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14 Jan 04 - 08:33 AM (#1092616) Subject: help with pipe fingering From: Alexis As Smallpiper knows (coz he`s helped me in the past), I have recently started to learn smallpipes. I`m managing a reasonable number of french tunes but was concerned to find that when a friend who plays GHP demonstrated something, that his fingering was completely diferent to mine. He siad something about my using tin whistle fingering (take a finger off in turn). Iwasn`t aware I was doing it, but it seems to work ok. Can anyone explain (Simply)what the difference is between GHP and "my" fingering and how it might work when I get my new single drone cornemuse (in G) ? Thanks Alex |
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14 Jan 04 - 09:20 AM (#1092632) Subject: RE: help with pipe fingering From: Pied Piper Hi Alex. Highland Pipe fingering is a member of a group of Bagpipe fingerings found in western edge of Europe called "Half-closed". This means that the notes of the second (Upper) hand above D (Pipes in A mixolidian) are played with most or all of the Lower hand fingers on the Chanter. This facilitates the use of loud lower grace notes with out the need to move a lot of fingers simultaneously. It also helps steady the pipe whilst playing. Below is the fingering Chart for GHB o= open x= closed lower,Upper hand Bottom G xxxx xxxx Reed end A oxxx xxxx B ooxx xxxx C# xoox xxxx D xooo xxxx E oxxx oxxx F# oxxx ooxx g oxxx ooox a oxxx xooo The trick when learning to play this fingering is to make shore that you don't make "crossing noises" that is short unintentional notes as you go from one not to another. On the full size Pipe these are very distracting and learning not to do them at the beginning will save you a lot of work later on, believe me I know. A good exercise is to go from every note to every other note, listening for the dreaded crossing noises. A pattern I use is starting High a play a to G, a to F#, a to E, and so on down to a to G and back. Now repeat substituting High g and all the other notes including going up to notes above the chosen note. This might seem a bit over the top but it will work and later on when you begin to learn the grace note patterns it is almost unavoidable if you want to be a fluent Piper. Good luck PP |
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15 Jan 04 - 01:18 AM (#1093104) Subject: RE: help with pipe fingering From: Little Robyn What sort of pipes are you learning? If they are Northumbrian then you don't - DON'T - use whistle fingering. NSP players have all fingers down and then lift one finger (1) at a time, then replace it before lifting the next finger. The idea is to get a staccato effect. Robyn |
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15 Jan 04 - 02:34 AM (#1093119) Subject: RE: help with pipe fingering From: Alexis I`m learning Scottish smallpipes Robyn. What I don't understand is the fact that, for example, to play top D (pipes are in D), I can play this with oooo xooo as opposed to oxxx xooo (as per PP)Can someone explain the difference and its effect on playing anything else with GHP fingering. Alex |
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15 Jan 04 - 04:07 AM (#1093143) Subject: RE: help with pipe fingering From: treewind The differences are (a) it may be out of tune: the chanter is designed to be in tune with a particular fingering. (b) as PP says, ornamentation can be different. For my sins, I have one set of pipes (Julian Goodacre's Leicestershire smallpipes) that use covered fingering i.e. only one hole open at a time; and a set of Jon Swayne pipes which are half-covered fingering. I'm beginning to find that it's dangerous to play the same tunes on both pipes because of fingering confusion, so each is developing a different repertoire. That point about crossover notes is well taken. Not having previously been a wind player, my fingers are undisciplined in this respect, and I'm have terrible trouble with spurious crossover notes. I suppose practicing all the transitions as suggested is the answer. On the Leics smallpipes, you are supposed to close one hole before opening the next, giving a small percussive burst of drone note (bottom D on mine) between other notes - quite a different technique and also difficult to get consistent. The same with Northumbrian, except that what you get between the notes is silence because the end is closed. That's just about exhausted my knowledge on the subject. I'm still a rank beginner after three years! Anahata |
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15 Jan 04 - 05:51 AM (#1093180) Subject: RE: help with pipe fingering From: Pied Piper Scottish Small pipes generally use GHB fingering, but because of the small cylindrical bore the holes are less interactive, and using whistle fully open fingering will not affect the accuracy of the intonation as much as on GHB. I'm sorry to over complicate things a bit but there is another issue to consider. Conically bored GHB type Chanters are louder on the lower notes than the high notes, Small pipe type Chanters are the opposite. This means that all the GHB lower note pyrotechnics (like the Birl) tend to sound muddy and indistinct on Small Pipes, and single high grace notes much more clear and distinct. This changes the emphasis of the music. There are lots of GHB players that use the same style on the Small pipes, but if you only intend to play Small Pipes it might be a more effective style musically to keep it simple just using a minimum of single grace notes and doublings. Another possibility if you want to play a GHB type instrument but with an indoor volume is look at Garvie Session Pipes I'm lusting after a set of these. TTFN PP |
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15 Jan 04 - 06:21 AM (#1093192) Subject: RE: help with pipe fingering From: Steve Parkes Just be careful if you use electronic practice pipes! |
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15 Jan 04 - 08:07 AM (#1093245) Subject: RE: help with pipe fingering From: GUEST,Alexis Thanks for the advice - I think that you all seem to be saying that whereas "my" fingering works, I should be using conventional fingering a la Pied Piper. Bugger! |