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.

More Enjoyable

After writing so much about designing a new rig for the main and the genoa/jib, it is about time I described how they perform. In short very well indeed, I went out over a 4 day period with 2 tides per day and sailed in the morning and evening tides. There were winds from the east and south west and in general moderate winds with occasional Force 4-6, but a steady Force 2-4. I played safe and reefed even when there was little chance of a blow, but for the first time it was wise I did not want the rig to break when I was out there. The rig held well, performed well and I felt I could relax, enjoy it more and not worry about tipping over.
I made some adjustments but basically it was good sailing, she handled well in choppy seas where the channel is narrow and the wind is blowing hard against an ebbing tide, deep troughs were passing underneath her hull and as she was more upright than before she took them better and I did not have to worry too much about those troughs coming into the cockpit. I could turn in these troughs and head back to shore on a broad reach without the rush of speed, which is fine but if one cannot see the bottom it is quite a worry if we are going to scrape the bottom and damage the keels.

Sadaf dried out on the sands.

Lack of speed could be a disadvantage if one is after a racing experience, she moves slower, or perhaps seems that way as before she was heeled over most of the time it was difficult to tell whether she was going fast or slow. But now with her upright hull she moves against tide as well as with it, I can point more into the wind and this makes me sail more in the direction I want too. With less sail up I am surprised how she sails with slight winds. The hardest blow I had she performed well, heeling slightly and responsive when I let out the mainsail. I cleat the jib and as it is self tacking I sail off it. I reef before I sail and have had no need to reef another time.

In total I enjoy it more, I relax more and I worry less. So it is not a bad thing really is it? when I think of it with all the worry, planing and construction i am pleased that it has worked so well. Now maybe I can get some serious sailing done!

All halyards, kicking straps and sheets fed back through the mast

Testing my Kayaksailing Rig in a Force 4

The 2nd day was more lively. The wind had re-turned blowing about a Force 4, it was strong enough to test the rig and to make the incoming tide choppy. I desided to go in an anti-clockwise direction around the harbour walls so I would get an all point sailing direction, for the rig and wind; with a reach and a run, tacking and gybing. Some areas were calmer than others, by the mouth of the harbour it was quite a race. The rig gybed without any problems, it did not heel me too much and even in the thick of it I was not knocked off balance. On one tack it worked well but on the other it was less efficient, but this is true with all sailing rigs. I was still using the sail as an aid to paddling not a sailing rig in its own right. It gave me a feeling of an 'added paddler', and certainly made my paddling a lot easier and increased my speed, but I could now by how much. Very please with the results in such conditions. I could change the sheets with my new cleats and sheets, positioning them so I could get at them easily and even with the wind pushing me off course I could sheet in the sail or let it out with out fumbling for the cleat. Works best on a run.

New Trials with the Improved Kayaksail Rig

I was waiting for a good day to test my new Crab-claw kayak sailing rig. I had made some new changes since my 1st attempt. I got rid of the wooden frame as it was too heavy to carry, and I made a simpler construction out of plastic tubing. It was a lot easier to assembly and the purchase of new cleats and sheets made the whole process a lot easier and enjoyable.
The gales had gone leaving very little wind which eventually died away to nothing. I got up early morning to meet the tide and enjoyed a good time following the tide down to Drumbrugh where I noticed the banks errosion from the tide on the English side (they joke "Scotland is getting bigger as England gets smaller).
The wind died and the rain came, I paddled past Port Carlisle down to Bowness-on-Solway with the ebb and pushed against the ebb to get back to Port Carlisle. Not an exciting morning but it was very enjoyable and gave me the confidence to know that the rig was ok and in working order. The rig was easier to set up and although there was not much wind she performned well and did as she should. I still was using a Leeboard put my paddle for directional control, it works fine for this rig/kayak. When the wind gets too strong I paddle into the wind and cleat in hard. The sail does not flap around and she does not heel me, so in a way it is like reefing.

Wind Gusts

The evening of the 22nd looked promising, Sunday evening and the sun was out and the wind had died down to a breeze on the way to the boat. I brought out the mainsail hoping to mark reef points onto the sail but this was difficult with the midges attacking from the gorse bushes nearby. As the sun set I hoisted the sail to test it out, not a great success, so I dispensed with the lower baton and furled it around the boom, it set fine. I packed everything away as the wind came back and remained with me all night; I made food and prepared to sleep. I did not sleep much as the wind howled and rocked the boat. At 4am the tide came in and Sadaf began to scrape on the stony bottom, then she heeled drastically as her keels got stuck on the stones and the wind pushed her over, she skidded and slid away and came up again. When there was depth she danced around the mooring as the wind pushed her about. She would get a gust on her beam and she would heel over and come into the wind then would right herself. Often the gusts would blow her to her mooring chain’s length then she would jerk forward. I did not sleep at all, the rain pelted the cabin, we were tossed around, and the sounds of the jerking and heeling made it impossible to feel calm.

When the tide was out I ate, read then slept until about 1pm. I went for a walk and saw a mass of pink flowers along the saltings; I walked over the sands out to the low tide mark. The wind was shrieking across the shallow pools leaving dark streaks on the water, shaking my hands as I took the videos. The wind increased when I got to the tide, it was lifting the waves and throwing them over the surface as spray. In the distance the dry sand of Rockcliff Marshes was treated in the same way making it look like the Sahara in a dust storm. I turn and faced the wind and it nearly blew me over. The center of the channel was a mass of white tops and I noticed that the tide was advancing against the wind, tide was coming in and I was a long way from Sadaf. There was a channel between me and the boat. I walked fast but was hampered by the wind, I ran and could hardly make headway so strong was the gusts. I waded through the channel and headed for the boat, reaching it as the tide encroached.
On the boat there was a repeat as the morning, but with more wind strength and gusts that heel Sadaf drastically and pulled at her mooring chain with loud bangs. I changed into my wet suit and put on my life jacket, I also got ready 2 anchors incase she pulled from the mooring. After a while I got used to these conditions and read and cooked, amazing how you can get used to new situations. I videoed the sea but the wind’s strength actually flattened the waves and made it look quite flat on the video.

A brief shower brought with it a glorious rainbow over the estuary. The Shipping forecast for that day reads: Irish Sea, Gale warning issued 23 May 15:30 UTC. Storm force 10 veering westerly and decreasing gale force 8 imminent
• Wind Westerly or southwesterly 6 to gale 8, occasionally severe gale 9 at first, decreasing 5 or 6.
• Sea State Moderate or rough.
• Weather Showers.
• Visibility Good.

Galician Gaita on the Basque Streets

While walking through the countryside of the Basques (northern Spain) we came across a woman busking on the streets of Bermeo, playing Galician gaita (bagpipes). She was hot as standing in the sun and the sound echoed all around the area.

I talked with her a short while and she was grom the west side of Spain (Galicia) and touring around for the Easter holidays.

Reefing the Jib Spar

It was not the best of days to test out my jib reefing system but in another way it was ideal. Heavy rain and gale force winds blew me and the jib all over the place, but these conditions I would have to reef while out at sea so I tried to do it while I was learning how to do it. In the end after trying different ways I settled on the hanks remaining in place (around the forestay) while I attached the last one to a shackle on the spar. I then furled the jib around the spar but I found it just as effective to slap reef it and tie the loose jib to the spar with reef knots. As the jib became smaller the end of the spar was sticking out with the jib not supporting it so it was dipping down onto the hull. I fixed a rope from the top of the jib down to where I wanted the spar to be and tied it off, this enabled the spar to be at the correct angle away from the hull and side stays as it swung (as the jib got smaller this rope had to be shortened to keep the spar at the right distance).
I had marked where the reef would be so it matched where the hanks were situated, when I had shackled the hank I could position the marking on the spar and bunji strap it, this gave me the correct distance between the two reef points. The rest of the loose jib I reefed with ties. As the jib was now shorter I had to make the rope shorter too to compensate and keep it off the deck and swinging freely. If I pre-mark the points where the rope needs to be shortened and using a quick release shackle I can complete the reef faster. In total there will be 3-4 reef points the last being so small as to make it a storm jib.

Spar on the Jib

I finally sorted out my oversized genoa problem and reefing problem. I fitted a spar to the foot of the genoa and by rolling up the excess sail from the foot and tying it off with bunji straps effectively making it a jib. I fix the jib sheet to the spar (and not to the sail); I fix the other end of the spar to the jib forestay and attach it also to the hull by shackles/rope. The spar is cut to length so it will miss the side stays and swing easily. I use one jib sheet that goes inside of the side stays and I bring the sheet back to the cockpit.
I can roll up the jib for reefing in the same way by attaching the jib slug to the spar and tying off the other end, but I cannot do this from the cockpit...yet, but it does reduce the sail to a manageable size and it seems well balanced compared to the other ways I have tried.
By having a spar on the jib it will be more stable and less likely to flog in the wind, I think performance will be improved by having it. I can drop it quickly when needed and raise it just as easily.

A Problem with the Rig...again!

It was the first time this year I had a chance to go sailing, but although the weather conditions were nice my bilge keeler was not! She had not been tested since I put the mast up in April. The mast was too far forward so when I hoisted the genoa the luff was slack. I began to reposition the stays, slackening the forestays and tightening the backstay until the mast head was pointing backwards slightly. Hoisting the genoa this time meant that the luff was tight. I then tried to reduce genoa size my wrapping it around the forestay but the wind took it and it started to unwind. I noticed that the tack was not cut right, and the corner tension was not right, this is why it was flapping. Whoever had sewn this genoa had done a bad job. I was getting quite mad, 2 years of trying to get this boat to sail is wearing me out.
I decided I could dispense with the furling idea, and dispense with the badly sewn tack. I would reduce sail permanently by rolling up the foot of the genoa around a boom. The boom would be long enough to go past the side stays without touching them, in effect making it a self tacking jib.

I next tried the mainsail and after a few tries I reefed the main to a modest size. I am concerned about all this as I realise one of the faults with the Hurley Felicity is that the keels are too small, so when out at sea with full sail she heels over rather badly. All last summer I was sailing in strong winds and she was heeled over most of the time. So I have decided to reduce the sail area so she will be more controllable and pleasanter to handle. There was no reefing system on either of the sails so I have had to make my own, but finding a badly cut genoa is too much for me to correct. So I hope by getting it out of the way completely will make a small jib easier to control.

Redesigning Kayak Rig

After a delightful time in Spain, I came home with pits and pieces to add to my inflatable kayak rig...4mm chord, cleats etc. to make it more efficient and safer while on the water. By adding these bits I slowly began to modify it more, in the end I completely re-did the structure. I built a frame for the mast to fit into; I re-drilled the bottom and top cross beams and added a thicker wooden mast higher than previous; I widened the cross beams to I can add a 3ft leeboard and strengthened it with an extra piece of wood for the tube to sit upon as it holds the leeboard. The mast and the yard are telescopic so I can reduce their size when travelling. The cleats I fixed to a plank of wood that extends underneath the seat, my body pressure keeps the plank/cleats firmly fixed, and yet I can remove them when not in use/travelling. I fixed pulleys and the sail hoisted very easily and I could cleat it off effortlessly and quickly. The wind was very strong gale force winds blew the sail about as I experimented, without paying attention the boom jibed and caught me on the side of the temple, luckily I was in my garden and not out at sea, it was a wake-up call and I will remember to watch the boom in future. I will replace the boom with a lighter material.
The picture is the newly constructed frame and mast, with leeboard down the side of the kayak.

The Txistu and Danbolina : Basque Flute and Tabor

We had spent 5 days walking through the Basque Region of Spain and we ended our travels at a small town near to Bilbao called Amorebeita. Here we met a musician who played the Txistu (flute) and Danbolina (tabor).
These instruments have an unbroken tradition in the Basque country (as well as other parts of Spain too) but what makes the Basque Txistu a little different is that they have been changed to bring them more into a "classical" repertoire. My knowledge of this instrument (as in indeed all Spanish instruments) is limited, but I am finding that the tuning, scale, range of the txistu has been tempered and fixed so that it can be played more easily with other instruments.

The txistu is a 3 holed fipple flute played with one hand, and it can have a range of over 2 octaves and is fully chromatic. It is made from various black coloured hard woods or hard plastics, the fipple mouth piece is made from metal and it is generally found in the key of F (or F sharp if it is played on the streets, as it produces a louder sound). We spent a great weekend with Iban, who let us attend his performances:
On the saturday there was a txistu/danbolina and dance performance for the pensioners at an old peoples center. One man danced a traditional dance dancing the 1st and the 4th part of 4 part dance, while Iban played the txistu and danbolina together (one hand the melody and the other hand the rhythm).

Next there was a march/procession around various streets of Santurtzi, here 3 txistularia played and marched, stopping at various bars along the way!!
That was the end of the formal playing, but as there was a Basque football match on that night the txistu and danbolina was brought along to play various football and traditional Basque melodies.

The Sunday was a march/procession around the streets of Amorebeita, an unbroken tradition (except for 3-4 years in the 90s) where the txistularia play various melodies and stop off at various bars playing a mix of Basque and Spanish melodies for the people who often come out onto the streets and make an occasion of it with wine and food.

Extremadura Folklore Ensemble

While on holiday in the Basque Region of Spain I came across a folk group on the streets of Santurtzi (Bilbao). I was there meeting Basque musicians who play the Txistu so I did not have time to stop and take the performance at its full length. Here is a small clip of the group. Extremadura is a region of Spain close to Portugal, it is the Central/Eastern side of Spain. I know very little about the area but I know they have a similar pipe and tabor to the Leon/Salamanca regions and to Basques. Here they have beautiful colourful costumes and are dancing to the music of that region.

First Sail with the Crab-Claw Rig Kayak

This is the video of my first trip with the Gumotex inflatable kayak on the Solway Estuary using the design of the Polynesian catamaran rig. There is less stress on the boat in a jibe and easily erected and carried.

Hoisting the Masts: On Kayak and Sail Boat

I put the mast up on the Hurley Felicity about 2 weeks ago during a flat calm, no wind was stirring. My sister came at 6am and we went down to the mooring and got her ready for the lifting. I had a new idea of using a series of pulleys for hoisting the mast. These pulleys were connected to the fore-stay and the sheet was led back to the cockpit. The idea was to raise the mast by hand as far as I could lift it then use the pulleys to hoist her fully up. My sister was there just to see that if it lent one way she would correct it, it was a trial and error situation. It did not work!! The pulleys kept on getting jammed, i adjusted them so the sheet stayed on the wheels, but they kept on jamming. In the end i asked my sister to pull on the fire-stay and the mast went up easy enough!

Then we had gales so the the next week I could not do any sailing, the winds did not abate and I decided to try out my design of the Lateen rig on my Gumotex kayak. I had been designing and building a rig over the winter. The sail was made from tarpaulin and i had a short un-stayed mast. When hoisted the sail sat at 45degrees to the hull with little head room clearance. The foot of the sail had a spar.

My first tempt was a success, she sailed Ok, the winds were slight and there was a few days of quiets winds, excellent conditions for the first sail. It took me ages to set up, but when hoisted I found she was good sailing down wind on a run, and tacking into the wind she was Ok. One difficulty I had was when sailing on a tack I would use the paddles as a rudder so I needed 2 hands to control the paddle and also to control the main-sheet. This was a problem as either the main-sheet could not be adjusted efficiently or the paddle was not stable.

The latest sail was done over a 2 day period, I slept on the Felicity and tried out the kayak during the day. I changed the sail so the yard was close to the small mast pointing upward, brought into the top of the mast by a pulley. I fixed the bottom of the yard to the middle of the mast. I also strengthened the mast by fixing a bunji cord as a fore-stay. This helped me to hoist the sail in close to the mast without it moving too much and for the mast to get in the way of the paddle and my face! With the yard vertical the spar and sail had enough clearance for me to use the paddle in a more effective way. Also I cleated the main-sheet so I could paddle/steer off the wind so I could have the sail working in conjunction with the paddle, sometimes I would stop paddling other times I would steer and other times I would paddle...or drop the sail if it became in-effective.

An Unpredictable Day

The day started off routinely, I cycled to the boat intending to clean the inside ready for painting. I checked it for water in the bilges. There was quite a bit of water but it was fresh water it was not from the sea, I have no idea where it is coming in from. I played flute for a short while, made a coffee... Then my friend and his 2 children came over and the kids climbed on board and came in the cabin. They were asking a lot of questions about the boat and they had never been on board a cabin boat before. They asked questions about sailing and other nautical things "how do you know what 3 knots is?" errrrrrrrr! I did not do any painting as the tide rushed in and as I was closing up the cockpit and preparing to leave my friend started talking to me about his new love in his life. We headed back to the shore and went for a walk around the village. As I was leaving I realised I had left my bike bag on the boat with all my tools, phone etc lying in the cockpit. I thought to leave it until another day but it could get stolen or I could have a puncture and walk home. So I decided to wait until the tide went out. I calculated it would be out about 7pm, it was 3pm when I realised so a long wait was in store. I laid down and watched the sky pass above me, but it was cold the wind was blowing the clouds by, so I got on my bike and headed out past Bowness along a small road along the salt marshes. I had not biked along that road for decades and it was lovely, quiet and windblown. I headed back to the boat but the tide was still coming in. I cycled in the opposite direction and walked for a bit by the shore, getting chilled as the wind got stronger. I cycled back and then I cycled again towards Bowness. It was getting dark when I reached the boat again and there was my friend waiting in his car. He had come back with a flask of coffee and prepared to wait it out with me. We had a nice chat and as 7pm approached he drove off leaving me to wade out to the boat in freezing water in the darkness. I took off my shoes and the icy water went above the knees and they went numb. I got my bag and returned and realised I had forgotten my phone so back I went this time inside the cabin searching in the darkness for my phone. Luckily I noticed some beach shoes in the cabin and wore them so no stub my frozen toes on the rocks. As I jumped down from the boat my sole of the beach shoe went through a spike that was in a fishing weight on the sea floor. If I did not have the shoes on I would have had a 4cm spike through my foot, as it hit the sole it bent and missed my heel by millimetres. Then I cycled home without lights on my bike, when a car came towards me I used my mobile phone light as a lamp light. I got home about 8.30pm.

Pipes, Concertina and Boat.

I have been back from Madrid now for 4 days and I have busy with one thing and another.

Monday i went to the boat to check on her, she was fine, the strong winds had blown off a section of tarp and i tied it down with more ropes as the strong winds are not finished yet and bailed a little water out from the bilges. I brought the seat covers home to be cleaned.

I tired busking in Carlisle from 4pm until 6pm tuesday and wednesday, but it was slow. It is a time i normally do not play, but since i was going to be in town in the evenings i thought i would give it a try, anyways it is good for practising if nothing else.

Thursday, I played some European melodies on the concertina: Galician, French and Swedish in preparation for a practise next week with the harpist. Later, I got the Border pipes out and practised for tomorrow's session in Langholm with 2 other Border pipers. The melodies are long, and I am out of practise with the runs and keeping the instrument steady, but they sounded good and relatively in tune to concert pitch "A"...amazing. I mended the strap on my bellows to make it more secure, as it has a habit of coming off in mid-tune. Played more in the evening until my ears rang!

Spanish Gaita and Uilleann Pipes

The Irish music session at Taberna Elisa last night was even better than last week with tunes coming fast and furious and with a lot more energy. An addition of an fiddler and a guitarist who also played button accordion made a fuller sound. Pennie whistles were brought out to play along with the flutes. What attracted my attention was a man who played one of these whistles also took out a Galician gaita/bagpipe and played along with the Irish melodies. I had seen this man before at the Spanish Jam session on a Friday night, and I had meant to ask him about his pipes. They were in the key of D/Re which is perhaps is unusual as most of the gaita players play in the key of C/Do. The chanter was smaller than the C chanters in fact the over all bagpipe was smaller to what I had seen before and higher in pitch. With this smaller chanter he could over blow into the 2nd octave and achieve a larger range of notes that the C chanter could not get (an extra 4), reaching a top C/Do so it would fit quite well with Irish melodies, also it had the European open fingering technique so it was fully chromatic within 2 octaves, quite a versatile instrument. His drone arrangement was standard: one D/Re bass drone over his shoulder and a smaller tenor drone across his chest also in D/Re. What was unusual was he would remove the top end of the drone and this would give him a drone sound in E/Mi so he could play melodies with a drone accompaniment in E minor/major. He has a excellent mastery over the instrument and played Irish melodies with the Uilleann piper. This video proves it:

Taberna Elisa: Bluegrass Jam Session

I have attended over the past weeks various events at the bar "Taberna Elisa" in down-town Madrid and i have enjoyed all of them. They must get 100s if not 1000s of people in through their doors and yet they are always welcoming and have, in my opinion, a good attitude to music and musicians. It is a unique place as i think about it. As The Clash once said "you just plug in and play" and in a way it is what happens at Elisa. In the various rooms/basements strains of various instruments: Highland bagpipes, gaitas, guitars, tambourines, flutes...filter through the Bluegrass, Spanish, Breton, Irish...CD recordings behind the bar. The concerts are always well attended and have a great relaxed atmosphere, friendly and one is able to meet people, dance, jump up and down...join in with the music. The session nights have excellent musicians and, to me it shows the ability of Spanish musicality. They have gotten behind the musical notation (if that is what they use) and adopted their chosen musical style whether it be Irish, Breton, USA....with feeling, style and good technique. For me personally, I love the gaita, and I have enjoyed listening to the pipes there, the flauta y tamboril (pipe and tabor) come a close second but there is a variety and I have learn a lot. I hope these videos from Taberna Elisa show a little of what I mean.
This video is of the Bluegrass session held on a sunday night, audience participation is welcome and in the close proximity of performer and audience it is easy to get into the evenings music.
The video is of a song I use to play in my own band, an old Bluegrass favorite called "Salty Dog Blues".


This next video is the version of "Salty Dog Blues" we played in the group as you can see it was a little different! It was recorded in London, my group was called "The Virginia Vagabonds". We were formed in August 1988, a meeting of two 3 piece bands busking in Amsterdam´s Leidseplein. The two bands, ´The Lonesome Pump Attendants´ from Carlisle and the ´Cottonpickers´ from south London fused to become The Virginia Vagabonds consisting of 2 banjos, 2 guitars, a double bass and a fiddle. The following five and a half months we played over 60 gigs in clubs, colleges and pubs in and around London. We disbanded in 1989. This video represents us towards the end of our career. R.I.P.

Spanish Jam Session (29.01.11)

It was my first time back in Madrid for some time. We decided to go to Taberna Elisa for a firday night out to see what the Spanish Jam session was like. i had forgotten the good atmosphere from the place, beautiful old pub with photos on the walls of the musicians who had played there. Tonight was a mixture of Spanish music and Celtic melodies, all done with a Spanish accent. In the back room there clustered around the walls were some of the musicians warming up, we asked if this is where the music would be, thinking it was a little too small and cramped to let all who wanted to see enjoy the music, but we were told that when they felt like it they would come on stage. Impromptu sessions like this always seemed to spring up often when the main act was on stage! Tonight there was guitars, Galician bagpipes/gaita, percussion with a good atmosphere. An Italian man got up to sing a few Irish songs, and another man got up on guitar to sing Irish songs and play on his guitar with the backing of the Spanish session musicians. It was all un-amplified, fine for the musicians but the vocals needed a little help.

Martina Quiere Bailar (Martina Wants to Dance)

(5.2.11) As the band came on stage the audience came in and it filled up nicely, the band consisted of 2 violins fronting the stage and to the rear an accordionist and a guitarist. The accordionist was from Italy and he had some of his Italian supporters in the audience one of them being a tambourine player who hit hell out of his tambourine later on in the night as he joint the group on stage for a number, beating out a rhythm that made his thumb bleed. The rest of the group were Spanish and the mixture of nationalities blended nicely as did their melodies, rhythms and presence on stage. They were not static, especially the 2 female violinists who played their music intertwining their melodies and harmonies with each other, as well as their body movements. As the tune progressed all four of them seem to come together and dance and sway often forgetting that an audience existed. The audience did exist and Martina and many others did dance! This music was made for dancing and I got enjoyment in watching the audience, sometimes set dances other times excited leaping up and down always with couples and the slower tunes were met with intimate close contact dancing. Their melodies lasted a lot longer than the average 3 minutes, melodies were repeated 3-4 times to let the dancers enjoy the rhythms and to let them get into the swing. This could have been boring to the non-participants but it was not so bad as the on-stage movement made the performance enjoyable and watching the dancing made up for any musical repetitions.

Andaraje Concert

(4.2.11) A short walk from Alcobendas (Madrid/Spain) to the next area of San Sebastian Los Reyes, where the lesser known bull racing takes place each year in august on the streets. We were there to attend a concert of traditional choral music sung by the group "Andaraje" a 5 piece ensemble who sing religious and folkloric songs from the southern areas of Spain, Andalusia and Murcia. The event took place in the Ethnographic museum of El Caseron which holds musical events every friday nights at 7.30pm. We have been there a few times to see various groups and it is not only a concert but made for instruction also so there is a rapport between group and audience introducing them to style of music many are not familiar with or have forgotten.
"Andaraje" are mainly a choral group singing in close harmony, often monophonic or a call and response between men (2) and women (3). AS I do not speak Spanish I can not tell the content of the words but there is a mixture of religious folkloric content often religious themes were used a song about the "10 Commandments" or references to Mary etc other times thematic songs about the sea or humorous songs which tickled the audience.
Instruments were not used that often a guitar was played twice a finger picking style to accompany the singers. The mainly instrumental accompaniment were with wooden and metallic percussion instruments such as triangles, bells, rattles...these were shaken while singling perhaps to religious songs and occasionally hand gestures to explain the text and meaning of the song, syncopated clapping was also in a few pieces.
I recorded the show but there was about 25 minutes of song while the rest of the concert (total 1 hour) was with a dialogue with the audience.
Sometimes the performance was a little flat, they read the lyrics from a paper and this stunted their performance, i felt the songs should have been more from the heart and spirit, to sing out and with more feeling and personal interpretation as it would in a rural church and in the village life, it was not "felt" more like a classical concert. Often the singers were looking at the leader to start the song off giving the feeling that they do not rehearse so much now (?).
Here is one of their livelier songs.

Irish Jam Session

Taberna Elisa look rather empty at 10.30pm when we arrived to hear some Irish music. We chatted to the barmaid about which nights they had music and took our drinks to a table. In the basement we could hear the strains of the Highland bagpipe behind closed doors and waited for the Irish music to start. Start it did about 11.30pm when an Irish bagpipe player, 2 flautists, a harpist and a bodhran player sauntered on stage. It was a very informal and relaxed session, music well played and enjoyable to listen too. At one point the harpist did a few solo numbers that had a Breton feel to them and later one of the flute players got out the Highland pipes and did a few numbers that were well executed with good gracing and tempo.

Really enjoyed the night all the more enjoyable as it was the harpists birthday and she had made a cake which she passed around the small crowd!

Cruising Area

Reviewing my video clips from last year brought me to sun and warm weather, lazy days sitting by the incoming tide and enjoying the vistas out to sea. My cruising ground is a small area between Port Carlisle and Drumbrugh a distance of 4 miles by road but by sea it is a depending on tide, wind, currents and how lazy I am on the day. The area can be a pleasant afternoon's walk, from Port Carlisle past its canal basin and docking area of the harbour walls where a fleet of ships once unloaded cargo and took passengers to far off places. Continuing along the coast around a headland one comes in contact with very few people. It is quiet and peaceful. If the tide is in then you have to negotiate fences and and if the tide is high then keeping to the old canal/railway track is essential. Sailing in the bay i have seen porpoises and an occasional seal poking its head out of the water and overhead geese heading off to colder climates. Looking forward this this years sailing in that area and others too.

Iranian Tar

The other day I got my hands on (for the first time) an Iranian Tar. I have only seen photos and video clips of this instrument so I was interested to see it close up and to play it. It is heavy due to the solid wooden body, and it has a wider neck than i thought. There are 3 double strings with gut frets across the neck.

There is a tight skin over the body of the tar and its peculiar shape of the body is by hollowing out 2 pieces of wood and joining them together to give that "8" shape. The most enlightening part of the instrument for me was the plectrum, it was solid brass and cone shaped. It was difficult to hold and the owner said that players often put wax over it so the fingers can grip it securely, but it is the brass that makes the loud sound and the resonance from the body and strings are amplified by such a hard material as brass. The owner said the tar is the leading instrument in the ensemble and the loudness can rise above the other instruments. Some pictures of the tar I held:

Ana Alcaida at Taberna Elisa

A good concert in Taberna Elis (Madrid/Spain) by Ana Alcaide and her fellow musicians. Three people in total giving a full sound with instruments such as the Swedish Nickelharper, the Iranian Santur, the Arabic Ud, the medieval Cittern, various percussion including a water pot! a Bouzouki and Guitar. Some songs with vocals and a mixture of Sephardic and Spanish songs and some others I did not recognize. The sound was not that good I think a proper sound check with the sound system could have had a better concert with the group running through a few numbers to get the levels earlier in the evening, but it was done just before their performance and half way through, the time in messing about made us miss the last of the concert as we had to get the metro home. Some really beautiful melodies and a nice blend of instruments giving it a nice acoustic relaxing atmosphere. The audience was attentive even telling the louder ones at the back to be quiet! The small bar was full with people standing outside peering through the windows. Here is a video clip from the gig.

Radio Cumbria Interview

It took a while in getting but I finally got a copy of the interview I did at Radio Cumbria a few weeks back. I include it here. It went well I told the basics i think, about the Northumbrian Pipes, the Border piping tradition we have in the Scottish Borders and a little about the music that is played in those parts. Besides the interview there are 3 melodies and I added some pictures to the interview.

"Radio Radio..."

The recent interview at Radio Cumbria was a recording for annual Robert Burns' night, which is taking place at the end of January. The interviewer asked me about the Northumbrian pipes the Border tradition of piping and the melody of one of Burn's melodies "The Banks and Braes of Bonny Doon". The event got me thinking of other radio sessions I have done. Besides this one, I have another Radio Cumbria interview that was done while busking in Carlisle. A radio presenter came across me busking and happened to have his DAT recorder with him and recorded an interview about the pipes and I played a few tunes, this recording I have put on the end of my 2 CDs.

Another radio interview about the pipes was done in Istanbul, Turkey in the late 90s. I had brought my pipes to Istanbul as I was involved with a few folk musicians and I was spending a lot of time there and needed the pipes to practise and to keep in contact with my north UK roots. I did not know what was happening but one day at the conservatoire a Turkish piper turned up and invited me to be interviewed on a radio programme. I was invited along to the Radio Istanbul studios, which was in a back street in Taksim, and there beside me was another piper. He was Turkish and he played the Tulum, a Turkish bagpipe from the north east of Turkey near Georgia, Azerbaijan and along the Black Sea. It is mouth blown and has no drone, only a bag and 2 melody pipes in one stock and a wooden 'horn' at the end of the chanters. The holes in the chanters are not the same so when played it has the effect of having 2 melodies played at once. The radio programme was about these 2 pipes, their comparisons; we both played a few tunes and chatted about construction etc.

Another radio interview was when I was playing in a band in Amsterdam. "The Lonesome Pump Attendants" were a 3 piece band whose members were once in the "Red Aligatorz" a rock-a-Billy group from Cumbria, UK. When the Aligatorz split, the singer and I moved to Amsterdam playing skiffle songs with guitar and t-chest bass. Later the double bass player from the Aligatorz came over and the 3 of us played in Amsterdam for about 6 months, touring all over Holland. The radio interview was recorded in a squat/pirate radio station. A New Zealand biker did the interview with his Dutch assistant. WE performed 3-4 songs and I remember the first song when the presenter asked us to play he did not know how loud we were, his recording nearly blew his speakers!

The last radio interview was with the Red Aligatorz in Carlisle, again Radio Cumbria in the early 80s, with the presenter asking about the band and the gigs etc. I remember it being a lot of fun...but not sounding so cleaver!

Dreams of Easy Sailing

The roads to the coast were covered in a thin layer of black ice due to the heavy rain during the night. The back wheel slipped and skidded up hills and over the roads, while I kept the front wheel straight and tried to turn by using my body weight. Luckily I had no accidents, but it was unexpected and it took me longer to get to the boat. When I did I saw the tide was already creeping round the harbour wall and I had about 10 minutes to get inside and check the bilges for water (a little in the bottom) and sponge it out. Then I checked the plastic covering over the boat and making it more secure with more rocks to keep the wind from blowing the edges away from the hull. The sun came out and the wind died down, the sea was calm and I wanted to raise the mast and sail. The raising of the mast takes quite a bit of effort and planning, it can be quite a task to haul it up; it is not a task that takes a few minutes so preparation is needed if one wants to sail. I stood enjoying the good weather and looking at the boat visualizing how I can make the process of sailing easier and quicker. The main problem was erecting the mast, but if I changed the sail and had a smaller mast I could erect it by myself and without stays and less halyards, I could have it ready to sail in a comfortable time. I have just completed designing a mast and sail for my kayak by using a Lateen rig (1 short mast, 1 triangular sail, no boom, no stays) and this design could also be used for the boat by using the existing mast and boom and mainsail. The boom could become the mast and the existing mast could be the yard that supports the sail. All I needed to do was to make a support so the boom could be made secure to the top of the cabin. By this time the sun had melted the ice and the roads were better, I got home with a glaring sun in my eyes all the way, and the odd sheep dog barking at my wheels.

In the afternoon I played Border pipes practising tunes and working on the reed. I noticed that the edge of the reed was cracked. This could be the end of the reed but I have had such problems with my Northumbrian pipes many years ago and I glued it together. I dropped a bit of glue over the cracked edge and continued with the tuning. In the end I admitted defeat, I could not get a perfect “A” (440c) chanter, it was flat somewhere between a G# and A. But it was in tune and if I did not play with others it was fine. I tuned the drones to the chanter and enjoyed playing and memorizing tunes from the Border repertoire.

Later I got a phone call from BBC Radio Cumbria arranging a date for recording a programme for them for Burns’ night.

A Forgotten Manuscript

I am planning a busking route through the Basque country and northern Spain this year and sorting through my maps and books in a pile of travel information, I came across an old black book I recognized from years back covered in dust. Inside were mostly blank music manuscript pages, but in the front of the book using my hand writing were traditional melodies from various countries: Lithuanian, Sweden, French and Slovak. The key signature of the notation told me that I had collected these melodies for playing on my Russian accordion that was in the key of A major, but other keys showed I was thinking for the Northumbrian pipes as the keys were also G and D major and were in the range of the pipe chanter (an octave and a half).

My Russian button accordion I had bought in 1992 while I was living in Vilnius, Lithuania; researching traditional music. The accordion was a popular instrument for dances not only in Lithuania but in Poland and Russia and throughout the Baltic States. I had bought it in a music shop in Vilnius, I could not play nor had I attempted to play it before, but I had time in those changing days when Lithuania was freeing itself from the Soviet influence. I was studying at the Vilnius Conservatoire so I thought I could get advice from the people there. My accordion had a range of about 3 octaves, double reeds that was slightly out of pitch with one another that gave it its particular sound, but what I loved was the harmony buttons that gave me that instant “Russian” feel. I learned a Belo-Russian melody and used these harmonies which transported me to the literature of Bakunin, Tolstoy, and Dostoyevsky. I also learned a few Lithuanian melodies and used the more dominant harmony buttons, the style instantly changed into something more recognisable, more European perhaps; these melodies were dance melodies from the folklore tradition. It seems this is where my interest fell away as I could not co-ordinate my melody hand and harmony hand correctly, polkas, marches anything in 2/4 or 4/4 was fine, but I could not get the waltzes and 6/8 rhythms and if I could not master it there was no point in continuing with it? Anyways, my interests slowly changed later on when I met different, less academic, folklorists in Kaunas. These people were into wood and skins of the Baltic nature/villages, not metallic instruments of the Soviet cities; and even though I did continue play it for the next 2 years I never really progressed from these few melodies that I learned in 1992.

The melodies in the book were copied from scores in the Conservatoire, my interest in Swedish music was a long standing one, I had visited Stockholm in 1990 and came home with some records of traditional music: accordion, nickelharper, anthology of Scandinavian instruments, and of course the bagpipes, there is something about the Swedish lilt, style, and presence that is soothing to me, relaxing and touches my Celtic sprit. There are only 2 Slovak melodies in the book, not surprisingly quite different in structure to the other melodies. Apart from these melodies copied for accordion I had written next to certain scores “fiddle” so apparently they had been written for violin. A couple of French melodies were penned in ink as an afterthought, possibly done at a later date.

In the back of the book there are some of my attempts at folk melody composition; flute notation without any description; a Belo-Russian melody; Kankles melodies and some compositional workings on a musical project I wrote called “A Maiden Wreath Made of Lead” which was a composition using my experiences over 4 years in the Baltic States, the composition was written during my BA in Contemporary Arts (1994-7). This is followed by other compositional workings as a follow up from “Maiden Wreath...” called “Paths” which was a musical journey into religious music of India and Pakistan, especially Qawwali, where I went on a field trip in 1995.

Festivals 2011

Busking has been a good way for making contacts, it has its limits of course when compared to the internet, but it has offered a few opportunities in the past to break away from the streets and perform in more varied surroundings. I have been offer weddings to play at, festivals, on the spot radio programmes and recordings have happened, and it has led to TV appearances and even the occasional music promoter offering to promote me! People have offered job suggestions and many have taken my card and details with promises of future work, and the opportunity to sell my CDs which is a good chance to promote my work and ideas. This year there has been interest too and if everything happens as it appears then I will be doing a radio programme this week for Radio Cumbria. In March there will be a project to preserve the Border pipes that I will be attending. In June I am invited to play at the International Folk Festival in Pilzen, Czech Republic; and in July I have been asked to play at the Cockermouth Festival, Cumbria. Let’s see what the future holds?

Border Variations

The world at 8am is a dark and dangerous place for a cyclist heading for Carlisle on the Wigton road, it is rush hour and it is the main road linking several towns along the west coast of Cumbria with lorries roaring past, cars, vans and one lone cyclist all heading for Carlisle in the dark with rain beating down and an icy wind on my back. I caught the 9.10am bus to Langholm, about 20 miles over the Scottish border, where I was to meet 2 Border pipers for a session of playing traditional melodies of those parts. One piper lives in Langholm and the other comes from Hawick, we play generally from 10am until 2.30pm with a small break where we enjoy a soup and a chat. The melodies we play are a mixture of different tune books but all are traditional Border melodies with variations. I am a new comer to the group and I add my share of melodies from Peacock and Bewick to the eclectic mix. I sight read where I can to join in, I am not so bad in sight reading but I loose my way with the speed they play and the variations that are still unfamiliar to me. The variations are very particular to the Border piping repertoire, sometimes runs and arpeggios are reproduced in other melodies and after playing a dozen or so, one can see patterns, clearly formulating a style to these types of tunes. Often a melody can be found in a different manuscript under a different title, possibly suggesting that a common melody travelled well but that the names were not passed on. The main manuscript to be used is the once forgotten “Dixon Manuscript” brought to light again by Matt Seattle who reprinted it for general use. The style of the melodies are very different to the Scottish Highland pipe tunes or to other melodies from the UK and Ireland, they have virtually no grace notes written in to the score, whether they were played in a systematic fashion is hard to tell there is no reference either way, but the general thought is that they were played in a more “Northumbrian/Border” style with little gracing. When I started playing the Border pipes I found the variations difficult to enjoy, in fact I did not play them, but now I see them as being a part of my tradition, an important part of our ‘style’ and part of my culture. Variations look a little like ‘practise pieces’ one finds in music tutors, as though a pupil learns an instrument and has a series of finger exercises before the main melody begins. On the surface it looks like they are just a series of arpeggios and runs, less melodic and more rhythmic in style, a series of repetitions and an unusual use of the 7th note (flattened or sharpened) that in theory is used as a passing note not an important part of the melodic structure, when played this 7th note should clash with the drones but it gives it ‘its’ sound, the particular sound of Border piping. It takes a while to get use to this sound, these runs and repetitive arpeggio use, but when it does get into your mind and heart it is captivating and it is a window into a lost world into the music of the Scottish borders.

Coming home the wind was in my face and it took me ages to cycle home, when I did I flopped in front of the fire and to pass the time got out the concertina and played some tunes that I had memorized trying to add harmonies to the bare melodies. I play mainly 3rds and 5ths to the main melody notes trying to add a harmony where appropriate.

After dinner I went back to the Border pipes and made some changes that I had noticed in the afternoon: making them louder by opening the reed, trying to get them closer to concert pitch “A” but realising that the top notes were too sharp and so it needed flattened by pulling the reed out but this would make the chanter flatter, it could not be helped, an ‘in-tune’ chanter is better than one that is half in tune! So I will have to make do with a chanter that is just below concert pitch and hope it will not make too much difference. I also tried playing melodies from memory, so building a repertoire. In all it was a good day full of music.

Covering the Boat

The other day I cycled to the boat to see if there had been any damage after the hard frost we have had. The last time I was there, there was at least 1.5inches of frost resting on the ropes, hull and mast, a beautiful sight, picturesque but destructive. When I got there this time there was no ice to be seen, the cover that covered the cockpit was dry all frost had melted away. I had brought with me a very large piece of plastic to cover the top part of the boat. It was a farmers covering for hay and it had been dumped at the side of the road forgotten and left to rot, a pity as it was messing up the countryside and it was nearly intact. I bundled it onto my small trolley and pulled it by bike to the boat. I had to stop lots of times and the trolley tipped over. I got there after the tide had ebbed and stretch out the plastic on the sea bed, I placed one end into the cockpit and snaked the length around the side of the hull and over the cabin and foredeck and round the other side, it fitted perfectly and overlapped on the cabin roof. I crisscrossed rope to keep it held down over the windows and the foredeck (my main source of intake of water) and then placed rocks on the top to keep it firm against the elements. There was water in the bilges but not as much as I feared, I think it was melted snow/frost as it was clear. I sponged it out and checked the rest of the boat, no damage except for the paint that had been scraped off the hull with the passing ice. It all needed a good clean inside and a fresh coat of paint, also the little bit of wood decoration along side of the hull was looking very damaged and shabby, it either needs a lot of cleaning and preserving or to just paint over it to protect it for the future. I wish I could erect the mast and sail away it is always hard to leave it as it is just sitting there, not in use and waiting for the weather to change, at least enough not to freeze. Over head loud cries of passing geese were flying east wither it was too cold for them or to warm…here is hoping!

Tuning the Border Pipes

Today I got the Border pipes out of their old battered suitcase. It is a while since I played them and since I am having a session over the border in Langholm, Scotland tomorrow, I thought to get ready and dust of the fingers and try and remember some tunes. Remember I did, it all comes back after a few failed attempts, I played mainly Peacock melodies some new ones too. As usual I altered the reeds as I am trying to get the chanter in tune with the drones as close as I can to concert pitch “A” (440c), this is to blend in as much as possible with the other 3 pipers who will be turning up tomorrow also I wish to play with other musicians in time and the need to be compatible with other instruments is becoming quite important. I have played solo on the pipes for years and although it is very liberating to play what one wants, it can be quite isolating too. I put more thread around the sliding drones to make them air-tight and to stop them double tonguing. I also experimented in holding them, as they are not the most comfortable set of pipes to play. Old photos of the Border Piper have playing them with the drones set neatly across the chest. In practise this is not so easy; the drones are heavy, longer than the Northumbrian pipes, and flop around. I have had them over the shoulder, by far the better position, but a big separation between the chanter (melody) and the drones (harmony) I like the Northumbrian pipes as the chanter and the drones are relatively together blending nicely. I put the drones across the chest but it is very unstable under the bag arm, then I put them underneath the arm that they normally rest upon so they are lying downwards towards the ground with the arm over them. This is the best position as the chanter and the drones are sounding together, but the neck of the chanter was flapping around and also uncomfortable, more experimentation needs to be done. I pushed the chanter reed in as far as it would go, opening the end to make it louder and to flatten the top notes of the chanter. I have always tried to quieten the chanter as think it is too loud, but I now believe (because of playing on the streets and back ground noises) that louder is better to cut above the other street noises. It is a constant struggle between the reed and the chanter to get it right, very frustrating very tiring, all in aid to get it to concert pitch “A”, if I had left the reed the way it was it was a perfect match between pressure of the bag, drone reeds and pitch – a flat “A”, but problematic to play with others. Lets see what happens tomorrow at the session.

The "Jackie" Concertina

The “Jackie” English is a 2 octave chromatic concertina I bought from Barleycorn Concertinas about 3 months ago. I have been playing it nearly every day since I bought it trying to establish a repertoire I can busk with this summer as well as my Northumbrian Small Pipes and Border Pipes. It is my first concertina I own, I did start off with a Hohner Anglo 20 button concertina in Bb but it was badly out of tune and the bellows leaked. I had some music notation of the Northumbrian Pipes with harmonies and I wanted to play this music on the concertina, I found the 20 button Anglo limiting on the harmony line so I decided to switch techniques and buy the English system instead. I later found out that the harmonies are equally difficult to play on the English as the fingering is not as easy as on the Anglo, but with practice it is ok; but I do believe by trying the two systems out that the Anglo is the easier of the two to get a basic harmonic accompaniment for a basic folk melody.
The Jackie has accordion reeds, but the action is good, light and strong, the springs are good and I think will last a long time. The fingering is ok except for a few notes in the bass nearest the finger straps that are hard to get at, but again with practise and by using different fingers one can reach them alright. It is bigger and heavier than the Hohner but that is to be expected and it is quite loud and I think it is a good choice for busking or playing with a group, and since I play a range of UK and European melodies I can get the different semitones that sometimes occur in the scale of foreign melodies.
I enjoy playing melodies in their right key, and not having to think too much about in which direction to pump air. I am trying to memorize new melodies and relearn my pipe melodies, so I am concentrating on UK fiddle tunes: reels, hornpipes, polkas etc. As well as some melodies from Sweden and Spain, I am getting these into my head and starting to play them from memory, and trying to play around with the melodies to make them ‘live’ and not just to play ‘dots on a page’. It is progressing nicely.

Harp and Concertina

WE visited a harpist near to our home today. She has busked over Europe and now makes her living by playing small festivals and doing a lot of weddings. She is a good player and when we meet we tend to play European melodies mainly from Sweden, Spain and France, but also some melodies from Turkey, Czech Republic, Belgium and Medieval, but strangely enough not British or Irish! I play the Northumbrian pipes and the Turkish Ney - an open-ended cane flute. We have been playing together for a few months now and are working on a CD and a repertoire to go playing this spring, do a few gigs and some busking.
Later that evening at home I played my English concertina, trying to play from memory the tunes I have been trying to memories since I bought it (about 3 months ago). With this instrument I play English fiddle music, a few Irish melodies, and Northumbrian and European melodies. The beauty with the concertina is that it has a range of 2 octaves and it is chromatic so most melodies are in range for me now. There is no transposing or worrying about the range, it is already tuned and it is ready to play, and I do frequently. I played for about an hour and a half, but I need more practise if I am to busk with it this year.
I got an e-mail from a fellow Border piper arranging a meeting next week over the border in Scotland that is good as I would like to play Border pipes now; it has been such a long time!

The Galician Gaita

Being at home and not busking I am able to practice Spanish melodies, or more to the point bagpipe melodies from Galicia, north western Spain. I began lessons on my last visit to Spain in December 2010, when I visited a cultural centre in Alcobendas, northern Madrid. There was a school of Galician and Asturian pipers and I sat and listened for 2 weeks and given a chance to learn some of the Galician melodies. But first one has to learn the fingering that is played on their Gaita (bagpipe). The Galician gaita uses an open-fingering technique as opposed to the Asturian closed fingering, but these definitions can be changed and not fixed; different and mixed finger techniques are used depending on the chanter and maker of the Gaita. I learned this open-fingering from the band leader who told me to buy a cheap recorder/block-flute and bring it to him, this I did at the next session. He made the 3rd hole from the bottom wider thus making it a sharper note, so playing an F sharp instead of an F natural this suited the scale of the Galician melodies. The one octave scale is as follows: (c#), D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#, D. semitones can be obtained and a 2nd octave can be reached by using a cross-fingering technique. I was presented with many examples of notation written in the key of D major (the popular root note for the gaita is C major). So with my modified block flute as a practice chanter, and a wad of photocopied bagpipe melodies I am determined to practice.

"You must be completely insane"

Another puncture yesterday (24.12.10) on the way to Carlisle, continued by bus into town; the city centre had the South Americans setting up their amplification, loud speakers and digital programming all for their pan pipes and drums. They had on American Indian costumes in sub-zero temperatures when they play they drown out everything in the centre of town, no one can perform there, the Christian Bible Basher has to pack up and go, all other buskers are blasted out. A fiddler who comes from Edinburgh retreated down a side street but I guess even the panpipes would reach him there, he has amplification too, a small amp with the bass turned full up and the treble down, it is a nice sound and he is a good player. The South Americans also have their amplification with an extra bass boost; it stops the terrible feedback that often accompanies outdoor amps, but I ask myself is all this technology needed for a few acoustic instruments that have worked very well for centuries in South America, a radio mic was attached to the singers cheek as he walked around the pavement singing to no one; his voice unheard and a deep booming voice from 1000 of pounds worth of equipment. I wonder if it pays them to do it. I slipped my way to my other haunt to find it occupied by the guitarist and his friend singing for beer money, I turned and went to the other edge of town to go into the bowls of Carlisle in the subway. It is a dirty and damp place but has a stream of shoppers coming to and from the centre. I played and was doing ok until a friend I knew stopped and we talked for 15 minutes after that I was cold then I became blue with cold. I spied a ray of sun at the other end and I sauntered over there to take advantage of the glimmer of sun. It helped for a while. A parade of school kids must have gotten out of some x-mass pantomime and for the next 10 minutes I could not hear myself play due to the screams and shouts as they took advantage of the subway’s acoustics. After that I played until I could not feel my fingers and I was jigging about so much I must have looked like a jack-in-the-box. I called it a day when a couple passing said “you must be completely insane”. I packed up and thawed out over a coffee, did some x-mass shopping then caught the bus back to my punctured bike and walked home. Merry X-mass one and all.

Sweet Hesleyside

The day started with a flat tire on the way to Carlisle, I did think to walk back home a journey of 3 miles but I decided to get the bus into town and pick the bike up when I finished playing. This effort paid off as I had a good days busking by selling 2 CDs and getting an offer of playing a festival this summer at Cockermouth, Cumbria. It was still cold and people walked by not smiling too much, but there were a lot of people compared to other days. Last minute shopping before x-mass perhaps and a few people stopped and chatted, the odd drunk, and asking what sort of pipes they were? One elderly woman asked if I could play "Sweet Hesleyside" probably the most asked for melody, I had to prise the keys open as they had stuck fast with the cold probably due to the almond oil congealing. I was playing in the centre of town again and there is a noted difference in atmosphere as later I went back to my usual haunt down a small lane near to a church where a steady stream of people walk to and fro to their cars. The interest died off and the money became less, but the sun shone in my eyes and thawed my fingers out. Then I took the bus back to my wounded bike and walked home as the sun went down at 3.45pm, it became bitterly cold after that.

Entertainment for the Public

When I turned up yesterday to play in my usual place there was a young man playing guitar. He had a good voice and played the guitar with sensitivity. He sang modern pop songs and as young boy passed he joined in with the words. I thought this is what busking is all about...entertaining the general public. I play melodies from the 18th century and for many it is a dead art. in the 18th century the tunes I play were probably well know, played at festivities and perhaps the 'top of the tops' of their day, now they are forgotten liked by a select few who love traditional music. No one whistles the melodies I play although some old folk can recognise them (I would like to know from where they know them) but that not is to say they do not like the music. I am often surprised who does appreciate this music and instrument it is not only the traditional music lover, the passerby can be aged from 5 to 75 or older, male and female, often they are dressed in normal popular fashion from the big stores, but often I have been acknowledged by punks, skin-heads, crusties, mods and rockers etc. businessmen and homeless, junkies and musicians. They are not all interested in traditional music so what attracts them? For nearly 30 years I have busked and only on a few occasions have I been told that it sounds bad, so why do people like something yet do not generally listen to it? The people who dislike it are just as interesting as the people who like what I do, nevertheless more people like or else I would not be making a living from it!

Frozen Money

It never got above 0c today I was in two minds whether to go busking or not it was extremely cold, a beautiful day with sun but a fog over the fields and icy roads. I played from 1pm to 3pm and was not too cold due to the sun in my face, the people walked passed with not too much interest scared to fall on the slippy pavement. Some threw money in full momentum missing the case and landing on the floor when I had finished the tune I bent down to pick it up but it had frozen to the floor! I introduced a new tune to my repertoire “Sr. Charle’s Rant” a Peacock tune, one octave. It sounds different when played with the Northumbrian pipes compared to the Border pipes probably due to the closed chanter compared to the open ended chanter on the Border pipes. For a time the sun disappeared behind a building and it became numbingly cold and I noticed the difference when it reappeared. A nice cycle home with the sun in my eyes and it coming through the mist over the fields, I got home before the black ice formed on the roads.

A Cycle to the Artic

A frosty morning to go and check the boat, I pedaled 10 miles over icy back roads and when I got to the sea there were large blankets of ice flowing down with the ebbing tide, it reminded me of the ice fields of the Arctic on a much smaller scale! I parked the bike and gingerly waded out to the boat, underneath the water I could see the white of the ice still frozen to the gravel. I walked around the boat inspecting the hull and slipped, nearly ended up in the water as some submerged ice made the ground like glass. I climbed into the snow that lay in the cockpit and undid the lock, amazingly inside was ok, no leaks, only a small patch of snow inside, how did that get there? As I lifted the floorboards to see into the bilges I could hear the small pieces of ice scrapping the hull as the ebb took it along. The antifouling paint was scraped off in many parts of the hull down to the fibreglass itself, on the starboard side where the sun had got to it; on the port side where the sun could not reach the ice was over the hull half way up the boat with ‘veins’ cracked into the ice. I am not sure if the cracks were part of the ice or that the paint had cracked due to the cold. A line of ice showed where the water level had been. I made myself a coffee and noticed how neglected she looked, the weather was taking its toll on her and she badly needed some TLC. When spring comes she will get painted and a brushed up. The surrounding area looked beautiful, ice and snow covering the shore line, Scotland looking pink in the sun light, the few birds were searching for food, it would be nice to linger but I had a 10 mile cycle ride back home and it was already past 2pm and sun went down at 3.45pm.

Busking

Busking today was a cold affair, we had snow in the morning but the main roads kept clear. I cycled into Carlisle, a journey of 8 miles, went to my usual place but it was so quiet I headed into the centre and started to play. As long as I kept playing my fingers stayed warm but when I stopped I began to get cold. I played for about 4 hours and enjoyed it very much. I have enough one octave tunes in my head to play for 3 hours before I start to repeat them. I dislike repeating tunes. I did not see any other buskers, even the Romanian woman who sits and plays odd notes on her accordion was not there. I actually enjoyed the weather, it was clear and crisp, and the sun shone and altered my drones so much that there were to their full extent on the sliders. I played mainly Bewick and Peacock melodies from Northumbrian. The pipes kept in tune I was pleased with the sound and the playing. Sold no Cds though, everyone wanted to get home, no time for stopping and chatting, it was a rush to get home before it iced over. I cycled home with no problems.