Pipers, a totally bizarre question

[Alan H]

I think that Daz is stating one of my thoughts: it must be a hell of a lot of fun to get together with a bunch of people and just make SO frickin' much noise...the volume level has to be much of the fun.

I play the flute primarily and noodle on the clarinet and such. One thing that has impressed me is when a pipe band manages to play a passage using harmony. Knowing that there are only nine notes and hearing a passage played in harmony blows my mind because I'm aware of the "limitations" involved and the incredible overlaying of sound waves that are taking place at that place and in that time...out of seeming chaos comes a very pleasant order.

Best

AA

But you know, if I just want to make a lot of noise....and I gotta admit, sometimes that's just a bloody lot of fun, I'll pull my tenor saxophone out. That's really loud, when I want it to be. But I can't do that forever. A few hours is more than enough.

When I read what folks have to say about learning pipes....four to nine months JUST ON THE CHANTER, and then you gotta learn how to tie on a bag and maybe how to make reeds and all the care that goes into the instrument, and drop a minimum of a grand on a decent set. Once you have the set, you have to maintain it....

...for the reward of being REALLY LOUD and having people stare at you because you're unique. um... Hey, if that works for someone, if that's how they have fun, if that is a real upper for them, then who am I to say that's bad? It just wouldn't do it for me. There's got to be MUSIC there, something sophisticated, something that catches my ear and keeps it. For me, I can't just listen to reels and jigs and hornpipes, all in the same key, all with the same drones, all played more-or-less exactly the same way, over and over and have that be musically satisfying.

I totally understanding getting into the history and tradition. Entirely and totally get that. But is that *enough*?

So I'm curious what the pipers here have to say about that.

[JS Sanders]

Alan,
I've been piping for a fair number of years and to the level that it's more than an avocation, it has become my livelihood.

It is generally believed amongst pipers that 1 in 10 individuals who purchases a practice chanter ever become fully fledged pipers. My experience is more like 1 in 15.

Simply put, if you don't have a fire-in-the-belly to learn the noble instrument, you won't be able to talk yourself into it. At best you'll waste a hundred bucks, your time, and someone else's. You must want it and want it mighty bad.

I love Klezmer and have several CD's I routinely listen to on road trips. If I could be in a klez band, the Bb clarinet would be my instrument of choice.

Slainte,
steve

[Alan H]

It is generally believed amongst pipers that 1 in 10 individuals who purchases a practice chanter ever become fully fledged pipers. My experience is more like 1 in 15.

Simply put, if you don't have a fire-in-the-belly to learn the noble instrument, you won't be able to talk yourself into it. At best you'll waste a hundred bucks, your time, and someone else's. You must want it and want it mighty bad.
Slainte,
steve

My gut feeling is that you're probably right. It's a blinkin' lot of work, from all accounts, and I learned long ago that most (not all, but most) things worth doing, only get done well if you the THE WANTS, and bad.

But you didn't tell me what musical satisfaction you get out of playing the pipes....what it is that draws you from a musical standpoint.

[auld argonian]

Okay, guys, look at it this way...

...it could be worse; you could be an oboe* player.


Best

AA


oboe: an ill wind that no one blows good.

[JS Sanders]

<< But you didn't tell me what musical satisfaction you get out of playing the pipes.... what it is that draws you from a musical standpoint. >>

Almost every event I play, someone asks me what prompted me to learn the pipes.

And the most truthful answer I can provide is that I honestly don't know what pushed me in this direction. No one in my family plays. Growing up, I never had a friend/colleague that exposed me to it either. I just don't know.

From a musical standpoint... certainly I receive a lotta accolades. The money's decent, and I have a stack of business cards that females have given me ("Call me."). But those aren't sufficient enough to keep up with the rigors the instrument demands.

I suppose it's that deep visceral feeling that those who hear a live piper for the very 1st time and are completely overwhelmed by it. For me, that feeling has never been absent.

Slainte,
steve