Piobaireachd Wednesday: My Dearest On Earth Give Me Your Kiss
This is the final tune from the Gold Medal competition at Winter Storm 2012, and it was the tune that won the contest. Alex Gandy is the player, and he’s a pretty well-known player in the North American piping scene. He is the son of Bruce Gandy, an excellent piper himself, and Alex has established himself as a top-flight soloist. He’s also recently taken over as the pipe major of the 78th Highlanders Halifax Citadel Pipe Band, making him one of the youngest ever to hold that position in a grade 1 band.
His winning tune was My Dearest On Earth Give Me Your Kiss, which is presented without further comment.
If you’d like to submit a tune to be featured on Piobaireachd Wednesday, please email me.
Missing the Metro Cup
On Presidents Day weekend each year, the place to be in the piping community is Newark, NJ. No seriously, it is.
For it is this weekend that the Metro Cup is held, a competition sponsored by the Metro Branch of the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association. The professional contest is comprised of a piobaireachd and a medley.
Last year was the first time I had ever been, and it may very well have been the most fun I had in any single weekend in 2011. It’s not that the rest were bad, but the Metro Cup was just that good. What could beat an entire day full of superb bagpipe music followed by a party that lasts until dawn?
I’ve been looking forward to the 2012 event for the last 11 months, especially when I saw that Angus MacColl was on the list of invited players this year. He is hands down one of my three favorite pipers, and I was pretty excited when I saw he’d be there. Other players this year include Willie McCallum, Stuart Liddell, Bruce Gandy, Alex Gandy, Glenn Brown, Chris Armstrong, and Gordon Walker; they are certainly no slouches, and you can be sure that there will be a very high standard of play.
Unfortunately it’s not to be for me this year. I’ve accepted a job recently that requires me to relocate, and that weekend is the only chance that I was able to do make the move. I was extremely bummed when I realized it meant I would miss the Metro Cup, but it’s an annual event, so I’ll be able to go next year. (Or not, depending whom you ask)
For the record, I’m working as a test engineer for a contractor of Westinghouse Nuclear in the northern suburbs of Pittsburgh, PA.
Piobaireachd Wednesday: Lament for Captain Donald MacKenzie
Continuing our trek through the prize list from the Gold Medal at Winter Storm 2012, our tune this week comes from Jori Chisholm. Jori has made quite a name for himself as a player, both as a soloist and with the world champion Simon Fraser University Pipe Band, and also as a piping teacher. He’s the piper behind BagpipeLessons.com, and I believe I am correct in saying that he was the first piper to offer lessons over the internet. In 2011 he launched a series of online piping competitions that attracted entries from pipers and judges all over the world; he has also announced another one for spring 2012.
His second place tune at Winter Storm was Lament for Captain Donald MacKenzie, which was the same tune you heard in the last installment by Alastair Lee. That’s one of the drawbacks of having limited choices of tunes, but it’s a good chance to compare how it’s played.
If you’d like to submit a tune to be featured on Piobaireachd Wednesday, please email me.
Bagpipe tragedy
Bagpipes frequently appear in auctions on eBay, and this is a particular one that was brought to my attention this week through the Bob Dunsire forums.
The item for sale is identified as 11 Ivory Bagpipe Mounts, and the condition is labeled as “For parts or not working.” A closer look at the photos shows why that is the case:
With every tuning pin snapped like that, it’s pretty obvious that those pipes won’t be making music again. I hate to see any set of pipes damaged (well, almost), but the real tragedy here is that in the auction the pipes are identified as 1923 Robertsons. I recently posted my thoughts on vintage pipes, so this hits me particularly hard. It’s like looking at a classic car that’s been in a serious accident, or an old painting that has major tears in the canvas.
It just makes me sad.
At least they’re still worth something, and I hope those ivory mounts find a good home on another set of pipes.
Piobaireachd Wednesday: Lament for Captain Donald MacKenzie
If you haven’t had your fill of Winter Storm piobaireachd, you’re in luck. After working through the Silver Medal prize list, I’m please to offer you the top three finishers in the Gold Medal. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to see all of the performances, but a friend of mine was able to record them and has shared the recordings with me to use for Piobaireachd Wednesday.
Be prepared for a good sit, because the Gold Medal tunes are pretty substantial this year.
We start today with the third place tune, Lament for Captain Donald MacKenzie, played by Alastair Lee. Alastair is, I believe, the son of Terry Lee, pipe major of the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band. Alastair plays with that band, and has distinguished himself as a solo competitor as well.
If you’d like to submit a tune to be featured on Piobaireachd Wednesday, please email me.
Piobaireachd Wednesday: The Bicker
This is the first of the series of Piobaireachd Wednesdays resulting from my visit to Winter Storm on the weekend of January 13-14, 2012. I was able to watch the U.S. Silver Medal almost in its entirety; I heard and recorded 17 competitors. I won’t post all of the recordings here (as I mentioned before the tune selection was not widely varied), but I will post the prize list. The top five players ended up playing four different tunes, so I figured the repetition would be minimal there.
Our tune this week is the tune that won the Silver Medal: The Bicker. The player is Colin Clansey, who is from Kingston, Ontario. Colin has been a consistent prizewinner in the Ontario piping scene for at least several years, and according to what I was able to turn up with a few minutes on the internet is that he is the pipe major of the grade 2 Glengarry Pipe Band. This was really a great tune, and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing it person. I hope you enjoy it as well.
If you’d like to submit a tune to be featured on Piobaireachd Wednesday, please email me.
The allure of old bagpipes
You’ve probably noticed that the frequency of my posts has declined in recent weeks, and that’s due to a few life-chancing circumstances that will be announced here in time. Hopefully when things settle down I’ll be able to update a bit more frequently, but it’s also entirely possible that things won’t settle down and I’ll have to find some time to work in all the stuff I need to do. Whatever the case, rest assured that the Keydet Piper blog is not going away, and I am still floating around in bagpipe cyberspace.
I read an article is this week’s Sunday New York Times about classic violins; more precisely it was about the perceived value of class violins. The article opens with an interesting case study: 21 top violinists took a blind test in which they played six different instruments and were asked to choose their favorites. Among the six were two violins made by Stradivarius and one by Guarnerius, two of the most respected names in the field. The other three were modern instruments.
Here is where things get interesting: only 8 of the 21 players picked one of the old masters as their preferred instrument. One might ask if the old instruments are really as good as their reputation, but I think the real question to be asked is if one cannot find a new instrument that is just as good as one of the old ones.
This of course got me thinking about bagpipes (in all honesty, though, it doesn’t take much to do that), and the appeal of playing an old instrument as opposed to a more modern one. There are some key differences between what is considered an “old” set of pipes and an “old” violin; a classic set of pipes is generally more in the range of 100 years old than 300 or 400 you might find with a violin, and the price tag on a set of old pipes is usually significantly less (thankfully) than that of an old violin.
Those different aside, many pipers have on their wish lists a set made by one of the acknowledged masters of the late 19th and early 20th centuries: Lawrie, Henderson, Glen, Starck, MacDougall, Center. But why do so many pipers want to play those old sets? Do they really sound better than a new set? Is that the only way to get a really true pipe sound?
I’ll tackle those questions in reverse order.
1. Is a vintage set of pipes the only way to get a good sound?
Absolutely not. As a counterexample I present Alastair Dunn, general manager of RG Hardie. He plays a set that was made within the last few years, and having heard him live at the Metro Cup last year I can attest to the fact that this guy knows what’s going on when it comes to bagpipe sound.
Personally, I think the sound comes more from the player than the pipes. A good player can make nearly any set of pipes sound good, but will obviously prefer a good instrument.
2. Do old pipes sound better than modern ones?
I think this is something that every piper has to answer individually. Personally, I don’t have the ear to be able to distinguish the finer points of drone sound, but I suspect that many comparisons involve some amount of confirmation bias. If a piper tells you that he’s playing an old set that sounds really good, you’re going to listen to them with that already in your head. I suspect the violinists who picked the modern instruments would never have dreamed of that if they had known what they were playing. If you expect an instrument to sound good when you first hear it, it’s likely that it will.
To answer the question, do old pipes sound better? I don’t know. There are a lot of old sets that sound great, but there are also some modern sets that sound just as good.
3. Why do so many pipers want old pipes?
Simply put, because they’re neat. Old things speak to a part of the mind that doesn’t decide things based on logic, but rather on nostalgia, beauty, sex appeal, and a dozen other intangible qualities. People want old pipes for more than sound, just as classic car buffs fill their garages with cars that are admittedly less practical than a car made last year. Pipers want old pipes for the legacy and history that goes with the instrument, to try to draw them a bit closer to the traditions of this great instrument.
When it comes to sound, it’s all about personal preference. There are plenty of well-made modern instruments that sound really good, but there are also a lot of old instruments that sound good. The key is to find something that you like and go with it.
Even though my pipes are something over 60 years old, I have to admit that I am not satisfied with them. Don’t get me wrong, I love my pipes, I love their sound, and I’ve had many other folks tell me they sound good. I could play them happily for many years, and in all likelihood I will.
But my dream is to play a vintage set from WWI or earlier. I don’t have something specific in mind, but I’d love to be able to tell people that my pipes were made in the early 20th century, and are mounted with real silver and ivory. The reason I want an old set is not based on sound, but on my own vanity.
Piobaireachd Wednesday Bonus: Catherine’s Lament
This is the next of the series of Piobaireachd Wednesdays resulting from my visit to Winter Storm on the weekend of January 13-14, 2012. I was able to watch the U.S. Silver Medal almost in its entirety; I heard and recorded 17 competitors. I won’t post all of the recordings here (as I mentioned before the tune selection was not widely varied), but I will post the prize list. The top five players ended up playing four different tunes, so I figured the repetition would be minimal there.
Piobaireachd Wednesday: Lament for Donald of Laggan
This is the next of the series of Piobaireachd Wednesdays resulting from my visit to Winter Storm on the weekend of January 13-14, 2012. I was able to watch the U.S. Silver Medal almost in its entirety; I heard and recorded 17 competitors. I won’t post all of the recordings here (as I mentioned before the tune selection was not widely varied), but I will post the prize list. The top five players ended up playing four different tunes, so I figured the repetition would be minimal there.
Piobaireachd Wednesday Bonus: You’re Welcome, Ewan Lochiel
This is the next of the series of Piobaireachd Wednesdays resulting from my visit to Winter Storm on the weekend of January 13-14, 2012. I was able to watch the U.S. Silver Medal almost in its entirety; I heard and recorded 17 competitors. I won’t post all of the recordings here (as I mentioned before the tune selection was not widely varied), but I will post the prize list. The top five players ended up playing four different tunes, so I figured the repetition would be minimal there.
Piobaireachd Wednesday: Catherine’s Lament
This is the first of the series of Piobaireachd Wednesdays resulting from my visit to Winter Storm on the weekend of January 13-14, 2012. I was able to watch the U.S. Silver Medal almost in its entirety; I heard and recorded 17 competitors. I won’t post all of the recordings here (as I mentioned before the tune selection was not widely varied), but I will post the prize list. The top five players ended up playing four different tunes, so I figured the repetition would be minimal there.
Working up the prize list, our fist tune is Catherine’s Lament. The player is Jamie Troy from Victoria, British Columbia. Jamie is also an accomplished drummer, having played snare with the Spirit of Scotland Pipe Band when they competed at the Worlds in 2008. As you can tell from this recording, he knows a few things about piobaireachd as well; this solid performance earned him fifth place. Enjoy!
If you’d like to submit a tune to be featured on Piobaireachd Wednesday, please email me.
Winter Storm piobaireachd update
I’m writing this from the lobby of the Marriott Country Club Plaza hotel in Kansas City, site of the world-renowned Winter Storm event. Most people would never guess that the center of the piping world on a particular weekend in January is in the US midwest, but it is indeed here. Lots of big name players are here, and it’s living up to its reputation of being a stunningly good time.
If you’re a regular reader you’re aware that I kinda like piobaireachd, and I spent most of Friday morning listening to the US Silver Medal piobaireachd competition. I was able to record 17 of the 20 competitors in the event, and it was definitely worth getting out of bed for. Look for a few of those tunes to be posted on Piobaireachd Wednesday over the next few weeks; especially look for Colin Clansey’s winning performance of The Bicker, and Ben McClamrock’s second place showing of Catherine’s Lament. The prize list shaped up as follows:
- Colin Clansey, Kingston, ON, The Bicker
- Ben McClamrock, Baltimore, MD, Catherine’s Lament
- John Lee, Surrey, BC, Lament for Donald of Laggan
- Dan Lyden, Baltimore, MD, You’re Welcome Ewan
You can’t tell from looking at the prize list, but the tune selection was pretty repetitive. If I had heard one more version of Catherine’s Lament I would have had it memorized; it was played five times. There were three each of The Bicker, Lament for Donald of Laggan, and MacGregor’s Salute, and only three tunes that weren’t repeated. That’s my only issue with set tune lists: there is some repetition when you listen to a contest all the way through. That sounds like a topic for another post, and for now I have to get to the registration table where I’m volunteering my time today.
Piobaireachd Wednesday: Glengarry’s March
Our tune this week is from a “match” of the Eagle Pipers’ Society. The player is Derek Midgley, who is originally from New Jersey and has resided for some time in Glasgow. He’s distinguished himself as a solo competitor in Scotland, and I think you can see why from this video, recorded in November 2010.
If you’d like to submit a tune to be featured on Piobaireachd Wednesday, please email me.
Piobaireachd Wednesday: Sir James MacDonald of the Isles’ Lament
Piobaireachd Wednesday is back on track this week, with another tune from the most recent online competition from Jori Chisholm at bagpipelessons.com. The player is Owen Capon, playing one of my favorite tunes: Sir James MacDonald of the Isles’ Lament. This tune landed him in the prize list of the grade 2 piobaireachd competition, placing 5th out of 12 competitors.
If you’d like to submit a tune to be featured on Piobaireachd Wednesday, please email me.
New Year’s Goals for 2012
As I’ve done for the last few years, I’m forgoing the practice of making resolutions and instead making a list of things I’d like to accomplish in the next 12 months. Some are piping-related, and some aren’t.
- Learn four new piobaireachds. Last year I set the goal of learning two new tunes, and finished with four, thanks largely to the newly-minted interest in piobaireachd that was behind the launch of Piobaireachd Wednesday in July. I can do that again.
- Be a more active solo competitor. The last two years I’ve taken it easy on the solo boards, and the few times that I did play reminded me of how much I enjoy it. This year I’d like to compete at 6 highland games, whereas last year I only made it to two. Geographical relocation will probably determine which ones they are, and time constraints will determine how well I play.
- Shift Piobaireachd Wednesday to include more recordings I’ve made myself. I’m not talking tunes that I play, but recordings that I make at events I attend. I picked up a new recording gadget this year, and I’m itching to try it out. I’ll be at Winter Storm in a few weeks, and hope to be able to record at least some of the piobaireachd competitions. Look for the tunes I collect over the next few weeks. I’ll also try to grab recordings from some of the other events I attend (see #2).
- Learn to juggle. I’ve included it on the list for the last two years, and since those came up empty I’m going to include it here again. One of these days I’ll get to it… one of these days.
- Buy a house. I’ve rented for long enough, and it’s time to contribute to the economy by being a homeowner. I hope to be gainfully employed here in a few weeks, and that will determine where I do my house-hunting.
- Survive the end of the world in December. There are some who are certain the world will end on December 21, 2012, and I’m not one of them. It’s true the Mayan calendar ends then, but I’m wondering what they knew and we don’t?
As I’ve done before, I’ll post a review of these goals next year, providing I do #6.
What about you? What’s on your to-do list for 2012?
Reflecting: What I did in my 2011
Happy New Year to my readers (all three of you), and I hope your year is off to a good start. As seems to be the trend on blogs everywhere, this time of year is good for reflecting on the past year and preparing for the one ahead. I’m no exception, so here goes.
In the beginning of 2010 and 2011 I posted a list of things I wanted to accomplish, then reflected on them about a year later. Here’s my recap of my 2011 goals:
- Learn two new piobaireachds. I actually blew this one out of the water. I somehow pulled off four tunes this year, including two in September and October. In February-March I learned Corienessen’s Salute, then Lament for the Viscount of Dundee in May, and finished with Rout of Glenfruin and Melbank’s Salute in the fall. The last two were notable because I learned them in a very short time: I had both memorized and on pipes within a few days of seeing the music for the first time.
- Get a bagpipe sound that I’m really happy with. It seems that I accomplished this one, although I can’t exactly when it happened. It seemed that suddenly I had a good sound, and it was noted by the judges in all four events I entered in the fall online piping competition. It was a Colin MacLellan reed for my Naill chanter that seems to have done the trick, and since that’s a winning combination I’m going to stick with it.
- Check off three new states on my piping quest. Unfortunately this wasn’t one that I was able to do. I only managed to add one, (Washington, DC) and it isn’t technically even a state. I had been hoping to enter competitions in Connecticut and Tennessee, as well as the USPF competition in Delaware, but calendar conflicts seemed to get in the way of all of those.
- Graduate. I did this one! I didn’t actually walk the stage (and I won’t technically have my degree until it’s officially posted to my academic records in mid-January), but I finished the remaining 21 credit hours for my master’s degree.
- Work in a career-related summer internship. Unfortunately this one didn’t work out for me either, and not for lack of trying. I applied for a good dozen or so positions all over the country, and no one seemed to like me enough to hire me. I ended up working for a professor over the summer as an unpaid research assistant, which was better than nothing, I suppose.
So overall it was a mediocre year in terms of the goals I set at the beginning. In the next day or so I’ll put up some goals for 2012, and I encourage you to do the same and share yours as well.
Piobaireachd Wednesday: Lament for MacSwan of Roaig
Our tune this week is a little gem I dug up from YouTube: Pipe Major Gordon Walker playing Lament for MacSwan of Roaig. I don’t know where or when this was recorded, but definitely worth a listen.
If you’d like to submit a tune for Piobaireachd Wednesday, please email me.
Christmas music on bagpipes?
Pipehacker’s Morning Comix sums up my answer to this pretty neatly. Check it out.
New Bagpipe Music Podcast from Pipehacker
This week a new podcast appeared over at Pipehacker.com: The Small Tunes Podcast. For a while he’s had a feature on small tunes that he’s dug out of somewhere, and now he’s launching that feature as an audio podcast. The first episode explains his thoughts on small tunes and where the podcast is going, and it’s pretty interesting. That whet my appetite, and I’m looking forward to the next episode when he starts posting tunes.
Subscribe to it with your RSS reader or iTunes, and be ready to add some small tunes to your repertoire.
Piobaireachd Wednesday: My King Has Landed In Moidart
I must admit that I’m very disappointed in you, the readers of Piobaireachd Wednesday. For many weeks now, I’ve had to comb the internet for tunes, and that’s not the intention of this feature. If you have a tune that you’ve been working on, please consider recording it and sending it off to me. Remember, no judgement, no criticism, just music.
Anyway, our tune this week is from Jori Chisholm, a professional piper who lives in Seattle. He’s made a name for himself on the competition circuit, and was also one of the first pipers I was aware of to incorporate the internet into his teaching. This video of My King Has Landed In Moidart was recorded at Winter Storm in 2008, and this performance won him the U.S. Gold Medal that year. I think you’ll agree that it was indeed a fine tune.
This video is split into two parts, so be sure to catch the ending of the tune in the second video.
Part 2:
If you’d like to submit a tune for Piobaireachd Wednesday, please email me.
Start your piping season with a good workshop
Even though we’re in the piping offseason now, it won’t be long before things start up again. I’d venture to say that most bands are already hitting new music pretty hard, and if you’re a solo competitor this is a good time to be thinking about learning some new music as well.
If you’re in the mid-Atlantic area (or even if you’re not), I suggest you check out the Delco Mid-Atlantic workshop, coming up on January 28 and 29. This is a regular event in the Mid-Atlantic branch of the EUSPBA, and it always promises to be a good time. The piping and drumming instructors are well-known as judges, and it’s a good way to get your fingers warmed up and learn some new music before the competition season gets started.
Also, if you’re a young piper, consider entering the Gilchrist Challenge. This piobaireachd competition requires four tunes from each player (everyone must be under 22 years of ago), and the winner receives airfare to play at the MacGregor Memorial competition, part of the Argyllshire Gathering held in August.
I’ve been to this workshop before, and I highly recommend it. It’s definitely worth considering, and I hope to see you there.
How do you spend your piping off season?
Over the past few months our competitive season came to an end in the eastern US. Everyone seems to deal with the time off a bit differently, and after you’ve been piping for a while you develop your own way of handling it.
I find the off season to be a good chance to go over the pipes and check for maintenance issues. Last weekend I rehemped all of the tuning pins, checked the hemp on the stocks, checked the bag for leaks, and that kind of thing.
I’ve also been trying to play once or twice a week to keep myself in something resembling piping shape. I didn’t do that last year, and when the band started up on pipes again it took me a good few months to get to where I had been. I’ve decided I don’t want to do that this year, so I’ve been playing to avoid that. Not seriously practicing, but playing tunes I enjoy just to keep both myself and the pipes functioning.
I’ve also been looking at new music, both for the band and myself. Band practices lately have been pretty enjoyable. We have an all-new medley for 2012, and we’re working together as a band to get harmonies and breaks arranged. It’s fun to sit around the table and throw out some ideas, then run through them to see if they work. The tunes were selected by the pipe major, but the final arrangement has been very much a joint effort.
So how do you spend your off season? What do you do to prepare for next year? Any other wisdom or tips for other pipers?
Piobaireachd Wednesday: The Glen is Mine
Last week Piobaireachd Wednesday presented the blog author’s winning piobaireachd from the BagpipeLessons.com Online Competition, and our tune this week is also from those results. Nicholas Lundberg took second place in the grade piobaireachd with The Glen is Mine, and here is his tune:
If you’d like to submit a tune to be featured on Piobaireachd Wednesday, please email me.
Should the judge be able to end a competition?
I recently posted about breaking down during a solo competition, and this post is related to that. My advice is that no, you shouldn’t break down in a competition if you can help it. There’s always something to be gained by finishing your tune, even if it isn’t a prize.
But what about when that breakdown comes from outside the player? Earlier this week I was reading rules for the gold and silver medal piping competitions at Winter Storm, which in my mind is the premier competition in North America. Each of the rules pages has this in it:
The Judges are empowered to stop any Competitor while playing if, in their opinion, the play is such to bar him/her from any chance of winning a prize.
First, keep in mind that these competitions are limited to open or professional grade players, who will have a lot of competition experience. Judges’ comments, for them, aren’t as important as they would be to a new competitor. These folks are more focused on prizes, and going off a tune or losing a drone is likely to take one out the running entirely.
Even so, I can’t imagine any judge hopping up from behind the table and chasing a competitor off the stage. Maybe it’s just that I’d never do that if I were a judge, and I can’t picture any of the numerous judges I know doing that either.
I’ve never seen that rule listed for another piping competition at any level, but I also have to admit that I haven’t really looked. Do the Gold Medal contests in Scotland have that clause in their rules? I don’t know. If you’ve ever come across something like that, or seen it in action, please let me know.
