Promoting the Bagpipe Revival since 1986
The Bagpipe Society
Newsletter April 1987
This edition is from our archives, so it is presented as scanned pages rather than text.
You may need to scroll to find the article you’re looking for.
21-23 Pencerdd Pontardawe Folk Festival
23 Dunav Free concert Golders Hill Park, London N.
28-31 Doonan Family Cornwall Folk Festival
28-31 Cock & Bull Band Towesey Folk Festival
29-31 Flying Camel Stainsby Folk Fest Derbys
31 Noise of Minstrels Scarbro’ Fair Folk Fest
Some stop press info on the Holmfirth, Yorkshire Folk Festival 8-10th May. There will be two main piping events: Sat - Northumbrian Evening with Alistair Anderson, Joe Hutton, Will Atkinson & Willy Taylor. Sun - “All types of pipe gathering” organised by Dave Ashton & Chris Barber. A similar event last year had about 30 pipes including Northumbrian, Uilleann, Scottish Smallpipes, Half-longs, Flemish and Breton. Sounds good!
Stop Press: Peter Stacey will be appearing at Greyhounds FC,
All items for Newsletter to Dave Vanloon,
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THE
BAGPIPE SOCIETY
NINTH NEWSLETTER
APRIL 1987
MUSINGS
I’ve come back to write this first item having almost completed getting the rest. Having hacked my way through thirty-odd pages of Newsletter, something rather wonderful has just struck me. At last things seem to be taking off: we’re actually getting dialogue between members through these pages e.g. The Greek bagpipe thing, Uncle Octavius etc. We’re also getting rather splendid accounts of conventions in (to us) far-flung places like the USA and Australian. All in all I get the impression that the bagpipe ball has really started to roll; and who knows where it will go from here?
Have any of you encountered the term “a pair of bagpipes”? I have, over the years, noticed it used almost as frequently as “a set of bagpipes”. At first it used to annoy me and I would take pains to point out that it’s just “skripes” or “a set of bagpipes”. Now, I’m not so sure. Could it be that the phrase is a linguistic fossil, harking back to the days when bagpipes in this country had only two sounding pipes: a chanter and a drone; or even earlier when there might have been just a chanter and a blowpipe? I really would like to know what others think, particularly from across the Border. It just might be a peculiarly Cockney term (Cor Blimey, Bow Bagpipes!). Although I doubt it - listen to the song “Twankydillo” from the Copper Family of Sussex “…a roaring pair of bagpipes made from the green willow” (yes, I know all the authorities say it means blowpipes, or forge bellows, but this seems very unlikely to me). And what about other languages, particularly in areas where the pipes really are a pair e.g. Chbrette, Gmitn, Gajda etc. Are these ever referred to as a pair in the local languages? Anyway, I no longer correct people (God, what a bore I must have been!) and even use the term myself now.
Good to hear that Leader Records have reissued “Billy Pigs - Border
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Minstrel’ / Pender 1K LEAD206. This record was my first introduction to Northumbrian piping and still ranks some beating. One of the joys of the original record was the superb booklet, liberally illustrated with photographs and musical examples, which accompanied the record. Let’s hope Pender won’t skimped on this on the reissue.
Some of you may wonder if the D hand of the Rangpipe Society knows what the C hand is doing (to use a totally biased figure of speech). Two weeks later I had a ‘true’ with report to ‘Chathes’ and the Newsletter. Pender and I do try to keep in touch but postage is expensive and the telephone even more so (it’s your money we’re trying to save!). This is why we get busines like PETER announcing that the Newsletter comes out six times a year when it’s only now only four times. Equally, Peter runs a big feature on Jon Swaney within a month of this Newsletter doing Makers Spot on the same person. Hope you don’t feel things are a bit unbalanced, but by the time I found out it was too late to research another number. Still, on second thoughts, perhaps one complements the other.
On this subject, it does seem odd to me that all you makers have to have your arms twisted to be featured (or so it would seem). How about writing in now for the next (and the next, and the next) Newsletter. You can see the sort of things we like to say so it shouldn’t be too hard to sling a few words together. Come on, don’t be shy.
Have you all received all your mailings? I would seem that either the Post Office or the Customs have been losing some packages. To date we have sent 8 Newsletters (not counting this one); No. 8 should have reached you in February. There have been two ‘Chanters’ (Vol 1, Part 2 sent in March); one Membership list; one membership card; one member’s brooch. If you think you have not had all you should, please contact me and I’ll try again (phone PRINT your address in full in case we’ve got it wrong).
We hear that Red Shift are about to release a new record - don’t know if the pipe ‘in Paul Roberts or Dave Shaw (or both?) as of yet - keep your ears on the ground. New record also out from Noise of Minstrels (see Band News for details).
We also hear that Mel Stevens (of Rosinly, Morris/ Central Tramlock is now available. You can obtain a copy by sending 54 (includes post and packing) to Mel Stevens.
As the title suggests, the tunes are all from the central region of France and are therefore perfectly suitable for playing on the bagpipes. Mel is well known for his rendering of tunes from this region on various cromleuses and enhreiters and I would think that the tunebook would be an excellent companion to the Rosinly record ‘Traditional Dance Music from Central France’ which can also be obtained from Mel.
Mel’s book is published by Dragonfly Music as is the Encyclopedia Blowmohllicks - don’t know what this is all about yet but it sounds fun. If you want to reserve a copy or two, Dragonfly are at 44 Durban Street, Blythe, Northumberland NE24 IPT (see Band News for more details).
James Merryweather tells me the York Waits have a book coming out around May on the true history of the York Waites. No details as yet but we’ll let you know more when we know more. In the meantime, you could try writing to James (see letter from James and his piece on York Bagpipes).
I’ve just had the extreme pleasure of acquiring Eric Montbel’s “L’Art de la Cornemuse” album are reviewed by Paul James in Chanter 1.1. The sounds Eric coaxes out of his Chanterette. limousine are simply so beautiful it makes me want to make a bonfire of all my pipes and head off south to Limousin to track down a set (ain?). The last time I can remember being so moved by the sound of a bagpipe was the first time I ever heard the Bombenn pipes played live - you know the feeling? But (why is it always a but?) why oh why did Eric go and ruin everything on Side 2 (contemporary tunes and arrangements for bagpipe and synthesisiser) by including the evil Drum Machine? It’s ‘orrid, awful-destroying, monotonous and decidedly naff… in fact the complete antithesis of what I was going on about earlier. If you’re listening Eric, please use a flesh-and-blood drummer on your next masterpiece!
Now there’s a wicked thought: how about the Scots Guards with pipes and drum machine? Save the taxpayer a fortune! And what about all those Bagads all over Brittany? The mind boggles…
We hear that Eric’s sometime co-ordon Jean Blanchard will be over here again this summer with his ‘Group Renae Temps sur la Province. This superb group was in Britain just over a year ago and was very well received indeed. How about bringing Eric with you as well this time Jean? See Diary for dates.
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MEMBERSHIP RENEWALS
Of the 74 of you who were asked to renew your subscription in February, only 42 have done so. Tut, tut! Sorry to be a moan, but we just can’t run a society as small as ours with only just over half coughing up on time. There’s a little reminder included with this Newsletter for those of you who we think should have paid but haven’t. Please ignore it and accept our apologies (or get in touch) if you think we’ve got it wrong and you have in fact paid. We like to think we keep our records straight, but it’s always possible for someone to fall through the net.
Unfortunately, if you haven’t paid by the next mailing, we’re going to have to cut off your Chanter (and Newsletter too). We’re not being mean, it’s just that print and postage form the bulk of our budget, so: no subs = no mailings!
MISSING MEMBER
No, this is not what happens if you have your chanter cut off — it’s just that we seem to have mislaid one of our brethrens. Stephen Cressey where are you?! His Newsletter 8 was returned by our wonderful postal service, complete with card and brooch. It seems he’s moved on — and 2 old chums at our Gun anyone left? His last known address was:
Perhaps one of you Gloucestershire members knows where he’s gone. If you do, please let us know or tell him to contact us.
APRIL IN LINCOLNSHIRE
The very first thing I opened in my mail this month was a letter from that well known Edinburgh pipe major, Dougal Carnegie. It seems that one of the big makers for whom Dougal occasionally does repairs has been regularly servicing pipes for a family in Lincolnshire since at least when the company’s records began a couple of hundred years ago.
Dougal, knowing Lincolnshire to have been a piping country until fairly recently, decided to investigate and — dramatic pause — he found that the Lincolnshire Bagpipe, thought to be long extinct, is in fact alive and well in the village of Cleatham.
He offered to take the pipes back from repair himself this time and track down the last surviving players of this once flourishing tradition. Sadly, only one member of the original family still survives, old man Oaten
Jawnashey, 85. But the good news is that Oaten has taken on as an apprentice a young man in the village, Samuel Jep, and is teaching him all he knows. Samuel has only been playing for a few years — with a local Molly sider, the Country Clowns — but is coming on very nicely and plays with a distinctive Lincolnshire piping style with its own ripple but rather beautiful system of ornamention and taught to him by Oaten (apparently you can get some idea of the rhythm of the gracing by repeating the ancient Grimsby expletive, Wottnalltcnods over and over again — loudly).
The pipes themselves are also very simple, being mouthblown in C# with a single drone tuned to a ninth below the keynote of the chanter which occurs at the 4-finger position). Rather an odd arrangement, it would seem, but Dougal says it sounds quite good once you get used to it. The trouble is that the accordionist in the Country Clowns has such a job playing in C# all the time that he’s thinking of having it recorded a semitone out.
Dougal, naturally enough, was very excited about the whole business and is currently preparing a book on the subject. He suggests we might like to consider Oaten as the next Hon. President of the Society when the present one, Jonathan Swayne retires. He’s sent me some photos but, unfortunatlely, the impoverished Bagpipe Society — not being able to afford proper litho printing — can’t make much of a job of reproducing them in these pages. Still, half a loaf being better than bugger all (as they say in Lincolnshire), here’s the best we can do with one of them (see previous page).
YOU TOO CAN BE FAMOUS
It’s embarrassment time folks! What’s worse than being caught by Eamonn Andrews for ‘This is Your Life’ or Cilla Black for ‘Surprise Surprise’? Give up? It’s being plastered all over the front cover of a girls’ comic.
The picture on the right is taken from the cover of a well-known girls’ comic sent in to us by that well-known bagpipe Society comic, Ian Smith. Ian tells me he has sent the original to “the lady who I’m sure inspired the story.” The lady in question tells me her knees look nothing like that and that she was most disappointed to find that there was absolutely nothing inside the comic even remotely connected with bagpiping — she’s even thinking of suing under the Trades Descriptions Act!
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What I’d like to know is, what’s an otherwise stalwart, upright member of the Bagpipe Society doing mooching around the navy-knicker/hocky stick world of girls’ comics -eh Ian, eh?
BAGPIPE CASES
No, this heading’s not a euphemism for that devastating disease of bagpipitis, just about what you put the damn things in other than Tesco carrier bags. It seems that when he’s not reading comics, Ian Smith spends his time making bagpipe cases (and for other instruments too). He offers a wide range of cases with velvet lining, four coats of varnish on wood with a design of your choice pyrographed into the wood. Prices seem quite reasonable, ranging from £30 for bagpipe cases. Ian will give a 15% discount to Society members or 20% if you order more than one case. If you want to know more, contact Ian nt.
On a Morris tour in Belgium a few years back I noticed that the local musicians use this type of case a lot and they couldn’t understand why I didn’t have a bagpipe design pyrographed onto my case - it seems it’s an old Flemish tradition.
ST CHARTIER TAPES
And yet more from our comic-reading, case-making and percussionist. Ian was at St Chartier last year (lucky sod!) and he recorded five C90s worth of live music. He’s been in touch with the Mechanical Copyright Protection Society who seem to think that it’s OK if he spreads the music about, n bit provided no money changes hands. So, if you’d like to send up to five C90s to Ian, he’ll do you a copy for free. If all you’d like is the “Best of St Chartier ‘86”, Ian will do you a selection that will go on one tape (with a money spinning idea for Ronco! - on second thoughts….), don’t forget to include enough stamps to cover return postage!
By the way, St Chartier this year is 10-13th July. Ian tells me that he thinks the date is always the nearest weekend to the 12th, Bastille Day (so you’ll know for future years).
If those of you who are a bit hysterical about the constant reference to St Chartier in these pages see Paul James’ review of St Chartier ‘86 in Chanter 1.2, you’ll know what we’re going on about.
TIPS
I’ve been trying for some time to find a drone reed as reliable and good sounding as the plastic reed I use in the chanter of my
Humaneschen smallpipes (a cutdown Scottish practice chanter reed) - and now I think at last I’ve found it! The small drinking straws you get with certain packaged soft drinks such as Ribena are just right! Making them into drone reeds couldn’t be simpler:
With a sharp scalpel, cut in half to about 40mm (the length depends on your particular pipes); cut a narrow tongue about 20mm long; block up the input end with a small dollop of wax; bind the other end to fit the reed socket; make a bridle. The last two steps I do with PTFE tape as hemp etc. is too heavy and difficult to use on the very narrow diameters involved (about 2-3mm).
Advantages: Excellent strong tone; cheap; easy to obtain (there’s thousands of them lying about in the High Street); quick and easy to make (about 30 seconds); reliable; unaffected by moisture/humidity changes; doesn’t easily wear out.
Disadvantages: A bit too loud; very critical on tuning - a piece of wax smaller than a pinhead will lower the pitch by a semitone; very fragile. As you can see, I haven’t yet ironed out all the bugs and am still experimenting, mainly with different types of soft drink (what a pity canned beer doesn’t come with straws!).
I’ve also tried the same trick with large drinking straws - don’t bother! It seems the the wall thickness/diameter ratios are all wrong, at least on the ones I’ve tried so far - but I’m still searching.
New member Lawrence Fry tells me he has been experimenting with his D Gaita drone. By combining the drone sections in different combinations, he can set the drone to D, F or G. “Don’t know why I didn’t try it before” he says. Some makers, of course, have always known this and design their drones accordingly! I’m sure some of you will say “shloody chivous”, but what may appear to be blindingly obvious is not always so and I think it’s a tip worth passing on. A word of warning though: if your pipes are not designed this way, be careful that all the bits are fully interchangeable or you might end up cracking a socket or a tenon.
If you’re one of the types who take their pipes into the hills too get away from the dreadful noise made by all those melodons and bodhrans, you will probably be aware of the excellent hooH conditioner, Nikwax. This is a special d/buffer used by almost all the walking/mountaineering crowd to waterproof their boots with. And yes - you’ve guessed it - it works on bagpipes too! The great thing about Nikwax is it’s not sticky like proprietary bag seasonings so you can apply it on the outside (it is oily though, so watch your clothes and bag covers). Rubbed well in with the heat and pressure of your fingertips, it will seal and condition a porous bag, ready for playing in minutes. But don’t use it if you have a nice ‘suede’, finish you want to keep. Not recommended for vinyl or Welsh rubber gloves! (see Chanter Reviews for more on the subject of bag care)
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DIRECTORY OF MAKERS & TEACHERS
As stated in the last Newsletter, this is currently in preparation and will be sent to all members when ready. Can we please have more details though from those of you wanting to be included e.g. for makers – range of pipes on offer; cost; materials used; waiting period; cheap instruments made; discounts; any background you’d like us to include. For teachers / fees, qualifications, other instruments/theory taught, background etc. Although it is not expected that the first issue will be very large, it will grow very by year (it will be reissued annually) and we fully expect that many copies will find their way outside the Society into public libraries etc. It could be a useful source of free advertising to members offering these services. For non-members a small charge will be made although both members and non-members may advertise, in addition to their listing, for the same rates as in ‘Chanter’ if they so wish.
Those of you making and teaching abroad should be aware that there is a lot of demand for such skills in this country, particularly if related to a particular tradition. Bagpipe Society publications are now read in many countries all around the world and there’s probably someone in some obscure corner of the globe right now who’s thinking right now ‘where can I get a set of XYZ bagpipes? Hopefully our directory will answer their question.
NORTHUMBRIAN TUITION
While on the subject of teaching, new member Keith MacDonald has a set of Northumbrian pipes on order which he hopes to have about October from Dave Shaw. In the meantime Dave has offered to let Keith hire a ‘plain chanter’ set to get him started (what a good idea!). The trouble is, Keith can’t find a teacher down in the Southlands. Is there anyone, in either the Bedford or London area who’s willing to help him? You can contact Keith at [redacted].
CORNISH BAGPIPES? by Simon Owen
I spotted the following item in the Guardian of March 16th in a write up of a recent Middlesex v. Cornwall Rugby Union match:
“After the final whistle, a youth of modest, vagrant appearance stood precariously on a trestle table and proceeded to strangle a cat: or so it seemed. Closer inspection revealed a set of Cornish pipes. He was playing Trelawney. ‘Shall Trelawney live, or shall Trelawney die,’ they wailed. Well the sad news is that Trelawney’s closing, or
Cornwall’s anyway, have definitely been popped.”
From this you’ll gather that Cornwall don’t. Now the only set of Cornish pipes I know of was made by Clive Palmer for Mervyn Davey, although the player is described as a youth. I suspect Bill Coleman to be the culprit, masquerading his Gael as Cornish bagpipes. Bill Coleman, “jucessel fl” is wrong, I would be heartened to know that the good old Graunidie employer rugby reporters of such perspicacity that they can recognise a set of Cornish bagpipes with such ease – I’m sure I could!”
LEICESTERSHIRE BAGPIPES MADE EASY by Bob Cross
I have recently added a set of Julian Goodacre’s Leicestershire Smallpipes to my collection; and although I am pleased with the overall design of his instrument, I had to make several modifications to it before it would function properly.
At the recent AGM of the Society, I had the opportunity to try other sets of Leicestershire pipes, both mouth and bellows-blown, where I realised that mine was not the only instrument to suffer the gremlins. The modifications which I have made may be of help to other owners of this instrument who experience the same problems I had.
This bagpipe needed to be inflated to an extremely high pressure (for a single drone instrument of this size), with its pitch almost remaining constant. In addition to this, with my mouth-blown D set, air was escaping back through the blowing and re-inflating me. I was feeling like a blow-up doll after ten minutes of it!
There were two problems which had to be dealt with separately to make my set more efficient:
- The Reed. The Leicestershire Smallpipe chanter is fitted with a cut-down bassoon* reed which is inserted without a staple directly into the chanter. The throat of this reed is too wide in diameter and consequently more air is used than should really be for a chanter of this bore (which is cylindrical like the Northumbrian Smallpipe).
Remedy: What seemed most logical actually worked. I discovered that a standard Northumbrian Smallpipe reed cut to a length of 20.5mm from the binding to the tip worked much better.
- The Blowpipe. On the mouth-blown set, the blowpipe is placed in an almost vertical position with the bung inflated. Despite the pressure inside the bag, there is a tendency for the valve to open downwards while the player is breathing which allows further air to escape.
Remedy: To remove the hemp thread and valve from the blowpipe and cut a new end at a 45 angle. In my case a fresh valve had to be cut; but
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ones replaced and refitted into the bag, the gravity effect on the valve was greatly reduced, making it work more efficiently.
This second modification may not be so necessary on the bellows-blown version as the angle of the blowpipe into the bag is not as great. Other makers of bellows-blown pipes use this method, however, so I think I would do it anyway (some even add extra weight to the valve with a washer).
These two minor modifications have made a big improvement to my instrument which now works much more easily. The single drone works well and, when combined with the chanter, produces a nice buzz and a pleasant tone, sounding more like two reeds. This is probably a result of their unusually wide bellies.
As an extra, I had a brass ring fitted on my chanter which can be turned to open either the natural or the sharpened seventh note of the scale. This works well but I don’t like the method by which it is fitted. The ring is jointed on the top of the chanter by joining its two ends then wiring them together. This forms a fairly large lump just above the thumb-hole. I kept moving the ring accidentally while playing, thus putting the holes out of alignment. My remedy for this was to take out the wire and solder the ends of the brass ring together. It works well and looks much better. I don’t know why Julian didn’t do it this way to begin with.
The suggestions I have made are just ones which have worked for me. All bagpipes are different and can have their own individual problems and there are several ways you can go about fixing them. In my opinion, only instrument with no major fault or obvious bad workmanship would by put right by its maker. But there are many cases such as mine where a few minor adjustments made by the player can improve its functioning and reliability. I think that other pipers should share their knowledge and experiences by offering similar comments, advice or tips that may be helpful to other players. I will always try to make my pipes work more efficiently and have made some intentions that may work for you too. However, I don’t wish to encourage anyone to try anything unnecessarily. If your pipes are working well, leave them as they are.
JULIAN REPLIES
Some points…..
The pressure that a chanter plays at depends on how soft or hard the reed is, and how close the blades of the reed are set together. Bassoon reeds work very well after they have been cut down and scraped to play at a much lower pressure than when they are bought. I tend to set the bellows-blown pipes at a slightly lower pressure than the mouthblown, but I will always set them up according to the
player’s wishes. If Bob had asked me, I would have lowered the pressure on his pipes. I have tried Northumbrian reeds but they don’t give me the tone that I want. I look forward to hearing Bob’s pipes and comparing the difference.
The bore on the Leicestershire Smallpipe chanter is not cylindrical – it is slightly tapered.
On bellows-blown pipes I always cut the valve seat at an angle. On mouthblown pipes I have tried both types of valve seat and I’m not convinced that either way works better. Certainly mouthblown pipes I have seen have the valve seat at right angles to the blowpipe whatever the pressure, or angle, of the blowpipe in the bag.
However, what is important is the condition of the seat. It may be possible that on Bob’s blowpipe the moisture on the valve seat may have slightly raised the wood grain causing the valve to leak. A quick rub with abrasive paper on a flat surface followed by a quick burnish with the back of a spoon would have solved that. On mouthblown pipes a few drops of oil on the valve will keep it free and supple.
The brass tuning ring is fitted at the thinnest part of the chanter and so cannot be made of a piece of brass tubing if the chanter core is to be made of one piece. I make the tuning ring of thin brass which is kept stretched around the chanter by a twist of wire. This allows the ring to be adjusted as even the hardest of woods can expand and contract according to heat and humidity. If it was loose on Bob’s pipes I can only assume that the wood had slightly contracted; a small twist with a pair of pliers would have solved that. I think soldering is too final a solution – if the wood expands, the ring will jam.
The loop and wire arrangement does project, but it is not accurate to describe it as a ‘fairly large lump’ and it is not ‘just above the thumb-hole’; it is to one side and is just below the thumb-hole.
Julian Goodacre
PREJUDICED - WHO ME JIMMIE?
Simon Owen has sent in the following extract from a book originally written in 1760, “A Complet Theory of the Scots Highland Bagpipe” by Joseph MacDonald (first published in 1803) and now reprinted in 1971 by S.R. Publishers. He thought it might be of interest to readers, showing as it does the extent of Bellowsbl felling there was around a couple of hundred years ago. Thank goodness people don’t feel that way now…they don’t do they? The reference to Lowland Counties doesn’t refer to the Netherlands but (presumably) to the Lowlands of Scotland - wonder what he would have made of Roxwnhelle?!
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In the Low Countries, where they use Bellows to their Pipes, having no music in the Style of this Instrument, they have enlarged the Compass of it by adding Pinching Notes, for the better imitation of other Music. By this, their Chamber has the motif of the Flute Compass. They also have taken away all that loudness and strength of Tones that distinguishes this Instrument in a Field, or in any Echoing place; by weakening and altering the form of their Reeds, by which it is only fit for a Room. With this, they imitate Scotch Tunes, and Minuet &c. and some Italian Music, while they have nothing for another part but their drones, which can be very unsafe the Various passages in a Composition as any Compass, as they cannot be varied any more than by fitting them as two or three particular Notes, which they must found till they are changed. This must prove but a pitiful Concord, and can never answer the design of any part; as the Notes of a Counter, Tenor, Second, Treble, Bass &c. must be variegated for every single bar, or Passage.
Whilst they play their Scots, or Italian Compositions with Pipe Drones, for different parts they must Cut and divide the Notes in a way, that destroys both the Tone and Style of the Composition, viz. by Pipe Cuttings, which are quite false, & irregular, as they never had any pipe Compositions to reduce or regulate Cuttings for that Instrument. Thus a Passage of Correlli, Feskin or Handel, &c. played with Pipe Cuttings and Drones, must carry a great deal of the Authors meaning away, and so of Scotch Airs, Minuets, Songs, &c. How wretched and insipid a Jargon this Music is, to a judicious Ear, is obvious. This imitation of other Music is what gives such a contemptible notion of a Pipe, because it must come so short of it, even in the most varied kind of Pipe, which is the Irish.
This they have neither a regular set of Music nor Cuttings for, but they have diverted it into Surprising Imitations of other Music.
The Low Country Pipe is tolerably well calculated for Violin Reels, & some Pipe Jigs; but of no great Execution, as they have neither found nor strength of Reeds for it. The noise of their Drones drowns any Execution of the Chamber; whereas the Chamber should exceed the loudness of the Drones at least by five degrees, the Drones being the bass part of the Music. If the Low Country Chamber were taken out and play’d by itself, as a Hautboy, Clarinet &c. its having Pinching Notes might enable it to bear a part in a Concert with such Instruments, and the Notes might be Cut in the same way, but as it is, having no proper Music of its own, and being a most unequal and unnatural Imitation of any other Music except by a few Jigs and Reels, it is most justly esteemed an insipid Instrument, by such as know other Music and don’t know the proper management of that. Eight Notes are one continued sound, such as Pipe drones are, are as much as the Compass can well bear, without being grating to the Ear. Thus, the Style and Compass of true Pipe Compositions are such as correspond to that one Note, the Dron’s found, which is the 8th of the Chamber, and answers to each other because the Compass and Style does not exceed eight Notes. The Contrary of this is what makes the Bellows Pipe so shocking to the Ear, when they play pinching Notes with the Drones in the same Tone as in the right low Notes. Pinching Notes are entirely opposite to the proper Style of this Instrument.
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Despite — sorry — despite the obvious bile that the gentleman was wont to generate, it looks from the rest of it as, though it could nevertheless be a good tutor for the Highland pipes (even though it’s 200 years old). Simon feels that he’s not in Highland piper he’s not really qualified to judge and asks if there’s anyone out there who would be willing to do a proper book review for us. Interested parties contact Simon who has a copy of the book. Poison pen letters to the publisher please, not to us!
COURSES & WORKSHOPS
There will be a week long music and dance Summer school in mid-August invoved Alistair Anderson. Hopefully more news in the April Folk Roots.
ANGLO FRENCH MUSIC DAY, RIPONDEN The programme for the day will include workshops on bagpipes, hurdy-gurdy, melodeon, fiddle and other string instruments; informal sessions, a concert and a dance all led by members of Mean Temps and Red Shift. Attendance strictly limited to 100. Day tickets £3.50, Evening £2.50. Tickets from Pete Cox, ……………… Cheques made out to Back Shift Music (please enclose SAE).
LA FOUERE John Goodacre sends news of a society in France dedicated (among other things) to promoting the Morvan bagpipe. This year they ran a course in January, a dinner and makers’ convention in March, and will be running a course for beginners and advanced at ……………………….. 3,4 & 5th. You can also hire a set of student Morvan bagpipes from there for only 100 Francs per month.
What might be of particular interest to our members is the 70 page book/tutor plus cassette, ‘La Cornemuse en Morvan’ which can be had for 125 Francs (this price includes postage within France — don’t know about abroad).
La Fouere can be contacted via Louis Jouvet,
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THE ZAMPOGNA REVISITED
Back in Newsletter 7 (Christmas 1985) we did a short piece on the Zampogna including four Italian carols arranged for Zampogna and Ciarmellina (bagpipe and shawm). But it seems that the Zampogna only associated with Christmas, Ian Harrison has sent in a delightful piece concerning his exploits in Venice last Easter (actually, we’ve had it some time but we’ve been saving it for the Easter letter).
by Ian Harrison THE ZAMPOGNA AND CIARMELLINA IN VENICE In Chanter 11, John Goodacre reported on neorivalist players of folk instruments at the festival at Monferrato in Italy, describing the Zampogna as ‘the southern pipe’. Perhaps readers may be interested to learn that the tradition of playing the Zampogna and Ciarmellina has survived in the North of Italy too.
Easter 1986 Walking through the narrow, crowded pedestrian streets of Venice, it was a surprise to hear through the hubbub, the faint droning sound of a Zampogna, ‘crocchia’, by a rhythmic ‘bang-clashing’. I hurried through the crowded street to get a better view, just in time to see a small, swarthy, donkey-jacketed figure disappearing into a bar with a one-man band of his bag* and he was already finishing off a glass of vino rosso by the time I had pushed my way in. As a man, the occupants of the bar turned and looked at me, including our short dark friend, the bag revelling that he was carrying this decrepit set of bagpipes. This was unmistakably the famous Zampogna of which I had heard so much, and had even seen behind glass in the Horniman museum. This player was no ‘revivalist’ – one glance could tell that he was in his forties or fifties, and was the most long-extant and pretentious sort of bagpiper I had ever seen. The pipes looked dark and old, and the bag – well it was a huge long, black, shiny leather with large jubilee clips to hold the stocks in. In fact it looked like — and yes it was — a quarter of an old tyre inner-tube with one end sealed up, the pipes sticking out the other and a hole cut in for the blowpipe.
I asked him whether he was going to play any more and he said he would later on. Sure enough, a little later that day, a familiar droning sound heralded the proximity of our bagpiping friend who soon appeared out of the crowd, this time not alone. He was accompanied by, or more strictly, accompanying a fellow musician who had the same drab air about him, dressed as he was in an ancient grey jacket and a flat cap. The newcomer was longer and more outgoing than his companion, with a stocky frame and rounded face; and he carried a small alone-like instrument with a long, wide reed and a large chunk missing from the bell. This instrument we surmised was the ciaramella – not that he spent a great deal of time playing it, as he was more concerned with the important business of collecting money. After five or six notes of his tune the instrument ended and all- would be tucked under his arm thus freeing both hands and voice for the task in hand. He would offer a small yellow piece of paper and expect some remuneration. On it was a picture of Christ with a poem — probably of
a devotional nature. A small leather pouch at his side was a safe receptacle for monies which were pressed into his hand. For the Zampognistan there was no need to stop playing in order to collect money. A bagpiper with two chanters to his instrument can always keep going with one hand whilst accepting contributions with the other. For these two there was no question of the mild-mannered English play-at-the-side-of-the-pavement-and-hope-for-a-drop approach. They would think nothing of bursting into the shops and bars shouting at the customers until they paid up – which they seemed to expect as a right. They worked fast – always on the move – so that it was sometimes difficult to keep up with them. Whether this was the traditional way with this particular style of music or a practical way of getting round the local vagrancy or obstruction laws we could only speculate; but it was certainly appearing to pay off financially.
As we were only treated at this stage to five or six notes at a time from the Ciaramella, it was difficult to make an accurate assessment of the musical style, though one or two things were immediately obvious. The Ciaramella was much louder than the Zampogna and although the Ciaramellini played the same two locks each time, he did not attach a great deal of importance to rendering any tunes as such but was mainly using his instrument to provide fanfares to announce the musicians’ presence to the passers-by. The Zampognista played continuously (as if to ensure that the audience fell that they were getting value for money) while with his spare elbow and n leg operated the boss drum and cymbals on his back from time to time in a very simple ‘oom-cha’ rhythm. They seemed to have no problems at all with tuning, both among the various components of the bagpipe and between the two instruments. Moreover, in his small bursts, the Ciaramellista displayed admirable control over his instrument.
These first impressions were reinforced when a little later on that day we saw them playing in a more open part of the street, this time standing still and behaving more like the buskers one is used to in this country. We were then able to hear them playing a more extended tune. It involved a good deal of fast double-tongued repeated notes from the shawm player and again the tuning was excellent. The bagpiper, however, seemed rather stuck in the same groove that he had been in earlier in the day. His contribution was purely accompanying and consisted of an undulating pattern in G# rhythm producing what sounded like one bar of tonic and one of dominant seventh in alternation, even when the Ciaramella’s tune did not appear to share those rhythmic and rhythmic qualities (I speak completely ethnocentrically and doubt my analysis is completely inappropriate to the understanding of the music they were playing).
By the end of the Easter weekend we had seen no fewer than four different Ciaramella-Zampogna duos on the streets of Venice. It was, however, the pair described above who turned out to be the more loughier of them all. They were also the only ones to make use of percussion (!) but all four Zampogna I saw had these old-inner-tube
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bags, one having a dull beige woolly cover. One of the pairs was housing to the terrones of a large cafe beside the Canale Grande and another was playing in and out of the cells. This pair seemed to me to be excruciatingly out of tune; although again the individual smirded of shawm playing would put many an Western revivalist player to shame. The last duo we saw was on Easter Sunday morning outside one of the local churches as the faithful were coming out from their annual visit. The Zampognistas would insist on adopting a servile position down on one knee and wishing the passers by “Buona Pasqua”, thus sadly identifying himself with the old folks who, with their lowered eyes and outstretched palm, seem to be in a statulory ornament at the door of these churches.
The sight and sound of these musicians will stay with me forever as I can honestly say that it is the only true ‘folk’ music I have ever heard live. This is a tradition which has not suffered from any sort of a revival; on the contrary, most people hearing this music would say it was definitely on the way out - the last vestiges of a once proud tradition. All the players in Venice that Easter were middle-aged and working class, looking as little like the self-conscious guardians of a hallowed folk art as could be imagined. It was interesting to note the one obvious attempt to bring the tradition up to date and appeal to a wider audience: the use of the one-man-hand drums. But in general, their lack of regard for the awkward appearance of either themselves or their instruments attracted to a completely different musical ethos from that of most Western folkies (who in Britain, however practical it may be, would play a scruffy, dinner-time as a busking boy without making the least effort to cover it up?). So ton did their attitude to their music, each pair only appearing to play one tune at the post, and even then to treat it mainly as a means of extracting a indeed begging - money. And yet for me this music has one quality which for me raises it above many another type of music - it is functionalis It is functional for the players in that it provides a twice-yearly (Christmas and Easter) opportunity to come down into the city and make a picnic lunch; functional for the locals in that Easter would just not be Easter without it; and functional for tourists in that it provides us with yet another image to take home with us from that unique city of Venice.
BAGSTYLE 88, BUXUS & WHISTLING FERRETS by Julian Goodacre
Since taking up pipemaking, I have been surprised at how many letters I receive from people who desperately want to start pipemaking but feel themselves unable to as they do not know the correct manner in which to dress.
I did not treat the first few letters seriously, but on receiving more and more enquiries I now realise that the world is full of
hundreds of potential pipemakers. Some of these letters can be quite heartbreaking; and I get phone calls too. A man in Australia often phones me before 7 am to discuss suitable hairstyling and his longing to make buxinus. I have had several enquiries from Burmah about the suitability of pipemakers wearing flared trousers.
As part of my struggle to hasten the World Bagpipe Boom which I feel sure we are on the brink of, I am now organising the 1988 World Symposium on Bagpipe, Makers & Etiquette, Department, Education and Style. It will be known as BAGSTYLE 88 and it will be a unique opportunity for would-be pipemakers to gain the confidence they need to start. It will be openk and regional event with a range of lectures, discussions and personal tuition. Pipemakers from all over the world will be invited to come and take part in BAGSTYLE 88. Our own President will be asked to deliver a series of talks entitled ‘Leather jackets: a blight to the gardener - a boon to the pipemaker’.
Full details have not been finalised yet. I have approached various Five Star Hotels to see which would be most suitable. For this event to be a complete success, the minimum requirement should be nothing less than total luxury. Saunas, masseurs, pools, nouvelle cuisine…BAGSTYLE 88 will be phenomennal - and so will he its cost, but it will be an event that no interested party can afford to miss.
Has anyone else in the Society been approached by ‘Sunkist Nature Holidays’? They have contacted me (I don’t know how they got my name) and offered me a free holiday on the Greek island of Buxus if I can organise a paying party of Bagpipe Society members to come on this ‘Nature Holiday’. From the literature, it sounds idyllic but I happen to know it is not last year a friend of mine organised a party from his cycling club to go to Buxus on an “Nature Cycling Holiday”. When they eventually arrived, they found their ’luxury’ accommodation’ was a divisned Greek army barracks. The ‘Golden Beaches’ were not. The ‘charging heaven’ was run by an ex UK army major who insisted on playing his entire collection of Sharon Tandy records every evening.
Personnllly there is nothing I would like more than to spend a sunderched nature holiday on a Mediterranean island with a party from the Bagpipe Society, but let it not be on Buxus. Does anyone know of any other Mediterranean island where bagpipes and nudity would be acceptable?
Lastly, can anyone supply me with any information about the famous music hall act ‘Captain Goatabin’s Celebrated Whistling Ferrets’? Any photos and, ahove all, recordings would be greatly appreciated. Several people have written to say that they suspected the ‘whistling’ was actually produced with some kind of whoopee cushion cunningly concealed in the Captain’s uniform.
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JOHN BARTENDALE, 17TH CENTURY YORK PIPER by James Merryweather
The bagpipe was an popular European instrument yet to date only three York references have been discovered. A ‘large pype’ was amongst the goods of the Guild of St Christopher and St George in 1533, and William Hill, the Waiter, bequeathed his ‘best hangpipe’ in his will of 1558. A splendid poem describes the hanging of John Bartendale, Piper, at York in 1634:
Here is a piper apprehended,
Was found guilty and suspended,
Being led to fatal gallows,
Roys did say, “Where is thy bellows?”
Ever must thou cease thy tuning.
Answered he, “For all your cunning
You may fail in your prediction.”
Which did happen without friction;
For, cut down and quick interred,
Earth rejected what was buried,
Holl alive or dead he rise;
Got a pardon next assigns;
And in York continued blowing:
Yet a source of goodness showing.
John Bartendale was indicted of an unspecified felony at the castle and executed at York’s Knavesmire (as was Dick Turpin). A manuscript (British Library Add. MS 33,595) containing fragments of York history, once owned in 1655 by Richard Girdler (son of John Girdler, chief waiter in the City of York 1623-1666) states that:
“….he hanged three quarters of an houre, was cutt downe easlie into a hole with others covered with earth and feelinge the weight of earth upon him begane to stirre was taken upp (by a member of the locall Lawsonr family, fortuitously riding by and puzzled by the wriggling grave) carried backe to the castle & reprieved at the assises following”.
It is interesting to observe that (at least, in the knowledge of the poet) Bartendale’s pipes were held to blow, as are the Border, Northumbrian and Irish pipes of today, and unlike most illustrated English bagpipes of the period which were mouthblown. That is not to say that it is not possible that Bartendale played “the gold pipes”.
(I reckon he was ‘topped’ for not paying his local Bagpipe Society subscription… Ed)
TOP OF THE POPS
On a recent Mariplan poll, specially commissioned by the Bagpipe Society at enormous expense, we’ve come up with some interesting facts regarding what type of bagpipes are played by the members. Overwhelmingly the most popular is the Northumbrian Smallpipe in both the ‘Bagpipes Owned’ chart and the ‘First Choice’ chart. Sorry if I’ve missed out anyone’s favourite instrument, but at the time of writing I’m not in possession of complete and up to date records (and I’m not going to bother the Membership Sec. with something so trivial). I’ve had to do some ‘grouping’ which may seem unfair to some but the line’s got to be drawn somewhere and we’re looking at dozens of different types of instrument and the figures would then be a bit meaningless. It’s also often very difficult to establish just what type of instrument people do play with names like ‘Border/Lowland’ or ‘French Style’ cropping up here and there. So, for instance, anything vaguely Northumbrian Small goes together (including shuttle but not Musette); Border and Half-longs go together; all Cornemuses go together (but not Cabrette); all Galias together; all Gajdas together; etc. MS Praetorius go into the Flemish category etc. The ‘First Choice’ chart is based entirely upon what order you’ve listed your instruments in on the membership form, so may not be a true reflection of actual first choices. So here goes:
BAGPIPES OWNED
| Place | Type | Total owned |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Northumbrian Smallpipes | 54 |
| 2 | Flemish | 33 |
| 3 | Border etc. | 26 |
| 4 | Highland | 25 |
| 5 | Gajdas | 21 |
| 6 (joint) | Early English | 20 |
| 6 (joint) | Willeann | 20 |
| 7 | Cornemuses | 16 |
| 8 | Scottish Smallpipes | 12 |
| 90 | Gaitas | 11 |
| 10 | Leicestershire Smallpipes | 8 |
| 11 | Musette de Cour | 7 |
| 12 (joint) | Double Smallpipes (Goodacre) | 5 |
| 12 (joint) | Cabrette | 5 |
| 12 (joint) | Veuze | 5 |
| 13 (joint) | Musa | 3 |
| 13 (joint) | Tunisian | 3 |
| 13 (joint) | Scottish Pastoral | 3 |
| 13 (joint) | Biniau | 3 |
| 14 (joint) | Hungarian | 2 |
| 14 (joint) | Zampogna | 2 |
| 14 (joint) | Swedish | 2 |
| 14 (joint) | Polish Rock | 2 |
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The also-rans with one each were: Swayne Student, Grosvenor Glove, Huemelchen, Chamber(?), Electonic, Bohemian, Greek Islands, Cretan, French Smallpipes and last but not least…the Grosvenor Glove! FIRST CHOICE
1 Northumbrian Smallpipes 28
2 Highland 17
3 Flemish 12
4 Rarely English 11
5 Gaitas 7
6 (joint) Leicestershire Smallpipes 6
6 (joint) Border etc. 6
6 (joint) Gaidas 6
7 Charette 3
8 Musette de Cour 2
9 (joint) Cornecruse 1
9 (joint) Double Smallpipes 1
9 (joint) Musal 1
9 (joint) Swayne Student 1
9 (joint) Grosvenor Glove 1
I find comparing the two lists fascinating, particularly how some types hold their own (particularly a certain Edinburgh made smallpipe!) while others apparently are only second instruments. But make your own comparisons.
REPRINTS
In response to numerous requests, we’ve decided to embark upon a reprint of Newsletters. The price has now been set at 20p for issues 1, 2 and 50p for all others. This seems to be the cheapest and fairest way of doing it, the prices (to some extent) being spread across the different issues of different sizes. Back copies of Chanter 1.1 can be had for £2.50 – please add at least 30p to cover postage (airmail £1).
LETTERS
Dear Bagpipe Society
Further to the request from Brinn Wilson in Australia for information about Greek bagpipes: I was on the island of Naxos last year and tracked down some local pipes in a hidden souvenir shop. At 125 I was pleased with the purchase but feared that all I had was a tourist trinket. However, the chanters have reeds and work as a double reed pipe, though the tuning is almost equal but a little idiosyncratic. With a lot of polishing with glass paper and a new blowpipe (the
original was short and full of bone) made from a bleached goat bone from the Naxos bench, the pipes now look like the real thing except that the bag (goat with hair inside) is stiff, dry and incomparable of its intended function. Perhaps Inleo Octavius will tell me how to make it work (q.v…Ed).
The Naxos pipe is just as in Rhodes but with equal chanters i.e. each with five holes. The chanters, reeds, stock and cradle are all of reed. I presume the sort of stuff you are all over the islands, used mainly for a sort of shade thatching. It is good old Arundo donax? The pipe in the drawing in the Inst Newsletter appears to have a short piece of horn as a bell, much in the style of Bohemian’ Cretan pipe. It is not a Naxos pipe which has an upturned cow-horn bell. I should be able to confirm the Cretan design after our hols in April.
I recently caught up with my old school music master who, it turns out, is a bit of a Crete expert. He has wormed his way into the more private side of that island’s culture over the years and tells of a village dance he and his wife attended quite recently where the musician arrived with no instrument, the simply cut himself a length of cane and cut a reed and fingerholes into it. But it didn’t work to his satisfaction so he rapidly made another and played for the dances all night. Surely, this is the origin of woodwind music and bagpiping, still alive today!
Any road, I hope to be able to relate my own Cretan pipe stories for a future issue. I would very much like to communicate with other Graecopitophiles, if any. I may say that I have not yet heard these pipes and I fear disappointment. Are there any recordings of Greek island pipes?
I wonder if anyone has had the misfortune, like myself, to buy the record of “Folk Music of Hungary” (Albatros VPA 829R) taken from Bartok’s collections. It’s worth it for a laugh if what the great master thought was representative of his country’s bagpiping. It’s quite excruciating, and not because it’s from a different culture either!
James Meryweather,
Editor’s note: I once borrowed a record from my local library of island music featuring bagpipes which on the cover looked like a single chanter bagpipe. Sadly, a revisit revealed that the record is no longer there. Anyone interested in Greek music might like to try a specialist shop: Trenchant, 31 Xxxxxxx Street, open seven days a week till 7.30pm, and they do mail order. They claim to have the largest collection of Greek recordings in the world. If anyone tries them and has any luck with Greek bagpipe recordings, could they please let me know so I can pass the information on through these pages?
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Dear Bagpipe Society,
Many thanks for your prompt reply to my request for membership information. I was impressed with the Newsletter and the general enthusiasm and dissemination of information that was portayed.
I am originally from Monmouth in Wales and emigrated to North America eight years ago. I am currently living and working in Montreal but have a US mailing address basically to avoid items of importance being handled by the Canadian post services (you can’t begin to imagine how bad Canada Post really is!).
Since being over here, I’ve organised two piping conventions - basically for tuition on Northumbrian pipes, but with many other pipes being represented in concert and informally.
I’ve enclosed an ‘86 booklet for your interest and I’ll be putting out an ‘87 one this year as I’m planning a third gathering in August with Richard Butier (Duke of Northumberland’s piper) giving tuition. There will also be Hannah Moore on Lowland pipe and Joe McKenna on Ulleann pipes in concert. Many other events and personalities are planned too. It will be the same venue as the past two successful years: North Hero, Vermont, USA, 15-16th or 22-23rd of August.
I’ve been interested in playing and collecting pipes for about 13 years now, and although I’ve had to quit for a year or so, a number of different types of bagpipe, I would admit to playing Northumbrian small and half-long pipes, Scottish Lowland and small pipes and Uilleann pipes, but I do possess a Breton Veuze and Binjou Koz, a Flemish set, a Gaita, a Swedish set, three sets of English and a couple of antique sets e.g., an early 1760-1820 Border Pipe by McDonald of Edinburgh, a set of Pastoral pipes (I think) and two early (last Century) Northumbrian Smallpipes, one in ivory (I also have two recent sets of Northumbrian Smallpipes in ivory and silver). Total sets amount to around 40 and the number is growing rapidly! I’m told this disease is incurable!
I’ve recorded only once with a Montreal Early Music group, but I’ve played in group and solo situations for two years. I worked with a fine Breton fiddler here performing various types of Celtic music. I enjoy duo and trio playing very much.
There are many pipers in Canada and the USA but they are very scattered on this vast continent. There are more players in the US, partly due to the larger population and mostly due to cultural activities. Obviously the greater number are Highland pipers but there are a fair number (relatively speaking) of Northumbrian Smallpipe players and Ulleann pipers (probably one of the latter due to the Irish/American historical connections). Then there are pipers from other European countries, both East and West. There are pipers such as North African and East. I’m not so familiar with it; although I did hear of a Cambodian (??) pipe player living near Providence, Rhode Island. There’s lots of interest in Eastern
European music in certain circles but (to my knowledge at least) not too many pipers.
Alan Jones,
Editor’s Note: The booklet Alan sent with his letter really is superb, I’m immensely impressed! It will go into our newly formed Reference Library (see separate article). If anyone is interested in attending Alan’s 1987 convention, I suggest you write to him at the above address. We look forward with great interest to hearing more from this part of the world!
Dear Bagpipe Society,
Whilst trying to trick down the names and addresses of bagpipe related organisations in various directories in the public library, I came across the exciting entry: “The House of Pipes”, Bramber, Steyning, West Sussex; 25,000 items from 150 countries covering a lifespan of 1500 years. Unfortunately, a closer inspection of the small print revealed they were of the Government Health Warning variety (as in so put that in your pipe and smoke it). What frustration! It’s enough to make your hair stand on end.
However, I did also find an entry for the Borrowing Piping Centre, _____________________ which is open from Easter to mid-October, Mon-Sat from 10-6, admission 75p. Has anyone visited and could they let us know more about it? I heard my first bagpipe on the shores of Loch Slapin on Skye when aged about 7 and have been hooked ever since.
Yours, Ej-Og
PS I have just returned from the most extremey meal at fellow piper Phil Collins’ house. Not only were we treated to an excellent pear and bannon crumble but we also had an “ethnic vegetarian” (Phil’s words, not mine!) vegetable pie with wholemeal pastry. Adorning the top was a Flemish bagpipe beautifully sculpted in pastry. I made a cake for a 21st once - a lifesize violin in chocolate and orange sponge. Maybe I could try……
Dear Bagpipe Society,
May I use the Society’s pages to comment on a recent acquisition? I have just purchased a new set of pipes made by an excellent, but relatively unknown maker, Jim Orr. The pipes are Flemish in the two forward-pointing drones in concertoris. My only experience of mouthblown pipes is the RMGF Refretories. These are, of course, beautiful but are rather difficult to play and mind. Drones loving them as a good piper should, I do find them monsters i.e. large and bulky. However, Jim’s pipes are much lighter and kinder to the player. The drones have a fantastic meaty sound despite their elegance and the chanter stays in tune whether closed or open-fingered. The blowpipe has an amazingly comfortable horn tip and
page 22 page 23
is in easy reach of the mouth. The bag shape fits like a comfortable pillow under the arm and, in short, they are a delight to play.
Jim has one problem though. His general comments revolve around his pipes being “alright, I suppose”. I would recommend such comments should be regarded as the onset of a paranoid delusion! illness as his pipes are more than “alright”. As for of inter-care, well, how many makers actually phone you to ask if the pipes are alright? And the price he almost gives them away!
One last point refers to the assets of little-known, non-commercial makers. 1 had my pipes within about a month.
Duncan Moss,
Dear Bagpipe Society,
I need help (what, piper doesn’t!?). I am presently making English and Flemish style pipes in G on a semi-commercial basis i.e. I will sell my instruments but don’t operate in waiting list or anything like that. My problem is that in September, I will have to move to Oxford to do a course at the University for two years. What will become of my workshop? At present I have my lathe etc. in a small spare bedroom where there is just enough room to get on with some turning, though so far I’ve smashed six light bulbs with the ends of bass drones waving about while I’m tinkering with them.
Guess what I’m going to say next? You’ve got it - is there anyone in the Oxford area who has a shed, garage, outbuilding or the like where I could set my gear up? I wouldn’t be able to pay any rent, but I would be happy to make a pipe in exchange for somewhere, and give access to the lathe if anyone would like to learn to turn. All I need is somewhere with a fairly level floor, reasonable protection from the elements and a mains socket or somewhere I could run a cable to. It doesn’t need to be very big at all.
I know it’s a lot to ask, but if anyone could help me I’d be very grateful. You can phone me on Stratford times to find me in. Or you could write to the address below. I shall I will with baited breath.
Jim Parr.
Dear Bagpipe Society,
Thanks for mentioning my instruments for sale and for sending me a copy. I had begun to wonder whether you’d abandoned me to the Buns. Although I haven’t sold any of the instruments mentioned in the last Newsletter (so they are still on sale!) I have decided to dissolve my entire collection so there are a few more now on offer (see for Sale… end). If you want to buy anything, please make out a cheque to Joachim von Dassow and send it to my address.
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I’m living at my parents’ place and have stopped busking (forever we hope) and for the last two weeks I’ve been busy trying to flog my instrument collection. As there are lots of little repairs to do on most of them, I’ve been quite busy on the lathe etc. I’m half trying to give up music altogether, half thinking about trying to get it together as an instrument maker.
Not very piping greetings from Sangit Jashan,
West Germany
(Please begin all letters for publication ‘Dear Bagpipe Society’ so that we know what is for publication and what is not).
FOR SALE
The following are for sale by Sangit Iashan (address above):
Brian Howard full set of Iilleann pipes in D; drones tune down to C (tuning ring on bass drone). Stop key chunter top and pure chunter. Detachable bag regulator - works with a slide. Deluxe set with ivory and decoratively shaped keys. 3500 Deutsch Marks
Set of Scottish pipes (made in Pakistan) £50
Czech Dudy in F, condition Al, hardly used 1300 DM
Three hole pipes in A, blackwood, French style by Camec 60 DM
Camec Irish folk flute in ebony, brass ferrules with decorative mahogany box 330 DM
Virinx Shepherd shown in G (all fingers down) 60 DM
Cabrette with interchangeable playing parts 1) G/C 2) A/B, made in Dolan by myself, range one octave and one note to a worblox 1000 DM
Tenor Cornemuse & spare reed (Renaissance windcap instrument) 300 DM
Baroque transverse flute Rotteterre model in A415 - pulls out to play in modern pitch. Ebony with etched silver key, made by myself 600 DM
Two folk fifes in D, no keys, conical bore, tin whistle fingering, will sell individually 200 DM
Three Bb bombardes in stained boxwood 200 DM
Also still going:
Jon Swayne Flemish 8 pipes £300
Jon Swayne G Flemish chanter £60
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Renaissance D flute (modern pitch) £60
After that breathtaking lot, here’s one from Gideon Spoonbill, —
practice set of Uilleann pipes by Hughes & Mcleod - concert pitch in blackwood, £175 or thereabouts. Fairly urgent sale due to purchase of 10mx (well, got to keep your interests varied).
POSTCARDS
We have a new member in Holland who, apart from playing a wide variety of bagpipes, collects postcards, stamps etc. with a bagpipe theme. I’d sure he’d be delighted if any members were to contact him with a view to swapping cards etc. His name is Jeroen de Groot, Holland
On the subject of cards, if any members know of good sources of bagpipe related postcards, Christmas cards etc. (they do exist), please let us know as we’d like to build up stocks to sell on the Society stall.
BAGPIPES FOR TOURISTS by John Goodacre
Last week a filling dropped out of my tooth and I had to make an emergency visit to the dentist’s. As I nervously picked through the stale copies of ‘Punch’ and ‘The National Geographical’ etc. in the waiting room, my eye was caught by a cover picture of a fine specimen of a Scotsman in full piping regalia. This was on the February 1987 issue of ‘I It Rratian’, published by The British Tourist Authority. Inside, amidst regional cheeses, Mary Queen of Scots &c., was a feature on bagpipes by one Pamm Moulton. She dealt out few of the old cliches about ‘mighty barbarous music’ and had obviously made some recent enquiries. All the pictures and most of the text concern the Highland bagpipes and quoted Jean Campbell as one of the tutors at the College of Piping in Otago Street, Glasgow.
What surprised me was the third paragraph:
“Although the bagpipe is usually thought of as the great highland version which is played worldwide there are many other kinds. In England the Northumbrian pipe has never died out, the Leicestershire pipe is being made again and Flemish pipes, more popular here, are also part of the revival of piping in England. One of the best known players, Jon Swayne, of Glastonbury, constructed a first cousin of 16th century Flemish pipes by studying those in the painting ‘The
Wedding Feast’ by Pieter Bruegel the elder. With calculator, dividers and ruler, he worked out the proportions by reference to the figures in the painting.
I left the dentist’s with my tooth properly plugged (like a Northumbrian chanter) and a glossy magazine secreted in my coat pocket, thinking to myself “the word is spreading! Well done Bagpipe Society!” Oh dear, perhaps I should now warn the Leicester Tourist Information Office…..
EVENTS AROUND THE REGIONS by Bob Cross
In my new capacity as Bagpipe Society Regional Co-ordinator l would like to add an extra to all future Newsletters. For a regular feature, I would like to request all members who attend, or just know of, weekly, fortnightly or monthly events such as informal pub sessions, Society meetings or anywhere else where pipers are welcome to go to let me know. I want to compile a list of these kinds of “Events Around the Regions” (a possible title) so that members everywhere will always have an up to date list of places to go and play, or listen to bagpipes. This is not to be confused with Folk clubs, Festivals and other piping events as listed in the Diary - what I want should be strictly informal but regular. This will be particularly handy for members who, when away from home, want to know what’s on in another area. Can someone suggest a good title for it? Something with a pun on bagpipes would be nice.
Please send all information to Bob Cross,
.To start things off, here’s some dates when London Society members can get together at Chi Allen’s place, 12 Florence Street (basement flat), Islington, London: May 4th, June 5th, July 3rd and August 7th. These are all Fridays (always the first Friday in the month) and all
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[Cartoon] “You know, ‘mass love never dies’ our motto!!!” “SAME OL’ BONGOS I’M BURR! MORE THINGS SINCE HAS GOGVY WENT TO JAMAICA FOR HIS HOLIDAYS”
are welcome whether players or listeners. It might be a good idea to ring Chi first though, in case there’s been any unforseen change of plan Tel:
REFERENCE LIBRARY
As well as the above article, Rob has suggested that it might be a good idea to start a reference library of bagpiping material. To start things off he’s included an item on Swedish bagpipes (in Swedish).
Seems an excellent idea to me. If anyone’s got anything, either of a technical nature (like the Swedish) or just of ephemeral interest (programmes, posters etc.), please send them to me (in the first instance until we can sort out a librarian). Copyright permitting, we can then offer copies to members for a small charge to cover postage and photocopying. Copies of any plans or theses produced by members would be particularly welcome in the library. Equally, any unwanted books, magazines, tutors, records etc.
LIST OF SUPPLIERS
I am frequently asked for names and addresses of suppliers of leather, reed cane, wood etc. for the construction of bagpipes. It would be nice to have to hand, and perhaps even to publish, A list of suppliers of such materials. I would therefore like to ask all you makers, both native and professional, to divulge some of your trade secrets so that I can compile such a list. Please give it some thought.
MEMBERSHIP LIST
We had planned to send out a 1987 Membership List with this mailing. The trouble is, members were still regularly sending in their forms notifying me of changes until very recently. The flood seems to have eased a little now though, so we’re trying to get it together to be mailed out some time before the next Newsletter. Please check your entry carefully if you’re on the old list and let me know NOW if there are any changes, errors or additions. In future, we will issue a separate addendum with each Newsletter giving detailed changes as well as new member information. This way, your Membership List should remain constantly up to date until we reissue it. In the meantime, here’s a list of members who have joined since the last Newsletter:
Alan Jones, ,
Andrew Heywood, ,
Keith MacDonald, ,
Val Woolard, ,
Lawrence Fry, ,
Tim Drewster,
Jerren de Groot, ,
Robin Stacks, ,
Julian Watson, ,
Will Hilbert, ,
Mike Skyner,
Adrian Pilgrim, ,
Jean-Pierre Wilmotte, ,
David Faulkner, ,
Have I got anything wrong? Have I missed anyone? I’m sure you’ll let me know if I have.
AUSTRALIAN BAGPIPE CONVENTION by Anne Hildyard
Our Bagpipers’ Convention last October was a great success. We had all manner of people turn up and, amazingly, there were seven Macedonian Gajda players! We were lucky also to have a hand from Hungary’s Uj Pellik with us and many lung and dancers - so there was much snapping and boot stamping. The convention was more than anything a welcome opportunity to get together with like-minded musicians and dancers - an often difficult thing to do in this big country of ours!
The setting was an old rambling hospital now hostel with a million small rooms, a huge kitchen and some large living rooms, situated in the country. The next nearest house was miles across a lake so it was perfect for a noisy, reedy get-together! There were different sessions going and everyone soon got to know where the ‘Hungarian room’ was or the ‘Irish room’ or where the hurdy-gurdies were. We also had a large main session room which was busy most of the time, often packed with people dancing around musicians.
Roodmakers set up permanent tables and they probably worked the hardest! By the end of the weekend there were instruments, pieces of cane, tools, soaking Gajdas all over everywhere and no one wanted to go! It was so good to get to know everyone. We called a meeting and formed a register of names, addresses and musical interests rather than the Bagpipe Society’s concept that we’re not a society. Each person on the register is being sent a copy so that we’ll have much better communication in future (I have a copy if anyone’s interested… Ed.). The list will be updated every so often, so we’ll gradually build up numbers. I tried to form an Australian branch of the Bagpipe Society at the meeting but, despite enthusiasm, there was
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no one prepared to do the work towards the membership and the newsletter! Most people were happy just to have the Bagpipers’ Convention Register. I am, however, willing to remain the Australian ‘contact’ for anyone wanting information about the Bagpipe Society.
We are making plans for our next Bagpipers’ Convention to be held again at Tallangatta near the Victorian/New South Wales border on October 2nd to 5th this year. If anyone will be out this way then and is interested in going, write for information to Dianne Pollack,
MEMBERSHIP FORMS
Can anyone use large quantities of membership forms? If you have a shop or run a stall at a festival, perhaps you could assist us by putting a pile of forms out and drawing people’s attention to them. We’re also planning to have some small (A3) posters printed so perhaps you might like to display one of these too. Contact Judy Parry if you can help.
SHOP TALK
Cogglers Music is a shop specialising in folk instruments, music, cases, repairs etc. Although they don’t stock any bagpipes yet, they hope to soon. They do, however, stock books and plans for Northumbrian pipe enthusiasts (via the Northumbrian Pipers’ Society) and have asked if we’d like them to be an outlet for us in a similar way (yes please Tim!).
A good stock of other folk instruments is always kept — melodeons, concertinas etc. and repairs are undertaken. If you’re in the North of England, they sound worth a visit; if you’re not, they do a mail order catalogue. The address is Cogglers Music, ask for Tim Brewster and mention the Bagpipe Society.
take place within the normal folk festival. At the time of writing it hasn’t yet taken place (hence my confusion over tenses); by the time you read this it will be all over.
As well as the British Isles, several European countries will be represented including France, Spain and Hungary with concerts, lectures, workshops, a tattoo, displays and demonstrations. Altogether, something we’d have liked to let you know about if only the organisers hadn’t insisted on withholding the press release until March 4th. Still, they must have had their reasons and perhaps next year they’ll give us more notice. If anyone did go, perhaps they’d like to do a review for the next Newsletter. Having had so many, we’d like to offer the organisers our support and wish them every success with the venture.
BAND NEWS 1
NOISE OF MINSTRELS
Noise of Minstrels is an exciting ‘Rarely Music’ group featuring Michael Sergeant on Bagpipes. They have just released their first commercial recording, ‘Pass the Hat’ on disc, cassette and compact disc on the Unicorn-Kanchaman label KKP9060. The record features eight musicians playing a variety of early and traditional music on a wide variety of instruments including bagpipes, hurdy gurdy, fiddle, flute, guitar, clarinet, recorder, shawns, bassoon, gitterns and percussion.
They are currently looking to extend their booking list (see Diary for current dates) more into the concert/recital field. If anyone is interested in such a promotion, contact Mike Sergeant.
Look out for Common Ground, a 7-piece Folk Dance band featuring musicians from Noise of Minstrels plus electric instrumentation.
BAND NEWS 2
BLOWZABELLA
Blowzabella have been asked to compose and perform a special piece of music to commemorate the 500th anniversary of the last battle of the Wars of the Roses, The battle took place in and near the village of East Stoke in Nottinghamshire. Notes Council are organising a week long festival to mark the event and Blowzabella have been asked to perform on the actual day of the anniversary, Thursday 18th June in the church at East Stoke. All enquiries to David Green,
(Hello Dave if you’re reading this!).
The band are composing a piece of music that has historical references and some historical instrumentaltion. The band’s intention is not to write a piece of ‘Early Music’ but to compose a contemporary piece which has some historical influences. Should be very interesting - wonder if they’ll get round to recording it.
In July, Blowzabella are off to play in Italy and in August they will be in Brazil on a tour organised by the British Council. But they will be out and about playing in Britain in October and again before Christmas (see diary for current dates). Paul James and Nigel Eaton will be touring as a duo in November (dates to be announced).
The long awaited ‘Blowzabella’ tune and ‘Dance Book’ is going to see the light of day at last! Matt Seattle’s Dragonfly Music has come to their rescue and will be publishing it in June. The book will contain over 100 tunes from the band’s dance repertoire, culled from five years of their history. It will also include some appropriate dances from Britain and Europe.
Also in June, they will be recording a new LP with a September release in mind. Any enquiries about Blowzabella records in general should be made to John Garrad of Plant Life Records. John is always willing to help with any enquiries and can be reached at PO Box 10, St Neots, Huntingdon PE19 4TF.
We now have full details of Blowzabella’s annual thrash which this year is being held at Aldershot. You should have a leaflet with this Newsletter so I won’t bore you by repeating the same details. The concession rate, by the way, applies to all Bagpipe Society members. This is the one event where you can be assured of meeting a large chunk of Bagpipe Society members (including all the organising committee if you’ve got any moans). So if you want to get round to meeting some of the people who might otherwise just be names on a membership list, do come along. If you think it’s too far to go, why not try contacting other members near you for car sharing?
The main event this year are Taj Jazz, a 6-piece band from Paris who play traditional Breton dance music and songs. They mostly come from Breton families living in the Paris area and their music reflects their Breton heritage and contemporary influences. On the Friday night (buy) the band are giving a 1/2 hour display they’ve started a full Breton dance workshop and following that up with a Breton dance in the evening. Taj Jazz are Bernard Labritziez vocals, melodeon; Camille Ollivier - binious, macqueboms; Olivier Meill - bombardes; Jose Ponzano - saxophones; Jacky Le Pendu bass clarinet; Richard Billy bass guitar.
For further details and booking forms, send a stamped addressed envelope to Paul James
BAGPIPES made by JULIAN GOODACRE
1 LEICESTERSHIRE SMALL PIPE
mouthblown or bellows blown
key of D or C
2 ENGLISH GREAT PIPE
key of D
3 ITALIAN MUSA
key of D or C
4 WELSH BAGPIPES
key of D, C or B flat
5 SCOTTISH HIGHLAND SMALLPIPES
key of D or C
6 ENGLISH DOUBLE PIPES
key of G or F
7 BORDER HORN
loud capped shews
key of D or C
SCOTTISH HIGHLAND BAGPIPE ACCESSORIES
Drone and chanter reeds; practice chanter reeds; hemp tying in three-pipe brushes; seasoning.
SALE FOR LEAFLET
JULIAN GOODACRE
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SAGPIPE SOCIETY BENEFIT CONCERT
As well as organising the Blowzabella do at Aldershot, Paul Jeans is somehow finding time to organise a benefit concert for the Society as well. The date is Sunday 14th June at the Chestnuts Folk Club, The Whipps Cross roundabout). I think the nearest tube station is Snarebrook on the Central line which is about a one mile walk away (very pretty, through the southern edge of Epping Forest). Those who have offered their services to help raise money for the Bagpipe Society (Drone Aid?) are, in alphabetical order:
John Webster of Spinning Jar on Steve, & Paul Jeans on Flemish and half-long pipes John Goodacre on Leicestershire Smallpipes Paul Miller of Mara! on Macednian Gaids Paul Roberts (nte of Red Shift) on Border pipes Robert featuring Mel Stevens on various Cornemuses and Cabrette Dave Shaw of Red Shift on Northumbrian Smallpipes Peter Stacey and Jean-Pierre Rasle, Gaitas, Flemish, Cornemuses; Cabrette and half-longs
All these performers will be appearing for free (though Paul will endeavour to fund ome expenens) and we have the use of the club for free too! I think that it’s a wonderful thing that all these people, who earn their living by playing the bagpipes, are willing to give up their time for the Society in this way (particularly when you consider how far some of them are going to have to travel!). As Alan Bearman the club organiser is giving us the use of his club for free too (thank you Alan!), I think we should all do our damnedest to be there to support this glittering (and for once I’m not being facetious!) array of piping talent. Money raised at events such as this helps us to keep your membership subscriptions low.
The last benefit concert we organised actually lost money - but although only a handful of people turned up on that cold, wet night, the evening was a complete success in every way other than financial. Do help us to make this a complete success in every way, not just artistically! If anyone needs somewhere to kip for the night (the more the merrier!), they can stay at my place as I live quite near. Let’s show the world what happens when the Bagpipe Society turns out in force!
RECORD REVIEW by Simon Owens
‘In Memoriam’, by Faiscas Do Ximre Gimbarde Records GS11006
This is a retrospective album of tunes from the Galician group Faiscas Do Xisbare, a four piece band of two drummers and two
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Gaideros. The pipers, Jose Ferreiros and Nando Casal Tacon now play with the Galician supergroup Milladiero.
For the newcomer to Galician music, this is the ideal record. It features the traditional format of two gaitas and two drums (one side and one bass), but also occasionally has other instruments such as the Zanfona (the Gallego hurdy-gurdy), accordian and hulciner. The tunes cover nearly every type of Galician dance, from the halting 3/8 time of the Foliada to the Waltz to the Fandango, taking in such eclectically named species as the Fanancreedorpa, the Muniera, the Alborada and the Polca (well, some of them are exotic anyway!).
As one might expect after hearing Milladiero, the quality of the bagpipe playing cannot be faulted. The Muniera de Caban is a good case in point; it is a showpiece tune for solo gaita and percussion in which the first part has its own key and the second in the major. Needing adept cross-fingering, it demonstrates the versatility of the Gaita and the sure touch of the Gaitero.
Danza de San Roque de Illo is another two-part tune consisting of a dance and contradance played with the two Gaitas in harmony. The tone of the Gaita is ideal for harmony playing and the construction of (most) Galician tunes exploits this to the full. The Gaita is also well matched to the Zanfonas; Galician hurdy-gurdies are generally large-bodied, have no trumpet (which is just as well since Galician music abounds with percussion) and produce a warm, rich sound. The Waltz tune, Danza de Ferreirares, gives the hurdy-gurdy a leading role and adds a nice contrast to the album.
Galician tunes are generally quite simple but entirely effective for dancing to (and playing along with!); this record contains good tunes, well played and is an excellent buy for both the casual listener and the tyro Gaitero. It is usually available from Collett’s Records.
By the way, if anyone is going here (to Galicia that is!) in the near future, could they please get me some chanter reeds? Please get in touch if so.
(Record and book reviews for the Newsletter are always welcome. It doesn’t matter how old they are - although, obviously, reviews of new releases would be most welcome.)
TUNE SPOT
It would be nice to have a regular tunespot in the Newsletter. If you have any tunes you’ve written, or traditional ones you’ve picked up, why not write them neatly out and send them off to me?
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The only conditions are that they should be n) suitable for playing against a drone, b) physically playable on some kind of bagpipe and c) not subject to any copyright. It would be nice too if some sort of background information could be given e.g. the instrument the tune is intended for; what drones are recommended; if traditional, any information regarding the source.
It would be appreciated if the music could be neatly written on a sheet of manuscript paper which conforms to A4 proportions. The actual size is unimportant as this can be corrected photographically (although A4 would be best if possible).
DEAR UNCLE OCTAVIUS
Pipers’ Problem Page
HIGHLANDS OR ISLANDS I have a problem with my Greek bagpipe. The bag has its furry side inside and has dried out so completely that the instrument is unplayable. How can I remedy this?
James Merryweather, York
Dear James, Two types of Greek bagpipe are known to me (readers who have specialised knowledge of this area, please let me have more information), the island type, see Mainers PIlte 111 No. 8, and the Macedonian type. I believe the latter is similar to the Yugoslavian Macedonian bagpipe, Haines Pinte VI, No.22. I had occasion some years ago to do some restoration work to an islandes bagpipe, and a musician friend of partly Greek extraction informed me that a mixture of olive oil and oozo was correct. I must say that it was quite effective: it rendered both the bag and myself very supple; the drawback was that it left the outside of the bag greasy, which stained my clothes, and a bag cover is definitely not an guarantaiy in this case. Another friend who plays Macedonian Gaida, and who studied with a well-known player in Macedonia, told me that Nevin creams in often used. I think that the treatment you use should perhaps be dictated by the way in which the skin was cured. Prolonged soaking in salt and brine is one method; when this dries out completely, the skin is left quite stiff, but a little moisture is enough to restore it to pliancy. You can easily tell whether or not brine has been used by the suck-it-and-see test. A brine cured skin should quite quickly become soft when wetted. Otherwise, I would say the safest course would be Nivea; several generous applications, rubbed into the outside of the skin with the hands, should do the trick. (For an interesting description of curing whole goat skins for bagpipe items see Laurence Pickens “Folk Musical Instruments of Turkey”. OUP 1975 ISBN 0 19 318102 9).
FINGERING Please can you tell me if there any advantages of a half-closed fingering system over a straight-forward whistle fingering? Lawrence Whistler, Reading
Dear Lawrence, Thank you for raising a question which will be of interest to readers new to piping. For their benefit, a half-closed system is one in which at least three fingers of the right (lower) hand re-cover their respective note-holes for notes above that given when all right-hand note-holes are open, and it is applicable to open-closed conical bore chanters. It is a system used, for example, by Highland and most French pipers, and frequently affects phrasing. There is not, on the face of it, much in common between the highly evolved styles of the Highlands and the Auvergne, yet neither would hardly be possible without the half-closed system. Inspection of any Highland bagpipe tunebook will show that very rapid groups of grace-notes spanning the whole range of the chanter are very frequently used, when a feature of Auvergn-e style is a rapid return to the 6-finger note from virtually all other chanter notes, particularly mid to high ones. This movement is know as a “rappel", and can be either single or double. In its simplest form it gives a staccatto effect to the melody. It would simply not be possible to execute these movements fast enough if the fingers or the right hand as well as the open fingers of the left hand to be re-placed all at once.
I suppose that the answer to your question is that it all depends what sort of music you want to play and on what instrument. Two instruments usually played with an open style spring to mind, namely the Gaita Gallega and the Grande Cornemuse Bourbonnaise. All other considerations apart, the half-closed system gives a finiely more scope for gracing.
DISAPPEARING DECORATIONS Please imagine you have been stranded on a desert island with your bagpipe (we will allow you to choose your maker) and your 8 favourite ornaments. You are coping quite well until suddenly, out of the blue, a tidal wave removes 7 of them. Which ornament would you choose to be left with and why?
Mike Wallbidge, Isle of Wight
Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear; this is about the silliest question I have ever heard, and deserves a silly answer, in that without my cowrie shell necklace (the island) I stiff with them, and why would I want to advertise my fertility?; my gold Cartier amulet I wear only for effect, so what use is it on an uninhabited island. Likewise my Rasbo medallion, my umbilical ruby and my purple contact lenses; it would be a wrench in more ways than one to cast off my leather thong bracelet with African pottery beads, which I acquired in exchange for an unwanted Pentangle album at the first Glastonbury festival. Since my handkerchief would eventually wear out it would probably be
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advisable to lose my pearl nose-studs. That only leaves my gold earring, and I would have to keep that wouldn’t I, otherwise, like Nelson’s sailors, I would not be able to afford any new funeral.
Now for he words you have all been waiting for, “NO, BUT SERIOUSLY THOUGH - I have given my best to the craft, of profound consideration and …. no, I can’t go on with it! I refuse to answer such a silly question, and if you force me I’ll have a tantrum and lie on the floor and scream and kick my legs in the air. Go back to the Isle of Dogs, wherever that is.
MORE EMBARRASSING EXCRETIONS Thank you for your most helpful comments on excessive excretion. As a teetotaller I was about to take you up on your kind offer (the third solution) when an AIDS leaflet came through the door. Then a friend phoned and told me of a Highland piper who contracted Legionnaires disease from his pipes and died as a result. Can you comment on any other social diseases the pipes might spread? If I was to move to between blown pipes would I be totally safe or would a one-night stand with a mouthblown pipe leave me a physical wreck?
Margaret Gribble, Spitalfields, E2
Dear Margaret, I am obliged to you for raising this important and serious point. Unfortunately I feel unable to give any reliable advice through lack of medical knowledge; perhaps a qualified member might care to contribute on the subject. However, as a concerned citizen I understand the position to be that you are firmly safe if you confine your music-making to one faithful instrument which you can trust. Confining yourself to bellows-blown pipes is bound to reduce the chance of infection, slim though that may be; though here again promiscuity must have its dangers. It looks as though playing-around is out.
CON SOUNDINO Please can you tell me if it is possible to mule a bagpipe in the same way that you can mute a brass instrument? If so, what is the best thing to use? My other half says put a sock in it.
Pin Nissimo, Milan
Dear Pin, Whereas in a brass instrument the radiated sound energy issues exclusively from the bell (the energy radiated by vibration of the walls is so small as to be negligible), in a woodwind instrument, the amount of energy from the bell decreases in proportion to the number of open fingerholes. A little reflection will show indeed that in some bagpipes no energy comes from the bell at all, because they do not have a, rather, it is stopped up. Between these two extremes lie, for example, Uilleann pipes where the bell is sometimes stopped and sometimes not; and cylinder bore chanters where an even smaller
proportion of the total radiated energy normally comes from the bell. I understand that Uilleann pipes when playing with an orchestras frequently stop the ends of their chanters with corks, so that with all fingers on, the pipe is silent, yet there is little effect on the quality or strength of the sound. Nevertheless it is possible that a muting device would be worthwhile on an instrument having a sharply expanding bore; but such a device would have to be designed so as not to interfere with the system of nodes and antinodes belonging to each note, and thus affect the instrument’s response and stability. Your partner’s advice is probably worthless from a musical point of view, but only experiment will tell.
MEET YOUR MAKER
by Judy Parry
JONATHAN SWAYNE
MAKER OF HISTORICAL & FOLK
WOODWINDS
This issue on feature Jonathan Swayne who is a professional maker of historical and folk woodwind instruments in the West Country. He currently produces four types of bagpipe as well as folk flutes and whistles, serques and Renaissance recorders.
Everyone has a skeleton in their cupboard - and now Jon’s is going to be revealed. Before becoming an instrument maker he was a pin-striped solicitor. All this ceased following a word-turning course where he made his first flute. He spent three years training at the London College of Furniture and, as readers of “Chanter” will be aware, we have Bill O’Toole to blame for his conversion. His first bagpipe was born in 1979, with all the usual tenthird problems, and the English Renaissance bagpipe followed a couple of years later. Full time production of instruments began in 1980 and now Jon sells instruments throughout the world.
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As the Chapter 1.2 Workshop article is comprehensive, readers are referred to that for details on the Flemish and English Renaissance pipes. The Flemish are in mouthblown, one octave pipe with 6-finger note of D. The parallel bass and tenor drones sound octave D and are long and thin and depicted in the paintings of Pieter Breughel the Elder. Upper C#, Eb and F are available, legally, by cross-fingering but G# and Kh are fudgeable if you don’t linger! People hearing the Flemish pipes for the first time often remark on the tonal quality with surprise, calling them ’the mellow pipes’. And the answer to the most often asked question (offer ‘what is it?’) is, ‘yes, the bag drones, take a lot of filling the first time in a day, but once the lungs get going it really is a very easy pipe to play and it does cut down a bit on the heating bills’.
Visually the English Renaissance bagpipe is quite different, with its turned bells and diverging drones. The tone is more strident and it has a greater range, up to A in the second octave from the H below the 6-finger note of G. All chromatic semitones above low A are available by cross-fingering.
The Half-long/Border pipes are a versatile instrument of one and n half octaves from the 7-finger note (giving a whole tone below the tonic) to the 3-finger note in the upper octave. The fingering is half-closed with an extra rent hole for the right thumb to give hb (in the C version). Other semitones availible by cross-fingering are C#, Eb and F. The upper octave is fingered in the same way as the lower, the transition being made by increasing bag pressure.
The pipes are available in A, G and low D, bellows or mouth blown. The bag is cowhide, the chanter, drones and bellows are in plumwood and the mounts are brass and vipossa.
There are several options for drones. Jon prefers the combination of bass, octave and high fifth. Drone switches are an optional extra, both as an overall switch and as a switch/plug for the third drone (although the high fifth sounds the third harmonic of the bass rather than obtrusively playing its own note and therefore does not necessarily need switching off). The drone stock is positioned so that the drones can lie either across the chest or over the left shoulder (useful on a crowded stage). The bass drone on the D pipes is folded because of its size but those involved in recording or PA work may find it an advantage on the G and A sets as well and it can be specially ordered for these. It is then easier to get a balanced drone sound with a microphone as the bells of the drones are closer together.
The Society has received many enquiries about the availability of a Student bagpipe and at last Jon has one in production. It has been designed for minimum maintenance and ease of playing without compromising the essential characteristics of a bagpipe. The chanter is based on that of the Border pipes and has the same range (one and
an half octaves, G to C’ with lower F ). The leather bag is similar to that of the Border pipes and the design of the mouthend chanter and single bass drone has been kept plain. This version is mouthblown but a bellows-blown instrument could be produced if required.
All Jon’s pipes work well both in a concert environment and playing for dance, indoors or out (well, admittedly -10 C. on Plough Monday wasn’t that successful but even the upper octave of the recorder was a tone out and the bottom of it din (whistle iced over….). They balance well acoustically against most other instruments.
Delivery time is about 18 mouth, but Jon is working on ways to reduce this for the Student pipes. He provides an overall service for his instruments and produces reeds for his bagpipes. With the beginner in mind, he is currently working on a bagpipe tutor in conjunction with Judy Tarry (no publication date yet set). You can contact Jon at the address above. Have a go on one of his sets of bagpipes - but be warned, you may get hooked!
Prices on going to press are:
Flemish Bagpipes £495
English Renaissance Bagpipes £495
Half-long/Border Bagpipes
Mouthblown £575
Bellows £625
G or A Mouthblown £495
G or A Bellows £545
Extras:
Plunger switch for 3rd drone £10
Plug switch for 3rd drone £5
Overall drone switch £25
Folded bass drone for G & A sets £15
Student Bagpipes £245
All replacement reeds £6
RKB SHIFT AT MADDENHAM, APRIL 4TH by Judy Tarry
I was tempted along to discover if this left wing band really does do circle left, circle left, as rumour has it. Unfortunately a surfeit of local brew and the foot-tapping music kept me so engrossed that I forgot to listen out for it. The evening began with a concert of mainly song material. The sound balance was heavily biased towards vocals and keyboards so one had to strain to hear the lovely pipe/fiddle work. However, this was adjusted as the evening wore on and we were treated to some excellent Northumbrian tunes that really made you want to dance. Many of the dancers begin with two fiddles and Northumbrian Smallpipes; hard work for the musicians but very effective with a gradual build-up bringing in melodeon and keyboards.
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Dave Shaw uses two Microvox pickups on his pipes; the reproduction is excellent through a although apparently, one has to beware that certain notes are inclined to feed back unless treated suitably at the mixing desk. Being mobile certainly improves the stage presence of a band. Altogether, the evening and a band well worth travelling to see. I think it was the best polka out I’ve had the pleasure to dance! Look out for their album “Back in the Red” to be released in May on Backshift Music BASH 41 or try them live at Riponrden in June.
NEWSLETTER 10 COPY DATE Please have all copy, letters, advertisements, Diary information etc. in to me by June 14th. The Newsletter is printed cheaply for us by a local school. If I don’t get it to them before the school holidays there will be a six week delay before it can be issued so please, please try to ensure that you meet the copy date.
DIARY APRIL 24-25 Hamish Moore & Ken Campbell Blairgowrle Folk Festival 25 Red Shift Nailwanth Festival,9lns. 25 Cock & Bull Band Clerendon Press Centre, Walton St. Oxford 27 Red Shift Fairfield Hall, Croydon
MAY 1-3 Kathryn Tickell Lincoln Folk Festival 2 Alistair Anderson Woodman Folk Club, Kingswinford, W. Midlands 4 Moisen of Minstrels “Mary Merrie” Kingston Surrey (7 pm street shows) 4 Blowzabella Southern Folk Festival 8 Blowzabella Caxton House,129 St Johns Way, London N19
8-10 Joe Hutton & Ali Anderson Holmfrith Folk Fest. Yorks 8-10 Kathryn Tickell St. Neots Folk Festival 10 Kathryn Tickell Hare Folk Club, Herts 16 Sharlemainc (with Judy Circle Dance Workshop/ Terry & Paul Miller) Dance, Exeter Arts Centre
20 Moisen of Minstrels Nail. Theatre Foyer 6-8pm free informal recital 21-24 Joe Hutton & Ali Anderson Orkney Folk Festival 22 Kathryn Tickell Sin. Hotel, Bonessborough 22-25 Beau Temps, Cheshire Waits Chippenham Folk Festival
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22-25 Blowzabella, Doonan Family Hastings Folk Festival 23 Hosbit, Kathryn Tickell Dunav (Balham) 24-25 Beau Temps 28-31 Noise of Minstrels 29-31 Beau Temps
JUNE 5-7 Kathryn Tickell Malton Folk Fest Yorks 6 Doonan Family Neath Folk Day 10-12 Joe Hutton, Ali Anderson, Branchol Folk Festival 12-14 Kathryn Tickell South Petherton Folk & Craft Festival 13 Dunav Balkanplus Swiss Cottage Community Centre, 19 Winchester Rd, London NW3 14 Bagpipe Society Benefit Concert, Chestnuts Folk Club, Lea Bridge Rd, London E17. See separate item in this Newsletter for details 16 Alistair Anderson St Neots Folk Club 18 Blowzabella East Stoke Church, Notts 20 Blowzabella Weybridge Folk Festival 20 Dunav Free concert Hyde Park 21 Noise of Minstrels Lightwater Craft Fair, Bagshot, Surrey 22 Beau Temps Marga Folk Club, Barrow 26-28 Aberjaker Skinners Bottom Folk Festival, Truro 27 Beau Temps, Red Shift Anglo-French Music Day Hipppoden, Yorks
JULY 1 Noise of Minstrels Wrea Green Institute Station Rd, Kirkham Lancs 11 Dunav Free concert Cantelowe Park, London N. 10-13 Bagpip/Murdy-Gurdy Fest St Chartier, Indre,France 17-18 Black Annis & Rugged Rainbow Mellhead Folk Festival 18 Dunav Balkanplus (see June 13) 24-27 Maroc Trowbridge Folk Festival
AUGUST 9 Dunav Free concert, Parliament Hill Fields, London N.
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