A Path of Colour - Summer Flowers

There has been a few entries in this blog about the journey getting to/from the boat in different seasons of the year. Summer is upon us and sadly disappearing. When I came back from Sweden I noticed how 'green' our roadsides and fields looked compared to the multicoloured equivalents in Sweden, "What has happened to our wild flowers?" I thought. 
Recently I have noticed a change in our country roads, there is more colour, more natural growth of different varieties. I do not know the names of these flowers (there is no need to know to appreciate their colour and beauty) I am just happy there are there; and perhaps they are becoming more widespread than compared to other years, I hope it may continue in years to come. I also notice fields being left and wild flowers growing, if this is EU policy or Farmers taking the initiative, so may it continue

Coast Guard Activities

(8pm) As I waited for the tide to arrive I saw 5 ‘haaf netters’ go out to meet the first of the flood tide, behind them came 2 boys with fishing  rods to perch themselves on top of the harbour wall to do a bit of fishing. The tide barely lifted the boat but the weather had changed from a windless sunny evening to a cold easterly wind, a moonless night followed. I was bounced around while the keels scraped the bottom. The haaf netters returned happy as they had caught a salmon. As darkness came on and the tide ebbed I noticed a car with lights pointing towards the harbour, I thought it was the kids parents coming to pick them up from the harbour wall, then I noticed flashing lights on the Scottish side of the estuary that looked like an ambulance and police car, then a flare went up into the sky. I poked my head out of the cabin I heard radio signals and I put it all together and realised it was the Coast Guard and they were sending a boat out to look for the kids. The car’s headlights turned onto my boat as a land mark for the Coast Guard to head for, and as I could not see anything for the glare I went for a walk to the harbour. I met a coast guard carrying the smaller boy on his back and then followed the older boy. I asked if anyone wanted any hot drinks but the coast guard said “we are loosing water we have to go” (spoken in a Scottish accent, so different from the Cumbrian accent which is only 2 mile across the estuary). The boys had southern accents and were on holiday, they had gone fishing thinking the tide would be out soon but as it comes in fast it went out slow and the cold wind and the darkness made a girlfriend at the caravan park phone for the Coast Guard. The younger boys were not bothered explaining that they had seen several “large fish!” They were dressed in t-shirts; the older boy said “never again, I will now get in trouble off my girlfriend!” They were driven home by the man with the car, it was mid-night.

The authorities have closed the permanent Coast Guard Station at Silloth, now the nearest Station is in Liverpool. These men must have been volunteers on the Scottish side; they did not know the area as the man with the car who evidently must have been the Coast Guard on the Cumbrian side, told them to head for Annan as there is deeper water even with an ebbing tide. With such dangerous waters surely ‘cost’ should not be an issue?

Heeled Over...on land

I knew the tide would be low over the next few days, but my thought of sailing was put aside when I saw the position of the boat. It had landed on top of the mooring and was heeled over at quite an alarming angle. Of all the area to choose from the boat had got her keels trapped on a large stone that sat on top of the mooring and this had kept her stationary while the tide ebbed, as she dried out she must of keeled over and stayed that way. I took off her plastic covering and then went to get some bottles of fresh drinking water from Bowness. On returning I attached a rope from her bow to a disused mooring that lay a few meters away I hoped to pull her off the stones if/when she floated at the next tide. I knew the tide was getting lower so there might not be enough water to get her off. As the tide came in I got onto the boat and waited until she floated, load creaks and groans as the boat lifted and shifted her weight. I waited until the tide was full in and then tried to move her. The rope eventually pulled her off the stones as there was no wind and little water. I kept her far from the mooring until the tide went out.

Gagnef Sweden: Sackpipa Meeting

 It was not a festival, it was too intimate for that, but it was a meeting of musicians who play the Swedish bagpipes, the sackpipa. I have been interested in the sackpipa for many years when I bought the LP of solo sackpipa in 1991. I had additional information after that when I visited Sweden and actually got to see the instrument after many years of just listening and seeing photos when I visited a maker near to Nykoping called Bors Anders, he is a maker also of ocarinas. The Sackpipa has 1 drone, 1 melody chanter, 1 bag, it is mouth blown. It has a range of 1 octabe - bottom E to top e, the drones sound in A and the tonic on the chanter can be found half way along the chanter. The Scale is E, F#, G#, A, b, c, d, e (most instruments can also play a c# and a d#) these semitones are opened/closed by placing a rubber band over the hole.

 But my real immersion to this instrument was the meeting in Gagnef in the county of Dalarna, Sweden. There for a weekend we talked about sackpipa and Swedish music, learned about reeds and construction of the instrument, its evolving status amongst other single beating bagpipes. It is classified as a "simple" instrument due to its single beating reed construction, but it is far from simple! It is quite complicated and getting more advanced as the makers think of new and inventive ways to improve the instrument, its sound and by doing so are creating a new tradition. I was greatly inspired by the event and I have learned a lot about my own playing and instrument by listening to the musicians there. The people were very welcoming; they took the time to speak English and converse with me about their instrument and also about my own Northumbrian Pipes. The players rarely meet to play together and there was a mixture of advanced players and some who were just starting out and all said they had learned from each other. What was special about the meeting was the atmosphere, the closeness of the meeting, the friendliness I felt as an outsider. Certain players played well together, blending harmonies and sweet sounding chanters that I hope, in time, will be recorded and reproduced on a CD. I came away with a lot of ideas about recording and documenting what I had seen. It is changing fast and a lot of techniques and information would have changed by next year, so it is important to document it and preserve it for the future. I hope to make a detailed video of the meeting next year and record the music and performances, dialogue and reed and pipe maintenance as a decade from now I am sure it will have advanced a lot and knowledge will have been lost just as the knowledge has been lost for the 1970s
 

D Drones and the Sackpipa

After coming home from Sweden, where I had attended the Sackpipa Festival (Swedish Bagpipes), I started busking. I have not busked for a few months, I have been too busy with the new rig on the boat. But on my birthday I felt like going out and busking just for enjoyment. When I was playing I had trouble with my G bass drone, it would not staying in tune but kept on going flat. Today it did the same thing and I knocked it off and set the bass D drone instead, so having 2 D drones playing D/d.. I got this idea of a few Cumbrian pipers who just so happen play with their D drones all the time whether in the key of G or D. The Swedish sackpipa players have a chanter which is A, but their drones are in E, which is a similar arangement. I played a lot of melodies today using the D drones and after first thinking it does not sound right...as I am so used to the G/d drone arangement, I started to think how compatable they are together. The D drone compliments the bass notes on the chanter, the F# and the A as well as being in tune with the G (root note) it is quiet and in the top octave the harmonies sound less complicated than with the G/d drones, and the D drone stays in tune!
Another influence from the Sackpipa Festival was the re-tuning of the Border pipes by using tape. I have always had problems with my Border pipes or should I say with the reeds. I could never get the whole chanter in tune with itself whilst being in A (440c) it was ok when it was flat, but in A I had problems. The Sackpipa players cover their holes with rubber bands to tune the chanter, so I covered the holes with tape to make a few notes flatter/sharper and now it is in tune, in concert pitch A and sounding quite nice, again with 2 drones (tenor and bass) tuned in A.