Monotropa uniflora: Piobaireachd (classical bagpiping music) and BEAUTY (philosophically even)? * Beauty in Piobaireachd re these "Guidelines for Practicing a Musical Instrument" - http://scottmacleod.com/GuidelinesPracticingMusicalInstrument.htm ... brainstorming-wise ... and ... * * * Making ongoing recordings for "Honey in the Bag" Scottish small pipes' album

Taylor, good 'to PIobaireachd' with you last night :)

Regarding 

A

beauty and Piobaireachd? - re these Ma & Marsalis' Guidelines for Practicing a Musical Instrument - http://scottmacleod.com/GuidelinesPracticingMusicalInstrument.htm ...

All apart from what I'll coin as 'Piobaireachd philosophy,' here are a definition and some thoughts/connections about beauty (re Ma & Marsalis, initially) and Piobaireachd ...

"a combination of qualities, such as shape, color, or form, that pleases the aesthetic senses, (especially the sight)" (which sight aspect could relate to kilts and the Scottish kit of Piobaireachd players?)

Beauty re these "Guidelines ... " - http://scottmacleod.com/GuidelinesPracticingMusicalInstrument.htm ... brainstorming-wise: 

2 never make a sound without hearing it first; hear it in your mind.

4 join feelings into your music when you feel bad, to integrate your feelings with your mind and body.

5 Relax and practice slowly.

7 Practice expressively.
Be serious – invest yourself expressively.

10 Think for yourself.
Don’t become a robot, but don’t dismiss what you’re taught.

12 Look for connections. (Make the social aspect of practicing regenerative - S.M.)
Music washes away the dust of everyday life from your feet.

and ... 

B

synthesize all 4 Piobaireachds in CoP Yellow Tutor Vol. 4 together in your bodymind into 'one computer program' for playing all 200-300 'major' Piobaireachds (and not just the form underlying "The Company's Lament"? :) ... would take 'deep listening' and internalization :)

and ...

C

exploring the Dixon manuscript may be a fascinating way to bring into circulation again new great tunes ...

"William Dixon manuscript - Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org › wiki › William_Dixon_manuscript

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Dixon_manuscript

... and even regarding - https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Scottish_smallpipes_and_borderpipes - with Scottish smallpipes not only emerging from GHB music (for me), but also emerging from Northumbrian and borders' piping ... 
D

Scott

-- 

- Scott MacLeod

- http://scottmacleod.com 

Some of the above Scottish small pipes' theory starts from the 'outside' of Piobaireachd playing culture ... and it would be interesting to develop further 'Piobaireachd philosophy' - as thinking about, and teaching and learning - re beauty for example, from the inside of this piping culture too :)

Some bios - 

Angus MacLellan (again?) and mentioning his relationship with wee Donald re as 'big Angus':) - 

(My first set of highland bagpipes in the 1970s were Grainger and Campbell)

and

PM Donald MacLeod

Taylor, 

Re middle finger down in Piobaireachd for high As or high Gs: 

... in listening to my skipping old Yellow Tutor compact disk CD recording again, I just heard Angus MacLellan say that the high G in Piobaireachd is always played with the middle finger down (and the thumb too, of course). And there's a considerable difference between playing a high G with and without a middle finger down (in Piobaireachd) tone-wise ...

I had learned that 'the high A in Piobaireachd is always played with middle finger on chanter' - and found this here too;  

"And the fingering isn't optional...but the high A fingering is optional it seems. I prefer the traditional (same as high G, middle finger down) but many players are opting for the light music high A nowadays. Don't know why."

http://forums.bobdunsire.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-66639.html

So, let's talk about this on Thursday further ... and regarding a 'tone question' for high G and high A, and playing Piobaireachd learning in part from the CoP Tutor ... and the tones we like, as well as what we want to learn further. (I'm not, for one, planning to compete on GHB in Piobaireachd, in any Highland Games for example, but I think tone and tuning ar very important on SSP too).

Cheers, Scott

You expressed interest in playing a jig for next week or soon. How about "Glasgow City Police Pipers" which is composed by PM Donald MacLeod, and is a really great tune too, - for the following week?

Here are 3 versions of sheet music digitally - 

& without grace notes

(It's mentioned in this article - https://projects.handsupfortrad.scot/hall-of-fame/pipe-major-donald-macleod-mbe/ - and as is Duncan Johnstone, too, whom I think I've told you a bit about already, took a workshop with him in around 1982, and wrote a paper "Bagpiping in Scotland" on a tiny UNESCO ZIS stipendium).

Cheers, 

Scott

Nice to talk earlier! 

Making ongoing recordings for "Honey in the Bag" Scottish small pipes' album, using the "Audacity" recording App (but last night had to reboot my whole computer at 11 since recording App didn't work, so didn't record). I was playing the hornpipes Zeto the Bubbleman, The Pumpkin's Fancy, and The Streaker, some of which are the great Gordon Duncan tunes, and at 64 bpm. Am aiming for 74bpm - 82 bpm (https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/02/western-honey-bee-re-my-upcoming-honey.html) playing with 'great energy' in the tunes.  The Audacity recordings in general technically & initially sound like good quality to my ear - in a MP3 format, but I want to improve how I play. Kinda momentous re recording ... some fast tunes will involve further playing beforehand. I'll likely record with metronomes in earphones finally (at a studio in nearby Montclair https://www.wildplum.org ?). I may also record out on my porch, - in kilt, and without metronome earphones, later. Some further good steps in this process (but good too to have recorded the College of Piping's Green Tutor Vol. 1, and Blue Tutor Vol 3 tunes as tutorials, and for recording experience too). :) 

Am not sure about getting this to CD, I think .. and in the PIpers of Distinction series out of Scotland, if at all possible, beyond online via Bandcamp - https://scottmacleodhoneyinthebagscottishsmallpipesbagpiping.bandcamp.com/. And BANDCAMP is waiving some sort of fees on October 2nd, which I have to look into. (I learn from recording too!).

Some thoughts yesterday about Piobaireachd and beauty - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/09/monotropa-uniflora-piobaireachd.html - which are interesting to explore with Taylor. 

How is your day going, and what are you up to this weekend?