Taking up the Bagpipes - should you? Part 1

Here is the Youtube link if you'd rather listen than read below (https://youtu.be/bFCagOtLbm0)

This is part one dedicated to the quandaries of taking up the pipes. Part 2 is about the actual journey you have started - hope they both help

Funnily enough, I previously had no intention of listening to or learning to play the great highland bagpipes - AT ALL :-).

I used to go for saxophone lessons with a superb teacher Mr Joe Ferrier, many moons ago and Joe was second tenor with the fantastic Stapleford Big Band (which I had the pleasure of leading for a few years around the mid 2015's) as well as many other great named big bands, and every time I called to his house for the lesson, he would be playing the bagpipes before I arrived and would say 'you ought to learn to play these' to which, I would rather have bent my fingernails backwards.

Then, my good lady and I were at an NYE party at the Derby Assembly rooms one year (going back a bit now of course) and as the clock struck midnight, the bells clanged in the New Year and way up on an elevated platform, a spot light lit the darkness and there, was stood a piper in all his finery; and he piped out Auld Lang Syne - that sight and the sound was a momentous turning point which really made me say out loud - 'I want to be that guy' - and so the journey began (not straight away, but the seed was definitely sown)

I had been leading various swing and big bands around the midlands area and then decided to start my own, and 5 reincarnations of band style were borne from the same group of 10 musicians and funnily enough, especially if we were either Kal's Kats (rhythm and blues band) or Kalamazoo Dance Band (Glenn Miller) we were often asked - 'you don't know a piper at all do you for our event' and of course the seed of interest continued to flourish.

2019, this is it, I'm going to start. We had just been to another NYE party and low and behold, there was a piper again and this time I thought, that's it, no more dreaming or hanging around, 'get yer boots on' and make it happen.

I started researching heavily to understand what was/is required to start a piping journey and made contact via Facebook with a few pipers far and wide to get the 'scoop' on what steps I need to take. Various bits of great feedback came back and the two most important points were - 'get a teacher or join a pipe band' and 'don't buy any pipes until a decent piper has reviewed them for you'> These were really important points and especially the revelation that I'm on the wrong age bracket of starting this journey, but on the other hand 'just do it'.

That helped enormously since I had my eye on a set of black and silver 'pakistani' pipes from Amazon which looked superb, but being a musician myself made me think 'really' a full set of black and 'real silver' bagpipes, red tartan bag, drone reeds, carry case, chanter and book - all for £106 - gotta be a good deal then right! Needless to say, that when looking at saxes at £4-10k for a vintage Selmer mark VI or £2k for a vintage Conn Constellation or Bach Strad trumpet made me quickly realise - Nah, all that glitters............. so I left them stuffed away in some Amazon warehouse.

Next step. Find a pipe band. I had been to the Ashbourne Highland Gathering in Derbyshire a few times and knew there was an Ashbourne pipes and drums band, but despite numerous attempts to contact them - to no avail, so I set my sights further afield and contacted the Seaforth Highlanders (Notts) branch and spoke with Steve Purchase (piper) at 7.20pm who told me they were in practice at that very moment. So what do you do - yep, I got in the car and drove from home near Ashbourne - pity Ashbourne pipes didn't call me back would have been so much easier - hey ho - later found out that they had folded) and drove across to the Verney Institute in Pleasley near Mansfield to see what it's all about and then the journey had begun.

I had bought a set of (recommended) 1985 Kintail bagpipes and a MacMurchie practice chanter - so now, with very decent kit, I had no excuse to get going and so weekly trips were made to the Verney as I joined the Seaforth Highlanders (Notts branch)

So now, it was a case of sitting down with Pipe Major Bob Orridge and Pipe Sergeant Tony Varley as well as the superb and continued tuition from my main mentor Pipe Sergeant Stuart Gullen and start the most motivational shattering journey of learning to play throws, grips, birls, doublings Taorluaths - whaaaaaaaatttt!! I don't want to do all that stuff, I just want to play it like a recorder or clarinet.

Then the mist slowly cleared and then the harsh and bitter reality of what you think is going to be a really easy journey especially since there are only 9 notes on the thing and no sharps or flats or accidentals to contend with - surely, give me a month and I'll be up on the stage next to that guy in the tartan. Oh yes I will, oh no you bleedin' won't :-)

Now a mixed quandary of 'how much for these pipes if I sell them to one of the band and run out the door' or start the mind blowing journey of becoming a piper.

So, not being one to run away from a challenge, I set about learning to play all these damn annoying embellishments still quizzing away as to why I should play them and what value do they bring - of course any non pipers might be reading this and thinking why do you need to put all of those bits in - well, essentially pipers across the globe will learn a piece off rote (because pipers don't use music to read as you do in say our Glenn Miller big band) you commit the song to memory along with all the embellishments, thus, this way, wherever you go across the world and meet other pipers eg for a pipes and drums military tattoo eg Bremen Tattoo (which Pipe Major Steve Bozon is heavily involved) then you can be sure that you will all be playing exactly the same arrangement of music and will be guaranteed to 'fit in' irrespective of which pipe band you are in. Then, of course you can parade at a military tattoo with numerous pipers and not know any of them, but you are all linked by one common thread - which is the music you play together. Moreover, the most important thing is having 30 pipers all playing exactly the same tune but it sounds as though just one piper is playing.

So, where were we, ah yes, being armed with a practice folder showing exercises that get the birls, throws blah blah blah all under your fingers made me realise, I have no control over my fingers let alone blow up a bag and squeeze that while trying to literally play amazing grace - needless to say the bag was immediately withdrawn from active service and the focus realigned to the chanter and 8 knotted fingers and two buckled thumbs with pressure holes 'tattooed' into the pads from holding on for dear life.

Progress was good, various embellishments coming together nicely and even starting to get the highly coveted and much revered low G 'bubble' sound coming through - I'm beginning to enjoy this and then boom - game over - enter Captain Covid!!

So, from March 23rd 2020 lockdown central came into force. I personally loved it (not decrying the perils of Covid here at all, purely my own situation at home). Here I was, armed with a practice chanter, a book called the minor play list and a set of bagpipes that PM Bob Orridge had said try to get a long straight unwavering note eg E

Well, not much else to do and the weather is glorious, so here we go - get practicing the embellishments to get a fluid movement and release the tight grip on the chanter and just practice away.

Funnily enough, as you practice, you start with a kind of enthusiasm which is great, but starts to wobble as you start making duff sounds on the chanter, don't get the nice crisp doubling sounds etc and actually, after about 40 mins of continuous practice, you start to blur and then you simply have to stop and go and do something else to re humanise again :-) but because you've been making progress, you're soon itching to get back on the chanter to get it going again.

I started to work on the 6/8, 4/4, 3/4 sets and learnt the whole damn book during the lock down including the Major Play list and others (no probs, nothing else to do:-)

Approximately one year on, we returned to practice and this time it was a Tuesday evening at KangHan martial arts club at Hucknall in Nottingham - led by Master Ian Lennox 8th Dan Tae Kwon Do Grand Master and fellow Piper.

So, here I was feeling quite pleased with myself having made the most of this Rip Van Winkle time to really accelerate my knowledge of the tunes etc. Now, my question to any pipers reading this - 'what happened next' and yep you've guessed it, embellishments weren't crisp and clear, they were rushed, I'd picked up various finger placement bad habits and so 2 steps forward and a goodly 12 steps back :-) Now I had to essentially undo and relearn the various finger actions to get them back as to how they should be played - and this took months!! Hence the reason to get yourself a good teacher right at the outset, to avoid this retrograded somewhat soul destroying hindrance and set back.

Having spent the time to re-correct all the bad habits, I had still managed to play the actual bagpipes in terms of three breaths in and a tidal flow of one breath in and out, gentle rhythmic squeezing of the bag and a steady tone.

Now, I was spending a lot of time watching YouTube videos of Matt Willis, Neil Clark (Falkirk Piping) and Graeme Sutherland and his group in Southern Ontario and others who methodically walk you through every step of learning to play the pipes from start to 'finish' (which never really happens of course - the finish point that is).

In this time I'd learnt that the chanter is pitched at let's say 480hz which is essentially in between Bb 466 and B 493Hz so it sit's in its own little world, but with chanter reed tweaking can get you near 470Hz which helps for playing with concert pitch accompaniment eg piano, guitar etc but in the main most modern pipers and bands are pitching around 480-482Hz and of course you have to make sure you tweak your reed to get the pitch to be the same otherwise all hell breaks loose and the sound is a combined 'gruesome mess'. Then the drones, where and what the heck to do with these - Well first thing is to get them blowing to the point of stopping, but not quite, so they are unattached from the main body stocks and then moving the rubber bridal up and down on the drone reed (EZDrones in my case)and blowing until the nice stepped 'boo' sound starts and extra puff starts to shut them off. Then you effectively need to match the two tenor drones to the chanter which is effectively half the frequency .i.e, would be 240Hz (i.e. half the 480) in this case and would match the chanter perfectly. Then the bass drone - same principle but with a pitch of 120Hz to match the tenor drones and the chanter - much like playing middle C on a piano which is C4 and then an octave down from C and another octave down again i.e. C2 - thus all three C notes are in tune with respect to their octave seat (when played on the piano) - I know most pipers will tune the pipes to a correlation of A and so the chanter is 480Hz and the relative note will be modified to be A and then the drones will all reflect A as well with respect to their relative pitch with concert A (440Hz) and in relation to the chanter and drones.

Incidentally, when you hear a piper out and about and it sound horrendous, the untrained piper i.e. general public won't know what is going on apart from the fact that the pipes sound like someone pulling their nails down a blackboard - this is because the drones are all out of tune to the chanter and each other and so you get a kind of warbling harmonic distortion which sounds 'evil' to put it nicely - but of course the real sweet sound is when the chanter and drones are all tuned in correctly and the chanter reed is of sufficient strength to blow a more rounded warm timbre as opposed to a more shrill sound.

Now, after the practice sessions and the online instruction, have bagpipes that play in tune especially after a 10-15 min warm up and hold lovely steady notes along with progressive improvement on the embellishments to complement the melodies.

Next step was to upgrade the pipes - I've always sought to buy the very best instruments I can whether that be saxes, trumpets, clarinet etc, with the suggestion that if you have the best instrument and things aren't working out (assuming the pipes or sax etc are playing properly) then the only common denominator is YOU. So with that, I advertised the Kintails which I had previously updated with some lovely shiny brass fittings (courtesy and craftsmanship of Derek Marr at The Bagpipe Refurb Co) and they ended up going to a well known musician in South Korea who bought them for his dad since he already had a similar set and his dad wanted a matching set. So I then bought a lovely set of Dunfion Dirk Handle sculpted pipes which are lovely to look at and play very well, but the main aim was set on three particular makes - they being either vintage silver and ivory Henderson's or silver and ivory Sinclair's or all silver David Nails DN6's and so thanks to Ross McKenzie at Source Bagpipes, the DN6's arrived some time after and what majestic pipes they are - all hallmarked 925 DN and weighing a bleedin' ton with approx 1.7kgs of sterling silver on them. Having said that, I love them and always get admiring looks etc and moreover, bought them as an investment for the future. Not sure my kids will be wanting to play them but at least the silver can be melted down and the pipes will be good for a summer BBQ :-)

Since then, I've been honoured to play at funerals, weddings, Masonic events, Burns nights along with the most coveted NYE party night and what an atmosphere that brings when the pipes get going and the guests are all in full party mode and singing Auld Lang Syne at the top of their voices.

One particular more recent event was to join The Leicester Symphony Orchestra at DeMontfort hall, where I joined the Orchestra for their 100th Anniversary to play the pipes at the end of a masterpiece by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies called Orkney Wedding with Sunrise - this was the last piece to be played and so it was the one to go out with a bang - no pressure now of course.. I went along to meet everyone at rehearsals and was given the score to play and then the orchestra struck up and that was then that I realised that a 480Hz pitched chanter simply does not fit in with a concert A 440hz tuned to an oboe - just doesn't work (joking aside we knew this was the case anyway). Having said this, the orchestra manager explained that Evelyn Glennie had previously played this arrangement with them a few years ago. So I contacted Evelyn via her agents and she had just arrived at Heathrow Airport from a concert in Canada and kindly told me all the details eg play an A 440Hz pitched chanter etc etc and so that was it, practice practice and then the day was upon us, just a few months ago in fact, the orchestra was being conducted by the masterful Dr. John Andrews (that was his final concert with the Orchestra prior to heading back to London). The concert piece was in full flow and I was behind a stage door to the right of the Orchestra and could see the sea of faces in the audience via the monitor in the side room - then the piece came to the part where Sir Peter Maxwell Davies is leaving the wedding and walking back along a causeway from the Isle of Hoy and as the sun rises in the distance, so the piper starts to appear in the distance and play the melody I had been given. Now, my ticker was going about 300bpm and mouth dry and shaking like mad, bloody hell the music gets to the part and the stage door opens and all the folks in the audience look stage left wondering what's happening now. There I was , I blew the bag full, struck in the E on my new A pitched chanter and preyed to every god that exists that I could remember the damn tune I have to play and then I walked forward, playing to the front of the stage where John Andrews had beckoned me. I turned to face the audience and about 500 faces all looking up and the orchestra sounding absolutely fantastic behind me. The final few bars rolled through and a wonderful rousing round of applause from the audience (all on their feet, not just for me I'm sure, but for the entire concert) John and I picked up two strategically placed glasses with beer in them (made to look like whiskey) and shook hands and toasted the audience - That was an overwhelming experience and one I want to do every week :-)

In addition, I've now played out on parade with the Seaforth Highlanders (Notts) led by Bob Orridge as well as the Seaforth Highlanders (Leicester branch) led by the Steve Bozon and more recently joined the Ratae Pipe and Drums competition band led by Bryon Brotherton in Leicester - with some mighty fine players there.

Great tutors are a must and they set you on the right path and in particular, must mention (in no particular order) and acknowledge and thank the following who have provided fantastic guidance and direction and most importantly, encouragement - Stuart and Cath Gullen, Steve Purchase, Bob and Jane Orridge, Tony Varley, Ian Lennox, Fiona Hodson, Stu Scott, Chris Parry, Kev and Maria Haig, Vic Szolin Steve Bozon, Conal Kelly, Bryon Brotherton, Matt Willis, Neil Clark, the band members of The Seaforth Highlanders (Notts Branch and Leicester Branch) The Ratae Pipes and drum competition band.

This is a never ending journey and I'm delighted that via my own contacts or via my Derbyshire Piper website, have introduced 4 new students to the band and all of whom are progressing and enjoying the journey.

You certainly do get to meet a vast number of new friends along the way and each one is on their own respective journey and it's great to share ideas, thoughts, fun and cheeky banter for all to enjoy a good laugh.

The original statement at the beginning says 'Taking up the bagpipes - should you? Well, I started late in my lifetime and know many pipers who have about 50 years practice and playing under their belts and you can tell when you listen to then - there are also players like Bryon Brotherton (Colonel in Scots Dragoon Guards ) who play the pipes as if they are computer programmed and it is such a pleasure to watch and listen to and to stand next to them and pipe at a parade.

Sometimes, I look back and think should I have taken these up years ago, but then on reflection No - otherwise, I wouldn't be writing this now and moreover, I was doing many other things and so the time wasn't right.

I also want to learn to play boogie boogie piano - will that ever happen - I don't know just now, but certainly interested.

When you look and listen to pipers or any other musician playing,irrespective of how good they are, you have to admire and acknowledge the fact that they will have had to put in numerous hours of training to get to whatever standard they are at. Anyone can buy a set of pipes whether it be Amazon 'p,,ki' pipes or McCallum's but the real challenge is making them sing and that's when the journey begins.

In answer to my original opening title - the answer is a resounding yes, fantastic instrument to learn to play - a real monster to harness and tame and both very difficult and very easy to play (if that makes sense) - but be prepared for at least 1.5 to 2 years to be able to play at least something that sounds sweet (i.e. with all the drones in tune) and a relaxed feel with steady notes.

I know that some folks hate the pipes and in many cases its because the pipes aren't in tune or the embellishments are scrappy which detracts from the beauty of the tune.

Get all those points in place, together with Stu Gullen as your mentor and 'encourager' and you'll be a good piper and will really enjoy the challenges and rewards that it brings - the next tune is awaiting and the journey never ends.

Happy piping folks - Kal, The Derbyshire Piper.