From: owner-bagpipe-digest@lists.xmission.com (bagpipe-digest) To: bagpipe-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: bagpipe-digest V1 #21 Reply-To: bagpipe-digest Sender: owner-bagpipe-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-bagpipe-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk bagpipe-digest Monday, August 30 1999 Volume 01 : Number 021 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: 18 Aug 1999 04:53:35 GMT From: zudupiper@aol.com (Zudupiper) Subject: (bagpipe) Re: drone cord color? >Should cords complement the bag, the fringes, both, or contrast? > >I know it's "my choice", but I would like to select a color combo that >doesn't make me look completely colorblind. Helpful advice..........? Sorry, but you're severely limited yourself with that choice of cover and fringe. Usually the cords are the same color as the fringe, but there's no reason why you couldn't have each a different color as long as they're all complementary. Like burgundy, old gold, and navy, for example. Classic, conservative, and/or harmonious colors. Black cover, white fringe...you could go with either black cords, or white, or pretty much any color. Working with royal blue and black, there's not a lot that's going to harmonize. Check out a color wheel. Certain shades of green or red might work, maybe a forest green or a maroon but it's going to depend on the depth of color of the royal blue cover. The Kansas City Royals use royal blue and white, and grey on the road...yeah, grey might work. Zu - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 11 Aug 1999 23:47:27 -0500 From: "matheson" Subject: (bagpipe) Re: Pin is up! Very Good, but wouldn't a chanter emanating from the left (as viewed) of the @ give it a look more like bagpipes? Just my thought, as I couldn't draw that well. Les Maeve wrote in message <01bee45e$ff7ea060$4646a5ce@sanctum.com.sanctum.com>... >I just put the ROUGH sketch of the pin up for viewing. I have already had >some suggestions on change from both the jeweler and Zu so expect this to >be changing again real soon. But it will give you an idea of what we are >working for/with for the moment. There are no links from my web site so you >will just have to use this address: > >http://people.delphi.com/terralyn/pin1.jpg > >Let us know! >-- >Love and Light be with you, >Maeve >http://people.delphi.com/terralyn >terride@sanctum.com - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: 17 Aug 1999 21:37:04 GMT From: "Jeremy Main" Subject: (bagpipe) Re: Top 5 Hints Rojo2G wrote in message <19990814191311.00140.00000081@ng-bj1.aol.com>... >>You folks could do with getting your hands on "The Inner Game of >Music". >You mean theres more to than always starting on the wrong foot? In my case, I only open my mouth to change socks. - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: 11 Aug 1999 11:30:37 GMT From: bagpiip@aol.com (Bagpiip) Subject: (bagpipe) Re: Top 5 Hints >And I've never seen the neighbor's dog crap in my yard, but I know he >does because it's his crap and there it is. > >Royce ummm, how do you know "it's his crap", couldn't a wee Kieffer, or a drunken scotsman have deposited that pile. Maybe he's trying to tell you something Bill Mar a bha, mar a tha, mar a bhitheas gu brath, ri traghadh's ri lionadh. - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: 22 Aug 1999 23:51:03 GMT From: zudupiper@aol.com (Zudupiper) Subject: (bagpipe) Re: Proper kilt height. >Where does one align the top of the kilt? At >the navel? At the "normal" beltline? Within one inch of either? Your "natural" waist is in the vicinity of your navel, and that's where you should wear the kilt (give or take a little bit I suppose). It's about where your arm bends (the inside of your elbow). I used to reenact Civil War, and the uniform pants were much higher-waisted than modern pants are now. They came up to the fold of your elbow. I've seen some people wear their kilts at the same height that they wear their blue jeans at, and it's not pretty. Usually these are people who wear a kilt about once a year and don't know any better, or else gave the wrong measurements when they had one made. Zu - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: 13 Aug 1999 15:59:01 GMT From: jginmd@aol.com (Jginmd) Subject: (bagpipe) Re: HEMP > >>Why do pipers use hemp and wax? This is a lot of work. They spend all that >time >>foolling around with bits of string and wax and then debate about exactly >what >>the best method and materials are. Why not join the larger music world ( or >the >>15th century let alone 20th) and cork all your fittings so you can spend >your >>time playing? >>JGS > >FO > >Royce > > > > > > FO stands for friendly opinion I hope? JGS - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 17:41:28 -0500 From: Mike Talcott Subject: (bagpipe) Re: memorizing tunes-long And getting longer... CCC wrote: > This is a real good post. Obviously, there are different roads to the same > place. I hope you will let me respond to some of your points, both to clear up > some poor choice of words on my part, and to differ on some matters of > substance. Any time, my friend. > >Concerning the "inefficiency" I don't think richard was advocating mindlessly > >playing thorugh the tune over and over until one had it from sheer > >repetition. > > Point well taken. I really didn't think we was advocating this, but I still > think his method is inefficient. Well, my personal favorite way to learn a tune and one that seems to be extremely efficient is for the teacher to play a phrase, have the student play it back, play through it several times together, then go on to the next phrase. No written music. In a fiddle class I've attended, Alasdair Fraser conveyed a strathspey to an entire beginner's class in about thirty minutes, never touching written music. Admittedly, fiddle technique is somewhat less rigid than GHB, but the process can be very efficient, even for GHB, but I've also near tell of many great PMs who teach this way. I think Richard's methods are a lone piper's make-do analogue to this kind of learning. > >Therefore, given the music writing ability of most bagpipe > >players, > >very few can play or know the music. I doubt you really want to say that. > > I really didn't mean to say that. But I stick by my point. Assuming basic > music literacy, if you can sit down and write out the music, you show that you > know it - not by "memory" - but real knowledge. I'm not at all sure I understand your distinction here. If the tune doesn't reside in memory, then where exactly is it? Are we to construct all tunes from first principles? And if what you are saying is that you think about it from the point of view of structures, i.e. arpeggios, etc., and not through recall of what the tune _sounds_ like, then I would think you are in the small minority of people who could do this. If I were writing out a tune, I think first of the sound, and probably sing it to myself before I write it down. I certainly wouldn't think: Tonic quarter, octave quarter, major seventh eighth-note, fifth sixteenth-note, sixth sixteenth-note, seventh eighth-note, octave eighth-note. I would sing in rhythm: "Some Where Over the Rain-Bow." Then write it down, probably by pitch first, then add rhythm. Then gracings. ;) > I don't say that literacy and > knowledge are the same thing, but writing it down on paper is a sure test of > knowledge. Agreed, writing it is _one_ test of _one_ kind of knowledge of the tune and how to write music, but the converse does not logically follow: that someone who could not write the tune does not know the tune. Also just because you can write it out doesn't mean you can play it. I can certainly scribble out an accurate version of Atholl and Breadlbane Gathering, so I have it "memorized" that way, but I do _not_ have it in kinesthetic memory completely, so I am still prone to bobble the B taorluaths and twiddle all those double-E's off the short F's. I do not yet completely trust my kinesthetic sense of knowing the tune, so my conscious mind interferes with the mechanical process to "fix" it and I tighten up before those problem places, and naturally mess them up. So I slow it down to that point where I can play it perfectly. (Which suggests an absolute test of whether one actually knows the tune: If you can get it down to a speed where you can then play it by heart without a mistake, I would say you've got it memorized.) From there it is matter of training the right muscles to react at the right times, and that is where that nasty old slow practice and drills to iron out technique problems come in. Basically, I maintain that if you can _hear_ the tune (correctly), you can play it, however slowly. That's where I'm in complete agreement with you that you should sing the tune to yourself until you've got it down. > Kinesthetic > memory is not enough to carry you through a serious performance. Nope. Never said it was. You have to be there, and you have to be able to get back there when your mind wanders, as it inevitably will (to the judges furiously scribbling on your scoresheet, usually.) Kinesthetic memory, acquired through practice, is the only way your muscles can be in the right spot at the right time. The conscious mind makes sure the expression is right, that you take one and only one repeat, and that you don't wander off onto another tune by kinesthetic similarity. (Lo A, short B, grip to C, then what? Atholl and Brdlbn, Green Hills, When Battle's O'er, Lord Lovat's, Siege of Dehli, etc., etc. ad infinitum. Your muscles, unmonitored, will just go off and pick one at random. No telling where you'll wind up if you're in a daze.) The conscious mind is also the one that is _listening_ to be able to make these amazing adjustments and corrections to create music. > Question: > When you play "Scotland the Brave," do you play the first four measures as > part of an A major arpeggio? Two low As, broken triad, two high As, and > another broken triad down to low A? This is what I mean - we don't play the > notes, we play the structure, and if we had to write it, we would write the > structure. Actually, I play the tune as I hear it in my head: more in terms of phrases and pathways getting from here to there but always in terms of the melody rather than thinking about any particular structural element like arpeggios (though in a tune like Cork Hill that's almost unavoidable) . From the standpoint of Richard's "hooks" those first two low A's are extremely important, and with the Three high A's at the start of the next phrase are almost the entire point of the whole tune first half. Etc. Shaping the tune as you go, as it were. > When you learn (i.e., memorize) music, > you must learn it with the conscious mind, and when you play it, you must play > it with the conscious mind. The subconscious has nothing to do with it. I think "subconscious" was a bad choice of phrasing on someone's part (Richard's?). It is that direct, consciously directed (but avoiding the garbage of the higher analytical processes), kinesthetic memory connection we're talking about. > You > must be totally focused, totally concentrated, and your knowledge of the music > must be letter perfect. Even then, this is no assurance that you will actually > make music, but not doing it is an assurance that you will not make music. There is a big problem. "Letter perfect" musicianship only came to be a concept in the last several hundred years when (classical) music came to be written and was handed down like it was a sacred relic. Admittedly, this is completely consistent with the competition "tradition" of GHB, at least until you realize that there are almost as many settings as there are music books. Then the sacred relic is merely what the PM says it is, provided you're in a pipe band. Irish music does not have to be letter perfect, and wasn't written until this century to have letters to be perfected to. That doesn't mean that music isn't being made. Oh, and there is the nasty little fact that GHB music is _not_ played as written. > This is true. I play the piano, and have played the guitar, and could do both > of these fairly well, even as old, fat, and out of shape as I am. When I took > up piping, I had to get pack into shape. ... I have had fun having my > instrumentialist > friends try to blow my pipes, and marvel that anyone could actually play them. > :-) Um... Chuck, I hate to tell you this, but I think you might be blowing an excessively hard reed. I had a friend back in college days that was trying to learn guitar. He strung his relatively decent acoustic with the same Extra Heavy strings that his power-rock hero used. His fingers were cut to shreds and he could barely manage to hold down a G chord after months of trying. He played my guitar with medium-light strings and he was amazed that it was actually _easy_ to play. Needless to say, he thought he got better "tone" out of his guitar set up so he never changed to a lighter gauge. I suspect he also never learned to play the guitar. Unless you have need to mow down medium sized oak trees in Chris Hamilton's grass-flattened wake, I'd suggest you might ease your reeds a bit. Sounds like you're working too hard. I've seen a few GHB players who smoke like chimneys, are over sixty, and skinny, who can blow the thing for hours. > But still, most classical performances you go to, you will see the > musicians using music. Yep. Much easier to keep track of where you're at when the music has the full sixty-nine measure rest notated. ;) MT - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 00:27:02 -0500 (CDT) From: axnjxn@webtv.net (Daniel Jackson) Subject: (bagpipe) Re: funeral idea that's the way I always do it, Mike, although I usually hang around until the immediate family leaves. I sort of look at it as piping the deceased person along the path home, in a philosophical kinda way. I've gotten very grateful and positive response from family members/friends I've had the occasion to talk to after the funeral. FWIW. Slainte, Dan - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 19:19:24 -0600 From: owner-bagpipe@lists.xmission.com Subject: [none] ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 10 Aug 1999 02:09:51 -0500 From: Tad Myers Subject: (bagpipe) Re: Top 10 Hints for Improving bruce@ais.com wrote: > College of Piping, Book 2, Page 61. Note that Book 1 and Book 3 are > just about _tunes_ - Book 2 is about playing the pipes themselves. > -snip- Oh yes...Bruce comes through in the clinch. Take that Dave...:o) Tad Myers - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 18:35:28 +0100 From: "lsrapm" Subject: (bagpipe) Re: Revised @pin up now. Maeve wrote > Just a quick note to let you all know that a new, revised edition picture > is up on my web site. It is by no means finished but closer. And I want to > take a moment to thank the couple of kind gentlemen who are giving me a > hand with this. I don't know if they want acknowledgment for this but I > feel it necessary to tell them myself how much I appreciate them! THANKS! > Life is good and you are making it easier for me! Now if we can just get > The Boss to make up his mind . .. . :) :) The new pin can be seen at: > > http://people.delphi.com/terralyn/pin2.jpg > -- I downloaded your first drawing a few days ago, but I've tried several times to download this update. All I get is "wrong address". Is there a problem? Chris Eyre - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 11:28:45 -0400 From: "Andrew Berthoff" Subject: (bagpipe) http://www.PiperAndDrummer.com We've just received our first analysis of activity at the new Piper & Drummer magazine Web site (http://www.PiperAndDrummer.com). Since its launch four days ago, there have been over 4,000 individual visits, and over 100,000 page view "hits." We hope you visit and keep returning to the site for daily updates. BTW -- today's Poll asks whether you think the Grade 1 judging at the '99 World's was fair. Be sure to express your opinion on this and future daily Poll questions! And don't forget to cast your vote for our "Best of the Millenium" Online Survey, as well as visiting all the other stuff at the site. Hope you enjoy it, Andrew Berthoff Toronto, Canada - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 14:19:48 -0400 From: madman Subject: (bagpipe) Re: Drone cords: Silk or polyester? Theodore Le boeuf wrote: > > madman wrote: > > > > Iain Sherwood wrote: > > > > > > as a bagpipe dealer, I KNOW that the cords are ALL made in Pakistan; some > > > are silk, and some are rayon...as far as quality is concerned, remember that > > > ALL pipe banners and regimental colours for the British Army are made in > > > Pakistan, where they do the finest gold and silver bullion embroidery in the > > > world - using child labour, > > > > Here is is again,, > > Nottingahm Braid Company,Derby,England. > > Would you like the phone number? > > Thats just fine if you want to tell all your customers that bull, > > but some of us actually KNOW that ALL cords do not come from Pakistan. > > IT would be more accurate for you to say"I KNOW that ALL of my add-ons, > > come from Pakistan". > Im not intrested in the number. But how much do you pay for these drone > cords? > mike The cost of the cords,plus shipping. - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 18 Aug 1999 15:48:34 GMT From: ToneCzar@erols.com (Chris Hamilton) Subject: (bagpipe) Re: http://www.PiperAndDrummer.com On Wed, 18 Aug 1999 11:28:45 -0400, "Andrew Berthoff" wrote: >We've just received our first analysis of activity at the new Piper & >Drummer magazine Web site (http://www.PiperAndDrummer.com). > >Since its launch four days ago, there have been over 4,000 individual >visits, and over 100,000 page view "hits." > >We hope you visit and keep returning to the site for daily updates. Kudos to the P&D staff for this new site - nothing better than a daily piping center with frequent updates, surveys, etc. Really slick! Chris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Chris Hamilton -- ToneCzar@erols.com City of Washington Pipe Band http://www.serve.com/cowpb/chamilton.html - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Mon, 30 Aug 1999 05:58:10 GMT From: Bill Carr Subject: (bagpipe) Re: AC/DC Tune Alternative lyrics sung by myself and other young drunks of the era. "It's a long way to the shop if you wanna sausage roll" :-) I can't hear that song without having a laugh. Bill Carr Alan C wrote: > Don't know about that specific occasion, but the only AC/DC tune in > which I've heard pipes is "It's a Long Way to the Top (If you Wanna Rock > and Roll)" from the album High Voltage. > > Peace, > Alan C. > - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 15:19:29 +0100 From: "Hoochter Choochter Man" Subject: (bagpipe) 'Tap and drag' birl exercises? I'm trying to convert my birl to the 'tap and drag' type, because that seems to produce a good clear sound when it's done right. Anybody out there got some good exercises for that please? H.C.M. - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 11:04:44 -0800 From: Michael New & Diane Rossmiller Subject: (bagpipe) Re: Drone cords: Silk or polyester? > Im not going their just to get proof. That would be $1800 for nothing. > I am talking Uilleann Pipes and Pastoral pipes over to pakistan to be > coppied. I'm sure the original makers of the pipes you're taking to Pakistan to have cheap rip-off copies made of would be delighted to know of your plans. Meanwhile, people who want a decent instrument will know better. You get what you pay for in this world - pipes are no different. I don't think you're liable to convince most of the folks on this newsgroup otherwise. Might as well save your breath for the poor punters who don't know any better. Michael - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 15 Aug 1999 07:39:15 -0700 From: "Iain Sherwood" Subject: (bagpipe) Re: Drone cords: Silk or polyester? as a bagpipe dealer, I KNOW that the cords are ALL made in Pakistan; some are silk, and some are rayon...as far as quality is concerned, remember that ALL pipe banners and regimental colours for the British Army are made in Pakistan, where they do the finest gold and silver bullion embroidery in the world - using child labour, of course ... IS Royce Lerwick wrote in message news:37b64f19.1423512@news.mn.mediaone.net... > On 14 Aug 1999 23:14:32 GMT, zudupiper@aol.com (Zudupiper) wrote: > > >>The difference between these and you last > >>cords is probobly just a different maker > > > >Now THAT makes sense. > > > >Should have thought of that myself. > > > >Zu > > Just to fire off another war, I've seen a lot of Pakistani work with > fabric and fiber, and they don't do a lot better with cords or kilts > than they do with pipes, and that's even lower-tech than turning > pipes, so it isn't a technology problem. > > Royce - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: 20 Aug 1999 23:03:12 +1000 From: "FRED" Subject: (bagpipe) Re: question Re: Military band Horsehair sporrans?... lsrapm wrote in article <7pf0hn$v9c$1@news5.svr.pol.co.uk>... > > Adidas5136 wrote > > Hello, > > I have recently got a band issued military band horsehair sporran. It > was > > in the storage closet for quite some time so it has large waves and bends > in > > the hair. How do I straighten out the hair so it is as it should be? > please > > reply A.S.A.P Thanks alot. > > S A M (Adidas5136@aol.com) > > Shampoo it in hand-hot water without letting the water soak the backing. > Only wash the hair itself. Then comb it out gently with a hair brush or even > sit down for half-an-hour and gently pull all the tangled strands apart by > hand. It takes a lot of patience but it's worth it. > > Then always store it hanging up. > > Chris Eyre > > shampoo sound good, i have had success doing the same but using plain ordinary sunlight soap and comb/brush out. i might use some of the mrs shampoo next time. thanks for the tip. dave. > - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 17 Aug 1999 22:04:26 -0800 From: Michael New & Diane Rossmiller Subject: (bagpipe) Re: memorizing tunes Mike Collins wrote: > Memorizing: > Playing from the subconscious mind is definitely a fact. If you walk > onto the field thinking about every note that your playing you are > going to be tripping over your own feet. Your mind/body is doing so > many things when your playing the pipes you rely heavily on the > subconscious mind to assist. > When competing, you have played the sets or medleys so many times it > is automatic, it's when you have to think about what your playing that > you screw up. > Just let the fingers do the playing! Or as one of my guitar instructors told me about a particularly difficult and technically demanding piece: "You have to try harder, by not _trying_so hard!!!" Michael - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: 13 Aug 1999 02:19:21 GMT From: zudupiper@aol.com (Zudupiper) Subject: (bagpipe) Re: Pin is up! Cool! It's up! The chanter (or lack thereof) was a tough decision. I thought it would clutter things up too much. I worked from a super-enlarged font when I did my original sketch, and yes, the "a" part of the @ was one of the changes Maeve and I are talking about. The "a" part should have a little more swoosh, or slant, to the right side. I was wondering about using more of the @ symbol, maybe instead of a strap & buckle, but if you do that, tradition goes out the window.... This ain't easy! Zu - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: 29 Aug 1999 09:01:07 GMT From: gaelmann@aol.com (Gaelmann) Subject: (bagpipe) funeral idea Hello fellow pipers, I'm not claiming to be a master Piper so please take it easy on me! I find funerals to be kind of akward especially at the end when you finish off with "Amazing Grace", stop and walk back to your car and leave while the whole family is still there mourning and watching you leave with 200 bucks in your pocket and a not completely hidden twinkle in your eye for a total of 15 minutes of play. It doesnt sit quite right in my stomach, so in order to help ease the transition from playing graveside to getting in the car and leaving I figured why not play Amazing Grace one time through at graveside and then the second time through start walking back to the car, once you get within 10 or 15 feet then stop and put the pipes in the back and get out of there. This works for the family as the get the effect of the lone piper trailing off into the scenery and you get to make a slick and subtle getaway. I tried it this weekend and it worked real nice, I felt like 007 making such a smooth exit. Mike McFafern "Gaelmann the Mailman" - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: 17 Aug 1999 23:26:23 GMT From: bobalewi@aol.com (Bobalewi) Subject: (bagpipe) Re: drone cord color? black - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 25 Aug 1999 17:41:07 +0100 From: "R Paterson" Subject: (bagpipe) Highland Cathedral Composer / origin? I believe that Highland Cathedral is of German origin, but have no other source info. Can anyone advise me as to who the composer was, or any other related info? Many thanks, BP - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: 17 Aug 1999 18:55:08 GMT From: ccc31807@aol.com (Ccc31807) Subject: (bagpipe) Re: memorizing tunes >Hi Charles, Richard. > >Sorry Charles, I have to go with Richard on this one. This is a real good post. Obviously, there are different roads to the same place. I hope you will let me respond to some of your points, both to clear up some poor choice of words on my part, and to differ on some matters of substance. >Concerning the "inefficiency" I don't think richard was advocating mindlessly >playing thorugh the tune over and over until one had it from sheer >repetition. Point well taken. I really didn't think we was advocating this, but I still think his method is inefficient. >I think he is incorporating all the analysis and dissection of a tune that we >have >seen talked about here: breaking it into phrases, finding the similar >phrases, >breaking it down even further into rhythmic patterns and difficult spots. I am sure that he was, but he should have made sure that a dummy like me would not miss it. >highly academic trick of memorizing a sequence of scribbles on paper. It's >_music_, >not ink on parchment. Musicians do not think in terms of the lines and spaces >on >manuscript paper, but in terms of sound. Right. Music is NOT black ink on white paper, it is a living, breathing art. Just like drama - same difference between reading a play and experiencing it in the theater. >Under your statement bagpipe playing >wasn't really music and the players hadn't really learned to play until they >could >write it out. Therefore, given the music writing ability of most bagpipe >players, >very few can play or know the music. I doubt you really want to say that. I really didn't mean to say that. But I stick by my point. Assuming basic music literacy, if you can sit down and write out the music, you show that you know it - not by "memory" - but real knowledge. The old balladeers couldn't write out their ballads (assuming illiteracy on their part) but they surely knew their material, hours and hours worth. I don't say that literacy and knowledge are the same thing, but writing it down on paper is a sure test of knowledge. >A classical pianist absolutely relies on kinesthetic memory >when playing anything Absolutely. But not solely. We have to rely on ALL parts of our memory. My difference with RM was that he seemed close to saying (although he did not say it) that reliance on kinesthetic memory was enough. Mike, I have been there, and I can tell you for a fact, if you do this, you will fail. Kinesthetic memory is not enough to carry you through a serious performance. As pipers, we use our subconscious for breathing and squeezing the bag. This has to be more or less automatic. If we march, we have to rely on the subconscious to do this. There are some tunes that we can play on autopilot, "Scotland the Brave," for example. But I can't conceive of performing a piece from memory without having it in the forefront of my mind and concentrating on every note. If the mind wanders, the fingers will follow suite. > The >conscious mind cannot control the fingers one note at a time telling them >when and >where to be. It simply cannot be done. I agree with this also. It is like reading. When you read, your eye doesn't decypher "t-h-e" to sound out the word. Instead, it takes the letters in at a glance to read "the." In the same way, when reading music, the eye might see a C major scale, or a C major arpeggio, or some other structure, and read the whole structure at a glance rather that seeing the individual notes. Question: When you play "Scotland the Brave," do you play the first four measures as part of an A major arpeggio? Two low As, broken triad, two high As, and another broken triad down to low A? This is what I mean - we don't play the notes, we play the structure, and if we had to write it, we would write the structure. >What one does is ingrain the note position >and timing into kinesthetic memory, and then rely on the body to get the job >done. >Then the mind can create the _music_. One doesn't mentally think, "OK, the >next >note is an F# and I need to play that with my right index finger." There is >where >disaster lies. Making music is like making love. You can't plot out every move, but you have to experience it physically every time. Memory is a tool for making music, and we mustn't elevate the tool over the end product. But we must know how to use the tool. This is where we part ways. When you learn (i.e., memorize) music, you must learn it with the conscious mind, and when you play it, you must play it with the conscious mind. The subconscious has nothing to do with it. You must be totally focused, totally concentrated, and your knowledge of the music must be letter perfect. Even then, this is no assurance that you will actually make music, but not doing it is an assurance that you will not make music. >First, a "real" musician can perform being completely unfit. > >Nope. Physical conditioning is an aspect of almost any musical instrument you >can >name. This is true. I play the piano, and have played the guitar, and could do both of these fairly well, even as old, fat, and out of shape as I am. When I took up piping, I had to get pack into shape. The point I wanted to make is that the GHB calls for a higher level of physical fitness than does the piano or guitar, or other "real" instruments. I have had fun having my instrumentialist friends try to blow my pipes, and marvel that anyone could actually play them. :-) >most of whom will tell you that they would like >to be able to play _without_ the crutch of having the music in front of them. >In >addition, no "real" classical soloist I know of uses music. This is true, too. In a real sense, the written page gets in the way of making music. But still, most classical performances you go to, you will see the musicians using music. - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: 04 Aug 1999 23:47:50 GMT From: ccc31807@aol.com (Ccc31807) Subject: (bagpipe) Re: Internet clan crest badge? >Motto > >Latin - fortis et barbarus - For the public we can render this as >"strong and wild" although we know that, referring to the ng it means >"loud and rude". Of course it would be better to have a Gaelic motto >but I think "fortis et barbarus" is going to be hard to beat. I like it. Now, the tartan? - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Tue, 31 Aug 1999 12:51:57 +1200 From: Casey Wilkes Subject: (bagpipe) Re: JUNK TUNES Josep wrote: > I have a book with contemporary compositions, made by Astrid Filgueira and Jose > Presedo. If you want to contact them to get the book (which includes a CD), Mr. > Presedo's e-mail is jpresedo@arrakis.es (he made the adrres public in this ng). I'm > sure he will give you directions to get his book. However, be warned: Galician piping > makes intensive use of alteration and minor keys, and that is HARD to get on the GHB. > Also, I have same Galician music MIDI files. > > Pep Thanks heaps for the info, I will get in contact with Jose Presedo soon. About those MIDI files, how can I get hold of them ??? Cheers, Casey - - To unsubscribe to bagpipe, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe bagpipe" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ End of bagpipe-digest V1 #21 **************************** - To unsubscribe to $LIST, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe $LIST" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message.