I play the GHB (piobaireachd mainly but some ceol beag too) and am currently having a set of SSM made for me. What are your questions? Perhaps those of us who have already written can help...
Yeah hiharin that sounds good shoot me an email if you want to talk pipes I have not been playing that long but I do know a lot (some times it seems I know more than any of the pipers in my Pipe and Drum band) or you could just post your questions here and have some people try to answer them..
good tunes ??? and publications with good tunes in? anybody got Rory Campbells book and know where to order it?
the reason i have taken up the SSP is to practice whilst i get my lowlands made. I have spent time in the company of Fred Morrison and love his tunes and his method of playing. I have seen him play loads of Irish tunes on them and cant figure out how he did it.
i have bought some books about lowlands but they seem to cover a very "twee" & "polite" aspect to the pipes ..not the traditional dance music i hear so many people playing on them, i'm not interested in playing songs ..i wanna play the hardcore reels and marches ???? but every time i play them they sound lame !! is there a peculiar method of ornament and graces with lowlands...?
i guess i am just looking for pointers ...books ...CDs ...methods of ornamenting ..and how do i change tunes like Boys Of Malin to play in 9 notes just like Fred ????
A really good book for ghp, border pipes. ssp and lowland pipes is "Traditional Irish Music for the Bagpipe" with some great tunes like Boys of Malin, Clare Jig, Rakish Paddy, Humours of Tulla,Cook in the Kitchen, Swallowtail Reel, Lark in the Morning etc.l.....Some tunes (like Frahers Jig, and Blarney pilgrm) are in there, but in a different key than youwould normally hear them at sessions. My husband plays the border pipes, ssp and ghp, and tends to use highland grace notes and ornamentation, but often simplifies the settign of the tunes by eliminating some of the ornamnets, and it sounds good....I play fiddle with him, but when playing along with the border pipes, you really need 2 fiddles to match the volume of the pipes ...with the ssp, they're pretty evenly matched.
Oh Aoife ..my heart skipped a beat then ..I have a fascination for a fiddle player called Aoife ...but she doesnt have a husband who plays SSP .....yet !
thanks for the info ..thats the sort of stuff I want to get my fingers around as all those tunes you mention have been in my head for years, but live in my fingers as flute & whistle tunes and i cant convert them ...i need the dots!
I just trawl through fiddle collections, and any other good tune books, and look for tunes that will fit the borderpipe scale. If tunes are a little out of range I will change the notes but make them harmonise.
You could try Allan MacDonalds Hundred Tunes, it has some nice Scottish and Irish Tunes. Iain and Gordon Duncan's book has a load of Irish tunes and some of Gordon's. There are the books by Barry Shears for Cape Breton and some Irish tunes. Micheal Grey also has some new and Irish tunes in his collections. Also try just listening to other borderpipers and asking what they're playing. You can usually find the music on here or somewhere and work out how they change it.
Is that Allan MacDonald book the same as The Moidart Collection? That book is full of gems.
Between GHB and Irish flute experience I find I just ornament tunes with whatever feels natural. I just started playing border pipes and I like the freedom. I'm sure I'll develop my own style of ornamenting.
I'm finding that many tunes from the Border tradition are ornamented with a lot of arpeggios and runs which is unusual from the more rhythmic repertoire of ornamentation in Highland and Irish music.
I recomend looking at the book "more power to your elbow" by the lowland and border pipers society it recomends ornamentation to be used. I tend to find that birls don't always come out right but i think it may depend on the pitch as birls sound great on my friends set pitched in D, certain movements work on ssp but its down to experimentation and what works for you, on my border pipes i play the tunes exactly as i would on my ghb.
As far as tunes go there's loads of pipe tunes posted on the session or again the lbps publish tune books at very good prices but it depends what your after the list of good books is endless.
Lowland Pipers
Lowland Pipers
any members play the SSP or the Lowlands/Borders ??
if so drop me a line i'd like to ask a few Q's and try and source some tunes.
thx
J
# Posted on April 26th 2004 by DeffGoat
Re: Lowland Pipers
I play GHBs which are in A and probably the same as SSPs (in A) I son't know about the embelleshments and that stuff if it is the same or different.
# Posted on April 26th 2004 by Why Bother?
Re: Lowland Pipers
I have Lowland pipes, SSP, and NSP but they've been supplanted by Uilleann pipes and don't get much play anymore.
# Posted on April 26th 2004 by Bill Reeder
Re: Lowland Pipers
Hi Deff Goat.
I'd recomend http://www.elderly.com/books/items/267-30.htm Nine Notes That Shook The World.
PP
# Posted on April 26th 2004 by Pied Piper
Re: Lowland Pipers
I play borderpipes but I can't claim to play in a authentic border style
I just play GHB tunes and fiddle tunes I've ornamented myself.
# Posted on April 27th 2004 by borderpiper
Re: Lowland Pipers
I play the GHB (piobaireachd mainly but some ceol beag too) and am currently having a set of SSM made for me. What are your questions? Perhaps those of us who have already written can help...
# Posted on April 27th 2004 by hiharin83
Re: Lowland Pipers
Yeah hiharin that sounds good shoot me an email if you want to talk pipes I have not been playing that long but I do know a lot (some times it seems I know more than any of the pipers in my Pipe and Drum band) or you could just post your questions here and have some people try to answer them..
# Posted on April 28th 2004 by Why Bother?
Re: Lowland Pipers
good tunes ??? and publications with good tunes in? anybody got Rory Campbells book and know where to order it?
the reason i have taken up the SSP is to practice whilst i get my lowlands made. I have spent time in the company of Fred Morrison and love his tunes and his method of playing. I have seen him play loads of Irish tunes on them and cant figure out how he did it.
i have bought some books about lowlands but they seem to cover a very "twee" & "polite" aspect to the pipes ..not the traditional dance music i hear so many people playing on them, i'm not interested in playing songs ..i wanna play the hardcore reels and marches ???? but every time i play them they sound lame !! is there a peculiar method of ornament and graces with lowlands...?
i guess i am just looking for pointers ...books ...CDs ...methods of ornamenting ..and how do i change tunes like Boys Of Malin to play in 9 notes just like Fred ????
# Posted on April 28th 2004 by DeffGoat
Re: Lowland Pipers
A really good book for ghp, border pipes. ssp and lowland pipes is "Traditional Irish Music for the Bagpipe" with some great tunes like Boys of Malin, Clare Jig, Rakish Paddy, Humours of Tulla,Cook in the Kitchen, Swallowtail Reel, Lark in the Morning etc.l.....Some tunes (like Frahers Jig, and Blarney pilgrm) are in there, but in a different key than youwould normally hear them at sessions. My husband plays the border pipes, ssp and ghp, and tends to use highland grace notes and ornamentation, but often simplifies the settign of the tunes by eliminating some of the ornamnets, and it sounds good....I play fiddle with him, but when playing along with the border pipes, you really need 2 fiddles to match the volume of the pipes ...with the ssp, they're pretty evenly matched.
# Posted on April 28th 2004 by aoife
Re: Lowland Pipers
Oh and.....yes---the author of that book is Dave Rickard, and it's published by Mercier.
# Posted on April 28th 2004 by aoife
Re: Lowland Pipers
Oh Aoife ..my heart skipped a beat then ..I have a fascination for a fiddle player called Aoife ...but she doesnt have a husband who plays SSP .....yet !
thanks for the info ..thats the sort of stuff I want to get my fingers around as all those tunes you mention have been in my head for years, but live in my fingers as flute & whistle tunes and i cant convert them ...i need the dots!
i'll check out amazon immediately
thx
J
# Posted on April 28th 2004 by DeffGoat
Re: Lowland Pipers
Do you know the Highland ornements they can be very very tricky if working on them alone (I would know from experience). So yeah be careful.
# Posted on April 28th 2004 by Why Bother?
Re: Lowland Pipers
I just trawl through fiddle collections, and any other good tune books, and look for tunes that will fit the borderpipe scale. If tunes are a little out of range I will change the notes but make them harmonise.
You could try Allan MacDonalds Hundred Tunes, it has some nice Scottish and Irish Tunes. Iain and Gordon Duncan's book has a load of Irish tunes and some of Gordon's. There are the books by Barry Shears for Cape Breton and some Irish tunes. Micheal Grey also has some new and Irish tunes in his collections. Also try just listening to other borderpipers and asking what they're playing. You can usually find the music on here or somewhere and work out how they change it.
# Posted on April 28th 2004 by borderpiper
Re: Lowland Pipers
Is that Allan MacDonald book the same as The Moidart Collection? That book is full of gems.
Between GHB and Irish flute experience I find I just ornament tunes with whatever feels natural. I just started playing border pipes and I like the freedom. I'm sure I'll develop my own style of ornamenting.
I'm finding that many tunes from the Border tradition are ornamented with a lot of arpeggios and runs which is unusual from the more rhythmic repertoire of ornamentation in Highland and Irish music.
# Posted on October 26th 2005 by malcombpiper
Re: Lowland Pipers
I'm picking up the SSP. Any tune suggestions from inside The Session? Also, if I play GHB tunes, which ornaments can I eliminate?
# Posted on May 10th 2006 by Jerzy
Re: Lowland Pipers
I recomend looking at the book "more power to your elbow" by the lowland and border pipers society it recomends ornamentation to be used. I tend to find that birls don't always come out right but i think it may depend on the pitch as birls sound great on my friends set pitched in D, certain movements work on ssp but its down to experimentation and what works for you, on my border pipes i play the tunes exactly as i would on my ghb.
As far as tunes go there's loads of pipe tunes posted on the session or again the lbps publish tune books at very good prices but it depends what your after the list of good books is endless.
# Posted on September 15th 2006 by iain beag