Hi All I understood that the idea behind the first thirty tunes was that it should be a repertoire which isolated pipers could master in order to be able to join in 'gatherings' of pipers. This is entirely different to compiling a book of music which will help someone become a piper.
I have always held the Northumbrian Pipers' Tunebook (NPS1) in high regard. First published 1936 2nd (expanded) edition 1970 (This is the first one I encountered) 3rd edition 1998 (Errors in that one are down to me) I have always felt that this contains a balanced selection of tunes. The second edition was a very important source book for folk musicians because the amount of commercially available material at the time was far more limited. Further, we could assume that most NSP players have had access to it and would be familiar with its contents. After a few years of playing the pipes, I went through the book and marked in the index those tunes I thought I had 'got to grips with'.. A year or so later, I repeated the exercise and could observe my progress. etc. ------------------ NPS1 has its drawbacks: Page one consists of Chevy Chase - not a good pipe tune in my opinion Mallorca - Simple GHB by a late-not-so-great royal Lea Rigg - Scots / Burns Page 2 Marquis of Lorne - great tune - intimidating for beginners Athole Highlanders - Northumbrian? Page 3 Paddy Whack / General Toast - These occur in the Peacock collection, are not played much, but I believe are worthy of consideration etc. etc. Beginners repertoire Winster Gallop - Northumbrian(?) Salmon Tails - A heavily adapted Irish tune Jimmy Allen - Now where did that come from (?) --------------------- Because the tunes are so familiar, pipers don't record them. Because they have been around so long, experienced pipers look for other tunes to play in sessions. I have thrown my pebble in the pond and await the ripples. Barry To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
