newpiper

Leaving Barra

Maybe it’s because we had a spot of evening sun, or because it’s Friday and the fan will be home the day after tomorrow...or maybe it’s the sauvignon blanc, but I’m feeling a stack more cheerful today.
Still fiddling about with the new tunes, and enjoying them all very much. Sadly none of them seem inclined to sit together to make a set of any sort, and the Wedding, being fast, is going to take lots of work.
On a bit of a roll – I keep meaning to stop, but everything feels very good and sounds good, and I keep thinking I’ll just run through one more tune... I should stop - it’s nearly 10pm.
Oh - confession time. Bit the bullet earlier and sent an email to Mr Kinnear...

Castle Dangerous

It was only yesterday that I was thinking how my connector tube never pops out any more and I must have grown out of it....so you can guess what happened this evening! Also I really need to rest my bellows arm and make my bag arm work. Apart from anything else the Hunchback of Notre Dame With a Twitch routine makes my shoulders ache. Drones still bad and the more I fiddle with them the worse they get.
Just playing through my new tunes. Also parts 3 and 4 of those blasted Highlanders. Part 3 feeling less like a load of notes and more like a tune. Also working on Troy’s Wedding. Not complicated – just the timing for those GDEs on A and then B to get that tripping dadada DAH-da. The G on C then DEG on A is tricksy. Worth persevering with though – I like this one.
Today’s tune is Castle Dangerous with those lovely low Gs that just buzz. No grace notes other than a few throws on D. I should try a some, but I think I like this one simple. It needs another tune to go with it. I wonder if Troy’s wedding would fit....

The Barren Rocks of Aden

Home late this evening, and while dinner was cooking I had a poke about the internet, remembering I wanted to play Castle Dangerous. Found a nice website belonging to Kilbarchan Pipe Band. I’ve taken The Barren Rocks of Aden (one on my pipe tunes CD), Castle Dangerous and Leaving Barra – all nice clean and clear versions – some online pipe music is a bit scruffy, somehow, and hard to read.
Castle Dangerous looked very easy, considering it’s one you hear competition bands play. Then I worked out why – those low Gs. They sound great, but getting all your fingers cleanly down and then back up again is no laughing matter. Actually dropping down isn’t too bad – it’s getting up again that’s a bit of an undignified scramble. Other than that, not too bad. I need to think (as I always do) which grace notes are worth keeping and which can go.
Leaving Barra is new to me – I don’t recall having heard it before, but it’s rather nice. The Barren Rocks is what I’ve recorded – horrendous red-button-itis today so this is the best of a bad bunch. I’ve stripped all the gracing out, so it really is barren! The usual hesitancy, drones out of tune, but otherwise not bad considering this evening is the first time I’ve ever played it.
Problems – I’m wearing short sleeves, so the usual rubbing on my arm. I’m starting to think of the resulting mark as Morag’s love bite. I’m also rocking a bit between bag and bellows, although I can’t be doing it too much as that tends to make the connector tube flip out.
I’ve not played for very long – phone call interruption for mum in need of a recipe for apricots (frangipane tart, natch), phone call from my sister about stuff, and I've got one ear open for the fan calling. Little and often is good, though.

Vintage Pipes

Well, I've been out to see some "real" pipes today - pipes bands at Scotland in Colchester. The marching and the tartan and the drums are all very exciting, but I am glad to be playing smallpipes instead. I don't really want to be marching and having other people choose my tunes and my gracenotes for me. Still, I did come back inspired to play Green Hills and also to look for dots for Castle Dangerous.
We've been visiting family and friends and Morag and I have been on display, showing what we can do. To order, with an audience, the answer is not a lot at all. I struggled horribly with those blasted Highlanders. I did offer several people a go, which is rather alarming as drones collapse and one managed to come out altogether. Luckily Morag is quite robust, and if it doesn't inspire people to play at least they will now know what Scottish Smallpipes are.
The really great thing about handing Morag over to someone else is to see them struggle. This isn't quite as mean as it sounds. They asked how to hold the chanter, whether there was a thumb hole, how the straps go, whether they needed to keep pumping. Some confidently got three or four notes out before running out of air, most only managed to get sound from the drones, and anyone giving it more than a cursory go declared themselves exhausted after a minute or two. But that was me - just six months ago. I had to keep wondering how to hold it and where to put things, and then tired out before I'd begun. Now I can play tunes that are recognisable, and I can keep going over a period of time. I could still spend the rest of this evening and most of the coming week listing my faults and the things I can't do, but I have improved. I'm not a total newbie any more. I'm a beginner piper.
Two tunes today - both by Vicki - Vintage Puget and Dusty Pipes. I think they go nicely together. Too much pumping means wavery drones, and I'm a little hesitant in parts. I managed to chuck in some strikes as variation on the endless G grace, which was good.

Schhh...you know which shottische

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.

My Home Town revisited

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 tantalising 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 becasue 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.

Sunny day blues

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....

My Home Town

Not going well today. I thought I'd avoid practising to get my speed up and just potter about learning My Home Town - a very lovely tune I know from Tryst and for which I found the dots on Ian Kinnear's website. There seems to be a howling gale around my chanter, which must mean my fingers aren't cleanly on the holes. My grace notes are slow and ragged. But the worst is that in order to get a steady flow of air I seem to be having to pump like billyo with both arms, twitching and hunching and generally giving myself shoulder-ache - something I've not done for ages, and that I really thought I had got past.)
I've been lurking about Mr Kinnear's website, admiring - not to say lusting after - his very beautiful pipes. I love Morag a lot, of course I do, but she seems to be much more robust than the other pipes I've tried (practice pipes by Richard Evans, and smallpipes by the legendary Hamish and Fin Moore, both sets belonging to Vicki). I wonder if other pipes might be less physical effort. My pipes are lovely, but not made by a player, and the person who makes and puts in the reeds and sets them up is primarily a Great Highland Piper, so I just wonder if that affects the set-up. It's a shame it's not possible to walk into a music shop, or a maker's workshop, and try several out, as I know the fan has done with his various instruments.
My pipes have a lovely tone - lots of people have commented on it (and I suspect these recordings don't do justice to it). They look good too. I've also only had them five months (not that I have any thought of getting rid of them - only adding to them). Still, I don't need to rush into anything: Mr Kinnear has a waiting list, and there is the small matter of saving up. I'm just window shopping... At the moment I don't feel I play well enough to do justice to a really lovely set of pipes. Today I didn't even do justice to Morag. Sorry Morag.

Polska efter Carl Magnusson - take two

No piping yesterday. Today I've clocked up perhaps and hour and a half in two sessions, but I've been concentrating on getting my speed up,and it's been exhausting. Still working on That Tune, Carl Magnusson,the Roros Polskan and the Atholl Highlanders.
I've been over and over that fast run down in the Roros. I think I've mostly eliminated the crossing noises between the G and E and the F and D, but I've picked one up between the D and E. I'm certainly getting faster, though - the fan particularly noticed and put it down to my last long session.
I thought I was picking up speed on That Tune and that it was sounding quite fast and lively, although not quite note perfect, but when I listen to my recordings (which I'm not posting) it sounds creaky, tentative, slow, and full of errors.
The Highlanders creak along. Just started to learn the third part, and looking in trepidation at the fourth part as it seems to have extra sharps scattered about and I don't know whether those are notes I can play, except that it's a pipe tune and I play pipes, so surely....
I've noticed the fingers of my top hand curling and a tendency to use finger pads. Not sure how long this has been going on. Inclined to blame the whistle. I always think you can tell a piper who plays whistles because of their flat fingers, but clearly my fingers' memory for whistling is longer than that for piping and they are reverting to type.
I do partly blame the way my fingers are made - my ring fingers are over a knuckle longer than my pinkies, my middle finger is half a knuckle longer than my ring finger, and - on my left hand - whole knuckle longer than my index finger.
Anyway, today's recording is take two. First recorded for international piping day just under two months ago and practising again in readiness for the Scandi session a week today. I feel as though I am holding the last note for ages, but it sounds too short, too abrupt a finish still. Some hesitancy on the second part - the previous attempt to record involved not finding the holes when my fingers came back down after the As, so I was feeling wary of them. However - just look at the difference in timing between the two recordings - this new one knocks 18 seconds off the previous one - actual real live measurable evidence of improvement, thank heaven.

Mystery solved

I think I've discovered why I have problems learning tunes. The simple answer is that I don't have any problem at all. Yesterday evening I sat down with vitual Kirsten and learned I'll tell me Ma. I had a quick refresher with her when I got home this evening and can now play the tune, correctly, reasonably quickly, and by heart. I've not even looked at the dots. So it's clearly possible - what stops me?
What stops me, I discover, is my mind wandering. When I knit - and this is one of the joys of knitting for me - my fingers get busy and my mind wanders off into a little world of its own. It thinks about the music or episode of Paul Temple I'm listening to, it wonders about the next knitting project, planting plans, things to eat, stuff at work, the state of the planet and so on. I've been knitting for over 30 years, on and off, and generally speaking my fingers carry on without supervision, providing the pattern is simple or has repeated enough times. After a while though, especially if there is any variation in the pattern, my fingers we will send an SOS to my mind. "Pants," they say. "We've screwed up. That last bit we did there felt all wrong". So my mind comes back, looks at what my fingers have done, checks the pattern, says a few rude words, and fixes it.
Playing my pipes recently I realised that my fingers were busy...but my mind had gone. It wasn't listening to the music, it was busy considering life, the universe, and everything. My fingers are up to the usual SOS alerts, but, as with the knitting, aren't organised enough on their own to fix it. Clearly the tune has sunk in to some extent, othewise I'd stop the moment my mind wandered, but I've only got a broad brush view of the tune, no details, unless I refer to dots.
When I learn a tune from Virtual Kirsten my mind gets no chance to nip out for a crafty tea break - it has to stay on the ball. When I play from dots my mind checks stuff out, briefs my fingers, and then wanders off, leaving my fingers to get on with it themselves. So all I need to do is find some way of tying of my mind down, keeping its eye on the ball.
Today's practice - one perfect run through of That Tune. Total failure to play any of half a dozen other tunes. Total failure to play That Tune a second time. Problems with too much pressure, arm aching, connector tube. This is my third ever run through of The Rowan Tree - with dots. It's awful. Bad day. I give up: knitting calls.