Archive Page 2

Curse my bad memory

Published June 8, 2010 Bagpipes , Results 2010 1 Comment
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I guess I should technically post one of my results pages for the competition I played this past weekend, but since I was the only competitor in grade 1 I don’t really classify it as a competition. There was something funny that I think is worth sharing.

I was working the day as the EUSPBA’s official monitor, a duty I’ve executed several times before. I wouldn’t exactly describe it as fun, but I enjoy it, and it’s neat to be behind the scenes and helping to make things run smoothly. On Saturday I did a bit of monitoring, listened to some competitors play, and began to prepare for my own performances.

As I was changing my clothes, I had a moment of panic when I realized that I had forgotten to bring my kilt. I’ve never done that for a competition before, and for any other competition in my career I’d have been out of luck. This particular event, however, was the closest competition I’ve ever done, just 12 miles from home. I actually had time to run home to get my kilt.

The funny thing here is that this is the only time I’ve forgotten my kilt, and the only time where I was in a position to do something about it. The only event I ever did that was close enough for me to run home in the middle of the day is when I actually did need to run home in the middle of the day.

Have you ever had an experience like that? Please share!

A new use for bagpipes?

Published June 4, 2010 Bagpipes Leave a Comment
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One of my favorite blogs is There I Fixed It, a collection of kludges and impromptu fixes from the I Can Has Cheezburger family of websites. This was posted on it this afternoon:

I still can’t get over the fact that the pipes just wouldn’t work for this job, for several reasons. First, the air pressure in the bag (maybe 1.5 psi) is significantly less than that of a tire (20 psi or so). Air goes from high pressure to low, so if anything it would flow back into the bag. Second, too much air would be lost from the drones and the holes on the chanter that the air pressure at the bottom of the chanter is definitely not enough to inflate the tire.

People and their misconceptions drive me crazy.

Competition videos

Published May 2, 2010 Bagpipes , Performances , Video Leave a Comment
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I recently posted a video of my first competition with MacMillan Pipe Band at the Southern Maryland Celtic Festival, and since then videos of the other bands in the contest have been posted as well.

The videos are presented here in order of play, which was also, coincidentally, the order of placing. This was the grade 3 band MSR contest that took place on April 24, 2010.

1st place: MacMillan Pipe Band, Rockville, MD
Tunes: Balmoral Highlanders, Susan MacLeod, Colonel MacLeod

2nd place: Saffron United Pipe Band, Babylon, NY
Tunes: Pipe Major Willie Gray’s Farewell to the Glasgow Police, Dornie, Ferry, Fiona MacLeod

3rd place: Greater Richmond Pipes & Drums, Richmond, VA
Tunes: Captain Carswell, Highland Harry, Kalabakan

A new setup

Published May 1, 2010 Bagpipes Leave a Comment
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Just before my first competition with MacMillan Pipe Band, I discovered that my bag was leaking. This is of course bad, since leaking air means the piper has to work harder to keep the bag filled. The leak wasn’t huge, but there was a noticeable hiss of escaping air with the stocks corked. I managed to pinpoint the leak to the seam at the rear of the bag, just behind the zipper and determined that the injury was fatal. The bag had had a long life of good service (I’m estimating a good five years or so), and I knew it had to happen sometime.

The bag wasn’t quite dead, however, and with a competition in just a few days I was not in a position to pull the plug. With the limited time, I did what any self-respecting piper would do: I improvised. With a bit of superglue and duct tape, I was able to triage the patient until I could get a new bag.

The replacement arrived yesterday, and I spent the evening tying it in and giving the pipes a general maintenance overhaul. I’m about to try it out, so we’ll see how it goes.

Though I’ve been successfully playing a Ross bag for some years (and have been strictly on synthetic for more than a decade), I’m not opposed to trying new products. The new bag is a Gannaway, which I decided on after trying a few sets of pipes in the band for comfort, and it is a hide bag. I’m a bit out of practice with those, so it will need some good playing time to get used to it. I’ll keep you posted.

New piping contest

Published April 28, 2010 Bagpipes Leave a Comment
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I’ve been working with Lezlie Webster from the New Hampshire School of Scottish Arts and John Daggett from the Back Bay Solo Piping Contest to create a new competition, to be held June 5 at Mount Cranmore ski area in North Conway, NH.

I’m excited about this one because of the wide range of events being offered (every sanctioned contest in EUSPBA in every grade), and also because it’s right in my backyard.

The entry deadline is May 25, so if you’re planning to go be sure to get your form in quickly. The entry form is available for download here.

Random piping video

Published April 26, 2010 Bagpipes , Performances Leave a Comment
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As I mentioned earlier, this weekend I competed in my first grade 3 band contest. The video of the band has made its way to YouTube, and I post it here for your enjoyment. I can hear a few things that could stand to be improved, but overall I thought it was a good performance.

Back to the bands

Published April 25, 2010 Bagpipes Leave a Comment
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The Celtic Festival of Southern Maryland happened this weekend, and this event traditionally marks the start of the competition season in the mid-Atlantic region. I opted out of the solo competitions this time around, choosing instead to focus on my first band competition in about 18 months. Even though I took last year off to concentrate on my solos, I found myself missing the band competition scene.

A few months ago I committed to be a distance member of the grade 3 MacMillan Pipe Band from Rockville, MD. Rockville is a long way to go from Maine, but I have been a groupie of this band for a few years now, so I know most of the folks in it. They play good music and have fun, and that’s what I look for in a band.

This contest was not only my first competition with this band, but also my first band competition at the grade 3 level; it’s not really that much different than the myriad of grade 4 contests I’ve played.

The band ended up winning the MSR contest, out of a field of three bands. This gets the band off on a good start, and we’re looking forward to the medley competition at Fair Hill in a few weeks. At that games I’ll also be looking forward to the grade 1 band contest, featuring the 78th Fraser Highlanders from Ontario. I haven’t decided if I’ll be doing solos at Fair Hill, since I still have a lot of practicing to do on band music, so we’ll see how it goes. I’ll keep you posted.

The secret to a good pipe band

Published April 18, 2010 Bagpipes Leave a Comment
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Michael Grey posted a statement of what he identified as “the blindingly obvious” about pipe bands:

“People playing good music well with people they like is the secret to a good pipe band.“

That’s why I enjoyed my three years with Macdonald Pipe Band in Pittsburgh so much: as a band, everyone wanted to play the music properly, and to improve their own abilities. As a group of people, they enjoyed hanging out together. It was ideal, and I miss it very much.

Random Piping Video

Published April 14, 2010 Pipers , Video Leave a Comment
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One of my favorite pipers is Angus MacColl; he’s definitely among the elite competition players on the scene today. I heard him play at the Winter Storm concert last year, and it was almost magical. I kept thinking, “Man, this is what bagpipes are really supposed to sound like.”

I came across this video of Angus playing in an instructor’s recital at a piping school a few years back. It’s hard to tell the quality of pipe sound on a recording, but this one has pretty good sound and I can only imagine how good it sounded live in person. I love the very slight crow on the high A, and the harmonics it makes with the drones is great.

Reflections on competitions

Published April 11, 2010 Uncategorized Leave a Comment

This is a post that I’ve been meaning to write for about a week now, but am finally getting around to it. Now that I’ve had a few weeks to look back on my first (and now second) competitions in grade 1, I have a few thoughts about my experiences so far in the premier amateur grade.

  • Sound is very important in grade 1. The judges expect the instrument to be well set, very well tuned, and to be steadily blown. I went into my first contest with the same approach I used last year in grade 2, and while I didn’t get slammed by the judges they all commented that my pipes could be sweeter. Listening to the others in the grade, I see what they meant. While practicing since then, I listened very carefully to my pipes, and I feel that I’m able to tune the drones better than I was, and better able to keep them in tune. It’s still not perfect, but when listening with a more critical ear it’s amazing what you hear.
  • Expression is very important. Every player in grade 1 is generally very good technically, and it’s expression and musicality that sets the best ones apart. In my 2/4 march this weekend the judge intentionally chose the same tune as the player who ended up winning the event; she told me after that I played very well (placed 4th out of 8), and in order to beat the winner I should concentrate on making the phrasing a bit more aggressive, especially at the beginning of the part. I’m not exactly certain what she means by that, but I recorded my performance so I’ll listen to it and see if I can learn from it.

After my second competition, I feel like I actually belong in grade 1, which if you were following the blog a few weeks ago was something that was on my mind. Although I broke down in my strathspey and reel, I placed in the middle of the pack in the other competitions, so I’m starting to feel better about this year. I’m still not planning to do as many competitions as I did last year, but I’ll definitely feel more comfortable about competing this year.

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2010 Competition Schedule and Results

3/27 Back Bay, Boston, MA
4/10 NHSSA Indoor, Concord, NH

2009 Competition Results