Bagpipe tutor

Subject: Bagpipe tutor
From: alison
Date: 04 Oct 00 - 11:41 PM

picked myself up a lovely set of highland pipes when I was home......

anyone got any advice on what sort of practice chanter I should get (so the family don't go mad!!).... there is a range here (plus some second hand pipes (I know someone was looking for some in another thread),.....

any good tutorials??

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Bagpipe tutor
From: Barry T
Date: 05 Oct 00 - 02:02 AM

There's not much difference in the actual sound of the practice chanters, so it doesn't matter a whole lot what you buy. Most folks choose the heavy plastic over wood. I myself use the Tuck chanter, available from the link you identified. It's as sturdy as a rock and offers countersunk holes to simulate the feel of the actual pipe chanter.

As for tutorials I have but one piece of advice... find a band or find a tutor. This is one instrument that is impossible to learn on a self-teach basis. There are so many little techniques that are critical to success and progress. If you don't get those correct from the start you will surely develop and perfect bad habits that will be difficult or impossible to undo.

As was mentioned in another thread, count on being on the practice chanter for at least a year before starting on the pipes. And plan on about two years to get to the level where you could play basic tunes solo or with a band. Both of these rules of thumb assume a practice dedication on the order of 20 quality minutes per day.

Subject: RE: Bagpipe tutor
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 05 Oct 00 - 06:55 AM

G'day Alison,

I suspect that someone should ask ... What sort of pipes? (There being many more than imagined by the Scottish idiot I heard interviewed a few years ago, who said (inter alia) that the Scots were unique because: "they were the only people in the world that played the bagpipes"!).

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Bagpipe tutor
From: PatJoe
Date: 05 Oct 00 - 02:23 PM

Alison

Try this tutor page. I agree with Barry T. you can only go so far without a good instructor without creating playing problems. Look here for a band close to your area. Also some Masonic lodges are in contact with local pipers.

Patjoe

Subject: RE: Bagpipe tutor
From: Charcloth
Date: 05 Oct 00 - 06:50 PM

I now use a dunbar. I used to use one of those cheap Pakistan jobs & was constantly frustrated because I couldn't blow one, those Pakiistan jobs ain't worth #$%^ I do wish I had bought a long scale Dunbar instead of the short scale but I can live with it. I got the short scale because my practice pipes were that scale but I replplaced the practice pipes with a set of shuttle pipes. But The practice pipes for $150 are realy nice!

Subject: RE: Bagpipe tutor
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 05 Oct 00 - 10:41 PM

Err .. G'day again,

As well as malignant multiple posts (Thanks to Joe or clone who fixed that for me) I did not read closely enogh to see that Alison did indeed identify the type of pipes. Mea culpa maxima ... (in orange?).

Anyway, Alison, welcome back to (the western edge of) the big smoke, now the athletics carnival has folded its tents and stole away. I guess this means we won't hear anything about your Chinese flutes for a while?

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Bagpipe tutor
From: GUEST,alison
Date: 06 Oct 00 - 02:13 AM

they are highland pipes, approx 100+ years old, in very good condition complete with ivory...

I think I was told that they were "Old Glens"(???)....

thanks for the advice everyone..... I have a few friends who play pipes so I can cadge a few lessons....

don't worry Bob... the bamboo flutes are still on the go... I'll send photos soon...

slainte

alison

Subject: RE: Bagpipe tutor
From: catspaw49
Date: 06 Oct 00 - 04:42 PM

Hey al.......I thought a bagpipe tutor was something you became after you learned to play, but I see I was wrong. Wherever you play though, I would have a nice, large sign made up that says:

I AM PLAYING BAGPIPES
I DO NOT NEED TO BE RESCUED

Probably just a good idea and some added insurance over somebody grabbing your pipes and tromping them into the ground.

Just a few ideas. Always happy to help.

Spaw

Subject: RE: Bagpipe tutor
From: GUEST,Barry T
Date: 06 Oct 00 - 06:23 PM

That reminds me of an old joke...

A piper left his pipes on the back seat of his car and went into a plaza to do some shopping. After only a few minutes there he realized that he had left his car unlocked!

In a total panic he raced back to his car, only to find that he was too late...

There were now two sets of pipes on the back seat of his car!

Subject: RE: Bagpipe tutor
From: Bob Bolton
Date: 07 Oct 00 - 05:50 AM

G'day again Alison,

Back to your earlier mention of practice chanters: I seem to remember that Jamie Carlin (not too far from you, in North Parramatta) was learning on highland cahnters at one point. I know he has now defected to a set of Ian McKenzie's Gaita Galicia but he may have agood local contact for chanters.

Anyway, Ian McKenzie was running The Australian Pipers' Guild (for whom I ran up a nice t-shirt screen with a rather tiddly koala playing Uillean pipes, while a mug of Guinness sits nearby). I don't know the current status of the group, so perhaps you should ring Ian (up in Blackheath?) - he should have all the gen for you and he is not too far away, either.

Regards,

Bob Bolton

Subject: RE: Bagpipe tutor
From: GUEST,Andi MacInnes
Date: 21 Jun 04 - 07:05 AM

As for buying a chanter, Barry T hasn't been around many shops if he can say there aint much difference in the sound. Pakistani are rubbish in my opinion, even for beginners, and plastic ones vary so much in manufacture that you have to watch what you choose. Around £50 Sterling is a good price for a decent chanter that will last you for a long time. The key is to try some out, different one's untill you get one that is to your liking. Better still, take someone with you who knows what they are listening for, or go to a piping shop, NOT a Scottish Souvenir type shop.

With a little regular maintenance, I would recommend a good wooden chanter.Give me 6 different plastic practise reeds and I will show you 6 different sounds on one chanter, so choose carefully.

I use a Piob Mhor (located in Blairgowrie, Scotland) manufactured Black wood long chanter with CANE practise reeds and the mellow sound is unbeatable, so their is a difference in practise chanters. My back up is a 1960 Robert Reid of Glasgow African Balck Wood chanter, again with CANE reed. Cane reeds are not easy to get and they are high maintenance at the start but worht all the effort.

Sorry if this sounds like a lot, but after 25 years learning and teaching for 12 or so of those, the best thing to do is spend wisely at the beginning, to save frustration and extra expense later. And, should this beloved instrument is not quite be what you had wished, though I hope not, you can always get a good return on a well chosen practise instrument. Which goes for a tutor as well. Look around if you have the luxury at a few bands or choose a tutor that has the time to talk to you about all of the above and who you 'click' with. No point suffering a guy you are not happy with for some reason.

Subject: RE: Bagpipe tutor
From: kitchen piper
Date: 21 Jun 04 - 08:41 AM

Hi!
Try this tutor page. I agree with Barry T. you can only go so far without a good instructor without creating playing problems. Look here for a band close to your area. Also some Masonic lodges are in contact with local pipers.

I'd really love to see that tutor, but the download doesn't work. I'm interested, partly because I've also written a tutor as a result of lack of teaching materials that teach in my teaching / learning style. I'm a Scottish Smallpiper, so it'll be slightly different to yours anyway, but please, can I see yours?

Thanks (in advance!!!!)

:-))
Vicki