Practice Chanter and Book Advice

[Crazy Dave]

Thank you OC Richard for that detailed explanation. I haven't heard "crossing noises" but it sounds like I wouldn't like it! Long ago, I did play the clarinet, although I was not very good at it, but I think I remember something similar. It is a good reminder that I should get my scales down!

My teacher says I will probably spend a year on the chanter before picking up the pipes. He says there are good plastic pipes. Still not cheap, but less than African black wood. He says he has a set for when he plays in the rain. The pipes that came with the kilt I won in a auction are junk, as I expected. The kilt and the drummer's plaid are very nice, but the kilt is a little small. Motivation to continue the weight loss program I'm on. I've already lost 10 lbs!

Dave

[OC Richard]

Thank you OC Richard for that detailed explanation. I haven't heard "crossing noises" but it sounds like I wouldn't like it! Long ago, I did play the clarinet, although I was not very good at it, but I think I remember something similar.

You're welcome!

I bought a clarinet several years ago, like so many others with dreams of becoming Pete Fountain.

It was unimaginably difficult. All I could get were barnyard animal noises. The hardest thing was "going over the break" where you're playing a note as high up the horn as you can go, all fingers off and several keys depressed to open up tiny holes inches from your face, and the next-highest note is all fingers down, several keys depressed to shut the horn down all the way to the bell, a yard distant! So a change in one note went from being wispy to a honking car horn. How clarinet players ever make going over the break smooth I have no idea.

I did find a discussion online how many professional clarinet players use various alternate fingerings to facilitate going over the break. The Highland pipes have a couple things like that, "false fingerings" all the teachers say not to do, but that most good players do without even noticing.

My teacher says I will probably spend a year on the chanter before picking up the pipes.

It's an interesting aspect of Highland pipe pedagogy: there are things where all good teachers are in agreement, and things where good teachers have a spectrum of opinions.

One thing where good teachers are all over the map is the matter of when the beginner should "graduate" from the Practice Chanter onto the pipes, and how this should be done.

The various approaches can be sorted into three basic categories:

1) Calendar-based. "The student should start on the pipes after playing the Practice Chanter for ______."

The blank can be filled in with almost any number, but it usually ranges between six months and a year.

2) Performance-based. "The student should start on the pipes after mastering _______ tunes."

The blank can be filled in with almost any number of tunes, but usually ranges from six to 20.

3) No delay. It's a bit of an outlier, but some good teachers think the beginner should start on the Practice Chanter and full set of pipes simultaneously.
Some teachers think the beginner should, from the get-go, be able to play anything on the pipes they can play on the PC.
Other teachers think the beginner should work on fingering and playing exercises and tunes on the PC while focusing purely on blowing steadily on the pipes.

Which brings up the differences in opinions about what the beginning should be doing on the full set of pipes, when time to start playing them.

Some teachers remove the chanter and just have the student blow the drones, often starting with a single drone and adding the others one at a time.

Other teachers cork off the drones and have the student play the pipe chanter only.

What are we to make of this wide range of opinion? Personally I think it tells me that it doesn't matter.

So I let each student decide when they start on the pipes. Motivation is huge! And if a beginner is all fired up to get a-blowin' on the bagpipes I say have at it.

Other students, oddly, become enamoured with the Practice Chanter and they have to be cajoled into taking up the actual bagpipes.

He says there are good plastic pipes. Still not cheap, but less than African black wood. He says he has a set for when he plays in the rain.

Yes the superb Canadian pipemaking firm Dunbar Bagpipes has become famous for their great-sounding delrin/polypenco bagpipes. They led the way in this regard, having made poly pipes for decades.

Recently a number of UK pipemakers have followed suit, such as McCallum.

At one point I owned three Dunbar bagpipes, two in African Blackwood and one in polypenco/delrin. They sounded the same.

Personally I don't like poly pipes for three reasons:

1) they're heavier on the shoulder than wood pipes

2) they tend to bounce on the shoulder while you're marching

3) condensation collects inside the drones, causing the drone reeds to malfunction after a while

So I'm sticking to wood!

I will say that wood pipes vary greatly in weight. I have three African Blackwood sets now:

-Starck, London, 1940s

-R G Lawrie, Glasgow, 1940s

-Kintail, Glasgow, 1981

and the Lawrie pipes are much heavier than the other two! What's strange is that another Lawrie set I owned was unusually light on the shoulder. I don't know the reasons, but I suppose that the density/weight of the wood varies.

[Crazy Dave]

You're welcome!

I bought a clarinet several years ago, like so many others with dreams of becoming Pete Fountain.

I did find a discussion online how many professional clarinet players use various alternate fingerings to facilitate going over the break. The Highland pipes have a couple things like that, "false fingerings" all the teachers say not to do, but that most good players do without even noticing.

The clarinet is a difficult instrument and when I was learning it, there was no online. Computers still had vacuum tubes. Interesting what you say about false fingerings.

an interesting aspect of Highland pipe pedagogy: there are things where all good teachers are in agreement, and things where good teachers have a spectrum of opinions.

One thing where good teachers are all over the map is the matter of when the beginner should "graduate" from the Practice Chanter onto the pipes, and how this should be done.

The various approaches can be sorted into three basic categories:

1) Calendar-based. "The student should start on the pipes after playing the Practice Chanter for ______."

The blank can be filled in with almost any number, but it usually ranges between six months and a year.

2) Performance-based. "The student should start on the pipes after mastering _______ tunes."

The blank can be filled in with almost any number of tunes, but usually ranges from six to 20.

3) No delay. It's a bit of an outlier, but some good teachers think the beginner should start on the Practice Chanter and full set of pipes simultaneously.
Some teachers think the beginner should, from the get-go, be able to play anything on the pipes they can play on the PC.
Other teachers think the beginner should work on fingering and playing exercises and tunes on the PC while focusing purely on blowing steadily on the pipes.

Which brings up the differences in opinions about what the beginning should be doing on the full set of pipes, when time to start playing them.

Some teachers remove the chanter and just have the student blow the drones, often starting with a single drone and adding the others one at a time.

Other teachers cork off the drones and have the student play the pipe chanter only.

What are we to make of this wide range of opinion? Personally I think it tells me that it doesn't matter.

So I let each student decide when they start on the pipes. Motivation is huge! And if a beginner is all fired up to get a-blowin' on the bagpipes I say have at it.

Other students, oddly, become enamoured with the Practice Chanter and they have to be cajoled into taking up the actual bagpipes. [

It is good to know that delrin/polypenco can sound good. That is what my teacher says. However what you say about weight makes sense. When it is time to talk up the pipes, I will try to buy the best I can afford. I do have ways of finding think below market price, but I have been following the thread about eBay bagpipes. Lots of danger there! I already own a junk set of Pakistan (probably) bagpipes, but they were part of a package on a charity site with a kilt I wanted, so I considered them a freebee.

Dave

[Grump]

I do believe it is slow and steady that wins this race. Don't beat yourself up if you have trouble it's not an easy instrument to learn . I still have trouble from time to time but with patience and perseverance it will come to you. When you do get on the pipes there are dozens of slow and easier tunes to be mastered first. I spend an hour each day with the chanter and an hour with the pipes with an (age induced) rest in between. I hope you have success and may you play pipes and chanter for years to come , enjoy them.

[Crazy Dave]

I do believe it is slow and steady that wins this race. Don't beat yourself up if you have trouble it's not an easy instrument to learn . I still have trouble from time to time but with patience and perseverance it will come to you. When you do get on the pipes there are dozens of slow and easier tunes to be mastered first. I spend an hour each day with the chanter and an hour with the pipes with an (age induced) rest in between. I hope you have success and may you play pipes and chanter for years to come , enjoy them.

I ordered a McCallum long blackwood chanter with all the bells and whistles, but it still hasn't come in yet. It was coming from Scotland. I'm considering ordering a plastic one to hold me over if it takes much longer. I've emailed the vendor today.

Dave

[Grump]

Interesting. I don't think you can go wrong with McCallum polypenco or blackwood. I must confess to having a different chanter for every day of the week . McCallum (2) , McCrae, Walsh , Dunbar, Naill, Hardy. Most of them are blackwood regular length which affords comfort when resting them on a table. I have one long chanter Blackwood Dunbar which I roam around the house playing. A chanter is something you MUST feel comfortable playing because your attention should be on the music. When most people look at the pipes they don't realize there is a great deal more time spent on the chanter. I think you have made a wise choice. Continued success to your learning of the pipes.

[OC Richard]

To me a Practice Chanter is a tool for practicing especially with a Pipe Band while doing "pads & chanters".

IMHO a Practice Chanter should be in tune, have a relatively agreeable tone, be light and slender in the hands, be able to take lots of punishment, and be easily distinguishable from all the other PCs in the band.

I bought a McCallum "long" PC, no mounts, in red plastic. It ticks all the boxes.

I have no interest in a wood PC, a heavy PC, or an ornate PC.

You might wonder about the "distinguishable" part, but I think it's important. Most PCs look the same, in my band mostly black McCallums with CNC engraved alloy mounts.

People will pick up and start blowing the wrong PC. If some-one has left a PC somewhere you don't know whose it is.

Mine is the only red chanter in the band. "Richard you left your PC in the band tent" because everybody knows that PC.

There's another distinguishable PC in the band, it's a black McCallum with CNC engraved alloy mounts, but the alloy is purple!

[Crazy Dave]

Thank you Grump, for the vote of confidence. I ran it past my teacher, before I bought and he approved. My teacher said get a long one, so that is what I got. Who know where I will go with this. Right now my goal is just to play tunes. I definitely want to play then on real bagpipes. I've been attracted to the sound as long as I can remember. I've already started to learn about what's available. Lots of great information on X Marks the Scot!

I get what you are saying about the chanter being a tool, OC Richard. Mine has fake ivory trim too, so it will still stand out if I wind up in a pipe band. I will look up the multi colored McCallum chanters if I do decide to get a backup. There might be a need for a car chanter that is not so dear!

Dave

[OC Richard]

Car chanter yes!

I have a car whistle always, one that's all-metal so there's nothing that can melt in our California summers, when temperature inside a parked car can go well over 100 degrees.

I had a plastic Practice Chanter that I stupidly left in the car where the sunlight could hit it, the PC was alright but the plastic reed inside melted!

One big advantage with a car-instrument is having it a bright colour. I have my red Practice Chanter and I used to have a red anodised aluminium MK Low D whistle. Why? Because if you're sitting in your parked car practicing on a black or silver chanter or whistle it can be mistaken for a weapon by police. Sad I know, but it's the world we live in.

[Crazy Dave]

Car chanter yes!

I have a car whistle always, one that's all-metal so there's nothing that can melt in our California summers, when temperature inside a parked car can go well over 100 degrees.

I had a plastic Practice Chanter that I stupidly left in the car where the sunlight could hit it, the PC was alright but the plastic reed inside melted!

One big advantage with a car-instrument is having it a bright colour. I have my red Practice Chanter and I used to have a red anodised aluminium MK Low D whistle. Why? Because if you're sitting in your parked car practicing on a black or silver chanter or whistle it can be mistaken for a weapon by police. Sad I know, but it's the world we live in.

Good advice! I don't want to be mistaken for a sniper!

Dave