[NSP] Doubleday
Hello John This is what Doubleday said of the pipes (my underscores): Thus, this instrument is limited to a single octave; and this (little as it is) admits of all the airs, to which it is really suited, being executed by it's means ; with the additional improvement that it may be played perfectly in tune, whilst the tones it produces being all staccato and of a clear, ringing, pearly, and brilliant character, give the instrument a power which it's appearance by no means promises, and which is really superior when the diminutive size of its chanter or melody-pipe is considered. In truth, whilst every other description of bag-pipe is defective, wanting in distinctness, and more or less out of tune in the upper octave, the Northumbrian pipe, when played by a master, executes the airs for which it has been intended to perfection, and with a precision even in the most rapid movements very pleasing as well as surprising. This doesn't sound to me that he doesn't like the pipes. Yes, Chris Ormston plays the Blackbird beautifully but then having heard Greg Smith doing the same piece on the fiddle takes the air to a far higher, expressive and sublime level. The same is true of Andy May's wonderful Bonny Lass o' Bon Accord - great until you hear the same piece done by the likes of Kenny Wilson (Border Strathspey & Reel Society) again is moving in the way pipes can't achieve. This is true of course in other spheres. Did any one out there have the nisfortune to pay a small fortune to hear James Galway playing "The 4 Seasons"? What a disappointment! Much of the pipes attractiveness lies in the tone. Pair it with fiddle tand it gives acombination of real gut tingling expressiveness; a winning combination. This is as true today as it was when Jamie Allan (we assume) played with Blind Jack o' Knaresborough in the 18th century. Doubleday would have heard the airs he is talking about played intially on instruments with dynamics. Hence his quite understandable disapproval on the sweet sounding (takes a genius to get anything like expression out of these) pipes playing the airs he was used to hearing on fiddle. Doubleday is saying what I have felt myself myself for some time. The pipes are a brilliant but not capable of the highest level of expressiveness. Their strength is their beauty of tone. Pair this with a fiddle say and the effect is awsome. This is as true today as it was in the 18th century when Jamie Allan (we assume) played with Blind Jack o' Knaresborough. Here's my challenge Find me any recording of any fiddle piece played by someone of Chris Ormston's talent i.e a top notch fiddle player and convince me it is not at a different level of musical expression compared to the same piece played on pipes. As aye Anthony -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[NSP] Doubleday
Hello Richard Doubleday wrote: The Northumberland small-pipe is fitted up upon the plan of construction common to all bagpipes aEUR" that is to say, aEUR" it consists of a pipe with stops, by means of which the melody is played, and of three longer pipes sounding different musical intervals in such a way as to produce a rude and imperfect accompaniment to the melody. Taking this in the context of his whole argument he seems to be saying that common forms of bagpipe have chanters which aren't in tune over their range and therefore clash with the constant reference point of the drones. But he then goes on to say that the special quality of the smallpipes is that they can be played in tune and make a melodious sound. It's interesting how we arrive at two contrasting interpretations of his words. For me he delights in the sound of the small-pipes. On the point of expression I've been moved to tears as much by the pipes as the fiddle. The question is, can they match the fiddle when playing the big fiddle tunes? I have to say after 45 years involvement at all levels in this music I have yet to find a single example. I would dearly love to as the pipes are my heritage. I heard them as a school boy and loved them more than any other instrument in the world, but loving them more than any other instrument is one thing, convincing myself they are the most expressive instrument in the world is another. As aye Anthony -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[NSP] Doubleday
Hello Colin and Richard I agree with much you say. I like the comparison with apples and potatoes. But that is exactly what Doubleday is saying: 'don't try and make chips with apples or apple crumble with potatoes'. Cheers Anthony -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[NSP] Doubleday et al
Thanks to everyone for the edifying discussion. To me Doubleday seems to be saying, the NSP are a rude, wee thing with enough charm to make them worth preserving, and within its narrowest scope in its own way it's quite nice, really. Another way of looking at it is that he's saying "fa\g a phiob bhochd", "leave the poor pipes alone," which makes good sense to me too. All that is fair enough. Contrast that with George Sand's novel, The Bagpipers, which is truly inspired by the rude sounds of peasant instruments. I think she wrote about the same time as Doubleday. The discussion lost me when it took on the topic of most expressive instrument. "Whatever gets you through the night," as the late, great Liverpudlian once sang. All music is nostalgic and so much depends on your frame of reference. When I first heard the NSP when I was about fifteen I was drinking tea in a close corner by a wood stove after a cold, wet day of scavaging fire wood from a logged off patch where alder and madrona were left to rot. My friend, Sandy Ross (somehow related to Colin), put a recording of Billy Pigg on the record player and I was hooked. If he had put a recording of the best violinist in the world I would have hurried out the door without finishing my tea. There is much more to the context of that moment, social and personal, that made it so important to me. But suffice it to say that for all it's many flaws and short comings the NSP are the only thing that works to express some things for me, and every time I hear and play them that moment of contentment and happiness shines through. Of course, I have many flaws and shortcomings, which explains a lot! To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[NSP] Doubleday Post Script and retraction
Thanks, Helen, for making me look more deeply into my words. "Highest" is, on deeper thought, a bad choice as pipes in the right hands (as Inky Adrian recently pointed out) hit the heart and brain every bit as surely as, say, Heifitz or indeed "Choralation" (Rowan Johnston's New Zealand choir). I'm not sure if it'll be any better, however, if I substitute fullest for highest. By which I mean hitting heart, brain and body (particulary the feet), simultaneously. This is far harder to pull off on the pipes than, say, the fiddle. It's what Peter Kennedy in the introduction to the Fiddler's Tune Book (OUP 1954) calls "Drops and Raises" a topic he devotes 8 paragraphs to. This is not done easily or by many and clearly not the genteel ladies and gentlemen who were probably the only people able to afford keyed pipes in the mid 18 th century. This takes us back to Doubleday. For me this letter to the Duke of Northumberland said 3 things: a) the old style pipes were brilliant, perfect for the job and really pwerful for their size (I know some who say similar re their Blackberry), b) the recent development in extra range attracted a fashion set who, more often than not, made a dog's dinner of the pieces they attempted, c) this bad playing was giving the pipes themselves a thoroughly underserved bad reputation. There is a fourth thing which was not in the extract posted but something that if not said openly was perhaps implicit in his letter, so this is my d) please do something about this parlous state of affairs. I add this because if the year is correct (1857) it was the same year the Duke appointed a second Duke's Piper, one James Reid of North Shields, to promote the pipes (presumably on Tyneside) and show people how they should be played. I would love to think that a consequence of this was that the genteel folk thought, 'pipes are not for us after all' and promptly sold them on for a fraction of their cost to the likes of the Cloughs and others who knew what to do with them. Pure speculation and merely the result of my own "digestion" of the piece so proper research could well prove me wrong. It would, nevertheless, be a lovely and fitting end to the tale. Cheers Anthony -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
