I enjoyed the most recent NPS Journal very much. There was lots of good stuff there to ponder and incorporate into my playing. Good articles raise more questions, so here are couple that came up for me. Anthony Robb described the rhythm of a rant as "tomato". That enhanced my understanding of the rant rhythm, but I'm still confused. The reel rhythm, I take it, is the common bump-ditty, which of course has subtle variations depending on local tradition. But I hear "tomato" as 6/8, not 2/2 or 4/4. If "bump ditty" is spelled out "strong, weak, strong, medium" in stresses per bar, how is the rant "tomato" rhythm spelled out? Chris Ormston's article was very interesting, but I didn't get the full gist of what he was saying because I think he was being polite. Chris could you spell out in "over seas layman's terms" which tunes have infected the repertoire, and which tunes are basic? I hope traditional NSP playing never reduces it's repertoire to a stock 100 tunes to be played exactly alike by everyone the way Highland piping has, but as an "over seas layman" it would be very interesting to learn what one of the very best NSPipers considers to be the top fifty tunes I should strive to learn, and which tunes I should avoid completely. As a side bar question: I was told recently that "the Mason's Apron" is a Northumbrian tune. It's played all over the British Isles, but I didn't realize it was from Northumberland. Is that true? many thanks, John --
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