Hi, folks, As a very mediocre player I hesitate to respond but share the substance of what I wrote Gordon privately:
I took up the pipes aged 57, too late to hope for real accomplishments whatever my innate musical talent -- which tends in any case to focus in dancing, particularly Scottish Country Dancing. In the event, after a very dedicated first 8 years, the following years have tailed off a bit as I'm not near other pipers to stimulate practice. I decided that I wanted pipes to accompany singing (not that I'm that good but I enjoy it) and after some research went for a Concert C chanter -- i.e. the lowest open hole is piano C. This was a VERY good decision for me. Being left-handed but not able to get to a left handed set until I'd well and truly spent too much time with standard fingering and posture (bellows on right, etc), I've found that my left hand is actually busier than my right. But more importantly, it is dead easy to play BOTH with other instruments (the natural scale) AND with other pipers. The C chanter can be treated as a virtual D chanter (i.e. bottom open hole = D) when with other pipers which means learning a second fingering but D is a much more natural piping key than E (the equivalent to using a D chanter with other pipers). I'm not explaining it very well but think for a moment about the piano pitch of standard drones: piano C and F (notionally D and G) give or take a few cycles/sec. Getting a C chanter did not involve getting new drones or retuned drones. The chanter was also long enough that there was space for an extra upper key as well as lower ones so I have a key that allows me to play upper "a" with other pipers. I miss upper "b" but it is less common. John Clifford retired in Scotland > Hello Matt > I have just drafted, but not yet sent, an email making the very same > points! > Fine for singing along to but a nightmare for trad tunes in D as the > range doesn't match up. > As aye > Anthony > --- On Wed, 12/8/09, Matt Seattle <theborderpi...@googlemail.com> > wrote: > > From: Matt Seattle <theborderpi...@googlemail.com> > Subject: [NSP] Re: Looking for other NSP players in Suffolk or East > Anglia > To: "Gordon Brown" <gor...@10db.co.uk> > Cc: nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu > Date: Wednesday, 12 August, 2009, 2:57 PM > > As a non-NSP player who does however > play regularly with NSP players I would caution that a concert D set > is > NOT the obvious choice if you are playing with other instruments > whose > main keys are G and D. In terms of the range and key of many trad > tunes played on other instruments with which you wish to play along, > my > experience tells me that you would be better off with a concert G > set > which plays easily in the keys of G and D - and has the notes > equivalent to the fiddle's top string (e f# g a b) - rather than a > concert D set which plays easily in the keys of D and A and only > goes > up to f# on the fiddle's top string. > I would ask NSP players to comment on the above from their own > experience. > Matt Seattle > On Wed, Aug 12, 2009 at 1:47 PM, Gordon Brown > <[1][1]gor...@10db.co.uk> > wrote: > Many thanks to all who replied, I've given this lots of thought! I > really am > set on a concert D set of pipes as my primary aim is to play with > the many > melodeon players that I know and this rather fixes me in D, > especially for > the majority of the tunes I already play. I am also determined to > sing with > the pipes, although I acknowledge the potential problems with the > strap. > Although we have both a chromatic and FC autoharp, the majority of > our > instruments are DG diatonics or straight D diatonic (Gordon has > converted > two 'harps by scratch building complete chord bar assemblies for > them). > Before I finally decide to order a set, is there anyone on the > list > that may > wish to part with a concert D set? I've bought 'harps this way > before from > another list, Cyberpluckers, and at least we knew the owner had a > decent > knowledge of the instrument otherwise they wouldn't have > contributed > to the > list. I suspect that this goes double for this list! > Alison > -----Original Message----- > From: [2][2]ross.ander...@cl.cam.ac.uk > [mailto:[3][3]rossjander...@googlemail.com] > Sent: 09 August 2009 17:30 > To: Gordon Brown > Cc: [4][4]...@cs.dartmouth.edu > Subject: Re: [NSP] Looking for other NSP players in Suffolk or > East > Anglia > To get on or off this list see list information at > [5][5]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > -- > References > 1. mailto:[6]gor...@10db.co.uk > 2. mailto:[7]ross.ander...@cl.cam.ac.uk > 3. mailto:[8]rossjander...@googlemail.com > 4. mailto:[9]...@cs.dartmouth.edu > 5. [10]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > -- > > References > > 1. http://uk.mc12.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=gor...@10db.co.uk > 2. > http://uk.mc12.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=ross.ander...@cl.cam.ac.uk > 3. > http://uk.mc12.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=rossjander...@googlemail.com > 4. http://uk.mc12.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=...@cs.dartmouth.edu > 5. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > 6. http://uk.mc12.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=gor...@10db.co.uk > 7. > http://uk.mc12.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=ross.ander...@cl.cam.ac.uk > 8. > http://uk.mc12.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=rossjander...@googlemail.com > 9. http://uk.mc12.mail.yahoo.com/mc/compose?to=...@cs.dartmouth.edu > 10. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > >
