Bagpipes: irritating?

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 08 Nov 20 - 11:28 AM

Our brother used to spend hours fiddling with his reeds to get them into tunable condition. Mercifully, he was quite good at tuning the drones and chanter.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: GUEST,keberoxu
Date: 02 Nov 20 - 12:07 PM

Author Janny Wurts, a US native who studied Highland war pipes with a Scottish master, points out that for one thing, the pipes have to be tuned, and it is shocking how casually some individuals start playing the bagpipes WITHOUT tuning them properly.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: GUEST,AR
Date: 02 Nov 20 - 11:51 AM

I'm from Imverness, Scotland.. a one time Highland Dancer, and yep.. the bagpipes are irritating in close range indoor spaces, especially when awful esoteric, 'tuneless' pieces are played.. Bagpipes are Perfect in outdoor settings with good space.   In fact, I hear the army cadet bands in the summer with the pipes romantically drifting in the air across the hill to where I live - emanating from the local barracks. Some of the most stirring melodies ever written, like Lord Lovat's Lament, the Black Bear etc.. sound wonderful in the right context with good pipe bands and drums.   Solo pipers in closed rooms are an abomination, and possibly a Covid spreader! (My tongue is partly in my cheek - don't shoot the messenger, go for the doodlesack player first!)

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: GUEST,JHW
Date: 02 Nov 20 - 06:41 AM

No. First visit to St.Chartier (long before this thread or the net) putting up my tent was backed by some sort of cornemuse, drone pipes wonderful welcome. In some basement at Edinburgh FF decades ago too there was a musician's session going on. Then in came a man with a kilt and pipes. Drowned out the session. Irritated some.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 01 Nov 20 - 03:58 AM

I also record "Take the Floor" from 7-9pm every Saturday, which has an hour long session each week!

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 31 Oct 20 - 07:41 PM

Yes, Pipeline is a great programme - for those who are not irritated by bagpipes!
As for Charmion and her brother: our son learned to play cornet, then progressed to trumpet: that was hard on the ears too!

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Charmion's brother Andrew
Date: 31 Oct 20 - 10:28 AM

I am a member of the Outdoor School of Bagpipe Appreciation and really enjoy them at venues like the Maxville Highland Games. Indoors, save for large spaces such as sports arenas, the great Highland warpipe is TOO FLIPPIN' LOUD!

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Charmion
Date: 31 Oct 20 - 10:10 AM

My brother started playing the pipes at the age of eight. By age 11, he was blowing the full set and generating massive racket in the house each day when practising, and in his teens it got really intrusive as he started playing in a band and advanced to big music.

You don't want to be trying to do your maths homework at the dining room table while somebody is learning a pibroch in the next room and is having a hard time with his bass drone. You really don't.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 31 Oct 20 - 08:59 AM

Today's programme running list:
Artist: Lincoln Hilton
Title: Trick or treat

Artist: The Victoria Police Pipe Band
Title: The Hellbound train

Artist: Michael Grey
Title: Tam O’Shanter Suite

Artist: Annie Grace and Judy Barker
Title: Alison Cross

Artist: Colin MacLellan
Title: The Phantom Piper of Corrieyairick

Artist: Simon Fraser University Pipe Band
Title: The Haunting, Drops of Brandy, Lewis Jig, Patrick Annabel, Give us a Drink of Water, Paddy be Easy and the Foxhunter

Artist: Hamish Moore
Title: A A Cameron’s Strathspey / The Crippled Boy / The Devil In the Kitchen / Lady Margaret Stewart / Tail Toddle / Sleepy Maggie

Artist: St Lawrence O’Toole Pipe Band
Title: The Ballintore Hornpipe, Pumpkin’s Fancy

Artist: John Dew
Title: Duncan Johnstone, John McKenzie, Eastwood Cottage, The High Bridge Walk

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 31 Oct 20 - 06:34 AM

I record BBC Radio Scotland "Pipeline" every Saturday from the webstream using Windows Task Scheduler, I must have over 200 programmes now.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 30 Oct 20 - 09:51 PM

I have a lovely (Scottish) bagpipe memory of being in a group following a pipe band thru the park to the carpark in the early hours of New Years Day back in the 70s ...

I do like pipes, whether Scottish or other, but I also have another memory from 1997 when John Warner & Margaret Walters launched their CD "Who as There" in a wonderful acoustic venue, an old Town Hall built in 1899.

When they sang Piper on the Hilltop a piper came in from the balcony & walked across the hall, heading down the stairs past me at the door, I jumped into the kitchen & closed the door as bagpipes in a small space is not good for the ears.

sandra

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Tattie Bogle
Date: 30 Oct 20 - 07:37 PM

The most sensible comment on this whole thread came from Bee-Dubya-Ell on 12th June 2008: worth repeating!

"Lumping all varieties of pipes together is like lumping all varieties of guitar together. We don't consider a 00 Martin and a Les Paul connected to a Marshall stack to be the same thing, why should smallpipes and highland pipes be equated? Blanket statements about instruments usually indicate ignorance on the part of the speaker.

Anyway, it's the player, not the instrument, that defines the sound. Any instrument can be irritating in the wrong hands or enthralling in the right hands."

Some pipes were designed for indoor use: the GHB was not, tho can be Ok in a very large concert hall. And no, they don't irritate me; I love them: particularly like the sweeter sound of Asturian and Galician gaitas and Northumbrian pipes, as well as Uilleann pipes, tho' being a Scot, I have to like the various Scottish pipes too: it's not hard to like them!

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: allanwill
Date: 28 Oct 20 - 10:18 PM

In answer to the thread title - a resounding NO.

Allan

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 28 Oct 20 - 06:26 PM

I work at home tomorrow and I dread the steel drums coming out next door, I can possibly drown them out with 500 watts of guitar power!!!

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Bonzo3legs
Date: 27 Oct 20 - 09:24 AM

Not half as irritating as steel drums, especially when played as if it's a xylophone!!!!

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: keberoxu
Date: 25 Oct 20 - 05:10 PM

Tell you what's irritating:
Somebody/something called The Piper's Hut
is the beneficiary, at the moment,
of the pop-up adverts
in the Mudcat threads on this computer screen ...

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: GUEST,John
Date: 15 Jun 08 - 11:05 AM

Yes I do know Biniou kozh and Veuz (do you know them?) I know most type of pipes as it's my 'business' to know them, that is my living.
I make and supply parts to pipemakers all over the world. Mostly the UK, Ireland and France (that includes the Biniou and Veug)
I was only saying that the pipers themselves are anything but irritating. I also play the pipes and would hate to think anyone would say I was irritating (though my wife wouldn't agree, she uses a more descriptive phrase and that's when I'm not playing!)
John

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: GUEST,leeneia
Date: 14 Jun 08 - 07:20 PM

I enjoy the pipes, but I certainly symphathize with the people in Edinburgh who have to listen to them for hours. I couldn't stand that!

Any form of music for that long a time would be obnoxious.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Folknacious
Date: 14 Jun 08 - 05:54 PM

There is that old one about "why do Scottish bagpipers walk up and down while they're playing?"

I leave you to join in the punchline chorus

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Def Shepard
Date: 14 Jun 08 - 03:51 PM

Nope, 40 years and counting, if it REALLY matters.

Well being part Scottish I would hope I'd mean to a piping competion or two, and my younger brother plays, one of my nieces in Canada plays. I play in a combination of pipes,(Northumbrian small and Breton [Biniou kozh, if you know anything about the Breton pipes), melodons, fiddle, mandolin, guitar, mandocello, and bass

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: kendall
Date: 14 Jun 08 - 03:41 PM

Def Shepard, I'm going back 50 years. Are you?

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: smallpiper
Date: 14 Jun 08 - 09:56 AM

Melodians..... need I say more?

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: GUEST,John
Date: 14 Jun 08 - 09:21 AM

Def Shepard have you ever been to a Pipe Band competition, not necessarily a major one? I have been attending these for years and find the pipers are all very friendly and polite people and are just as passionate about their instrument and their music as any other musician. They don't push their music or views in your face and e always keen to help other pipers who may be having difficulty with an instrument or setting of a tune.
So I feel your comment about the players being more irritating is out of order and very harsh! I'm sure they would not be as quick to put any instrument you play down or even yourself.
John

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: GUEST,Desert Dancer
Date: 13 Jun 08 - 08:16 PM

We heard it on the radio this morning, as linked above by effsee:

BBC News Thursday, 12 June 2008 16:49 UK
Edinburgh buskers 'to pipe down'

Bagpipers on Edinburgh's historic Royal Mile have been told they will be arrested if they continue to play.

Lothian and Borders Police said they receive up to 100 calls a day about the bagpipe noise and have to commit too many resources to dealing with it.

About 20 regular buskers have been asked to sign "acceptable behaviour contracts" banning them from performing in Castlehill and Lawnmarket.

If they do, officers said they could be arrested for a breach of the peace.

The police have said they are responding to a very real problem which has been troubling people living close by.

City centre Insp Bruce Johnston told the BBC Scotland news website: "Some days it was from eight in the morning through to 10pm at night. They were disturbing a lot of elderly people and students studying for exams.

"It is more important for the residents to have a normal, healthy life.

"We explained that we would take their pipes away and they would not want that.

"We really don't want to go down that road, but we told them that if we have to we will".

The contract also informs the buskers that if the playing continues after warnings are issued, anti-social behaviour orders would be issued.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Def Shepard
Date: 13 Jun 08 - 01:00 PM

Funnily enough, kendall, I've heard the same saying except it was a cat fight rather than dog :-D

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: kendall
Date: 13 Jun 08 - 12:58 PM

A certain old Mainer once described the highland pipes thusly:

"Damn thing sounds like someone gathered up a dog fight and threw it into a pig pen"

Personally, I like the pipes. It's more feeling than hearing.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Def Shepard
Date: 13 Jun 08 - 12:47 PM

I've found that it's the players who're far more irritating than the actual instrument.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: GUEST,Suffolk Miracle
Date: 13 Jun 08 - 12:44 PM

If the thread had been called Hurdy Gurdys: irritating? would the text be significantly different. I thing the irritation is not the instrument but the use indoors of instruments designed for outside.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: dick greenhaus
Date: 12 Jun 08 - 08:33 PM

I may be alone in this, but I've reluctantly (because I can recognize the level of skill involved) decided that ornamentation on Uillean pipes sounds (to me) like someone strangling a chicken.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Effsee
Date: 12 Jun 08 - 03:03 PM

Guess it's official then!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edinburgh_and_east/7451328.stm

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: GUEST,Jack Campin (at work)
Date: 12 Jun 08 - 02:30 PM

As it happens there's a set of Julian Goodacre's Leicestershire smallpipes on EBay at the moment: item 290238278729.

Not cheap.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Marc Bernier
Date: 12 Jun 08 - 01:49 PM

My biggest problem with pipers is most of them can't seem to count to one. Where as they may politely ask if you mind if they play a tune. Should you say yes. They will invariably play a reel into a jig into a strathspey into a march, 20 minutes and 5 or 6 tunes later I'v usually left the room for a cigarette.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: GUEST,Wolfhound person
Date: 12 Jun 08 - 01:40 PM

Seems like a good idea for all the available players of bagpipes other than Great Highland pipes to turn up to this session and explain (in excruciating and mind-numbing detail) to the person who perpetrated this sweeping inaccuracy (all bagpipes are GHB...not)why their instruments are vastly superior to said warpipe.

And, no there is no volume control on any bagpipe.

I make pipes and play them. Mine are an indoor instrument. In a session with one accordion, they'd lose.

Paws

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 12 Jun 08 - 01:22 PM

IF you have to march any distance , its a LOT easier behind a Pipe Band , but anything THAT loud is no good at most sessions !

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: GUEST,Timo_Tuokkola
Date: 12 Jun 08 - 12:33 PM

The statement doesn't say that the sound of the bagpipes is what might irritate people, simply the volume. Even the staunchest supporter of the bagpipes would be forced to admit that they are usually deafeningly loud when heard close up.

Note: I love the sound of the pipes, but prefer to listen to them from at least 20 feet away.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Highlandman
Date: 12 Jun 08 - 12:12 PM

A competent piper (which I consider myself, just barely) should have the capability of adjusting the reeds within a range of volume, but the range is admittedly small.
I use synthetic drone reeds which are pretty amenable to tinkering, but haven't found anything other than cane reeds suitable for the chanter. With cane reeds most of us try to select one with the desired pressure and volume, because adjusting them physically does take some skill which only the most experienced pipers generally have.
Usually "lighter" reeds are quieter (relatively speaking) and the stiffer reeds are more stable. I generally keep a "good" (i.e. stiff) reed for outdoor playing (always used the good stiff one for competitions when I was doing that) and a soft, "quiet" one for indoor performances like churches and auditoriums.
Once the pipes are set up with a particular set of reeds though (and it takes a fair amount of time and tinkering to change the setup) there are only two volumes, "on" and "off." And the difference between a loud setup and a quiet one is really not very much.
-Glenn

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Jess A
Date: 12 Jun 08 - 09:46 AM

you'd have to be an experienced pipe maker to adjust a set of pipes for lower pressure/volume and still make them play in tune - in fact I'm not sure it would be physically possible without replacing most of the instrument as the length & bore of the drones and chanter and the positioning of the finger holes all come into play.

All the pipers I know have two volumes - on or off. (mostly on English pipes which are not as loud and raucous as Highland Pipes but can still be pretty loud).

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 12 Jun 08 - 09:28 AM

The only possible way I know of altering the volume of a full set of War Pipes is to physically adjust EACH of the drones to make them operate at a lower bag pressure ! This would mean the pipes (IF set for Indoor Volume) would have to be rebuilt for the next out door gig - A Bit much to expect , I feel !

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: topical tom
Date: 12 Jun 08 - 08:17 AM

Bagpipe music I find stirring, moving. However, I cannot listen to them very long at a time.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 12 Jun 08 - 07:54 AM

Lumping all varieties of pipes together is like lumping all varieties of guitar together. We don't consider a 00 Martin and a Les Paul connected to a Marshall stack to be the same thing, why should smallpipes and highland pipes be equated? Blanket statements about instruments usually indicate ignorance on the part of the speaker.

Anyway, it's the player, not the instrument, that defines the sound. Any instrument can be irritating in the wrong hands or enthralling in the right hands.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: GUEST,Joe
Date: 12 Jun 08 - 07:41 AM

"Any sensitive player of any instrument should be able to vary the volume and tone to fit in with the venue and other musicians."

I wish there were a lot more sensitive pipe players then!

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: trevek
Date: 12 Jun 08 - 07:34 AM

"This may sound strange comming from a banjo player/maker but I think that there is nothing better than the sound of the pipes,"

I agree... especially because thy cover up the sound of the banjo. (says Trev-the-Bodhran-Player)

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: banjoman
Date: 12 Jun 08 - 07:27 AM

This may sound strange comming from a banjo player/maker but I think that there is nothing better than the sound of the pipes, especially the Scottish Pipes, and I would back any movement to see them more accepted at festivals and smaller venues. Any sensitive player of any instrument should be able to vary the volume and tone to fit in with the venue and other musicians.(this is not intended to generate even more banjo jokes and insults)

Pete

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: GUEST,Black Hawk on works PC
Date: 12 Jun 08 - 04:09 AM

Big Mick - If a piper has been invited to a session .....

Dream on :-)

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: GUEST,Dave MacKenzie
Date: 11 Jun 08 - 07:00 PM

The banjo not irritating? Actually the most irritating thing about the banjo is certain well-known female singers who make frailing seem easy.

Seriously though, I've plaid in sessions with Highland Great Pipes, Northumberland Pipes, Uillean Pipes, and various other forms, and the only problem is usually whether the piper is listening to the other instruments, and name aninstrument where this doesn't apply.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Acorn4
Date: 11 Jun 08 - 06:56 PM

I've just heard a rumour that a panzer division of melodeons is on its way to Leicester to see off any potential bagpipe threat!

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Bernard
Date: 11 Jun 08 - 06:55 PM

Nobody's mentioned the Red Hot Chilli Pipers yet...!!

Their 'Bagrock to the Masses' album is brilliant!

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Def Shepard
Date: 11 Jun 08 - 05:45 PM

the bag pipes an irritant? I don't think so! The Peat Bog Faeries and that late, great ensemble, Croft No.5 attest to how intersting the pipes can be.

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Leadfingers
Date: 11 Jun 08 - 05:05 PM

The Scottish War Pipes (G S B )are NOT an ondoor instrument in ANY circumstances for a venue smaller than Earls Court's main hall - The last place I played pipes indoors !
And when you get three Uillean pipers at a session taking turns to do Four Part reels in D Major for an hour it doesnt exactly improve the session either !

Subject: RE: Bagpipes: irritating?
From: Zen
Date: 11 Jun 08 - 04:42 PM

The Scottish smallpipes are no more irritating than the banjo (I play both!).

Zen