So you want to play the Bagpipes

So you want to play the pipes?

If you are reading this and you have thought to yourself "... I like hearing someone playing the bagpipes, I wonder just how hard they are to learn..." and walked up to a piper to ask him or her "Just what does it take to start playing those things?" You are not along. This question is one asked of just about every piper from time to time. On the other hand, the other most asked question I get is normally from my wife, "Are you done yet?" Living in rural wooded New Hampshire as I do, the neighbors are not a problem and now that I think about it, neither are the deer anymore.

So to give you some good advice and a fair idea what its all about I called up a friend of mine Mr.Oliver Seeler,who is a lot more knowledgeable about it then I am and asked permission to use a bit of information from his web site www.Hotpipes.com

A Short Overview: The Practice Chanter and Beyond

If you simply pick up a Highland (or most any other) bagpipe and attempt to play it, you will get nowhere. Playing a bagpipe is a complex task with a lot happening at once and a lot to do at the same time. Once you inflate the bag and the four reeds start sounding, you're committed. You can't just stop to think about this or that when things get hectic. Get behind the curve and you're in deep trouble ... the wedding guests may run screaming from the church, your dog might bite you, or the neighbors might start shooting.

Learning to play the Great Highland Bagpipe (GHB) requires a measured, systematic approach. The conventional well-proven method begins with a good quality practice chanter, an instruction book (called a "tutor" with audio accompaniment (a CD), and formal lessons with a teacher. When the student has mastered the practice chanter, he or she is ready to approach the bagpipe itself. Attempts to start right out on a bagpipe - skipping the practice chanter - are almost certain to fail completely, regardless of previous musical experience, for reasons that will be explained shortly.

A practice chanter is an instrument in its own right, but its primary purpose is to provide a path to playing the bagpipe itself. Later it provides a convenient way to practice new tunes, complex fingering and so on, especially at times when practicing on a full pipe is impractical. So, a practice chanter will always be kept at hand, no matter how expert a piper becomes. Practice chanters are available in a wide variety, but all perform the same functions. Good quality and proper design, and a good reed, are critically important, because the student has more than enough to do without trying to work around an inferior and/or unreliable instrument.

Copyright 1999-2009, The Universe of Bagpipes

At this point I would highly recommend going to Mr.Oliver Seeler's web page http://www.hotpipes.com/practice.html to read more on how to get into the fun of playing such an unusual instrument. You will also find a lot more on his web site, just about everything that has anything to to with pipes and piping. The biggest surprise for most people is finding out that there are so much more then just the Great Highland Bagpipes.

Until next time

Picking up on things past.

I have been remiss over the past two or three weeks on keeping up on this blog. In my defense, I can only offer the usual reasons; family, work, life in general and my inborn laziness. So this is my attempt to catch up with the news as taken from my notes, and try to do better.

Last Thursday night we held another practice at the usual place at Post 7 of the American Leagon in Rochester, NH. The turn out was a little light due to heavy work loads or tripping over a cat and ending up with a broken arm. Having there tonsils being removed. You know, the usual stuff. I did get a photo of Cheryl one of our up and coming pipers in training working with Tom on Amazing Grace.

A few weeks ago as some of you know there was a "wood party" held at Sally's. All in all it went well. The weather was cool and though somewhat cloudy the sun broached through from time to time so no one overheated. A large pile of wood logs was reduced to a somewhat smaller pile of wood chunks that would more or less fit into Sally's wood stove. And beaver dam was dissembled so a rising pond in back of the house would not get any higher. At the end of the day no one was injured, and we all ended up the same count of fingers, toes and other body parts that we started with.



Jack and Lois Kelleher, Tom Martineau and myself with Sally's help put away a lot of wood. We also put away a lot of good food and drink during the day. After a short rest the pipes came out and all the dogs in the neighborhood got very still. It was a good day.


This last Sunday the Band held its by-monthly practice at the Police Athletic League building in Manchester, NH. As some of you know we have The Portsmouth Parade next month. In past years we normally play "Jingle bells". After a while that becomes a bit long in the tooth when you play it over and over during the entire route. So this year the Band is adding "Joy to the Word". So the pipes and the drummers spent some time working on the "New" Christmas Set. Later on a new tune will be added to slowly build up the set.

Also we started working on a new tune "Lagan Love Song" a very pretty tune but one that has some tricky timing. You can hear it being sung by going to U-Tube and looking up Maureen Hegarty she has a very good voice and is well worth the time. For a totally different arraignment of the same song on U-Tube try Sinead O'Connor's version.












Question: How many people does it take to tune a set of pipes?

Answer:

A few more shots taken on Sunday:

OCt.22 Practice in Rochester, NH

Last weeks practice for the seacoast group was held at Mel's in Rochester. The reason was that there was a group of hi-schoolers from Ireland touring the country and they were stopping in at Mel's for dinner. Also invited over were local hi-school kids and we thought that this may be a good time to expose some new people to the joys of bagpiping.

So we held our normal practice in the back room and later went out front and put on an impromptu show for them. Before we (Tom, Little Gunny and Sarah, Roy and myself. Kathy was also there but her throat was way too sore as she is getting ready to have her tonsils removed this week.) started, I asked for a show of hands of how many people there liked bagpipe music? Got a overwhelming response. Then I asked how may people there hated bagpipe music. Got one hand raised. It was a old bearded guy next to me that had his hand raised. Curiously he also had a set of pipes laying on his shoulder. I told Tom to take his hand down and we commenced to play.

We started with the ?Scotland the brave? set. Tom then went into ?Itchy fingers?, I think we both played ?Rose of Allendale?. I came back with ?Scots Wha Ha'e? Tom joined in. We may have played one or two more things that I have forgotten now and then finished up with ?Ode to Joy?.

It looked like every one had a good time, we enjoyed it. We missed every one that weren't there. Remember, If you live in the Seacoast area, and want to see what playing the bagpipes are all about. Looking to learn about how to get started, or just set in hear them. We hold a practice just about every Thursday at around 6:30pm At the American Legion Hall, Post 7 in Rochester, NH.

Making Strides Against Breast Cancer walk

In the rain, in the snow, people came out from all over to take part in the "Making Strides Against Breast Cancer in Manchester this past Sunday (Oct, 18th). And we were there.

As we have done in past years, the band started off the walk and then played until every one walked past us. It seemed to me that even with the rain and the snow, as many if not more people and teams came out as I have seen in past years.

Thursday night in Rochester

As you may all ready know, every Thursday night members of the Seacoast branch of the band gather to practice, learn new tunes or to improve there skills. This last Thursday (October 15)We had Betty, Cheryl, Kathy, Sally, Little Gunny and Tom. Jack also showed up which was a nice surprise for everyone. Some of us worked on scales while a small group practice Amazing Grace and Scotland the Brave working out the kinks in the grace notes of both of those tunes.

Betty had brought in her new set of pipes and Tom helped her turn it int a "goose" that she could practice on during the week. A Goose is nothing more then a pipe set with the drones removed and the stocks plugged. This leaves the player with only the chanter to worry about. This is one way to help develop good bag control and a steady tone without using a lot of air.

After a break down the hall from where we practice in, four of us (Tom, Jack, Sally and myself) fired up the pipes and worked on Scotland the Brave Set, Irish Set, 6/6 Set, Nation Set, and other tunes as the mood struck us. We also practiced counter marching and commands.

Next week the weekly session will be held at
Mel Flanagan's Irish Pub & Caf? .http://www.melflanagans.com/

The reason is that there is a Irish school group that is touring the country that will be there. Tom will be piping the dancers and this might help in raising some interest in learning to pipe.

So if you are reading this and think that you may like to learn to play, stop in and say hello.

Deerfield fair

Don't forget the performance at the Deerfield fair this Saturday Oct 3. Uniform is full kit with white shirt, black polo, sweater (won't be that warm ), rain cape (won't be that dry) and tie. The Bus will be a gate E like last year.

I would suggest getting there early at the roads generally are crowed with wall to wall traffic.

Old Home Day Parade 2008 Londonderry,nh

If you remember our parade in Londonerry, or if you don't. The good people that ran the parade also had someone take photos of every group that marched in it and placed it on a website.

The web page can be found by copying and pasting the address below the photo into your web browser.
http://www.londonderrynh.net/?p=4097

This is what they wrote about us:

"Ancient Order of Hibernians Pipe & Drums – Largest Hibernian Pipe & Drum band in New England, formed in 1998 and based in Manchester, NH. They have approximately 20 or more in the band plus a color guard. Of special note, they went to Ireland this April to play in Derry, Keady and Galway. They wear the Irish National Kilt and also have played in Boston, New York, Montreal as well as West Point (Army)."

Nice website go and take a look.