International Bagpipe Day

I was slightly bemused to receive two unexpected phone calls this morning from people who had spotted bagpipe things happening and thought of me. The mystery was solved at Slack Folk where I discovered it was International Bagpipe Day. So when I got home I had to get the pipes out and I spent a relatively happy hour playing through various bits. Mostly Dusty Pipes and The Golden Birch, some scales, then for fun I ran through a few old chanter tunes: the Skye Boat Song, Auld Lang Syne and Amazing Grace. They sounded rather good, although I think a lot of that was due to a change in playing venue. As the cat was out (he does not like pipes!) I played in the sitting room instead of the bedroom. The acoustics are such that the pipes, especially the drones, really sang. At least - they did from where I was sitting! I continue to struggle with the octupus. Last time I played I had a good attempt at dislocating my thumb: I find I'm tensing the thumb of my right hand against the chanter. I don't know why, and I didn't do it today, and I hadn't done it for a while. It's not good, if only because it hurts. Today I felt utterly cramped by the bellows strap, which made my back ache. I always use the same hole in the strap, so it's inexplicable. I've had a couple of sessions where the drones have really rather irritated me, literally droning on in my ear. I've asked my fan to check the tuning, but that's been fine. Once I blocked them off, they were so distracting and irritating, but the last session they were fine, and today, as I said, they sang. Today's tune, in a nod to the International aspect of the day, is Swedish: it's Poslka efter Carl Magnusson. Played much faster, and more Swedishly, on Swedish pipes here. Happy International Bagpipe day!