Piping Progression

[SteveB]

Ohiopiper,

I understand small space acoustics. On Sunday I serve my church as a religious education instructor. Each week we start with a "Children's Chapel" service. The music director got piping scores for most of the hymms we use with the children. I accompany them with the practice chanter, as it provides a low enough level of music for the children to sing with, without deafening them. I have used the smallpipes in the larger room, on the occasion that we use it.

The hymns are a great source of practice for me, as it forces me to learn to read musical score.

Slainte

[Spartan]

Steve,

My Kitchen Pipes were in the mail when we arrived home last Monday (May 18). They are great. I'm really pleased with them and glad that I made the purchase. I too think that they are the right step along the way to the GHB. Mine have the original Walsh reeds as well. Thunderbolt's going to make an adapter for me so that I can try my Gibson Practice Chanter for a little stronger presence.

Frank

[ohiopiper]

I put them in the Kitchen Pipes and tuned up. Probably 50 percent louder and the increased volume and pressure make the chanter much more responsive to embelishments. I'd feel comfortable playing faster tunes on them now, as the chanter doesn't have the little bit of dullness or sluggishness in it anymore. In short, the embellishments pop now instead of thudding along at low pressure.

If I were to use them in just a PC, I'd probably consider it a waste of air and too loud to be usefull. In a set of small pipes, I like them.

Now as far as reading score, my humble opinion is that it's an indispensable tool to any musician. Yes, I know the old guys did it by ear and song, but I'm not quite that talented and we can all afford paper now. If you spend five to ten minutes a day reading some random score, you'll have it in two weeks, tops. Lay off for a while and you get a little rusty, but won't forget. A good goal is to sight read and play melody notes (no embellishments) at half speed, minimum. Of course half speed for a reel is still 3X for A.G.!

[Spartan]

I put them in the Kitchen Pipes and tuned up. Probably 50 percent louder and the increased volume and pressure make the chanter much more responsive to embelishments. I'd feel comfortable playing faster tunes on them now, as the chanter doesn't have the little bit of dullness or sluggishness in it anymore. In short, the embellishments pop now instead of thudding along at low pressure.

If I were to use them in just a PC, I'd probably consider it a waste of air and too loud to be usefull. In a set of small pipes, I like them.

Thanks for that information on the Abbott Reeds. I want to get a set and do the same thing. It sounds like they will give more authority to the chanter, which we be helpful.

[SteveB]

The idea of putting the Abbott reeds into the smallpipes came from the Abbott reed in my Dunbar Long blackwood practice chanter. The increased presence that the Abbott reed produces has aided my learning on the PC. Just simply that the errors of my fingering are amplified for my learning purposes. I had hemped up the Dunbar chanter bottom and put it on the kitchen pipes, and the sound improvement was awesome. Scot's Wha Ha'e, and Amazing Grace sounded like they should be coming from the GHB, only at a lower volume. This has worked well at church in the smaller meeting spaces.

I agree that a musician needs to be able to read score. It is that I am starting on this effort from having zilch musical knowledge or background. I have to train all the functions, eyes to read score, ears to interpret the sounds and fingers to produce the right sounds. After that it is learning tempo, and interpretation of the music as it is written as well as how it should be played for the enjoyable sounds to be produced.

Congratulations on getting the smallpipes up and running with the Abbott reeds. I am sure that the sound will travel well in your performances. The smallpipes are making even scale work a pleasure as I am learning the squeeze and breath thing. I am getting them to strike up fairly well and my endings are getting better. I am far from perfect, but that is what practice is for.

[SteveB]

At the suggestion of my Tutor, I now have a set of Great Highland Bagpipes. Not that I will be hopping onto them right away, but that the opportunity to own a well cared for set at a reasonable cost should not be passed up. This set has exactly the drone sound I have been dreaming of. It comes with a poly band chanter. Everything else is top quality blackwood.
This set is the wallpaper on my computer screen. I now enjoy my practice even more in anticipation of playing this magnificent instrument.

Slainte

[george7]

At the suggestion of my Tutor, I now have a set of Great Highland Bagpipes. Not that I will be hopping onto them right away, but that the opportunity to own a well cared for set at a reasonable cost should not be passed up. This set has exactly the drone sound I have been dreaming of. It comes with a poly band chanter. Everything else is top quality blackwood.
This set is the wallpaper on my computer screen. I now enjoy my practice even more in anticipation of playing this magnificent instrument.

Slainte

Those look great! Who are they made by? Nothing beats a well set up set of blackwood pipes. What reeds/chanter/drone reeds are you using?

I'm playing a Warnock chanter with a medium Warnock reed (it's kind of broken into a medium, I buy them hard) and Canning Drone reeds, Inverted Carbon Fiber bass drone reed.

Keep practicing,
-George

[SteveB]

The pipes are Shepherd S-2 about 1998. I will be starting with ezeedrones, and returning the cane when I develop the experience. The chanter reeds are cane from Shepherd. The set came with spares. These pipes have been in use as backups for the Pipe Major (open Grade) of a leading Grade 3 band.
Slainte

[Spartan]

Sweet! The pipes are calling! Congratulations!

I'm actually enjoying the struggle and challenge of getting mine playing.--and then back to the practice chanter.

[george7]

The pipes are Shepherd S-2 about 1998. I will be starting with ezeedrones, and returning the cane when I develop the experience. The chanter reeds are cane from Shepherd. The set came with spares. These pipes have been in use as backups for the Pipe Major (open Grade) of a leading Grade 3 band.
Slainte

That's a really great set. Ezeedrone are tried and true. They last a long time and they're reliable.