Taking up the bagpipes (Gibson or McCallum Chanter?)

[OC Richard]

having to completely re-tune each time the temperature changes

It's not all that bad.

If you're playing by yourself it doesn't matter what the baseline pitch is, and you only have to re-tune the drones as the chanter rises and falls in pitch. Each chanter reed has its own particular "happy place" where it sounds the best and behaves the best, and most pipers just let it be wherever that is, and tune the drones to it.

The tricky part is playing with others, either with other pipes in a Pipe Band or with a Pipe Organ or Orchestra or Rock Band, where you have to have the pipes always in tune to a pitch dictated by others. This means the chanter reed might have to be set higher or lower than its happy place and loads of tape on the chanter to compensate for the reed being out of its ideal position. Also it means maintaining that certain pitch, which means the best moisture control you can get (for many/most people this means sheepskin) and paying attention to the chanter's temperature (which is easy to maintain by sticking the chanter in your jacket).

Generally when the chanter goes up or down the various notes of the scale do so more or less evenly, so all you need to do is adjust the drones. But sometimes certain notes of the chanter scale will drift a bit up or down which means moving tape.

At one wedding I was playing on pavement, but later was told to move onto the grass. Not only did the chanter as a whole go flatter, but also certain notes went flatter than the rest, meaning that I had to move tape between every tune until the thing finally stabilized. At least with McCallum chanters and Megarity reeds, as the chanter reed gets wetter certain notes, particularly High G and D, flatten more than the rest. Low A, B, C#, E, and F seem to stay in the same relationship to each other most of the time.

[Kamilavalamp]

I Got the Gibson Long Polypenco Chanter and it's fun. I got the green book and cd that came with it. I figured out how to put the reed in myself. I did not realize how hard you have to blow to make that sucker sing. It gets wet in there fast too but it dries quick. It sounds real good like small pipes which makes me happy. I'm having a very hard time keeping my fingers straight though, I can hit the notes easier with curled fingers but I know I'm not supposed to do that. My lips sometimes lose the pressure on the mouth and make that farting sound. I take a deep breath and use my belly as a air bag to play longer and afterwards my cheeks feel like an over-inflated balloon. But I've been playing it for about an hour and in between fooling around I've made all the notes come out. This is fun but I think I'm gonna have to take up that offer from a pipe major I met to teach me.

[HighlandPark]

Yes, find an instructor; that will make your path to success far more linear.

And keep at it. Your strength and embouchure will come.

[EagleJCS]

I'm having a very hard time keeping my fingers straight though, I can hit the notes easier with curled fingers but I know I'm not supposed to do that.

This is the way I was taught to hold the chanter. YMMV.

You don't have to keep your fingers rigidly straight (learn to keep your hands relaxed), but don't curl your fingers to use the pad of each fingertip to cover the holes. First, relax your hands in your lap without holding anything and see what kind of natural curl your fingers have. Now hold the chanter with that kind of relaxed curl.

Your lower hand will actually be using the flat of the finger between the first and second joints, except for your little finger, which uses the pad. Try to get used to having the thumb on your lower hand on the back of the chanter opposite your middle and ring fingers, so you're holding the chanter with the side of your thumb.

Your upper hand will similarly beholding the chanter somewhat behind the finger pads, except for your ring finger and thumb, which both use the pads (the way I was taught to hold the chanter, anyway). Actually, the thumb of your upper hand will use more of the upper side of the thumb than the pad where your thumbprint is.

An instructor can easily help with hand position before bad habits begin.

Welcome to the obsession!

[416 Rigby]

Yes, PLEASE get proper instruction right from the start so you don't learn bad habits. Proper instruction is a must. Part of the reason you think it's hard to blow is that you build up lip strength by playing the practice chanter. It's the first step on a very long road.

Harness your enthusiasm and go for it. Good luck!

[OC Richard]

I'm having a very hard time keeping my fingers straight though, I can hit the notes easier with curled fingers but I know I'm not supposed to do that.

The issue isn't so much about how straight or curved the fingers are, but which of the three fleshy pads on the underside of each finger are used.

Each finger has three soft fleshy pads, one on each joint, the end-joint, the middle joint, and the bottom joint.

What doesn't work is to try to use the end-joint pads on all four fingers of the bottom hand.

If you look at the underside of your bottom hand, fingers held out fairly straight, you'll see that the middle-joint pads of the index, middle, and ring fingers line up nicely with the end-joint pad of the little finger. It's why these pads are used, on Highland pipes, uilleann pipes, Bulgarian pipes, and a vast number of folk flutes, shawms, bagpipes, etc.

As long as you're sealing the holes with those pads it doesn't matter whether the fingers are held completely straight, or at a natural gentle curve. Many pipers play with their hands in a curve, and many think that having the hands relaxed like that is better than having the fingers held stiffly straight and thus tense. Relaxation is crucial, and holding the fingers stiff works against that. Some of the best pipers in the world play with curved relaxed fingers.

While every good piper uses those same pads to seal the lower-hand holes, good pipers are of two minds about which pads to use to seal the upper-hand holes. Some use the end-joint pads of the three top-hand fingers, some use the middle-joint pads of those three fingers. It doesn't seem to matter one bit.

To give an example of utterly relaxed hands and curved fingers playing at a high level, here is Steve Megarity, our local piper and reedmaker (local now, he's from Belfast). I've played in bands with him, and his fingers are rather curved and very relaxed. (The drummer is actually an excellent Scottish snare drummer from Glasgow... I play in a band with him, and I didn't know he played bongos!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ppy7ITAS_fY

[TRWXXA]

I have just noticed how different my hands are. The pads that line up on my right (bottom) hand are the end pad on the index finger, the middle pad on my middle and ring fingers, and the end pad on my little finger.

The pads on my left (top) hand align like you said.

This might explain why I find it difficult and uncomfortable to hold the chanter in the prescribed manner.

[OC Richard]

I have just noticed how different my hands are. The pads that line up on my right (bottom) hand are the end pad on the index finger, the middle pad on my middle and ring fingers, and the end pad on my little finger.

That, at least on my hand, makes my hand come at an upward angle to the chanter.

Keep in mind that when you're playing the pipes the chanter is much lower that a practice chanter is. The upper hand, which (as the pipes are usually played) is on the bag arm, comes to the chanter fairly level, but the bottom hand goes down at an angle towards the chanter. At that angle your index finger midjoint pad should line up fairly well with the rest.

What I do with beginners' bottom hand is to draw, with a ball point pen, a dot in the middle of the fleshy pad of their index finger middle joint, and another dot in the middle of the little finger's endjoint fleshy pad. I tell them to keep those two dots on their respective holes, and let the middle and ring fingers fall where they may.

Here is perfect hand posture from you-know-who!

[EagleJCS]

OC,
My fingers lie on the pipe chanter (and my long Walsh practice chanter) almost exactly like Mr. Gordon Walker's in your pic. Would that I had the dexterity to play like him.

[OC Richard]

Would that I had the dexterity to play like him.

He's the complete package: fantastic dexterity as you say, but also superb musicality and creativity, an astounding tone, and a knack for being entertaining.

I had the wonderful fortune to sit in the front row of a recital he gave at the College Of Piping- at times his chanter was close enough to touch. The tone that he puts out can't be captured on a recording or YouTube video; you have to be in the room. (As I recall he was playing an ordinary McCallum polypenco band chanter, and the full-silver Naills he has there in that photo.)

He put his stamp of creativity on every tune he played. He would play the most ordinary tunes, 4/4 Marches or Retreats or what have you, but each tune had little changes here and there. You could tell that he had spent time thinking about each tune and coming up with new ways, better ways, to play it.

A top pipe teacher/piping judge here encourages pipers to listen to Gordon Walker as a shining example of how to phrase Competition 2/4 Marches. Certainly they're magic when he plays them.

And yes, even at this rather small and informal noontime recital PM Walker was impeccably dressed.