In response to Matt Seattle's message - I have had some possibly
relevant experience of playing chanters in D, F, and G. I "discovered"
NSP for the first time a few years ago by rescuing a very old (?1970s)
and rather dilapidated secondhand 11-key Burleigh D set from a local
music showroom, getting it overhauled by Francis Wood (thank you,
Francis!), and by finding a good teacher (Chris Evans) and a welcoming
local group in Oxford to play with regularly. So I have never looked
back.
However, though I love its low timbre, and for singing to (if I could
sing) I imagine it would be lovely, the D set actually seldom gets
played. Why?
Because for social playing with other pipers I immediately realized
that a set in D was of no use at all, and that I needed a set in
conventional Northumbrian F instead. Having started on an 11-key
Burleigh set I moved on recently to a 16-key Ross one, as this has
proved to be what I wanted to do all my serious playing on. The
standard F tuning has a sweet timbre and I found the chanter setup was
kind to the hands.
Where concert-pitch playing in my dance band was concerned, I thought
my original D set was going to be useful as an alternative to the flute
that I usually play, but I was disappointed in finding that it wasn't
after all, for exactly the reasons that Matt Seattle outlined. I found
it frustrating that I had no notes above top f-sharp and that I could
barely play in G at all with my limited transpositional skills. If I
were to persevere, as well I might when I can find the time to do some
serious practice on it, I do think I would find the D chanter useful in
the band for the occaoinal tunes in A that we play, but I actually find
that I can play them perfectly well if I want to on the 14-key (Barlow)
G set that I eventually had made for playing in the band.
So, for what it is worth, my own experience suggests that in choosing
an instrument, especially if you just want one, most of the decision is
going to be a very personal one, and to turn on what sound you are
looking for (low or high) and what you know you will want your pipes to
do for you - after which I think the size and proportions of your hands
are also worth considering. D pipes do have a lovely mellow timbre, but
I found that the drones were heavy and that a small right hand on a D
chanter got very tired because the spread between the last three holes
is wide and irregular and I hate squeaking, so would end up playing
with an unduly tense grip. Such problems do, of course, yield to
practice if one is determined. Conversely, the G chanter is small
(which happens to suit my hands, though some people with big hands and
broad fingertips sometimes say they find G chanters difficult to play
neatly). I find the G set also has an inherently high "soprano" timbre
compared with the D chanter's fruity Alto. So it makes a different
acoustic contribution. I, personally, have found my Barlow 14-key G
chanter beautifully set up f0r hole spacing and extremely versatile in
the band, and I play it regularly as a change-instrument from the
flute.
I hope that helps!
best wishes
Daphne
On 12 Aug 2009, at 14:57, Matt Seattle wrote:
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]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]ross.ander...@cl.cam.ac.uk
[mailto:[3]rossjander...@googlemail.com]
Sent: 09 August 2009 17:30
To: Gordon Brown
Cc: [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
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--
References
1. mailto:gor...@10db.co.uk
2. mailto:ross.ander...@cl.cam.ac.uk
3. mailto:rossjander...@googlemail.com
4. mailto:nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu
5. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
