure in the bag is higher, but that's just A. My little finger had to stretch, but it did, and there wasn't a problem.

I played some slow and sedate A tunes, then tried for the Captain, missed, and hit the Cabot Trail at speed. It has become a myth that I can only play D at speed. Myth is precisely what it is: not true at all.

I switched briefly to D and had a go at Pickle and Cudgel (how does The Pickled Cudgel sound as a set name? I'm bagging that for the first album...!) I had to start 3 bars in with the Pickle, but managed it in the end. The Cudgel is going to need more work, but is nearly ready.

Gatecrashers

I missed playing yesterday. We had guests for the weekend and I spent what little morning there was before they arrived making dessert for the evening, making up the bed, cleaning the bathroom etc, and ran out of time to play.

This evening I started with the Pickle and the Cudgel: both coming on nicely. Still with the dots but feeling they are just there for decoration at this point. After that I played five in a row: Magersfontein, Dargai, Bee, Flett...and I've forgotten which else.

The I played something familiar that was in my head. I though perhaps it was Murray, so tried and failed for the B part of that. Played the A part of Murray instead. Ran into the Barren Rocks by accident at the end and on to the B part f that. Back to Murray and on again to the mystery tune, which turned out to be the Dragon. None perfect,  but clearly they are all floating around despite my decision to drop them. And clearly they seem to work together, if only by association.

Then the Captain, McIntyre's Farewell, the King, the Cabot Trail (but maybe this was my fifth tune?), Troy, Coggeshall Fair (one of the two tunes written for us), Amazing Grace. A bit of foot tapping, intermittently: some of it distracted me as I followed my foot rather than the tune.

All in D, though. droneless. I must work with drones, with A. I must record.

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.