OK. I managed to get the Sweet Hesleyside set, and having listened
to it I managed to view it in Audacity (an audio editing program).
In general. I am reluctant to give an opinion based purely on my own
aural judgement for three reasons.
1) hearing is very subjective and it is easy for the listener to
deceive themselves in order to comfirm their own prejudice.
2) I don't think I have spent enough time listening closely and
playing to be certain of my own judgement.
3) I have heard the dogmatic opinions expressed of musical
performances with which I profoundly disagree although I often can't
explain just why. (My lugs are a bit slow). I have later gathered
further information which confirmed my gut instinct.
To my ears (lugs) George's playing seemed to be very clearly
articulated, and viewing the waveform confirmed my opinion. Except
for one or two instances, all the notes have clear space between them
varying between 1/25 sec and 1/10 sec. One exception is the last note
of Sweet Hesleyside where the grace note is apparently joined to the
main note. (I have on occasion heard Mr Ormston taking gross
liberties with the Clough method at the very end of a tune, so
perhaps it falls into the same category.)
The rendition of Sweet Hesleyside is very patient and extensively
graced. If it seems laboured to some modern ears then I would venture
to remind readers that it is playing such as this which has enabled
our instrument to retain its popularity over 2 centuries and more in
the North-East of England and we neglect it at our peril.
Our instrument has very little dynamic capacity, but the one thing we
can do is ensure that each note pops out of the chanter after a short
period of silence. This is I feel where our strength lies. I often
say that the chanter should feel like it is full of notes eager to
get out.
Some time ago, I made a mental list of the pipers I would wish to
emulate, and I then wondered what they had in common. I decided that
it was that they either learnt the pipes early in life or it was the
instrument on which they came to understand music. They did not
bring the prejudices of another instrument to the pipes.
Leaving space between notes is not solely the province of the pipes.
The moothie (mouth organ / harmonica) plays in the hands of Will
Atkinson (George's Father) is a very 'blocky' instrument. The
notes/chords are either on or off and the volume is very consistent.
The subtlety of the music is in the precise lengths of the notes and
the spaces between - as in the Clough style of piping. Willie
Taylor's fiddle playing is very spiky. There is a great deal of
attack at the beginning of the note and it decays substantially
before the next note. Often there is almost silence between notes. I
have heard it remarked that the characteristic of Willie's fiddle
style was the amount of daylight you could see under the bow.
Add to this the piano. Annie Snaith of Elsdon springs to mind but for
those who never heard her, Andy May can do a passable imitation. This
is a very percussive style.
Returning to the pipes. If we repeat a note using closed fingering
there will be a space between. I think we should put a similar space
between all notes, so that all notes have the same shape whether they
are repeated notes (tipping) or part of a scale. We should try to get
notes on keys to have the same shape as notes on finger holes. This
is not staccato, this not staccatissmo, it is the inherent sound of
the pipes.
Comments?
Much more later
BArryy
On 16 Sep 2008 at 13:55, Honor Hill wrote:
Barry, after several tries, I succeeded in saving and opening the
Sweet Hesleyside set, mp3 form. The other tune link is still telling
me the page isn't available. I'm wondering if the site only allows
for a few to access at a time, and many of us have been trying at
once. Honor
-Original Message-
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tuesday, September 16, 2008 1:52 PM
To: nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu
Subject: [NSP] Re: George Atkinson recordings
I have found the link to the recordings but the files themselves are
apparently ont there. Has anyone had more luck than me?
Barry
On 16 Sep 2008 at 10:20, Mike Sharp wrote:
From: Francis Wood [EMAIL PROTECTED]
You mentioned George Atkinson as a good exponent of that style. I
have heard only the three tracks on the Wild Hills O'Wannie LP. I
like them a lot. Are there other recordings of him? There are a
two recordings of him on FARNE. (
http://www.asaplive.com/FARNE/Home.cfm )
1. Hexham races, Atholl Highlanders, Masons Apron
2. Sweet Hesleyside, Proudlocks Hornpipe, Redesdale Hornpipe
--Mike
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