Seems to me that as the pipes have been around for about 500 years in their
present form, but much of the repetoire is from the last 200-250 years and
is probably a sample of popular tunes of the day that you could argue that
the "traditional" tunes at least of the pipes have already been lost.
As to the way of playing, who knows, each player is likely to have learnt at
the knee of another, and added his own foibles. The traditional way now, and
probably then, is what is in the living memory, although there is a degree
of calcification due to recordings of early 20th century players, much as
spelling became more fixed with the advent of the printing press. This site
has recently shown that there is no certainty as to the meaning of notation,
so how can we know how things were played.
I'm sure that Chris Ormston, widely regarded as one of the finest players
around today, will have a great influence on how the pipes are learnt and
played for many years, and because there are recordings of his style, that
will now go on into perpetuity, I don't think you need fear Chris, that your
style will die out in the near future.
Now for my pebble in the pond, As some wise chap said a while back, "In my
father's house there are many rooms", or words to that effect. I think there
should be not just tolerance, but acceptance of a wide range of not only
playing styles, but music types as well. If it was OK in the 1850's to play
hit songs of the day, then why not now accept tunes from the last 40-50-60
years, which I'm sure most of us will agree has been an incredibly rich and
diverse period of music writing.
So, preparing to be shot down, how about "In the Mood", "Moon River"
,"Popcorn"(by Hot butter if my memory serves)"I am sailing" (Rod Stewart)
"Money, money,money" by ABBA. You can see wher I'm coming from.
But before you do shoot, think how much poorer we would be musically if the
Sax had only ever been used to play orchestral music, it's original purpose
as a crossover between brass and woodwind.
Tim RollsOriginal Message -----
From: "Robert Greef" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Sent: Thursday, October 02, 2008 9:22 AM
Subject: [NSP] Piping under threat!
I saw the post from Chris Ormston:
I'm seriously concerned that the traditional
> way of playing our instrument will be swept away in a wave of
Pan-Celtic "syncopated jiggery"
This made me wonder what 'Pan-Celtic "syncopated jiggery"' is, and what
the
nature of the threat.
Cheers,
Robert Greef
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