A leaflet will be given out at the workshop giving contact details and letting people know about other workshop ideas...
"The intension of the workshop is promote the Small pipe tradition to people who have an interest in learning the Northumbrian Small pipes, Scottish Small pipes, Leicestershire Small pipes and other types of bellow-blown pipes. The aim is to provide sets of pipes to develop the student’s playing techniques and offering 3 levels of classes:
The 1st level is the total beginner’s workshop to show the techniques for starting to play.
The 2nd level is a workshop to introduce tunes from the Scottish Borders.
The 3rd level is to teach more demanding tunes and build a varied repertoire.
Within the 3rd level there is the opportunity for the student to buy their small pipes and to continue the classes privately.
(The small pipes in the workshop are made by myself and are of different quality depending on the level of workshop).
To learn more about the musical activities, concerts, lessons and workshops visit my web page http://ethnopiper.blogspot.co.uk or email me at ethnopiper@gmail.com"
Wednesday, June 10, 2015
Tuesday, June 9, 2015
Electro-acoustic Musical Stew
Music is an organic thing… it changes, and it changes you. As an ethnomusicologist I concentrate on traditional acoustic music primarily, but it does not mean that is the end of the story. For my early years I have played music in bands… rock, electric, loud, none acoustic… then I left it. It was a conscious decision, logical and it was right for the time… the way I was, and I had no intension of returning to it until recently. But to help a friend get over an illness I played music with him, one of his goals was to play in a rock band and I did my best to encourage him to play, to learn and develop musically. I think he would have achieved this by himself, but while I was encouraging him, he was encouraging me without intending it. I started to be interested again in the guitar, an electric guitar.
My ‘Antoria’ left handed guitar was in my room collecting dust for years. It still had the blood splattered heavy gauge strings I had on in the 80s. I dusted it off and plugged it into my friends mini practice amp and fed the lead into my zoom vocal effects box. It was very familiar, like riding a bike… you never forget, you only loose the finer techniques.
With playing this guitar and playing with friends, old feelings came back to me, some of which I had forgotten about. The reason why I had left electric/rock music was that the whole music making “process” was actually stopping me from making music! If you think about it a rock musician needs not only a guitar, leads, effects boxes, but also amplifiers… and because the amps are loud you need a practice room to play them loud. You need transport to carry these big loud amplifiers, and drum kits to practice rooms, which cost money, and then you carry all this stuff to gigs… then you need a P.A. for the sound to be any good, and you need a reliable sound engineer who will not corrupt your sound (intentionally or not) … all this for a few songs... all of this to make music.
I am pleased to say my interest does not include getting back into all of that again. But it does include writing songs again, recording again and possibly performing again. It may not need a van load of equipment to accomplish my sound; it may only need 1 instrument and a computer on stage!
And before you say it “it is his mid life crises”… all I can say it that I do not have a crises with my life, I have played different types of music since I was 7 years old… what I am doing now it relooking at a genre of music and adding new elements to it from my life now… ethnic, electro acoustic, studio techniques, acoustic instruments, poetry, travels, academic experiments, rock, folk, etc. etc. all the experiences that I have adopted which have influenced me will be in the mix… a big melting pot of musical stew… mmmmmmmm
My ‘Antoria’ left handed guitar was in my room collecting dust for years. It still had the blood splattered heavy gauge strings I had on in the 80s. I dusted it off and plugged it into my friends mini practice amp and fed the lead into my zoom vocal effects box. It was very familiar, like riding a bike… you never forget, you only loose the finer techniques.
With playing this guitar and playing with friends, old feelings came back to me, some of which I had forgotten about. The reason why I had left electric/rock music was that the whole music making “process” was actually stopping me from making music! If you think about it a rock musician needs not only a guitar, leads, effects boxes, but also amplifiers… and because the amps are loud you need a practice room to play them loud. You need transport to carry these big loud amplifiers, and drum kits to practice rooms, which cost money, and then you carry all this stuff to gigs… then you need a P.A. for the sound to be any good, and you need a reliable sound engineer who will not corrupt your sound (intentionally or not) … all this for a few songs... all of this to make music.
I am pleased to say my interest does not include getting back into all of that again. But it does include writing songs again, recording again and possibly performing again. It may not need a van load of equipment to accomplish my sound; it may only need 1 instrument and a computer on stage!
And before you say it “it is his mid life crises”… all I can say it that I do not have a crises with my life, I have played different types of music since I was 7 years old… what I am doing now it relooking at a genre of music and adding new elements to it from my life now… ethnic, electro acoustic, studio techniques, acoustic instruments, poetry, travels, academic experiments, rock, folk, etc. etc. all the experiences that I have adopted which have influenced me will be in the mix… a big melting pot of musical stew… mmmmmmmm
Saturday, June 6, 2015
Bagpipe Society Blowout, 2015
It was my first time at the ‘blowout’ (Polesworth, Tamworth, England) in a beautiful surrounding of the Abbey. Each piping culture has its traditions and this was a new tradition for me. Here there was a different style and feeling about the music, pipes, people and events, perhaps a more European style or perhaps an ‘English” style. I say English as it is a reinvention of a tradition that died out. And the reintroduction of the tradition has established a very firm and loyal group of people to their type of music.
I was expecting a heavy influence of French music, but I was surprised to see a good mix of styles in the form of workshops and concerts: Northumbrian/Borders; Occitan from the French Pyrenees; Hungarian; Irish; Welsh... these music’s were played on a type of bagpipe that I have a problem in naming.
They call it a “Border pipe” but I cannot see where their border is exactly? The majority played a type of pipe similar to the French/Belgium bagpipe: mouth blown or bellows blown, conical bored chanter, 2 drones, over-blown into a 2nd octave. Not so loud, plastic reeds, no African Blackwood in sight (made a nice change too) therefore the sound was mellow, perhaps they could call it a “French-Anglo Pipe” as the makers are English and the pipe is modeled on the French/Belgium style.
The makers present (selling their pipes) were in the main hall alongside a Society stall, a flute maker, an Occitan maker. Zampogna maker. There was a 2nd hand section of music books, CDs, cassettes...
One of the workshops I attended was a ‘beginner’s workshop’ to sort out teething problems players were having. This was very informative as it gave me a chance to see how the workshop was structured (with relation to my own workshop); I was also looking for some advice about my Spanish gaita as it was sharp in the bottom notes. It came apparent that the information was only for a select type of pipes from a select few pipe makers. A general knowledge was not there of conical bored pipes. The Society was open to all pipes but in reality (at this blowout in particular) only certain types of pipes were represented. Sometimes it felt like if you did not have a bagpipe from a certain type of maker then you were excluded from activities and advice, there was no advice about the Gaita. Also it presumed that because I had “asked the question” that I did not know anything about pipes or conical bored pipes, and I was told to go and "ask (someone) and you will find that the pipes are fine" (meaning “it is you who is wrong” well it seems I know as much as the person who is giving the advice, as he did not know either, a little condescending I thought).
The only sessions available were in D or G, G being the more popular of the 2. G pipes are common in French music, a large bass G. Which is fine, they sounded beautiful. But there are other pipes and I would have liked to have seen a session where any type of pipe could have been played... a few people had brought their sackpipa (key on A minor), , Spanish gaita (C), , I had with me bagpipes in A minor, C, A major, D, F, and C minor... but no G. I did attend the Irish workshop which was in D, but others I could not. This did not lesson my interest. Other pipes present were a Welsh Pibgorn (D), Leistershire Small pipe (D), Italian Zampogna and there was a Dudy from the Czech/Slovak regions.
The D session on the Saturday was titled “English Session” this apparently is a new occurrence as only English melodies are played (I did not know this at the time and I played a Catalan melody which was met with a silence). After I realized my “mistake” I tried to play along with the English melodies, which there was a lot of. This was the biggest surprise of the weekend, a firm selection of English tunes were being played by all. The Northumbrian tunes came at the end of the night when they had played out all the English tunes. This is great as it establishes a firm melody base of for an English tradition, and leaves the Northumbrian tradition a little apart (which I feel is more accurate as it is more akin to the Scottish/English Border tradition).
Another surprise for me was the Occitan music and bagpipes. 2 makers from the French side of the Pyrenees were offering their instruments for sale, CDs, workshops and concerts. It was a music I only knew a little about (and only recently). They seemed to have a cross-over from the Catalan and Aragon side of the Pyrenees with the Sac de Gemecs (made from a fruit wood, a type of apple) and the Gaita de Boto (complete with snakeskin and girls dress). But also they had their own type of pipes a very large bagpipe in F with a large drone with a knitted “flecco” (decoration). A shepherd’s bagpipe without a drone, deep sound, sad sound, lovely (I had heard this on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees). And the Boha bagpipe with the drone apart of the chanter which can play 2 notes... (Therefore is it really a drone?). Also there was a variant of this having 2 melody pipes and 1 ‘drone’ built into the chanter, single reeds, polyphonic sound.
In the sessions I heard the Welsh Pibgorn, a dingle reeded instrument, 1 octave mouth blown with a distinctive sound, a beautiful decorated horn cut away at the bottom of the chanter, with cylindrical bored chanter. Their melodies were not dissimilar to a Breton tune, in a minor mode.
The Hungarian duo (pipes and hurdy gurdy) were fantastic players, (I had seen them at the Piping Live Festival in Glasgow a few years previous) tight in their music and ‘tuning’ (an important lesson for us all). Played beautifully with traditional and composed pieces, improvisations and structured parts. The pipes were not so dissimilar to the Occitan Boha. With the Hungarian ’suggesting’ that the Boha was taken from their pipes. They look similar... but who’s came first is a question too far...
My final observation of the weekend was that there is a danger of the “small pipes” becoming obsolete in time due to their quiet nature. Those who had them were drowned out by the conical chanters. This is a reflection of what is happening in sessions too all over the country. If you are “not heard”, why play them? The highland pipe makers are increasing the volume of the “session small pipes” but not so with pipe makers (although there are exceptions). Perhaps the small-pipes need to become more assertive, and insist the venues, meetings, and festivals are predominantly ‘small-pipe sessions’ the same way the ‘English Session’ has become?
I was expecting a heavy influence of French music, but I was surprised to see a good mix of styles in the form of workshops and concerts: Northumbrian/Borders; Occitan from the French Pyrenees; Hungarian; Irish; Welsh... these music’s were played on a type of bagpipe that I have a problem in naming.
They call it a “Border pipe” but I cannot see where their border is exactly? The majority played a type of pipe similar to the French/Belgium bagpipe: mouth blown or bellows blown, conical bored chanter, 2 drones, over-blown into a 2nd octave. Not so loud, plastic reeds, no African Blackwood in sight (made a nice change too) therefore the sound was mellow, perhaps they could call it a “French-Anglo Pipe” as the makers are English and the pipe is modeled on the French/Belgium style.
The makers present (selling their pipes) were in the main hall alongside a Society stall, a flute maker, an Occitan maker. Zampogna maker. There was a 2nd hand section of music books, CDs, cassettes...
One of the workshops I attended was a ‘beginner’s workshop’ to sort out teething problems players were having. This was very informative as it gave me a chance to see how the workshop was structured (with relation to my own workshop); I was also looking for some advice about my Spanish gaita as it was sharp in the bottom notes. It came apparent that the information was only for a select type of pipes from a select few pipe makers. A general knowledge was not there of conical bored pipes. The Society was open to all pipes but in reality (at this blowout in particular) only certain types of pipes were represented. Sometimes it felt like if you did not have a bagpipe from a certain type of maker then you were excluded from activities and advice, there was no advice about the Gaita. Also it presumed that because I had “asked the question” that I did not know anything about pipes or conical bored pipes, and I was told to go and "ask (someone) and you will find that the pipes are fine" (meaning “it is you who is wrong” well it seems I know as much as the person who is giving the advice, as he did not know either, a little condescending I thought).
The only sessions available were in D or G, G being the more popular of the 2. G pipes are common in French music, a large bass G. Which is fine, they sounded beautiful. But there are other pipes and I would have liked to have seen a session where any type of pipe could have been played... a few people had brought their sackpipa (key on A minor), , Spanish gaita (C), , I had with me bagpipes in A minor, C, A major, D, F, and C minor... but no G. I did attend the Irish workshop which was in D, but others I could not. This did not lesson my interest. Other pipes present were a Welsh Pibgorn (D), Leistershire Small pipe (D), Italian Zampogna and there was a Dudy from the Czech/Slovak regions.
The D session on the Saturday was titled “English Session” this apparently is a new occurrence as only English melodies are played (I did not know this at the time and I played a Catalan melody which was met with a silence). After I realized my “mistake” I tried to play along with the English melodies, which there was a lot of. This was the biggest surprise of the weekend, a firm selection of English tunes were being played by all. The Northumbrian tunes came at the end of the night when they had played out all the English tunes. This is great as it establishes a firm melody base of for an English tradition, and leaves the Northumbrian tradition a little apart (which I feel is more accurate as it is more akin to the Scottish/English Border tradition).
Another surprise for me was the Occitan music and bagpipes. 2 makers from the French side of the Pyrenees were offering their instruments for sale, CDs, workshops and concerts. It was a music I only knew a little about (and only recently). They seemed to have a cross-over from the Catalan and Aragon side of the Pyrenees with the Sac de Gemecs (made from a fruit wood, a type of apple) and the Gaita de Boto (complete with snakeskin and girls dress). But also they had their own type of pipes a very large bagpipe in F with a large drone with a knitted “flecco” (decoration). A shepherd’s bagpipe without a drone, deep sound, sad sound, lovely (I had heard this on the Spanish side of the Pyrenees). And the Boha bagpipe with the drone apart of the chanter which can play 2 notes... (Therefore is it really a drone?). Also there was a variant of this having 2 melody pipes and 1 ‘drone’ built into the chanter, single reeds, polyphonic sound.
In the sessions I heard the Welsh Pibgorn, a dingle reeded instrument, 1 octave mouth blown with a distinctive sound, a beautiful decorated horn cut away at the bottom of the chanter, with cylindrical bored chanter. Their melodies were not dissimilar to a Breton tune, in a minor mode.
The Hungarian duo (pipes and hurdy gurdy) were fantastic players, (I had seen them at the Piping Live Festival in Glasgow a few years previous) tight in their music and ‘tuning’ (an important lesson for us all). Played beautifully with traditional and composed pieces, improvisations and structured parts. The pipes were not so dissimilar to the Occitan Boha. With the Hungarian ’suggesting’ that the Boha was taken from their pipes. They look similar... but who’s came first is a question too far...
My final observation of the weekend was that there is a danger of the “small pipes” becoming obsolete in time due to their quiet nature. Those who had them were drowned out by the conical chanters. This is a reflection of what is happening in sessions too all over the country. If you are “not heard”, why play them? The highland pipe makers are increasing the volume of the “session small pipes” but not so with pipe makers (although there are exceptions). Perhaps the small-pipes need to become more assertive, and insist the venues, meetings, and festivals are predominantly ‘small-pipe sessions’ the same way the ‘English Session’ has become?
Friday, June 5, 2015
Bagpipe Making: Small Drone Parts
I have been making ‘small drone parts’ over the past few days. The original plan was only to have bass drones for the workshop, but the small drone adds to the techniques and is an important part in learning how to play. It can be a little difficult tuning a 2nd drone easily and successfully, an out of tune drone is annoying as an out of tune chanter, so tuning ones ear to a harmony can be useful to know.
I am experimenting with woods, mixing them together, joining them together and playing with outer designs. I do like making the wooden parts.
I made another bellow, still trying different techniques out, experimenting with different glues and ways of assembling in a less messy manner.
If I get the time I will use it with the workshop, but at the moment I am finalizing 7 sets and if I can squeeze in an 8th all well and good.
I am experimenting with woods, mixing them together, joining them together and playing with outer designs. I do like making the wooden parts.
I made another bellow, still trying different techniques out, experimenting with different glues and ways of assembling in a less messy manner.
If I get the time I will use it with the workshop, but at the moment I am finalizing 7 sets and if I can squeeze in an 8th all well and good.
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Bagpipe Making: Tuning Chanters
The chanters are being tested to see if they are in the right key. My original idea was to have them all playing in the key of D (a common key for sessions) but after assembling them and testing them out I am finding they are quiet for sessions (due to wood type and reed limitations). So I am forgetting about unifying the chanters in the same key, I will make each of them in tune with the drones so each player can practice by alone (and not as a group).
Thinking more about it this makes more sense as anyone coming with their own small-pipe will be in a different tuning (possibly F, C, Bb, G, A) to my D set, it only takes 1 key difference to make the group sound discordant. I cannot cater for this. It will be easier to ask the student to play alone, and I can see to them individually, and occasionally to get them together as a group for general discussion.
The workshop will not only be “hands on” practice, but informative with maintenance tips, buying guide, types of pipes etc. a general introduction. It is catering for the “person who is intending to own a set of Small pipes in the future”. This workshop cannot give them hours of practice (which is what is needed) it can give them ideas on what to look out for and to suggest the steps to practice when they have their own sets.
Thinking more about it this makes more sense as anyone coming with their own small-pipe will be in a different tuning (possibly F, C, Bb, G, A) to my D set, it only takes 1 key difference to make the group sound discordant. I cannot cater for this. It will be easier to ask the student to play alone, and I can see to them individually, and occasionally to get them together as a group for general discussion.
The workshop will not only be “hands on” practice, but informative with maintenance tips, buying guide, types of pipes etc. a general introduction. It is catering for the “person who is intending to own a set of Small pipes in the future”. This workshop cannot give them hours of practice (which is what is needed) it can give them ideas on what to look out for and to suggest the steps to practice when they have their own sets.
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