IN THIS ISSUE "Swarm of Drones"(3): Hamish Moore on Reeds(5): Dixon Errata(7): Oiling Your Pipes(8): Smallpipes in the Wilderness(9): Melrose 2002(11): Hats off to Habbie Simson(12): Web Things(18): Harmonics and Drone Tuning (20): Piper Profiles - Andy May Allan Macdonald (31): Burns Supper(39): Competition(40): : Reviews(44): X-word Second Annual "Swarm of Drones" Bagpipe Weekend Allison Campbell s report on the meeting that took place in Vancouver in July last year was unable to be included in the December 2001 EDITORIAL The LBPS Melrose weekend in May was The Warksbum Piping Centre which Common Stock, another success - see elsewhere in this is funded by the EU through Northern but s ince another journal. In April the inauguration of a Arts is due to open this summer, Ray . such meeting is weekend of Scottish smallpipe and tells me, and it is dedicated to scheduled for " The idea right now is Border pipe tuition took place in the Bellows-pipes. August this year, to be a visitor centre Midlands. There were 19 candidates, and that it is going it is appropriate to Ian Clapburn (the organiser) writes: "By for tourists as well as a venue for include it now. the end of the weekend, everyone had a. bellows pipe enthusiasts with recitals and courses. The big plan for next couple of new tunes under their belts and With pipers in the stairwell, pipers in the parking lot, and reed shavings littering the the Border pipers had discovered the joys year, and subsequent years, is to hold an annual Bellowspipe Summer tables, the second annual `Swarm of Drones alternative bagpipe weekend workshop of harmony playing. I hope to repeat the died with a commitment from organizer Rob Macdonald to make it an annual event. event next year." School in Wark with courses in Uilleann Pipes, Scottish smallpipes, About 35 musicians from both sides of the border and from across the water met on the UBC campus in Vancouver for workshops and presentations, informal discussions, and Take note all pipe-makers, prosperity Northumbrian smallpipes and S aturday night concert at the ANZA Club. may be just around the corner. Ray Lowland [Border] pipes." Sloan passed me a letter he received in April, and I quote: "We have been A big welcome to Nigel Bridges who The alternative refers to the bellows-blown feature of the instruments featured that retained as a global marketing and has joined the editorial staff (!) as weekend. The Northumbrian smallpipes, Scottish smallpipes, border, and uillean pipes - sourcing people...... One of our clients Deputy Editor. My desk in south east are all filled by the player pumping a bellows with one arm, holding the bag beneath the requires bulk products of pipes as per the England being rather remote, he will other. They are generally smaller and quieter than their highland cousins, with a wider attached sheet for Riyadah. We request co-ordinate day-to-day CS matters as musical range, and as Rob Macdonald noted, the players are generally encouraged to you to please send us your most they arise in Scotland. express more interpretation and variation than they are in Highland piping. competitive offer...... " ! Jock Agnew [email protected] Invited guests returning from last year included pipemaker Rob Moore from Vancouver Island: Robin Beck imported from Scotland with his high-tech aluminium pipes; and musician and teacher Dick Hensold from Minnesota. New guests included Jock Agnew, Editor of the Lowland and Border Pipers Society magazine Common Stock. John Liestman, pipemaker, teacher, and author of Northumbrian Small Pipes Tutor, and Martin Nolan, one of Irelands foremost uillean pipers. 3 Collogue 2001 - HAMISH MOOREs TALK ON REEDS Friday was a meet-and-greet session on Granville Island. Saturday and Sunday were given over to workshops benefitting players at all levels, as well as private and group Illustrated with slides, and with samples of cane being passed around as instruction. Reedmaking and maintenance, improvisation and harmony, the border pipes what to look for and avoid, the informal atmosphere allowed idiom, and the Dixon manuscript were among the topics presented. There was music in examples of questions and mini-discussions to develop, as well as opinions from the every corner, and the caring, enthusiastic atmosphere was especially welcomed by those who lacked other pipers in their community with whom to practise. audience...

The Saturday night concert featured Dick Hensold and Martin Nolan. It opened with a Hamish made it clear from the start that he favours cane for both chanter and guest appearance by the local Kits Point Rapper Sword Team, dancing to pipes for the drone reeds. He explained that he buys in bulk, selects his own, and has, first time. Robin Becks rousing playing suited the fast-paced footwork and intricate over the years, built up sufficient experience to recognise and avoid the many figures made by their interlocking swords. pitfalls in the process of selecting good cane.

Hensold, whose background includes studies in baroque and classical music, followed The species used is, of course, arundo donax. Other names for the plant the dance performance with his array of pipes, including Northumbrian smallpipes, r include Giant Reed and Persian Bamboo. The bark can be so hard it will give Swedish sackpipa, and a reconstructed medieval set. His shoulder injury may have off sparks when struck with an axe. It is the most flexible plant in the world, hampered a lesser musician, but Hensold, as creative technically as he is musically, had Hamish claimed, with the facility of being able to be bent double and still rigged a foot pump (think `camping gear) to inflate the bag and carried on without recover - a trait which is important in reed making. missing a beat. He played a short set with singer Louise Crossley, impressing listeners with how well the Northumbrian smallpipes balance and blend with other voices and Acquiring suitable (and indeed sufficient) arundo for reed making can, instruments. Michael Korchonoff set aside his own pipes to accompany Hensold on sometimes, be difficult if not complicated. Prior to World War Two there was guitar for an instrumental set. so much available that choice of quality was huge. However during the war it was used for camouflage, which meant that after hostilities ceased it became Martin Nolan took the second half of the concert solo, giving the audience a wonderful (and remained) in short supply. chance to witness the range and versatility of the uillean pipes in a masters hands. A Dubliner with twenty years of piping to his credit, his playing exhibited a great deal of Arundo donax is cultivated around the world, but its characteristics, Hamish legato, characteristic of the travellers style. With musical colours ranging from sombre explained, vary with climate, soil, harvesting techniques and storage to jaunty, his playing seemed effortless. Along with Agnew and Hensold, Nolan also practices. The three main areas of procurement for reed making are: gave private tutorial sessions throughout the two-day session. California, France and Spain. Physical characteristics vary from area to area. The second annual `Swarm of Drones alternative bagpipe workshop provided a chance for musicians across the continent to jam, share ideas and resources, check out music Only of the total French crop is available for reeds (oboe, clarinet, books, tapes, and tutorials, and catch up on piping news. Its welcoming atmosphere and bassoon, bagpipes etc), the lions share going to make fishing rods and busy schedule sent musicians home with new ideas and approaches recharged their furniture. These manufacturers can purchase the stuff by the hectare and so dedication. control the market.

Next "Swarm of Drones" weekend is planned for August 17 and 18. Pipers of all The age of the cane is important. As it ages the walls get thicker and thicker, persuasions are welcome, so mark it on your calendar now. so the optimum age for reed making is no more than three years, and during the time of storage the moisture conterft varies.

For Sale - English Great Pipes, by Julian Goodacre in plum with boxwood mounts. Flutes and mounts The first consideration is how hard the cane is. When selecting for drone hand carved and truly unique. Beautiful tone. Pristine condition. Malcolm Stevenson 01262 676398 reeds, for instance, squeezing the cane as hard as possible between thumb 4 and forefinger should fail to collapse the cane. 5 In the same way that wine has good and poor vintages, so cane can vary from location to location and year to year. There is not a lot of quality control at source, so a large order is best divided between several suppliers - to hedge ones bets.

The time of harvest can affect the quality too. Frost exposure is beneficial; for example harvesting at full moon is important.

Careful selection, Hamish explained, can mean that good reeds are produced as a matter of routine. Since bellows pipes reeds are scraped to become thinner than those used in any other instrument, top quality is vital.

For chanter reeds the hardness of the cane is important. One test that Hamish showed us was to tape the cane and see how it rings. Another is to use the thumb-naila deep to try and score a mark on the outer bark: if it leaves groove, then the cane is probably no good. There are specialised hardness testing machines for more accurate result -

Finally the relative costs were mentioned. Cane suitable for drone reeds Vertical storage Vertical storage at (which are about 5mm in diameter) costs, per Kg, five or six times that used of wild cane cane producers for chanter reeds.

In closing Hamish said that Andy Hunter (one time chairman of the LBPS) is setting up a business to supply cane for pipe and reed makers in Scotland.

6 7 OILING YOUR PIPES Colin Ross SMALL PIPES IN THE WILDERNESS

Most woodwind instruments require moisture in the bores to get the best tone David V. Kennedy has been battling the climate of California to keep his smallpipes possible together with volume, steadiness of pitch and tuning. This happens playing in tune - or even just playing! This is not the first time that the pages of naturally with mouth blown instruments such as the Highland pipes and there is a Common Stock have carried such problems (and solutions). See Common Stock playing-in period while the vapour from the lungs lines the bores with moisture to Volume 6 No. 1. produce the best quality of sound. What is happening is that the sound vibrations are being encouraged to bounce back from the bore walls instead of being absorbed into the wood therefore allowing the frequencies being produced by the A small Piper who is serious about playing his instrument in California needs to take reeds to escape into the air to be heard clearly in the ear of the listener. The main into account the vagaries of our weather. In the interior valleys during the summer problem with the mouth blown instruments is to get rid of the surplus moisture time temperatures often reach to 104 degrees Fahrenheit plus 10% relative humidity, while and after playing whereas with the bellows blown instruments it is a and coastal climate at the same time mean temperatures of 65 degrees Fahrenheit, problem of getting moisture in at all. I suppose the player of the bellows blown relative humidity 70 % to 100 % with blowing winds drizzle and fog. The piobair pipes could wet the bores with water but this would dry out fairly quickly and also must realise that in all of the USA there is no organised smallpipe society so the worse still might get on to the reeds with disastrous results. The solution is to use player is on his or her own. an oil of some sort which would last for a period of time to coat the surface of the bores and also impregnate the wood to improve the tone, etc. A number of piob mhor pipers own a variety of smallpipes, but few know how to set them up to play at a professional level. I suspect that the most popular model Over some years (coming up to forty now) I have used a variety of oils on my currently is the shuttle pipe in A. pipes starting with olive oil and progressing through neatsfoot oil to the latest one which is liquid paraffin (mineral oil), described as a liquid form of petroleum jelly I own four sets of the piob bheag: in the dictionary. 1) a 1987 B flat blackwood bellows Heriot and Allan, traditionally reeded with arundo donax The olive oil is fine on wood but, as it goes sticky over time, it is not suitable for reeds and added extra top note keyed. Bag is elkhide. the drone slides especially as it seems to rot the cotton thread, and if used for key 2) a D modal mouth-blown Shepherd, blackwood, made in 1998. Drone reeds black pads on chanters not suitable for the same reason. Remember I am talking of the plastic casings with white plastic tongues. Chanter reed white plastic with affixed effect over a long time like tens of years not just a year or two. The pipes on my bridle above wrappings, wound with Teflon tape. The latter seemingly to seal off work room shelves are proof of this. leaks and act as a second tuning bridle. The bag is Gortex. Blowstick flapper valve is modern style " Clack". Drones in common stock, bass drone single The neatsfoot oil is a better alternative as it does not go sticky over time but on jointed. contact with ferrous metals can cause corrosion of the metal like the olive oil and 3) mouthblown D piob, maker Jerry Gibson (ex Seaforths), mostly in blackwood. the production of verdigris. This tends to happen any way with the evaporation Fireside model made in 2001, drone reeds, double beating translucent plastic (all from the bag dressing which is mainly made from neatsfoot oil and is more the rage now for his B flat practice chanter reeds) but cut down and scraped as noticeable when the pipes have been left in their box with lid closed. You just drone reads. Bag is elkhide. Blowstick has the modern "Clack" but I reamed it to have to live with this if you have a leather bag and lessen the effect by leaving the fit Lil Mac valve. Drones in separate stocks, bass drone double jointed. And they box open when not playing the pipes. lay over the shoulder like those in piob mhor. Has removable water trap, and secondary stocks for drones designed to close off air (which I never have used). The latest oil I have been using through the recommendation of a piper on the Chanter reeds similar to the Shepherd reed. Pipers List, who is also a chemist, is the liquid paraffin. It has all the qualities that are desirable in an oil, colourless, odourless, good consistency, non sticky, and 4) all Delrin Mark Cushing bellows piob made 2001 in A scale: hide bag, drones in chemically inert so it isnt going to do any damage to the wood , metal, or any common stock: drone reeds black plastic casings with yellow plastic tongues other material used in making the pipes. It is the base for a number of beauty affixed by two and three very small "0" rings. Bass drone double jointed. creams so it has got to be good for the players hands as well. Chanter reeds very strong translucent plastic.

I have only been using this oil since last year so cant absolutely vouch for it. I And now the vagaries, but hopefully not in too much detail! The Shepherd pipe with cant wait another forty years, but I am sure with what has been said about it and drones in common stock and designed to stand on the shoulder, has them far too loud my own limited experience it has to be the best general purpose oil for the pipes. for its chanter. If chanter is not spot-on pitch, the drone will produce a sympathetic pulsation - and the reeds Ive had from Shepherd are rarely on pitch. So I dont play CS 8 9 that piob much at all. And I should mention that the chanter holes are so close that a player with thick fingers could easily cover two holes. So I suppose that some Because tuning drones on smallpipes is such a delicate business, especially with players would have to use the fingertips. plastic drone reeds, I attempt to leave the piob as it is, and stow it away in a carrying bag or case so that I do not have to move either the chanter or the drones. I carry my The bellows Heriot and Allan piob has a very nice chanter, but it takes only arundo D Fireside piob in a sax, softish carrying bag, and the others all go in a hard case donax reeds, and those are a problem here because after a short time they warp, dry which has plenty of room in it. And except for the H and A piob no wee plugs to clap out completely, go off pitch and generally fail. So Ive put a B flat Blackwood off the drones when tuning were sent with the instruments, so what I use are wooden Shepherd chanter into that piob and I can use either a MacHarg reed or one of golf tees which I have sanded down to fit the drone bell apertures. When you Shepherds Teflon wrapped reeds, BUT I had to unwrap some of the Teflon, scrape consider that just a quarter turn of the slide on a tuning pin can make a tremendous some of the upper third of the reed, and triple wrap an orthodental rubber band close difference to the accurate tuning, or that a one mm vertical movement of an to the tip in order to get the rasp and potential screech out of the reed. The hybrid orthodontal rubber band on the chanter reed blades can affect both pitch and tone, piob now plays very satisfactorily, and much to the joy of a ceilidh trio I belong to its you can see the advantage of leaving a piob as it was played and in tune. Of course, if tonic note is true B flat equal temperament scale. The H and A drones sound very left too long un-played some minor adjustments to tuning may have to be done. I good indeed with all playing when the B flat Shepherd chanter is used. often think that when we read of the older piob mhor players who rarely took their pioban apart, but stowed them under the bed or on a shelf, we might have to see that The Gibson fireside D piob has an excellent blackwood chanter, but I got nothing but maybe there was method to their madness. rasping sounds and screech from his chanter reeds, so I asked Michael MacHarg, a smallpipe maker from Vermont, to make me one of his D reeds. Michael did not have a Gibson chanter, so he made me several "generic" reeds, all of which have gone well after some minor scraping and adjustments. The MacHarg reed does not use Teflon windings. He has a brass bridle just above the bindings and uses an orthodontal band TH TH as a tuning bridle. I emphasise the importance of that rubber band. The chanter is LBPS WEEKEND 18 /19 MAY what P/M John Burgess might call a "live chanter" and execution on it is a joy for ever. But after I hear CDs of the top smallpipers in Scotland, back home, I must The annual teaching weekend at Melrose, organised by Rona Macdonald on admit that my D piob, at least, has a different tone from those. Mine is more flute-like behalf of the LBPS committee, was fully subscribed, with twenty-one and less reedy. Some might say a more plastic tone? Similar to that encountered when attendees. a plastic reed is used in the B flat practice chanter. This Fireside piob is my favourite piob. The three tutors (Alan Macdonald, Gary West and Jock Agnew) each looked at different aspects of piping:- exploring the links between playing The Cushing piob has been a disappointment for me. I have found it impossible to piobaireachd and the Gaelic song tradition: developing a "style": and Border pump the strong reeds and get even a groan out of them. Scraping those translucent tunes including an afternoon entirely on Border pipes. Hamish Moore and chanter reeds simply puts them off key. The drone reed design is very touchy to Julian Goodacre were available to look at pipe maintenance problems, and adjust - half a mm movement on the ring can make a huge difference to the pitch of on the Sunday afternoon Anita Evans gave a demonstration of reed-making. the drone. So Ive adapted a MacHarg A scale chanter to fit the Cushing chanter stock, and using one of MacHargs A reeds, I can get that Cushing piob to play at Although the weekend was structured, those attending could move between tutors, least a few tunes. But because Im getting a Hamish Moore A chanter shortly, I had and even leave the semi-formal teaching sessions altogether if they felt the need for, my friendly woodwind repairer move two holes on the chanter and give me a melodic say, some basic individual tuition on bellows control. minor scale so that I can now play some of the older Celtic minor tones on that piob. There do not seem to be many tunes within the smallpipe compass that actually stay The George and Abbotsford hotel provided ideal accommodation and playing in the dominant minor key and dont stray from A minor, but what few there are are facilities, and their non-piping guests contrived not to look surprised at all the frequently beautiful airs. unconventional activity. The Saturday evening dinner was crowned by Ian Murray providing some wonderful reminiscences of piping during his life-time, which he A few general remarks. While plastic reeds have the reputation of not succumbing to illustrated with clips from various CDs and other recordings. climatic changes or blowing fatigue, that is a gross exaggeration - they are simply affected in a much lesser degree than are arundo donax reeds.

10 11 Hats off to Habbie Simson I would hardly think this would be a contemporary portrait. I spoke to Paisley and Johnston libraries about this and Paisley Museum, but none of them knew of the By Jim Gilchrist, based on a talk he gave to the LBPS Collogue in Glasgow, a existence of such a portrait. But, just a couple of nights before I gave this talk, - couple of years back ... having been speaking to one or two people involved in Kilbarchan Civic Society, I ended up phoning John Connel, the preses of the Kilbarchan General Society, THE day daws. Imagine, if you will, a dawn chorus ... bird song ... a cock crowing which, Im assured, is the oldest charitable institution in Scotland. And, oh yes, he ... the sounds of an early 17th-century village getting underway for the day. knew about the portrait; at least he didnt really know very much about it, but he Somewhere among the cottages, a bagpipe strikes up with a reluctant, early knew exactly where it was - in one of the rooms of The Steeple, which is owned morning groan, before levelling out, finding its pitch, and its music comes and and used by the Society. There werent any reproductions of it, and I havent had goes about the lanes, fading and swelling, until a figure appears before us, from out time since then to go and see it. But I do suggest that the LBPS organise a Saturday of the mist. Its a piper, playing a two-droned, mouth-blown bagpipe. Hes not afternoon outing to visit the Steeple; we could hire one of the rooms there as an kilted, not even wearing a Tam o Shanter, but he is sporting a wide-brimmed hat, extremely appropriate venue for us to meet and play in, and of course view this decorated with flowers and feathers. intriguing portrait of Habbie Simson.

Step forward Habbie Simson, piper of Kilbarchan ... The best part of two decades ago, when the Temple record label released its Habbie Simson lived, we are told, between 1550 and 1620, in the Renfrewshire excellent piping compilation A Controversy of Pipers, one of the various things the village of Kilbarchan. Virtually all we know about his life, bar a little local lore, late Seamus MacNeill didnt like, when he reviewed the album in Piping Times, comes from a famous elegiac poem written after his death by one Robert Sempill was the cover illustration, by Glasgow musician and artist John Gahagan, which (or Semple) of Beltrees, who lived from around 1595 to around 1665. Sempill was depicted no less than Habbie himsel but which drove poor Seamus to muttering a local laird, the son of a courtier and theologian who also had a literary bent - this about pipers dressed in their grannies bunnets. ran in the family. The Semple with whom were concerned went to Glasgow University, fought on the Royalist side during the Civil War, and wrote poetry ... But theres no particular reason to regard as improbable these images of Habbie and the poem for which he is almost solely remembered is The Life and Death of Simson decked out in flowers and feathers. Sempills poem refers to him playing at the Piper of Kilbarchan. St Barchans feast - St Barchan being the local saint (the name Kilbarchan - Kit Barchan, cell of Barchan). Now the old, pagan festival of Beltane became St But Habbie Simson doesnt only live on in the annals of this poem. So important Barchans feast - although the poet does seem to separate the two, refering to has he become in the lore of Kilbarchan, that there have been successive statues "Beltan and St Barchans Feast". And St Barchans feast in turn became a local erected to him on a building in the centre of the village known simply as The festivity called Lilias Day, named apparently after a local lairds daughter - the Steeple. Built in the 18th-century, perhaps an indication of this weaving and daughter, in fact, of one of the Cunninghams of Craigend, with whom Habbie may bleaching villages increasing prosperity, The Steeples ground floor was a meal have been in service at some point. And on Lilias Day they used to decorate the market. Later, until a few decades ago, it housed the local fire engine. Anyway, in streets of Kilbarchan with flowers and heather. The festival seems to have lapsed a niche in the spire of The Steeple there stands a life-sized bronze statue of a piper early this century, but was revived in the Nineteen Thirties and again in the Sixties, - playing a two-droned bagpipe, and wearing that broad-brimmed hat. According to and is still going. a plaque below it, this statue was erected by public subscription to replace an early wooden effigy erected there in 1822. The timber statue was the work of a ships In a Lilias Day programme from 1933, you find the line from a local anthem:

figurehead carver from Greenock named Robertson, who later moved down to Liverpool and made a reputation for himself there as a carver. Sae here s tae St Barchan, Were proud o his name. s tae the piper wha piped us tae fame. In his book Kilbarchan: A Parish History, written in 1902, the Reverend Robert An here Mackenzie refers to an oil painting of Habbie Simson which then was in the possession of a Mr James Caldwell of Paisley. The portrait, of unknown date - and So, Habbie Simson clearly means something to the people of this village, which by I quote MacKenzie here - "represents the piper garishly decked in ribbons, flowers 1836 boasted some 800 looms and where, incidentally, you can still see the last and feathers." The sculptor Robertson is supposed to have to have referred to it Kilbarchan weavers cottage, and his loom, as preserved by the National Trust for when carving his statue. Scotland. The Reverend MacKenzie in his history doesnt really tell us too much about Habbie Simson, but he does give us one or two points of interest. He says 13 12 theres a tale that Habbie and his wife each reported the others death to the Laird Habbie, we learn, also played at horse races and in time of war or at the and Lady of Johnstone, respectively, both gaining some money through sympathy wappenshaws which every community was expected to carry out regularly to for this non-existent tragedy, and, later on, he writes "both being caught red- maintain its readiness for battle - he would "bend up the Brags of Weir", the handed while enjoying the fruits of their roguery". vauntings or braggings of war. And hed bring in the bells at new year, play at sheep shearings - remembering again that Kilbarchan was a weaving village; where One thing that MacKenzie does say is that Habbie seems to have been a one-off, the sheep and its fleece were the life blood of the community. rather than one of a succession of municipal pipers in the village. He writes: "Neither are there good grounds for maintaining that Habbie... had an official Sempill also records Habbie Simson as playing the pipes at "clerk plays" - plays appointment as a piper, with a salary of five merks, free occupancy of a pipers acted out by clerics or others, representing scriptural themes. I find this very croft and a suit of livery per annum. In Habbies case, the office began and ended interesting, given the traditional attitudes we usually see in kirk and burgh records, with his occupancy." suggesting virtually open warfare between kirk and piper. Also, it says, "on Sabbath days his cap was feddered" - feathered - which it goes on to consider as "a But one final tantalising piece of lore that the Reverend gives us, is that Habbie seemly weid" - an appropriate outfit, although it doesnt go so far as to say whether Simson is supposed to have engaged in a piping competition with one Rab the he actually played on Sundays. Ranter ... Now those of you who know the old song Maggie Lauder will know fine who Rab the Ranter was : And Habbie, it seems, was in the wars, winning his pipes, as the makar tells us, "beside Borcheugh" - or as another edition of the poems says, "Barcleuch" and I I am a piper tae my trade, my name is Rab the Ranter. simply havent managed to get to the bottom of who, what or where Borcheugh or The lassies loup gin they were daft when I blow up my chanter. Barcleuch was (possibly some battle or skirmish? Informed suggestions welcome). Anyway, Sempill is either being very ironic, or Habbie was a man of some mettle, And in the last verse ofMaggie Lauder, the young lady, having been shown a good rather than that semi-comic mould into which local minstrels often fall - such as time by Rab, comments: "Theres nane in Scotland plays sae weel since we lost the fiddler, Patie Birnie, who is said to have run all the way back to Edinburgh Habbie Simson." when invited to take part in the Battle of Bothwell Bridge in 1679. And Habbie was a great footballer - "At every game the Gree he wan" - the prize he won - "for Yet heres Rab and Habbie having a piping stand-off. One gets the impression that pith and speed". the Reverend MacKenzie wasnt much of a piping fan; his tone is somewhat sarcastic as he writes: "There is no information as to the basis on which superiority So while Habbie could indeed be a figure of fun, playing the clown at weddings - was to be determined - whether mere lung power, or extent of repertoire, or excellence of musical rendering" - nor as to the result. There may be more of a He bobbed aye behind folk s backs literary connection here, though, because one of Robert Sempills sons, Francis, is And shook his heid ... often credited with having written Maggie Lauder. One could go on and on exploring these connections ... he seems also to have been a bit of a hard man when need be. The poem suggests, rather ambiguously, that he once killed a man, and took the consequences, "And Robert Sempills elegy on Habbie, however, has much more interesting details to bure the Fead!", accepted the ensuing feud, although Sempill goes on to say: "But offer. So lets turn to the poem. You can look at it from at least two points of view: yet the man wan hame before him - And was not dead!" Which sounds like a firstly, from that of a piping enthusiast, wondering what sort of repertoire an early situation not unlike Synges Playboy of the Western World, in which a feckless son 17th-century Lowland village piper had - and the poem duly tells us that Habbie thinks hes murdered his father in an a argument and goes on the run, gaining a Simson habitually played Trixie, The Maiden Trace, and Whip-meg-morum, as certain kudos for his deed. I dont know. I suppose well never know the truth with well as the of kind tunes Lowland or Border toun pipers commonly used to rouse Habbie. the community in the morning - The Hunts Up and The Day it Daws, the latter perhaps better known as Hey Tuttie Tattie or, more latterly, Scots Wha Hae. So the poem The Life and Death of Habbie Simson documents to a certain and tantalising extent both the pipers world and his repertoire. But a third point of Or, secondly theres the point of view of the social historian, interested in the interest - and something that neither Sempill nor Simson could ever have context within which Habbie functioned as a piper - and, again, the poem lets us appreciated - is the stanza form in which the elegy is couched, distinguished by know that he played on holy days such as Beltane and St Barchans feast. those dangling fourth and last lines ... 14 15 But what remeud? ... Or pipin to the Lair oLag [the devil] flab Simsons dead... In Beelzies cavern.

Let me quote directly from an introduction to an edition of the poem written in For one of the more distinguished examples, take Robert Fergussons famous Elegy 1970 by Professor G Ross Roy, presiding genius of the huge Scottish Studies on the Death of Scots Music - very much in the elegiac tenor of Sempills poem: archive at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, a man who brought out an exact facsimile of Robert Burns s Merry Muses of Caledonia, so clearly kens all At gloamin now the bagpipes dumb, about the alternative significance of bags and chanters. And Professor Roy writes: Whan weary owsen hameward come; Sae sweetly as it wont to bum, "The stanza form known in Scottish poetry as Standard Habbie owes its And pibrachs screed; origins to the Troubadors. It was used for the first time in Scotland by Sir We never hear its warlike hum; David Lindsay in his Satire of the Three Estaites (1540 or earlier), and again For musics Deid ... in the Bannatyne MS (1568). Later the form fell into disuse and did not reappear until The Piper of Kilbarchan was written about the year 1640." But as we well know, despite the (slightly tongue in cheek) lamentations of Robert Fergusson about his contemporaries enthusiasm for baroque fiddling, as we in this So this is a style which Sempill seems to have revived after some disuse, but which Society know, music isnae deid - not by a long shot. went on to become hugely popular, but also remaining, through the centuries, so inextricably associated with the piper of Kilbarchan, that it became known as But Habbies been deid now these 370 years. I was in Kilbarchan for the first time "standard Habbie" and was widely used by other Lowland Scots versifiers, when preparing this talk and I visited his grave, which is a very faded stone slab in distinguished or otherwise. Not only do you find the likes of Robert Bums or his the kirk yard of Kilbarchan West Parish Church. It bears only the initials "H S" and Edinburgh predecessor Robert Fergusson using it extensively, but other, more local below them "I C" - presumably his wife. And in the centre of the stone is a simple vernacular bards employed it also ... quite often in in a similar context regarding carving. Not, as youd expect, of a bagpipe, but of a cleaver - for Habbie Simpson, late, lamented local pipers ... although not necessarily in a complimentary manner. as weve said already, doesnt seem to have been an official toun piper, from a line of municipal musicians. He was a one-off. And he earned his living as a butcher. In an article he wrote for Common Stock some years ago on pipers and their Yet its not with cleaver in hand that we envisage him now, but as that piper of patronage [Common Stock Vol 3 No 1], Iain Maclnnes quoted from two somewhat high days and holy days, flowers and feathers in his bunnet, vivifying the town. As contrasting examples of standard Habbie: one was The Elegy on John Hastie, toun piper of Jedburgh in the early 18th century: Semple of Beltrees recalls fondly in his concluding stanza: Alas for him my heart is fair, But we his memry dear shall mind, for of his springs I got a skair, [share] While billows rair, or blows the wind; At every Play, race, feast and fair, To tak him hence Death was no king - but Guile or Greed ... 0 dismal feed: Well never sic anither find, ... without guile or greed, implying that Habbie Simson gave of his music Since Johnnies dead. unstintingly.

... or the early 19th-century Dalkeith wag who expressed his dislike of their piper, He must have been quite a character, to have left his stamp so on the village of Robert Lorimer, and his music thus: Kilbarchan , to have prompted elegies from the local versifying aristocracy, to have had a succession of statues of himself piping silently from the steeple above O Lorimer, thou wicked wag, the burghs old market house; indeed, to have made his mark so indelibly, that to I wish thee and thy dinsom bag this day, true born and bred natives of Kilbarchan are still known as ... Habbies. Were twal feet neath a black peat hag Wet as the Severn,

17 16 very versatile program I have always felt that it was spoilt by having the pull down Web Things menus cramped around the edge of the work in hand and most of the features being called up by key combination rather than the `click and drag techniques used in more Dick Grindley once again puts forward some web sites that readers of Common Stock recent software packages. Grace note groups are entered by an initial selection from might find interesting or useful. menu and then conventional keyboard selection for pitch. Key transposition is easy but there are no replay facilities available and final score printing seems to be very This time, rather than a random roam over some of the piping web sites available, I slow. The package costs £45/$75. thought Id see if I could find something useful that might interest other readers of Common Stock. Ever wished for the musical equivalent of a word processor? If so, SIBELIUS: http://www.sibelius.com here are four sites to have a look at: Sibelius is the most luxurious of these four musical WP and what you see is what you PIPE WRITER: http://www.pipewriter.co.uk get. It seems to have just about every piece of musical notation Ive ever heard of plus even more Ive never heard of and wouldnt know how to use even if I had !! Pipewriter is primarily aimed at writing GHBP music and consequently the only Note entry is by mouse from a pictorial menu at the side of the score. Gracing is notes covered are Low G to High A, however as the tune replay facility does allow entered as `appoggiaturas (a.k.a. wee, shrunk notes that dont mess up the timing in a for changing both individual chanter and drone sound as well note pitch it should bar) and key transposition is easy. As with Noteworthy Composer there are no meet the needs of most Scottish Border smallpipers. Musical notes, including grace specific arrangements for adding drones or tuning individual notes but thats not to notes, are written into the system using a simple, fairly logical, shorthand notation say there arent any, it just means Ive not found them yet !! Comprehensive reply that can be picked up in a matter of minutes. I found the web page a bit messy to and MIDI interface facilities are included. A demo copy is available from the site but read but its worth persevering, as Pipewriter does have one major advantage over be warned that the real item costs serious money (£100s), however it is easy to use other similar software packages - it can now be downloaded for free from the Net, and produces a very professional looking final score. the down load version appearing to be the same issue I paid pounds for fairly recently!! The package comes with a selection of 140 well known GHBP tunes. Now onto another couple of sites that might be of interest:

TUNE INDEX: http://www.ceolas.org/tunes/Tunelndex/ NOTEWORTHY COMPOSER: http://www.noteworthysoftware.com If youve ever been frustrated by trying to find just where a particular tune is/has A more sophisticated piece of software than Pipewriter and designed for general been published then this might be just the site you need. It claims to have publication musical notation rather than specifically GHBP music. Musical notes are written onto details for over 50,000 pipe tunes so should cover the repertoire needs of even the a stave with the mouse after selection from a comprehensive range of toolbar menus, most ambitious of smallpipers !! grace notes being initially written in as individual notes and then converted. The music appears as if on one continuous stave but this can be split as you want for print CANASG: http://www.canasg.com/ preview and final printing. Replay sound can be varied by selecting various instruments but Ive yet to find a method of changing individual note pitch. There is a Although not specifically pipe music the Edinburgh based music publishers User Defined Key Signature facility that Ive used to provide a coarse approximation CANASG have some unusual musical/vocal arrangements of Old Scots and Gaelic to the Scottish Bagpipe scale. There are no specific arrangements for providing for tunes in their catalogue that may be of interest to those smallpipers playing with folk drones but the addition of a suitable sustained chord to an additional stave is a groups. Audio samples of the music are available on the site and scores can be possibility. Demo versions of Noteworthy, with a 30 day life, are available for down downloaded to (but not printed from) your home PC. I particularly like their version load from the site while a full version costs $39. of Both Sides the Tweed.

NOTEWORTHY 2: http://www.braebum.demon.co.uk/nw.htm If youve got a favourite piping Web site why not drop me details ([email protected]) and (Jock permitting) Ill do my best to include it in My original copy of Noteworthy 2 was designed for use on an MS-DOS system and the next issue of Common Stock Web Things. the Windows compatible 30 day demo version, available for down load from this site (version date 5/97) still has that DOS program feel about it. Although undoubtedly a

18 19 which alone are in accordance with the physical nature of sounds and consequently Harmonics and Drone Tuning with the shapes and possibilities of the organs by which we can emit and perceive John Dally theiii .

Gordon Mooney once joked, "When asked why the bagpipe had drones, the old piper Harmonics are basic and profound. "When you first Pythagoras believed replied, `Well, without the drones you might as well play the piano. Theres more become aware of harmonics as a phenomenon of sound, harmonics to be the truth to that than appears at first glance, because unlike the piano the bagpipe is a your entire way of listening becomes altered." They ultimate expression of harmonic instrument. The drones form the basis for the harmonics produced by the are mysterious and have been studied by scientists and the music of the spheres interplay between themselves and the chanter, making it an instrument unsuited for philosophers for nearly as long as we can remember. playing a tempered scale. Another way of putting it is, the piano is made for music Pythagoras believed harmonics to be the ultimate expression of the music of the of modulated chords whereas the bagpipe is made for modal, harmonic music. spheres. Many traditions, modern and ancient, believe harmonics are a source of healing and spiritual power. " The German poet Novalis (1772 to 1801) said, "Every Drones are basic to the bagpipe sound, so much so that we may take them for illness is a musical problem and every cure a musical solution. granted. A chanter by itself is pleasant enough, but a beautiful set of drones makes a sound that is a thing of wonder. The longer you listen to well-balanced, well-tuned There is a difference between harmonics and harmony. Many pipers seem to be drones the more you hear. First you hear the fundamental notes of the drones braided confused by this. In part two of The College of Piping Tutor for the Highland together, then the harmonics or overtones, then the fabric of sound woven by all these Bagpipe it is clearly stated, "The job of the drones is to provide a background of elements together, which is a sum greater than its parts. harmony for the melody played on the pipe chanter."vii A more accurate job description for the drones would be to say they provide a background of consonance Most of us grew up listening to music of modulating chords, so we have to learn to and dissonance for the melody played on the pipe chanter, the scale of which is hear the subtleties in harmonically based music. Music that features a drone is designed to meld with and enhance the harmonics produced by the drones. harmonically based, whether it is Indian, Tibetan, Tuvan, Gaelic or Anglo-Saxon. Harmonics are so basic to experience that your ear recognizes them before you do. I Anthony Baines does not use the word `harmony to describe the function of drones think this is one thing about bagpipes that makes them appealing to people from all in either his Bagpipes or Woodwind Instruments and Their History. "There can be no sorts of different cultures. questioning that for a full and satisfying accompaniment to a simple air, the drone is hard to beat. Even today, old traditional airs that we have grown accustomed to stuff There are many examples of music that use a drone with conventional harmonies on piano or accordion, often gain fresh life when played sound but do not involve bagpipes. Perhaps the most over a simple drone. He goes on to write, "A single drone (the commonest basic form of drone music is vocal. When anyone arrangement in the Middle Ages) is nearly always tuned two octaves below the sings you hear harmonics in their voice, but many chanter key-note. The significance of this is explained by examining the weave of musical traditions are built on harmonics. "Based on harmonics between the well-tuned chanter and drones. "All bagpipers, even the a traditional style of throat singing called hoomi, from the Tuvic region of Mongolia, wildest shepherds in the southern mountains of Europe, tune their drones with the many contemporary chanters have learned to produce two distinct pitch lines: the greatest care and with complete absence of hurry, for everything in bagpiping ` fundamental note which is sustained as a drone; while simultaneously singing a depends upon the drone being exactly in tune with the chanter." It is essential in the piercing, whistling melody line of overtones." Perhaps throat singing, which best tuning that the drones underpin every note of the chanters scale. predates bagpipes, inspired the first bagpiper to discover his instrument. The word `harmonics derives from the Indo-European root which also gave us Harmonic music is not merely a step in the progressive development that resulted in `army, `order, `hatred, `aristocracy, `arithmetic, and `rhyme. Its oldest form the tempered scale and modulating chords. Some purists think that the tempered meant, `to fit together. And it came to us through both the Greeks via the Romans as " scale is unnatural and a distortion. "We might add that to sing without well as the Anglo Saxons, from whom we get another derivative, `riddle. The art accompaniment the tempered scale is an undertaking beyond human capacities, of tuning is in the ability to use your ear to line up the frequencies of drones and because we cannot, without strong external help, escape from harmonic intervals, chanter so that they fit together like a perfect rhyme resonating through time. 20 21 We pipers say a well-tuned pipe will `lock on, describing how the frequencies line The progression of fundamental frequencies from bass to tenor to alto to chanter up and seem to pull each other into a fifth element. This satisfying fit of various corresponds directly with the basss harmonic progression. The baritone is out of sounds is mapped out in the golden section, a set of proportions that some claim to be sync. The number of harmonics produced by the bass is why it is so important to the the basic pattern of the universe. The pyramids, fractals, Stone Henge, Paisley bagpipes sound, and probably why most bagpipes in the Middle Ages, as Baines shawls, natural forms such as shells, leaves and human bodies, have the same pointed out, featured a bass drone. proportion as the harmonic series.xiii When the frequencies line up, when the pipe is Bar Chan said to lock on, the harmonics line up like the colours of the spectrum in a laser Bass Tenor itone Alto ter A beam. Before they were properly tuned the frequencies were like a prismatic 110 assortment of colors. 165 220 220 If we plot out the harmonic progression of drones on a circular graph you will see the 330 330 330 proportion is exactly that of a nautilus shell, an atmospheric weather pattern, and the 440 440 440 logarithmic spirals of 495 intersecting points of 550 Frequency the eyes of a peacocks 660 660 660 660 tail. 770 825 By plotting the 880 880 880 harmonic intersection 990 990 990 of frequencies 1100 1100 emanating from 1155 different drones we can 1210 see why some 1320 1320 1320 1320 1320 configurations fit together better than The Border and Lowland pipe scale and drone tuning with an alto drone: others. In the table Border Pipe below you will find the four types of drones used in configuring a Border or Lowland pipe. The octaves of bass, tenor and fundamental note of the chanter line up. The baritone drone does not correspond with a harmonic from the other two drones until its third harmonic level, and does not meet the chanters fundamental until its seventh level and the chanters second. We hear this and find it less than completely satisfying.

The fundamental tone of the alto drone, however, links with the bass, and its second The typical Scottish or Northumbrian small pipe, with bass, baritone and tenor, uses a harmonic level links with the bass and tenor together. The altos harmonics smaller range of pitches than the Border or Lowland pipe. The fundamental note of correspond with the harmonics of the chanters fundamental note at the same place as the small pipe chanter is the same as the tenor drone, and only an octave above the the baritone, much sooner in its harmonic series. These figures show you what your bass. The baritone is an octave below the perfect fifth of the pipe chanter, which is in ear tells you when you hear the difference between a Border or Lowland pipe tune with the second harmonic of the bass drone. configured with a baritone drone versus one configured with an alto drone.

22 23 Bari chant er chanter to extend the range. The addition of keys to the chanter took place around Bass tone Tenor A ,, . 1800. Robert Reid of Northumberland made a seven key set for Henry Clough in 110 around 1810. `° 165 _ 220 220 220 Several years ago I had the idea for a Scottish smallpipe that would allow a similarly 330 330 wide variety of drone tunings in combination with chanters pitched in different keys. 440 440 440 - My experience playing Scottish smallpipes for ten years, and Northumbrian small 495 pipes for twenty, pointed me in this direction. 550 660 660 660 660 770 825 880 880 880 990 990 1100 1100 1100 1155 1210 1320 1320 1320 1320

Now that we have established that the drones provide a harmonic background, it is easy to understand why different modes, or pentatonic With the help of Jim McGillivray I found Ray Sloan, pipe maker in Wark, scales, still produce a pleasant sound with the drones even Northumberland. Ray understood what I wanted and agreed to make the instrument when the key of the tune is not that of the drones. For with an ingenious sliding pin system on the drones. example, Paddys Leather Breeches in B minor still resonates well with the drones, even though the drones are tuned to A, a step below the fundamental note of the tune. In fact, the sound of the drones will seem to change when the key of the tune being played changes. You can hear this if you play `Paddys Leather Breeches in A followed immediately by the same tune in B minor. This is one reason why so many pipe tunes are made using a double tonic structure, and why so many tunes sound blase without drones. " Well-tuned, warm drones reflect the tonal colours of the tune being played on the chanter. WNW -MT- The design of the bore of the chanter determines which harmonics are stronger than others, giving the chanter its particular character or timbre. Pipers usually refer to this quality as tone. Generally speaking, a conically bored chanter has a loud, bright, brassy tone, while a cylindrically bored chanter has a quiet, mellow, smooth sound. The cylindrically bored chanters of the Northumbrian small pipe and its sibling, the Rays efforts resulted in a Scottish smallpipe with five permanent drones and three modern Scottish smallpipe, lend themselves to a variety of drone tunings. interchangeable chanters.

Northumbrian small pipe makers began making drones that could be tuned to a variety of musical keys, called complicated drones, when they put keys on the p ti! ■+ Z..J . i .1 . 11 I , 24 25 Only three different, basic drone tunings are completely satisfying for each chanter playing traditional tunes. At least, this is my experience. They are, using the A chanter as our basis, A, B minor and D. The first time I played a tune in D with D drones on an A chanter was an amazing experience. D.A. Fraser, writing in 1907, disliked tunes in D because he felt they clashed with the drones in A. He suspected tunes in D were the result of composers working on the practice chanter rather than the pipes themselves. x There are too many older tunes in D, however, to_ support his suspicion, even if many of these tunes came from the fiddle and song repertoires.

Here is a contemporary tune made by Chris Ormston. It goes very well on the Scottish smallpipe with drones in D. The chanters are in A, C and D. The drones play three notes each, shown below: march

The range of drone tunings on the A chanter are shown here (the `5th indicates where the baritone drone is tuned). The keys indicate modes rather than true keys and are based on pentatonic scales:

When playing tunes that begin in A but resolve in D, I have found, with tenor and bass in A, tuning the baritone drone to the fourth (D) rather than the fifth (E) to be attractive. Tunes in D that take to this tuning as well as a straight D drone tuning are `The Glen Where the Deer Is,xviii `Lindisfarne by Matt Seattle "` , and `Joans Jig by Henry Clough ix.

The simplest octave drone tuning of tenor and bass is the best when playing a raft of tunes that progress through a series of key changes. Playing medleys of tunes that progress through key changes is a modem and not a traditional practice among Scottish folk musicians. "" If you play a raft of tunes in the same key then using complicated drones tuned to that key will enhance your performance.

Pipe tunes often use a double tonic, starting with a phrase in A major, for example, then repeating it in G or B minor, then returning to repeat the phrase in A major before concluding with a resolving phrase. Drones tuned to the fundamental note of

F4 is not available on these drones 26 27 the first phrase heighten the tension between the phrases, increasing the contrast that Jock Agnew has a favourite tuning technique you may wish to try, and it does not is finally resolved in the concluding phrase. Examples of tunes that feature the require a battery of drones. It works especially well on the Border pipe with two xxii xxiii tenors and a bass. After you have tuned all three drones with painstaking perfection doublexxiv tonic are The Edinburgh Volunteers, `The Braw Lads of Jedhart and Peacocks `Highland Laddie to the chanter, then take one of the tenors slightly out of tune, listening to the beats that come from the clash of slightly out of tune frequencies. This can produce a You can tune the tenor and bass to the fundamental note of the first mode, and add gentle undulation in the sound of the drones very similar to that characteristic of a another drone or two tuned to the pitch shared by the two contrasting modes. In tamboura in classical Indian music [as the pan-pipers do in the Andes to thicken the `Caber Feidh xxv, for example, you find phrases in G and A. Tuning the bass and sound! Ed]. This works on the Highland pipe as well, but dont try it in competition. tenor to A and the baritone to D, which is the fourth of the A phrase and the fifth of the D phrase, works well. With five drones to work with, other elements can be In the last few decades forward thinking pipers invested a lot of energy in pairing added to achieve more layers of tone color. But as painters know, too many colors traditional bagpipes with electronic instruments and modern idioms in the pursuit of a mixed together make mud. Usually, less is more. contemporary, commercial sound. As exciting as this movement is, drones suffered neglect in the process. The bagpipe will only be heard to its full potential in the The potential for traditional and non-traditional drone wider world if the drone element is developed. A chanter treated with synthesized based music is greatly expanded with an instrument like chords in an attempt to make the bagpipe palatable to a wide audience becomes a the one Ray made for me. The combinations of tones and primitive oboe. potential harmonic affects are numerous with five drones. Rays reeds are very stable at each pitch of the drone. Composers working at the cutting edge of ambient and environmental music today They do not take tremendous amounts of air, and are not understand drones and the intricacies of tuning. These cutting edge artists have as too loud even with all five drones going at the same time. The smooth tone much interest in game theory, bioacoustics, mantras, myth and physics as they do xxvi xxvii characteristic of Rays pipes is crucial to the balance. melody and rhythm. Brian Enos `Neroli and Phill Niblocks Early Winter are two accessible examples. Here are a few different tunings for the A chanter that I have experimented with: Jon Hassell, another avant garde composer, told David Toop in an interview, "If you have a constant background like a drone, you can project your own nervous system against the background. You become aware of listening high, listening low, listening foreground, listening background. That was the beginning from which Terry Riley, Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and the whole minimalist thing came from. xxviii Terry xxixRiley, who studied classical Indian music, said, "In the coming years, the frontier will Experimenting and playing with specialized tunings is a solo affair. The bagpipe in be tunings. its essence is a solo instrument. When playing with guitars, pianos or other back up, chording instruments, the accompanying instruments bury the subtleties of even the Bagpipes have always thrived on the frontier. I hope the coming years will see the simplest drone under layers of modulating chords. I use two drones set up on the unique qualities inherent in our distinguished and pleasing instrument fully realized octave of the fundamental note or no drones at all when playing with accompanying by pipers and non-pipers alike. instruments.

The drones alone are very effective when accompanying a singer. The harmonic qualities of the human voice act upon the background of the drones in much the same i Journal of the N American Association of Lowland and Border Pipers, #4, June 1992, p. 3. way as the pipe chanter. The result can be spine tingling. I suppose this comes as no iv Gass, Robert, Chanting, Broadway Books, NY, NY, 1999, p. 59. iii Danielou, Alain, Music and the Power of Sound, Inner Traditions, Rochester, VT, 1995. surprise. We call the melody pipe a chanter, after all. p. 24. iv Goldman, Jonathan, healing Sounds, Element, Dorset, UK, 1996, p.74.

28 29 Piper Profile (1) Andy May v Gass, Robert, Chanting, Broadway Books, NY, NY, 1999, p. 58. vi Berendt, Joachim-Ernst, The World is Sound, Destiny Books, Rochester, VT, 1991, p.121. I had arranged this chat a couple of weeks vii MacNeill, Seamus and Pearston, Thomas, The College of Piping Tutor for the Highland earlier when I enrolled in a Northumbrian Bagpipe, part 2, Glasgow, 1968, p. 30. piping day in Oxford, and Andy was one of the "viii Baines, Anthony, Woodwind Instruments and Their History, Dover Publications, NY, tutors. I had always wanted to learn more 1991, p. 216. about his piping background, and found the ix Ibid, p. 216 opportunity when I stopped offat his x Ibid, p. 217 Gateshead home on my way north to the LBPs xi non, R.D., The Highland Bagpipe and its Music, John Donald Publishers, Edinburgh, 1995, p. 6. weekend in Melrose. xii he American Heritage Dictionaryof the English Language, Fourth Edition, Houghton Mifflin Co., Boston, 2000, p. 2021. You play, I know, several instruments, which xiii Doczi, Gyorgy, The Powers of Limits, Shambala, Boston, 1981, pp 8 to 10. do you favour most? xiv Cannon, R.D., The Highland Bagpipe and its Music, John Donald Publishing, Edinburgh, 1995, p.38. I actually started learning the piano first, but not by much, but I treat the xv Ormston and Say, The Clough Family of Newsham, Northumbrian Pipers Society, N orthumbrian smallpipes as my first instrument. Morpeth, Northumberland, 2000, pp. 13 143. xvi Cannon, R.D., The Highland Bagpipe and its Music, John Donald Publishers, Edinburgh, 1995, p. 42 I heard you playing the piano in Oxford - and the guitar. xvii http://www.blueskiesink.com/Ormston/compositions.htm xviii Moore, Hamish, The Rumblin Brig, Hamish Moore, Dunkeld, Scotland, 1993, p. 13. Yes, thats more recent. Its nice to have something for keeping sessions together. xix Seattle, Matt, The Border Bagpipe Book, Dragonfly Music, Newbiggen-by-the-Sea, UK, 1993, tune #30. Ive also heard you play Scottish smallpipes, havent I, at the NPS competition? xx Say et al, Border Bagpipe Tutor, Northumbrian Pipers Society, Morpeth, Northumberland, 2000, p. 18. Possibly. I dont do that very often! xxi Conversation with Barry Shears, Mike Saunders, Sue Truman, Stan Chapman, Seattle, April, 2000. xxii Ibid, p. 39. What attracted you to Scottish smallpipes? xxiii Say et al, Border Bagpipe Tutor, Northumbrian Pipers Society, Morpeth, Northumberland, 2000, p. 11. I was learning wood turning, and [unlike Northumbrian chanters] they are all xxiv Agnew, Jock, A Collection of Pipe Tunes, The Northumbrian Pipers Society and The round, so I made a set pitched in Bb. A more satisfying and quicker thing to do Lowland and Border Pipers Society, Morpeth and Edinburgh, UK, 1993, p. 21. than making Northumbrian smallpipes. And having made them I thought I might xv Shears, Barry, The Garnering of the Calns Collection, Vol II, Barry W. Shears, Halifax, NS, Canada, 2001, p. 43. as well learn a couple of tunes. I like the sound, also. xxvi Eno, Brian, Neroli, All Saints Records, Essex, UK, 1993. xxvii Niblock, Phill, Music by Phill Niblock, Experimental Intermedia Foundation, NY, NY, Did you choose Bb for a particular reason? 1993. xxviii Toop, David, Ocean of Sound, Serpents Tail, London, UK, 1995, p. 178. Id done a chanter in C, and I liked it but I wanted a deeper noise. xxvix Ibid, p. 190. And do you use closed fingering on it?

I aim for Highland fingering, but Im a bit lazy

So does your chanter accept Northumbrian fingering? I dont know. I dont find it very satisfactory on the bottom note. Certainly if you Yes, and Im back again this year. That was very interesting, with all the different are a little sloppy with the Highland fingering the cylindrical chanter doesnt types of pipes. It encouraged people to be interested in the different instruments, seem too bothered. It doesnt seem to matter that much rather than to rubbish them, which seems to happen over here.

Will you be developing your playing on the Scottish smallpipes? As I was mentioning to you the other day, Im keen to learn more about this piping degree youve got. Is it actually a degree in piping? I only play from time to time - when the mood hits me. I play the Uilleann pipes quite a bit. Im trying to get better - because that shuts up when you put all your No. No. Its a degree in music technology, where the music is part of the degree. fingers on the chanter, and thats something Im quite used to. I get confused I went more for the music, and chose to make the smallpipes my principle otherwise! instrument, which meant that all the assessed performances had to be on the pipes. What make of Uilleann pipes do you have? Where did you take this degree. My own. At York University. Is that your job then, woodworking? Have they got a good music department there? No Im a civil servant during the daytime. Well I certainly rated it very highly. When I was looking around Universities - So woodworking is a hobby? obviously I visited a few of them - one head of music really laughed when I told him what I wanted to play, and said what do you expect to do with that?! Suffice A growing hobby. to say I didnt go there! Whereas York was completely the opposite. They were really enthused by the sound of the pipes, and encouraged all sorts of instruments. Are you going to be making more pipes? There was a girl playing Chinese flute as her first instrument, and others who took an interest in instruments from countries like Java. There was a very strong Id like to get more into it, because all my spare time at the minute goes into jazz contingent there. So its very far removed from what people think of as a playing. Ultimately Id like to do enough so I dont have to be a civil servant. Western classical type music department. And the whole atmosphere centered And as part of the package to support myself, pipe-making could be a part, and around `this is what Im doing, this is what Im good at. Thats what your doing, that would be good as well. thats great. And everyone took the time to listen and try and see the value of it. As a piper that was ideal. Thats your long term plan? What qualifications would someone need if they wanted to do the same sort of Not that long term. Its my next thing to be doing. degree?

Do you get a lot of ad hoc work at the moment with teaching pipes and so forth? Unfortunately the course that I did doesnt run any more, Which isnt the most helpful of answers. It was a music technology course, run jointly between the Yes. The teaching is pretty good at the minute. There s only a very small number music department and the electronics department. The A levels which I did were of people that are keen to do teaching, and I do these courses where you have to maths and physics and music. To be frank I cannot remember which of those I travel around a bit. It seems to be the same few people do them all. needed, but you needed some science type subjects. I dare say to do a plain music degree at York (which is the second two years I did) then Im thinking youd You were over in North Hero last year, I believe. need a good grade in music and a decent standard on an instrument and probably good [A level] grades on any two other subjects. Im none too sure on that really.

32 33 So how long did all this take? No. Thats true enough. But equally they werent master of some of the other instruments that were being played. I think their primary concern was whether it Three years, was a good performance and did you present it well, and did it sound good. As it happened, when I went into the music department one of the lecturers approached And was it the same group that went through thefull course together? me in the corridor and said "You play the pipes, dont you?" and I said "Yes", and he said "Wahoo!" - because the music department at York has a fair No, there were quite a lot of changes. The initial plan was that wed effectively instrument collection and in it is a set of Northumbrian pipes by Colin Ross, and do first year electronic engineering, then first year music, then another year, this guy had been struggling to teach himself. So I ended up giving him lessons, possibly two years, of either of those. So what this meant in terms of the people I and it meant there was a member of staff who had some knowledge about the knew was that in my first year a lot were straight electronic engineers, with no pipes. And although he wasnt on the panel to assess my final recital I suppose it real musical aspirations. Then in the second year I was with a load of musicians. I is possible he was asked for some input as to how difficult it was - I really dont think there were about sixteen of us on the course to start with - on that exact know. course. And there were five, maybe a few more, that stayed together throughout, I and some of those went back to electronics. Did you find that your knowledge ofpiano playing was a help during this course?

And the music part of it; can you give us an idea of what that involved. Was there Certainly. In fact for both the years on the music part of the course the idea is that a requirement to know a lot of classical theory or was it more on the instrument they find you a teacher for your instrument and you have regular lessons. That itself? proved difficult [for Northumbrian pipes] being based in York. So it was decided that it would be easier if I just had piano lessons - which I was happy enough I would say it was less on the instrument itself. The way they study music is like with. It still didnt make the piano my first instrument; and it was still expected a modular system. There is a series of lectures or workshops or whatever. For a that Id keep playing the pipes, but they did think it would be good for me to have term at a time you pick a topic that is going to be of interest to you. You do all regular lessons to improve my piano playing. the work on it, attend all the lectures and workshops and write - prepare - a piece of work to submit for appraisal. And then the next term you could be doing What sort of grade did you reach on the piano? something which has nothing to do with what youve just done - so there could be a lot of time when you dont use your instrument at all. But I would say that a Before going to University I hadnt gone through all the exams. I did a grade good grounding in theory - whether I would call that classical knowledge or just three, then I did a grade seven when I was at university. The first year I did general musical knowledge - but you were expected to have that, certainly. Then classical piano lessons, and then a year of jazz piano lessons - which in addition to those modules there were longer running things, like participating concentrates less on outright techniques and . more on understanding the chords in departmental ensembles which again may or may not have been on your and harmonies; how it all fits together, which in a way is more related to folk preferred instrument, and having instrumental tuition as you went along. And at music. Having said that, when I went to the jazz teacher he insisted that I start the end of the course there was the option of replacing one of the modules with a doing a number of technical exercises with a metronome to improve the dexterity recital - a final performance on your instrument, of about half an hour. I took that of all my fingers. These are very boring but I did them - forty minutes or an hour option. a day for a few months. Not only did it help my piano playing it also helped my piping quite a lot in terms of strengthening the weaker fingers - that was one of And who then judged you on that performance? the peculiar side effects. And by using the metronome you can measure if you are getting better. I keep suggesting this to people on piping courses (to do some It was members of staff from the music department - the same members of staff piano exercises), but I dont think any of them do! for all the finals recitals. Did any of the other people with particular instruments on the course have to do So they werent necessarily masters ofyour instrument? keyboard work?

34 35 PIPER PROFILE (2) Allan Macdonald There was a set of optional sessions on the keyboard scales, which were primarily aimed at people who didnt play the piano at all. I heard some repeatedly Allan teaches the piping component of the degree in complain `why should we have to play the piano? - they were not interested in Scottish music at the RSAMD. We sat in the hotel playing the piano, and I can see some sense in that. But it is a very very useful lounge at Melrose after the LBPS piping weekend: instrument because it covers the range of orchestral and other instruments - and Have you been playing the smallpipes for long? in terms of writing arrangements and putting in harmonies it really is very useful. Maybe since about 1993. I find them particularly good Apart from exercising your fingers with the jazz lessons, did any other part of the playing with other instruments. I also find them good course benefit your piping? for teaching piobaireachd, where I can sing along with pipes in the key of C. Yes, I would say so. The music department in York contains quite a large concert hall which has a public concert every Wednesday night. And the course Im not in the Highland piping circuit, but youve made requirement is that you go to them all. And I ended up listening to some stuff I yourself a name there. Youve done a lot of competition piping? would never have gone to by choice. And some of that was very interesting and relevant. I heard things like an Indian man who played sitar, which is Indian folk Ive done enough. Ive done what I want to do. It never excited me that much to music I suppose - a stringed instrument with a drone to it and modal value tunes. win. I suppose I got some kicks out of it when I was young. Ive a kind of love It was interesting to watch different approaches to performance - classical and hate relationship with competitions. I dont get nervous - no problems in that sense; probably the opposite. Its just that I feel that what I have been saying about jazz musicians, and ethnic new-worldy musicians, and see their approach. Often the standardisation of music and piobaireachd especially, then it would be a bit the classical musicians would not speak, and theyd be very smartly dressed, .hypocritical to take part in a competition. So occasionally I make a foray into the while the jazz musicians would be a little bit more relaxed, and seem more competition circuit, more to use it as a platform to let people hear how Im treating outwardly to be enjoying themselves - different approaches. the music.

When Ive seen you at competitions, you always appear quite relaxed. Is that And the reactions to the way you are treating the music? partly due this degree course where you had to perform every so often? From the audience very good. From the judges point of view Im not too sure!! That has certainly helped, I think. I think looking relaxed is a terrible vicious circle, where if youre standing there about to play something and you are not Is the piping Centre achieving all that it hoped? . sure if it is going to work, youll not be relaxed. But in turn if youre not relaxed Well its work in progress. We have the first intake of four students for the new the chances are it wont work. Whereas if youre playing something you know piping degree. Previous to this everything was done under the auspices of the you are on top of and its going to be fine then youll tend to be a lot more RASMD. I did the piping element of that BA degree course.. The piping Centre relaxed. Confidence comes with confidence. It is a horrible spiral if you end up wanted to have a more specialist piping degree so they came in with the RASMD not being confident. For myself I started playing in front of people when I was and we developed this course. They get more piping now as part of their BA too small to realize I was supposed to be nervous, but thats not to say I dont get degree as opposed to a fiddler or a clarsach player or any of the other main killer attacks of nerves sometimes. instrument groups.

Well I look forward to hearing more of your piping, and good luck with your What qualifications would I need if I wanted to take this BA (Scottish music)? plans. We have auditions. Candidates have to have minimum academic qualifications - a couple of Highers, or similar level. They dont have to have a music degree or any such qualifications. We judge them at the audition. So far were choosing CS candidates from seven or eight people. In the past we only had two, or at the most three, students specialising in piping. Now it has increased to four, maybe next year itll be five. 36 37 How long does the degree course take? LBPS BURNS SUPPER 2002

With honours - this is the first year of honours - takes four years; ordinary takes WE MAY have flitted at short notice to Deacon three years. In the honours year they have to do a project - an assignment. Brodies Tavern (the Castle Arms, our venue for the past few years, was up for sale) but at the Societys Would that be involved in piping, or some other aspect? Burns Supper on 19th January, the company proved as convivial as ever: no split personalities were in evidence, and no-one was apprehended for breaking and They can take another aspect, but if they choose pipes as their first instrument we entering, in the manner of Edinburghs most notorious local government official. would expect them to do an in-depth study related to their first instrument. The pubs upstairs lounge accommodated everyone without the cramming of previous years, and may prove a `find, as a venue for the event in future. Supper- Their degree, then, not only requires them to play well, but to get to know the goers were greeted on arrival by some lovely playing from Orna and Maeve subject, its history? Gilchrist on fiddle and harp (okay, this writers daughters; but nepotism comes Absolutely. There is a fairly demanding academic element in the course. But we cheap), while one Jim Gilchrist, as ever, addressed and disembowelled the haggis do take account of those people who are not so academically qualified, whose with indecent relish. There were some enjoyable smallpipe sets from Iain Maclnnes, and we were extremely grateful to singer Fiona Ross, who stood and main desire is to develop their music and who are at a high level of musicianship. gave a fine performance, at a matter of hours notice, when our billed singer, Brian Theyll be helped along with their academic studies. Miller, succumbed to illness. Who makes the decision as to whether the player is of sufficient standard to take Proposing the Immortal Memory was our guest speaker Fred Freeman, musical part in the course? director of Linn Records ambitious project to record all of the 360-plus songs written, crafted and collected by Burns, many of them for Johnsons `Scots Musical A number of us - we usually have three people at the audition for each instrument. Museum or Thomsons collections. This commendable 12-volume series, So far it has been fairly straightforward and weve all agreed as to who should get featuring some of Scotlands finest singers and musicians, currently stands at in and who shouldnt. Sometimes when people are very very young and maybe not Volume 9 (at least at time of going to press). [See also Revues in this issue - Ed] at the level thats required, then we have to turn them away. Its made easier by the fact that when you have up to four people, seven people, eight people coming In a fascinating but necessarily compressed address (prompting the suggestion that to play in front of you it becomes a kind of competitive thing. You take the four he be invited back to address an LBPS Collogue) Dr Freeman used examples from best and then youre weighing them up against each other in musicianship and in the series, and from other sources, to illustrate the inspired nature of Burns as academic qualifications - and maturity. songsmith, the often progressive nature of his craft, and the importance he placed upon this side of his work. He showed how skilled Burns was at tailoring words, Can they do the degree course on the smallpipes? his own or collected lyrics, to pre-existing tunes, resulting in pawky mouth music or magisterial anthems, such as `Scots Wha Hae; also how he could draw out the No, they can do the degree course on the main pipes only. Ive never had anyone essence of a tune for the purposes of a song, perhaps turning a reel into an air. ring in to do solely smallpipes. That hasnt come around yet. 4 Burns, while well aware of his audiences, didnt particularly approve of bet canto, And the future? drawing-room renditions of his songs, and Freeman went on to show how composers such as Pleyell, Hayden and Beethoven came up with settings for them, Next year Ill be Ill be looking after the academic side of the first year and second with wildly differing degrees of success. Beethovens attempt at Duncan Gray, year, as well as teaching part of the 1.1 and 1.2 light music. After four years all the for instance, said Freeman, proved overtly sentimentalised and overstated, students that are doing piping as part of the BA degree will be under the auspices `dissolving the reel that carries the song. of the Piping Centre. Burns quite consciously set out to rescue what he recognised was an endangered Good luck with the future, then Allan, and many thanks. heritage, and in doing so, he put us hugely in his debt. This was the consummate skill of a craftsman who famously declared: "Those who think writing a Scots song is a triflinn business - let them try. "

39 38 On a personal note I would like to thank all those who were involved in helping LBPS 19th Annual Competition 2002 and giving of their time. The competition would not happen without a lot of people agreeing to help. Nigel Bridges MC: Hamish Moore The competition was held on a glorious spring day at St Annes Community The Judges: Iain Maclnnes, Hamish Moore, Nigel Richard, Gary West centre, just off the Cowgate, Edinburgh. It may be that the fine weather, the Time keeper: Alan Paul difficulty of parking or an early Easter meant that some decided not to attend. Entry: Ian MacDonald Numbers were noticeably down on last year with many familiar faces absent. Memberships and Raffle: Naill Anderson Competition entries and admin: Dick Edie That being said we still had a fun and traditionally laid back day amidst the strong Calling competitors: Kenneth Dickson smell of fresh paint. It is a great atmosphere with lots of different instruments Judging cards: Stuart Letford being assembled. The sound of players practising, groups clustered round the cafe Photography: Bill Sutherland tables, competitors readying themselves for performance, music being written out. Teas: Jeannie Campbell and Rona MacDonald The contrast between the nerves before and the look of relief on the competitors Presenting prizes: Rona MacDonald faces after performing. The acoustics of the hall were good. For all those who donated food for the teas For all those who donated raffle prizes One of the great strengths of the LBPS competition is the broad spectrum of tunes To all the competitors for competing heard, some familiar but many new and interesting to the ear. Sixty-eight different Apologies for any omissions - I owe you a beer. tunes were played with very few heard twice. Next year is the 20th competition and an important milestone for the society. We The Intermediate and New Composition classes were the largest, each attracting hope to make it a special event. Members please get practising! more competitors than last year. The Society needs to address a clear problem when the standard in the Intermediate class amongst many of the competitors is higher than in the Open. Many competitors believe that in order to compete in the The 19th Annual LBPS Competition results Open they must first win the Intermediate. This is not the case. The only rule is that the winner of the Intermediate class must go forward to compete in the Open. Intermediate (7 entries) - The Julian Goodacre Trophy - Judge: Gary West Next year this problem will hopefully be ironed out. I would suggest that all placed players in the Intermediate go forward to the Open. 1st Stuart Letford. Jack Latin 2nd Bill Bennett. Duns Ding, Hamilton Nutsach, John Keith Laing, Border Jig The Novice class attracted a single entry but Annie Rutherford well deserved her 3rd Ian Mackay. The Little House Under the Hill, Home to the Kyles, Unknown trophy and hopefully will be back next year. Reel, Mrs Macleod of Raasay

It is always great to see new faces competing and each year usually provides some Pipe and song (2 entries) - The Jimmy Wilson Memorial Cup - Judge: Gary West strong new comers. Chip Gehring and Scott Riley had travelled all the way from the Czech Republic to take part and as well as being entertained by their playing 1st Donald Lindsay. Jack Latin we got two new members! The audience also thoroughly enjoyed listening to 2nd Malcolm Maclnnes. Busk Busk, Bonnie Lassie Daniel Houghtons playing on the Border pipes. Those who went on to `The Tasks on the Royal Mile after the competition heard a lot more of Daniels playing. New composition (8 entries) - The London Trophy - Judge: Hamish Moore

A few competitors had time over-runs which cost them places. A 15 second over- 1st Daniel Houghton. In Praise of the Whiskey Garlic Bread run is allowed but a 45 second over-run results in losing 10 points! 2nd Pete Stewart. When All the World was New and All 3rd Donald Lindsay. The Hurricane There was a get together after the competition at `The Tass and a fair bit of music played.

40 41 And Donald Lindsay writes - This years competition was characterised by Duet for pipes and other instrument (5 entries) - Dunfermline Tassies - Judge: a change of venue - or rather, a return to the St Annes Community Centre in the Nigel Richard Cowgate. Having only joined the LBPS in the last couple of years, I had enjoyed the cosy atmosphere in the Quaker Meeting House, and was pleased to discover 1st Jim Buchanan and David Dunlop. My Home Town, Tail Toddle, Drops of that St Annes is pretty much the same! Brandy 2nd Daniel Houghton and Cammy Robson. Dr Maclnnes Fantasy, Kalabahan, There was a lot of good music from regulars and newcomers alike, and a good Hair of the Dog audience all of which contributed to making the day a success. 3rd Donald and Sheryl Lindsay. The Dancer, Making for the Shore, MacKenzie Rebellion The furthest travelled pipers award must go this year to Chip Doehring Scott Riley who came all the way from the Czech Republic (I czeched the spelling just Seasoned pipers (2 entries) - The Nigel Richard Trophy - Judge: Nigel Richard to be sure!) and were rewarded for their efforts with a first prize in the duet for pipes (on Border Pipes), as well as a 2nd for Chip in the Border Open Solo. 1st Iain Murray. Jacks Gone a Shearing, The Curlew 2nd David Stevenson. Long Reveille (Soldiers Return), Granny Duncan, Wearing Stuart Letford provided an excellent interpretation of Dixons 10-part setting of of the Green, Johny Cope Jack Latin to win the Intermediate class, and I went on to tire everyone of the tune by singing to it in Pipe Song, and including the shorter 3-part Irish version Novice (1 entry) - The Heriot and Allan Quaich - Judge: Iain Maclnnes in my Open Smallpipe set, ensuring that everyone went away from the day with diddle-diddle dum-dee dee-dum dum ringing in their ears. 1st Annie Rutherford. The Barren Rocks of Aden, The Blackberry The duet of pipes concertina performed by Jim Buchanan and David Dunlop Open solo for Scottish small pipes (5 entries) - Colin Ross Trophy - Judge: Iain made a very tasteful traditional pairing. The sound of the two instruments seems Maclnnes very close, and works together very well indeed. Electric guitar also made an appearance, as well as clarinet (twice), and a lively contemporary edge given by 1st Donald Lindsay. The Bagpipe Tune, Trip to Kelso, Jack Latin the pairing of Dan Houghton on pipes Cammy Robson on cittern which is 2nd Nigel Bridges. Song for Smallpipes, The Shaggy Grey Buck becoming a standard session pairing. 3rd = Robin Beck. High Road to Gairloch 3rd = Pete Stewart. Two Scottish Brawls, Jack Warrens Hornpipe Pipe Song-ers sorely missed crowned king Davie Robertsons annual Muckle Sang, and with David Stevenson choosing not to compete in the end there were Duet for pipes (3 entries) - Mains Castle Medals - Judge: Nigel Richard only two of us this year. I shouldnt complain too much however, as I got a nice big cup to put on my mantelpiece for singing Jack Latin, and Malcolm gave a 1st Chip Doehring and Scott Riley. Is Maith Le Nora, 0 The Britches Full of solid rendition of `Busk Busk and Bonnie Lassie. Stitches, Kevins Polka, Maggie Shanleys Jig 2nd Bill Bennett and Stuart Letford. McPhersons Farewell, Corn Rigs, The The Novice class only had one entrant, young Annie Rutherford. However, she Waters of Kylesku, The Hag at the Churn, Drops of Brandy played excellently and very much deserved to win the class - if our present efforts 3rd Jim Buchanan and Iain Murray. Song for Smallpipes, Moncks March, The to interest young pipers through events surrounding the Collogue are successful, Beard on the Chin. next years novice class should have a good few more entrants.

Open solo for lowland/border pipes (3 entries) - Hamish Moore Cup - Judge: Anyone hoping for the usual broad spectrum of pipes, styles tunes couldnt have Hamish Moore been disappointed, and although we couldnt stay long at the session (due to the tiny Lindsay who is on the way, arriving in early September!) in the Tass 1st Daniel Houghton. Sonnys Mazurka, The Ass in the Graveyard, Rip the Calico afterwards it seemed to be shaping up to be a great night ...... 2nd Chip Doehring. Prelude, Barren Rocks of Aden, Teribus, The Pipers Muse 3rd Jim Buchanan. Lindisfarne (special arrangement)

42 43 "Hanka Joova In Praise of Whiskey Garlic Fried Rice The Bandshees (Strathspey/Reel) Dan Houghton ( Hoste Obdobi)", The Bandshees (Gaelachas CD001, 2001) Robert Burns - The Complete Songs. Compiled by Dr Fred Those who attended this years Freeman. 12 Volumes planned, 9 so competition will already be familiar far available [January 2002]. with the fine Border Piping of Chip Individual CDs £13. Cassettes £6.50 Doehring Scott Riley who treated each. Whole set £10 per CD or £5 us to a brilliantly harmonious duet per cassette if ordered together from set of Irish Polkas. LINN Records, Floors Road, Whilst working in the Czech Eaglesham, by Glasgow G76 OEP Republic, Chip Scott play their tel:0141-303-5029. pipes in a local Celtic Folk group, Fred gave The Immortal The Bandshees, who have just Memory at the LBPS Burns Supper released their first self-titled album. in Edinburgh on 19 January 2002, The disc features 9 tracks altogether, illustrated by excerpts from the including 5 tracks of instrumental series. [See elsewhere in this issue Irish Scottish folk music, for a description of that evening. Ed] including the magnificent Polka set I bought the CD of Volume 1, with pipes to the fore, supported by the printed insert to which has Freds Rene Starhon on Bouzouki introduction to the series. I Percussion. The other 4 tracks are recommend it. It has 23 tracks, each Celtic-inspired compositions by with one Burns song. Most have an Hanka Joova - the titles of these are instrumental accompaniment. The admittedly a little cheesy; Celtic Cittern is used, bagpipes are not (on Winter takes the prize there I think... [name change since competition] The Beginning of Days this disc) but pipers may still learn However the pieces are very or improve tunes by listening. Songs listenable original, and the include expected ones from standard of playing high throughout. standard editions of Bums (Duncan I particularly liked Freedom, which Gray). More sexually explicit is based around a very elegant ones not usually found in standard whistle theme, built up with editions (Whall mow me noo ?) and accordion, military-style drums ones which we may know better as cello. tunes than as songs (Brose and From the names given in the Butter). A variety of singers and inlay, all the musicians appear to be musicians perform. Czech except for Chip, Scott and the This is a very worthwhile harpist Sean Barry, and throughout enterprise and I hope Fred and Linn both the traditional the original Records do well out of it. music, there is a strong thread of Eastern European folk style technique running parrallel to the Celtic. The Accordion patricularly 44 I 45 has a very Eastern tone, and the use approach that draws on the skills and fiddle and is probably the most Colin has accumulated a wealth of of the fujara (remember the whistle talents of the whole group. modern track on the CD. knowledge and experience in the that Bolasz played a couple of years It is crafted in that you can Track nine (attingham waltz), making of smallpipes and their back at the Collogue?) in some clearly see where the chords, is excellent and is a good example of reeds, and access to a lot of this places reinforces the effect. This melodies, riffs and the specific how soulful the Border pipes can be knowledge is made available Celtic-Slavic fusion is very attractive instruments all fit together. It is with the right tune in the right pair of through his book. As he says in his where it comes through strongest, innovative in that they could have hands. introduction "Reedmaking for but isnt really developed, which is stuck to the old and familiar and I dont know where the Eel smallpipes has always been an disappointing as it could be the basis there would be little complaints. Grinders will voyage to next. In uncommon and highly sought-after of a unique sound the band could Instead they have boldly gone where many ways it does not matter as they skill ...[and] ... the ability to adjust take a lot further. no one has gone before and they have shown what they are capable and maintain reeds is ... an essential Overall I found this a very have gone and done it. And it is of, and they now have nothing to ability for players of Northumbrian enjoyable, well produced improvisational in the sense - and I prove. The only minor criticism I and Scottish smallpipes, particularly professional recording, although the mean this in a positive way - that have is that a CD will never catch those without a supplier close at band need to play more to their you get the impression that the tape the excitement and energy of the Eel hand." strengths and develop a sound more was left on running until they Grinders as they perform live. The book is divided into three their own - they certainly have a lot exhausted all their ideas and damn Nevertheless, this is a bloody sections and five appendices. They of talent and imagination to work the costs. good CD, and deserves to be sat deal in turn with Materials and with. More pipes too, of course! This CD is about as close to alongside any serious pipers Tools; Chanter Reeds; Drone Reeds; You can obtain a copy of the the cutting-edge (without going collection. and, in the appendices, Units of album by contacting The Bandshees electronic) as you will ever find Measurement; Chanter reed at : without leaving the realms of what is Jim Fraser dimensions; Drone reed dimensions; known today as folk music. The Manometer; and a list of Sources - www.coisceim.cz Beatles had Sgt Pepper. With i.e where to obtain the recommended Voyage the Eel Grinders are pushing REEDMAKING FOR materials. Donald Lindsay the envelope. NORTHUMBRIAN AND The detailed information on chanter reed construction is backed The tracks speak for SCOTTISH SMALLPIPES themselves. Track one (upwards), ISBN 0 9542402 0 0 up with some (no doubt hard won) advice on final adjustment. Here the for instance, can quickly blindside Colin Ross Voyage by the eel grinders on Scottish smallpipe players have to Sargasso sounds EELCD02 you and imbed in frontal lobes - a Published by B J Say Smallpipes sure sign of a catchy tune. With its Available direct from Colin Ross, 6 retail pick their way through some + £1 postage UK and £2 for overseas. Also distinctly Northumbrian smallpipe David Faulkner - Border pipes, bouncy casual laid-back fiddle and tight sprightly accordion playing it from the Piping Times bookshop, Jim jargon, such as tuning beads, end whistle and trumpet McGillivray Piping Partnerships, and the stoppers, and ensuring the bottom Lawrence Morgan-Anstee - Border builds up a groove preparing the Chantry Bagpipe Museum listener for the equally laid-back end of the chanter is supplied with a pipes and whistle small plug of cotton wool! Helena Torpy - fiddle and voice entry of the Border pipes. If a picture is worth a thousand (boxing hares), is Colin uses brass-bodied Steve Turner - accordion Track two words, then this AS size booklet my personal favourite. The haunting composite reeds for the drones, holds well over seventy thousand traditionally with cane tongues. This is not an in-your-face-bagpipe- whistle theme is superb and the words of good, practical information pipes add a unique joyous feel to the However in the appendix he gives led-foot-stomping CD, but rather a on reeds. It deals not just with the not only the full dimensions for the more carefully crafted innovative variations and melodies. I making of reeds, but their care, (starburst), opens various pitches which might be and improvisational ensemble Track three maintenance, adjustment and repair. w with a sombre toned accordion riff encountered, but also ho plastic juxtaposed with discordant pipes and sheet may be used instead of cane. It

47 46 wasnt entirely clear, though, so that such matters may easily be a short 2 part air "The Last of the I start by falling into the well-baited whether the reed dimensions for put right). Tinkers" is not enough and we begin trap of copying from the publicity drones tuned to a fifth represented Even if the smallpipe player to tire of the continual upbeat blurb that came with the review the baritone or alto version. never reckons on having to make his rhythms. It also appears that Mr copy. "Chaucers bagpiping Miller It is always good value own reeds, this book will still be of Moore cannot play a strathspey, in the Canterbury tales (featured on writing a review for this kind of tremendous value. It gives a very I which is rather disappointing, since the front cover), the plays of book, for it means having to read good insight as to just what makes a he obviously has plenty of technical Shakespeare and Ben Johnson and through each section in detail and so reed tick (or screech!), and some ability. the engravings of Hogarth all attest discover items that a more casual very good practical advice on how to This album might have been to a vigorous tradition of piping approach might miss. For instance in correct that screech and generally better billed as "Solo piper Lee throughout England from the 14 th to the instructions for final adjustment make the playing easier. Moore plus accompanying the 18 th centuries." of the chanter reed I came across the musicians" than as a band because And to emphasise all this the term "bag neck resonance", a Jock Agnew while the accompanying front cover has a stick-on label complaint which may be remedied musicians certainly enhance the declaring "The English Bagpipe and by putting plastic foam in the top of tunes, giving sympathetic chordal its Music". Im always slightly the chanter stock or, more seriously, Pipedown, the First Measure. and percussive background, there is suspicious when I meet a stick-on replacing the bag. And the simple not enough interaction between label: is it an afterthought, or does it approach of testing the pitch of the This album starts well, with a tune them, and all the melodies are pipe- hide something sinister?! reed when out of the chanter by `Rebel without Applause by Dougie driven with not enough variation. There is nothing sinister about using a tin whistle to sound C# is, in Campbell of the David Urquhart Perhaps as a relatively new the contents, though. Seventy tunes my financial situation, greatly band there is still room for drawn from many sources and Pipe Band, and it finishes well with th preferable to buying a sophisticated a smashing rendition of Hamish experimenting with line-ups and representing music from the 13 electronic tuning meter. Moores `Ian McGees Romanian sounds but we could do more to hear century onwards, with historical text I found the book particularly Boots. from the non pipe players in the and 15 pictures all of which add to well laid out and clear, once I had In between there is an eclectic band. More sleeve notes on the CD the interest of the subject in hand - got used to every sub-section and mix of music from composers old I would also have been bagpipe music. There are also notes appendix being labelled with the (Norman MacLean/Donald appreciated, particularly to know on the tunes, text and illustrations. same group of capital letters. Some MacLeod) and new (Paul whose make of both Highland and Printed on A4 sized paper, my sixty photographs are provided Ritchie/Don Bradford), mixing smallpipes were being played. copy had a couple of lines left by which well illustrate the points made traditional Scottish, Irish, Breton and paste-ins, and on two of the pages in the text. Clear line drawings add even Bulgarian influence in Rona Macdonald the printing ink had smeared. These to, and further clarify, these half- effective - if somewhat rootless - did not prevent me from reading the tones. However the mix of imperial combination. tunes, of course, but they detracted and metric measurements irritated The playing on pipes by Lee I from the books otherwise me a little until I found Colins Moore of County Tyrone is ROBIN WITH THE BAGPIPE professional appearance. explanation and a conversion table technically faultless, rhythmically The English Bagpipe and its Music Pete, who plays with the in the appendix. And my own (now tight and on a very pleasant 4 ISBN 0 90 7772 52 8 Goodacre Brothers band, has taken a well thumbed) copy started to come instrument, however the album lacks Compiled by Pete Stewart lot of trouble to give, in the index, apart at the staple, but Im assured variety on two counts: it is crying Published by White House Tune the mode of each tune (though I that Bary and Julia Say will be using out for a good slow air, or tune in Books March 2002 found myself disagreeing with one heavier grade staples in future slow time of any sort, to balance the or two of these):- Mixolydian editions (their publishing business rest of the sets in assorted Price £13.00 from Julian Goodacre, (Scottish, flat 7th), Dorian (flat prints quite small batches at a time jig/reel/hornpipe tempos. A typical 4 Elcho St, Peebles EH45 8LQ 3rds), and Aeolian (flat 3rds and pipe band-style rendition of 6ths). This is intended as a helpful

48 49 Jeannie Campbell guide, but the mention of modes might have come straight out of 1 2 3 5 6 might daunt a novice piper, Peter Warlock s Capriol suite, especially if that piper has learned, although he has added a further after much hard work, to recognise strain and used the sharpened notes only in the scale of A. As Pete seventh. Another, No 49 The ■ ■ 7 points out in the Afterword, "...I Bagpipe Tune, reminded me of a 8 ~ have had several re-thinks about the couple of strains of Matt Seattles ■ choice of keys to print this music in. Pete Rowleys Hornpipe. In the end I opted to print the music One slight puzzle remains: 10 in the form with which I was most tune number 50, The Gum Ga familiar, in the hope it would reduce hasvariousdecorationsdAber, 11 12 to a minimum any transcription marked above certain notes, such as errors." Well as far as I could tell it = or //, but, as far as I could see, no 13 worked - the only (slight) apparent information on what those marks transcription error I detected was in might represent. the tune Bag-pipes which has one As is to be expected when 14 IS 16 ■ 6/4 bar divided into two. . faced by a wealth of new music, 17 18 19 20 Working individually through some tunes are immediately the tunes I found that about half of attractive and start creeping into the them could be played on the Scottish players repertoire. For me these 21 smallpipes without keys, provided include The Fools Jig; A Cheisheire ■ ■ (on occasion) that the flattened 7 th Hornpipe; The Buffens. Others no ■ 22 23 didnt spoil something that was doubt will grow in acceptability as ■ crying out to be played on a diatonic the book is dipped into from time to 24 scale. And if given the ability to time, and the ear becomes I ■ ■ cross-finger C natural, F natural and accustomed to new sounds. G sharp, most of the tunes can be So for the music, the historical 25 accommodated on the Scottish information, and the illustrations, it ■ ■ chanter. is a book I am delighted to have in (A quick and simple way to my collection. ACROSS 1 =VENUE FOR THE NEXT COLLOGUE (9) 7 = PAWKY MR GLEN (4) 8 = TO\VN NEAR assess which can be played on the = = un-keyed smallpipe chanter, would STIRLING (5) 9 COLIN CAMPBELLS TITLE (3) 10 SOME PIPES ARE HALF THIS (4) 11 = ACROSS THE FIRTH FROM BROUGHTY FERRY (7) 13= TERIBUS IS PLAYED HERE be to try those tunes with either one = (6) 14= A LINDSAY CASTLE IN ANGUS (6) 17 SOME BORDER PIPERS ARE THIS (7) or two sharps showing on the stave, 21= POPULAR 2 PART JIG (4) 22 = LUBRICANT FOR WOOD (3) 23 = ITS ROCK IS A then transpose the notes up a fifth - In the December 2001 Common REEL (5) 24 LAND MEASSURE (4) 25 = ANCIENT PIPERS PERHAPS (9) D becoming A, E becoming B and Stock (Vol 16 No 2) there was a so forth.) "Caption Competition" to a picture DOWN A few of the melodies I found of Gordon Mooney playing Border 1= DIMENSIONS SHOULD BE THIS (5) 2 = GARYS BALL (5) 3= VILLAGE AND faintly familiar, and on looking at pipes plugged in to a manometer. CASTLE IN STRATHALLAN (5) 4= FIFE TOWN (6) 5 = BATTLE TUNE FROM 1411 (6) = the `Notes to the tunes discovered Jock Agnew was taking the reading. 6= OF BARLEY MEAL (8) 12 THEY HELP TO JUDGE OUR COMPETITIONS ((8) 15= REVERBERATES FROM OBAN (6) 16= ABERDEENSHIRE CLAN OR FIFE TOWN (6) why - they were usually versions of = = = other tunes I had played in the past. Craig Hohm offered "The glass is 18 GENERAL STEWARTS HOME (5) 19 MOUTH OF A RIVER (5) 20 SHARPENS. No 15 Bridle de falling, Capt, looks like were in One of them, for a bad blow!" Poictou en Mode de Cornmeuse,

50 Meetings and Events Galloway Summer School. August 5 th - 9th . Tutors Gary West and Jock Agnew - smallpipes and Border pipes, with Richard and Anita Evans on pipe maintenance and reed making. Contact David Hannay 01557 840 229

9 th November. LBPS Collogue at Edinburgh Academy. Further information in the LBPS Newsletter.

October 5 th, Morpeth, Chantry Museum. Joint meeting with the NPS. Concert featuring Fin Moore and Malcolm Robertson along with 2 or 3 Northumbrian folk. Talks from Hamish Moore and Julian Goodacre plus speakers from the Northumbrian Piping Society.

EDINBURGH. Session on 1st Tuesday of the month - temporarily suspended. For details of ALP smallpipe classes and pipe hire contact Jim Buchanan 0131 440 21 16

GLASGOW, Smallpipe sessions every Thursday, 8 p.m. Cafe Source bar St Andrews in the Square. Contact No. 0141 548 6020. Free smallpipe class Tuesdays contact Rona MacDonald 0141 946 8624

DUNDEE. 2 nd Sunday every month, at the Bay Horse. Contact Paul Boness 01250 876300

NORTHEAST. 1st and 3rd Thursday of the month at the Swan pub, Greenish. Contact Steve Barwick 0191,286 3545.

NORTHWEST. Last Friday in the month at Armathwaite School, 1900 - 2130. Contact Richard Evans 016974 73799

LONDON. 3r d Thursday of every month (except July August). London Scottish Regimental Headquarters, 95 Horseferry Rd. Contact Jock Agnew 01621 855447

BRISBANE, Queensland. Meeting every month; Contact Malcolm McLaren (07 3820 2902) for details of day and venue.

Cover Picture - this collage of piping attitudes was sent in by Donald Lindsay. The pictures were taken at the 2002 LBPS competition, and illustrate a choice variety of stances!

LBPS WEB SITE www.lbps.net