Saturday, June 13, 2020

Helianthus debilis: Bagpiping - what is expressiveness? - Yo Yo Ma: what is expressiveness? re Yo Yo Ma and Wynton Marsalis's Guidelines for Practicing a Musical Instrument - "7 Practice expressively. Be serious – invest yourself expressively"



Bagpiping - what is expressiveness? - Yo Yo Ma: what is expressiveness? & per

 7 Practice expressively.
Be serious – invest yourself expressively.
- http://scottmacleod.com/GuidelinesPracticingMusicalInstrument.htm -


Cool. I noticed that the SFUPB's pipe major is not only a piper but a practicing lawyer, and which is a first for me (that a lawyer is the PM of a Grade 1 band - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Fraser_University_Pipe_Band) - and perhaps relevant to said notoriety  (??). I've noticed that pipe bands can be a little like sports' teams regarding attracting talent too, more than symphony orchestras, for example.  I think SFUPB may have won the Worlds more than once, too. The "Borg" - interesting (Terry and Jack Lee seem smart to me, and potentially Alan Bevan as well - another Celtic knot language name, Welsh, I read:. I think there are 6 Celtic knot languages).

Do Scottish piping competitions inform creativity and expressivity? For me, Gordon Duncan, and Stuart Liddell are some of the most expressive greatest pipers. Jack Lee, and Connor Sinclair are greats as well. I think Grade 1 pipe bands are more expressive than other pipe bands, and their pipers play more expressively too than others, but the team aspect may also limit kinds of expressivity (to my ear) - which Gordon Duncan seemed to find a way free from. 

And with the Scottish small pipes, for me, there's a kind of freedom to explore, thinking-wise, too. 

Some thinking about expressivity in Scottish small piping (putting some of this in terms of my own learning, rather than someone learning from me):

7 Practice expressively.
Be serious – invest yourself expressively.

Playing expressively re these Guidelines for practicing - http://scottmacleod.com/GuidelinesPracticingMusicalInstrument.htm ... I think Stuart LIddell does it best in the 2010 videos (- and in another video, a MC says about Stuart's music, that 'musicality' pours from him, or similar) ... But how to put Stuart's piping expressiveness in words? When I play for myself, and think I'm playing expressively, but then talk with a teacher of mine (eg Connor Sinclair), I can learn how to play even more expressively, partly thanks to hearing him, and Stuart play, for example, but also especially hearing Connor's words. How to put further in words wildly beautiful expressivity in SSP playing, way beyond Stuart Liddell's playing? (Learning Stuart's expressivity is a starting place).

But then I ask myself, out of the box, how to bring out the further expressivity of very lyrical tunes (to my ear)?  ... And I'm also, on this "Honey in the Bag" SSP folk album I'm creating (where in folk-ness there is a kind of freedom, and also in the Ceol Beag, piping's light music, compared with Ceol Mor, or Piobaireachd, the classical music) ... But I'm seeking further a kind of, metaphorically, Grateful Dead jamming freedom inspiration (sound), - exploring on the SSP into my own sound, and by playing daily 'from the inside' ... Metronome is a benefit for me (and re the recording I made last night, inspired by Jack Lee - but seeking now to do so with a blinking light on a metronome, and not a sound) ... and re Grateful Dead in these regards I wonder if the GD brought in a 2nd drummer (Bill Kreutzman in ~ '65, and Mickey Hart in ~ '67) for the very reason of staying on the beat, and re the tune 'Fire on the Mountain' too where the words go "It takes all you got just to stay on the beat" ... 

Fire on the Mountain ☮ Grateful Dead, 1978 (Winterland)

https://youtu.be/oS0Yra3Pt8c

Are loose trousers - Sean Trubhas (in Scots' Gaelic, per the dance tune) - easier to dance in than stiff wool or other stiff Scots' textile for trews 100 or 200 years ago? :)

Musical cheers, Scott

(Seeking to add an exploration of consciousness here, and how awareness shifts could change learning to play the Scottish small pipes in a different way, but ran out of space to add the 'consciousness' label :)




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Hi Taylor,

As you play 'Scotland the Brave' this week, explore playing with Stuart Liddell with your practice chanter in B flat mixolydian. I think it's at the end of the 4th out of 8:

Stuart Liddell - Lunchtime Recital 2010: 4 of 8

https://youtu.be/e7zvKbl1R54

It begins about 6:10. Occasionally exploring being a 'robot' idea can be an interesting way to work with the building blocks of tunes and doublings etc.

( See, too, again, for 'fingers independent from one another':

Stuart Liddell - Lunchtime Recital 2010: 3 of 8 at Piping Live in Glasgow

https://youtu.be/pQEJf5XZPL8)

Thank you, Scott




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I just noticed that  Stuart begins this with "My Home"

Stuart Liddell - Lunchtime Recital 2010: 3 of 8 at Piping Live in Glasgow
https://youtu.be/pQEJf5XZPL8)

I find it really beautiful, and measured as well,

Cheers, Scott





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Hi Taylor,

Would you and April like to explore learning Scottish Country Dancing this summer, if it starts up again? It would meet in the Mission at about 22nd and Valencia (at Polish Hall), - and so that if you decide to explore Scottish small piping this autumn in Open Band (if it starts up again too), in Berkeley, she could dance (in the 'intermediate' class) and you could play, thus coming over together. (Nice to see her in passing during our lesson, but I never get the opportunity to say hi - please say hi for me, and happy belated birthday again too!:)

Cheers,
Scott
- https://twitter.com/TheOpenBand

--
- Scott MacLeod
- http://scottmacleod.com




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Scott MacLeod
Fri, Jun 5, 7:38 PM (8 days ago)
to Taylor

It will likely meet on Thursday evenings in SF (if it starts up again), and Open Band is on Monday's ...

Cheers, Scott


--
- Scott MacLeod
- http://scottmacleod.com



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Taylor Warren
Fri, Jun 5, 10:22 PM (8 days ago)
to me

We'll see! What time are the both the classes and Open Session? We both have somewhat early bedtimes on weekdays but we may be able to swing it. Thanks for letting us know! I've been to a few English Country Dance sessions at the Elks Club in Alameda, but I haven't tried SCD yet.



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Hi Taylor,

Monday SCD goes from 8-10 at St. Clement's in Berkeley - and specifically with Open Band, and with Scottish small piping potential.

I think Thursday's SCD in SF goes from 7;30-9:30 with possibly a lesson before hand, or from 8-10 with a lesson before hand (which can be loose, depending on interest), but SCD lessons are part of the structure of this SCD dancing ...

Both have live music, and a SCD teacher ...

Here are some SCD pics -

https://twitter.com/rscdsdancescot/status/1268826988401303553?s=20
RSCDS Edinburgh @dancingforth
Thank you to all our amazing volunteers. We couldn't exist without youClapping hands signSmiling face with open mouth and tightly-closed eyes #VolunteersWeek #VolunteersWeek2020 #DanceScottishAtHome #Scottishcountrydancing #Edinburgh
https://twitter.com/dancingforth/status/1269198370440187904?s=20

English Country Dancing is fun too, and is good exercise as well, with a little less of a learning curve I think ... and there's some around the Bay Area ... but possibly with less Scottish small piping music-making opportunities. (I'm an appreciator of Contra Dance in big ways too ... with my dancing in them ebbing and flowing, depending:).

Scottish and Contra are most fun in terms of elation-potential +  :)

Check out websites for all of the above. I think you'd both enjoy learning SCD in SF this summer if it happens.

Scott
- https://twitter.com/TheOpenBand -


--
- Scott MacLeod
- http://scottmacleod.com


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Hi Taylor,

Was just piping now, and was thinking:

to invite you to check out the text in the College of Piping (CoP) Blue Tutor, as well as the CD (if you have one) ... as we go, since it's easier than in hindsight ... (the CoP Green Tutor too).

And as I was playing slow airs, and getting ready to record a bit toward my upcoming ("Honey in the Bag") album, I was appreciating how it's somehow easier to hear one's drones (and for tuning, and even playing the middle drone in E) when playing slow airs, than when playing faster tunes;

Was also thinking how it's possible to explore dot cuts in slow airs - comparatively regarding more 'open' (or rounded, straight or even) ways playing of them, vis-a-vis more 'musical' (a word a piping teacher of mine has used for dot cuts played perhaps in a Scottish vein), or 3:1 ... my way of describing this timing ... way of playing them, than in faster tunes.

But finding the pulse of the tunes for oneself (and exploring new tunes in sheet music too in general), and getting into the playing can be a way of transcending the technique-y thinking above :)

Just some friendly ideas for Scottish small piping on a Sunday ... :)

Musical cheers,
Scott



--
- Scott MacLeod
- http://scottmacleod.com




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Hi Taylor,

"America the Beautiful" begins this set, with some other amazing tunes and piping following (including a AC/DC number aka Gordon Duncan's "Thunderstruck") -
2019-01-19: MHAF WinterStorm: Stuart Liddell

https://youtu.be/nrnMK61Uy6s
- if you'd like to explore riffing with Stuart, for fun, and re innovation


Am just putting in my SSP B flat chanter to see what I can learn anew in playing with Stuart here -

"My Home" which begins this -
Stuart Liddell - Lunchtime Recital 2010: 3 of 8 at Piping Live in Glasgow
https://youtu.be/pQEJf5XZPL8 - and -

"Scottland the Brave" beginning about 6:10 -
Stuart Liddell - Lunchtime Recital 2010: 4 of 8
https://youtu.be/e7zvKbl1R54

Musical cheers,
Scott

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Scott MacLeod
Sun, Jun 7, 3:16 PM (6 days ago)
to Taylor

Just had a second listen, and Stuart doesn't play Thunderstruck here -

2019-01-19: MHAF WinterStorm: Stuart Liddell
https://youtu.be/nrnMK61Uy6s

- and it must have been in the previous video I saw of him; I'll share when I re-find :)

Fun here to play with all 3 of these tunes with my B flat chanter ... am holding my long notes even longer in "My Home" for one, as a consequence.

Scott




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Hi Taylor,

Here are 2 version of the highland dance tune, Sean Triubhas ,(which means 'old trousers' in Scots Gaelic), played on the GHB with dancers.

Scottish Highland Dancing: Seann Triubhas

https://youtu.be/22qjzuum-tQ

Cowal 2014 - Marielle Lesperance (Adult winner) Sean Triubhas

https://youtu.be/Xe8-dL1ifkE

The keys in a 9 note bagpipe chanter are below (per a teacher of mine, Connor Sinclair).

Musical cheers,
Scott


Scottish small pipe and GHB keys all in the A chanter (about 5 keys in 9 notes, I think)

Keys in tunes?

A major

B minor (B flat minor)

C sharp, or F sharp minor

D (key of D)

At a push you’ve got
G (the key of G)


(am exploring these toward my 'Honey in the Bag' album > https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/02/western-honey-bee-re-my-upcoming-honey.html)

a kind of reference for these keys as blog post > https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/06/pollination-connecting-re-bagpiping.html - with more information about keys in a piping chanter here -


Scottish small pipe and GHB keys all in the A chanter (about 5-6 keys in 9 notes?)
Notes from 19 Feb 2020 lesson video recording with Connor Sinclair 


Was very glad to learn the following from 19 Feb 2020 lesson re even thinking about the new E drone, and which tunes could work with it better than others:

Keys in tunes?
44:45


45:30
a bit of uniqueness in (SSP) drone sounds – (potentially with E drone sounding different)


46:45
A major

46:55
B minor

47:10
C sharp, or F sharp minor
(then going into A)


48:10
you could play an A over F sharp minor

((what about an E drone too? – to ask Connor))


49:15
key of D notes, Connor plays (on an ‘A’ GHB practice chanter, which is really in B flat mixolydian, or so called ‘Piper’s A’)


At a push you’ve got
The key of G – and he plays notes on his practice chanter in this key


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--
- Scott MacLeod
- http://scottmacleod.com


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Scott MacLeod
Thu, Jun 11, 9:34 PM (2 days ago)
to Taylor

'For the love of it' - what a great tune name - is another name for Sean Trubhas :)

--
- Scott MacLeod
- http://scottmacleod.com




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Taylor,

Am appreciating and learning about names of piping tunes, and apparently Killiecrankie may mean a copse of aspens, and may date from at least 1745.

"The name Killiecrankie is derived from the Gaelic root word coille, meaning a wood, coupled with 'crankie,' which refers to aspens; thus the phrase means 'wood of the aspens' (Matthews, 1972)."
https://tunearch.org/wiki/Annotation:Killiecrankie_(1)

Old trousers,
(an old pair of hippy jeans, in 'modern' parlance?:),
'For the love of it' - Sean Trubhas :)
Scott





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Taylor,

As a followup on tune names and more, and regarding:

Ghillie Callum -
Ghillie Callum refers to the 'sword dance' these days, and the Sword Dance in Scotland is old! :) ...
"is one of the oldest and most famous traditional Scottish dances"
http://cornemusique.free.fr/ukghilliecallum.php
but also to, with my literal translation, 'guide or lad of Malcolm?'


And here's the beginning of "The Crusaders March" - https://bagpipemusic.com/product/crusaders-march/ - played by the great piper Jack Lee in British Columbia (who basically, I read once on his web site, has had a tape recorder going every time he's practiced for decades, and has thus learned from this, and also created a remarkable library of audio piping music). His brother is another head of the great Simon Fraser University pipe band, and his sons all play the GHB excellently. They're also all somewhat 'west coast' - Hawaii too - as I see this with regards to GHB piping cultures, and yet remarkably traditional. :) (Here's another midi version - https://pipetunes.ca/tunes/crusaders-march-the/).

Just re-found the information about Jack Lee making recordings:

"Jack began recording bagpipe music about 30 years ago as part of his daily practice routine. Along the way he recorded thousands of tunes. He also recorded the entire piobaireachd society collection (all 16 books) as well as numerous other piobaireachds. All recordings are made by Jack on the full highland bagpipe."

https://leeandsonsbagpipes.com/whats-new/
https://leeandsonsbagpipes.com/2018/11/02/lee-and-sons-launches-its-new-tune-library-bapipemusic-com/

Best regards,
Scott




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Scott MacLeod
Fri, Jun 12, 9:36 PM (1 day ago)
to Taylor

I was going to ask you if you play the strathspey Orange & Blue.

I recall blogging about the sword dance, and the somewhat now old Caledonian Games (at Pleasanton CA currently) years ago, and I just found this post from 2009 - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2009/09/prairie-falcon-colorfulness-pageantry.html - and also regarding a kind of related ethnomusicology and ethnography as well. Ah, Ghillie Callum, a tune I like a lot.

What kind of notoriety? I don't know much about them at all. Stuart Liddell played with the SFUPB for 10 years - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Liddell, and that SFUBP has won the Worlds once, and placed 2nd 9 times - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Fraser_University_Pipe_Band. And I just noticed that Burnaby is the 3rd largest city in BC by population.

When did you live in the PNW again? (I lived in Portland OR, from 1979-1987, spending one year in Germany, and a number of months (3.5) hiking (1600-1800 miles of the 2600 mile) the Pacfic Crest Trail over 2 separate years).

Inspired by Jack Lee, I think I may begin to record my practicing - for learning sake especially regarding a kind of feedback loop (of hearing oneself), and toward SSP "Honey in the Bag" album too.

Cheers, Scott



--
- Scott MacLeod
- http://scottmacleod.com





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Re 
10 Think for yourself.
Don’t become a robot, but don’t dismiss what you’re taught (http://scottmacleod.com/GuidelinesPracticingMusicalInstrument.htm).

What does it mean for a human to learn technique like this robot (as information technology) - and then to transcend this per Yo Yo too ... 

Toyota Basketball Robot 'Cue' - 

These thoughts about piping, and musical expressiveness here - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/06/helianthus-debilis-bagpiping-what-is.html :)

I'm going to try becoming a robot re learning piping for a week :)

Just exploring some ideas re learning/teaching Scottish small piping, :)
Scott 

As I've shared with Connor Sinclair in recent months, this player of JS Bach - https://youtu.be/XiG8AGn5Qz8 - has 'good hands,' something that people say of pipers too :) 




-- 
- Scott MacLeod




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Facing the music 
Classical music

Facing the music: Yo-Yo Ma

The cellist on growing up with Schubert and Schumann, and the fascination of the theremin
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2016/nov/07/facing-the-music-yo-yo-ma-cellist


from above article ...

Trio No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 100, D. 929: II. Andante con moto

https://youtu.be/tCPszm0fsEE



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M, June 15, 2020

Scott MacLeod sgkmacleod@gmail.com

6:43 AM (1 hour ago)
to Jane
Sunny here this morning in my 'sun room' - am up early at 6, and went to bed late at 11:30 ... on with piping in my sun room and creative explorations toward 'Honey in the Bag' per expressiveness  ... I think some of the beauty of Yo Yo Ma's playing of Bach cello suites, and much of his other music regarding EXPRESSIVENESS can be heard in the Schubert trio played by Pablo Casals et al at bottom - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/06/helianthus-debilis-bagpiping-what-is.html - and which Ma listened to a lot when he was 12 (per Guardian article). Interesting to hear this in one seed piece.

L, Scott


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Scott MacLeod
Thu, Jun 18, 6:09 PM (23 hours ago)
to Taylor

Hello Taylor!

some further thoughts about piping expression: :)

If I were to hypothesize about one thing that makes Stuart Liddell's expressiveness in piping different from other greatest pipers, I'd suggest it's his ability to play many instruments, and that these all inform each other in his piping; maybe he's a walking synthesis band as he bagpipes (internalizing a whole band of many instruments within him) :).

What is expressiveness? What is it in piping? What is expressiveness re Stuart Liddell's piping? How to hear this? One thing a teacher (a Scot) has described as 'musicality'  referring to more emphasis on the main beats, and dotted notes (relatively to playing in a rounded fashion) ... and when this all comes together in a lyrical flow experience playing, I'd call this expression. Another way of thinking about this? Listen to Stuart play My Home and Scotland the Brave, play with ... explore. What's expression in piping for you?

See you in about 59 minutes!

Cheers, Scott






--
- Scott MacLeod
- http://scottmacleod.com



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Scott MacLeod
Jun 18, 2020, 7:44 PM (22 hours ago)
to Taylor

Taylor,

Good playing!

Ghillie Callum (Sword dance) sheet music with tempos / bpm and many other great tunes' sheet music (including Sean Truibhas and Orange & Blue)
http://www.coloradopipers.com/highlanddance/CoPipers_HighlandDnaceTunes.pdf

The times for the slow and the 'quick step' in Gillie Callum in this sheet music may be reversed. What do you think?

Cheers, Scott



--
- Scott MacLeod
- http://scottmacleod.com




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Scott MacLeod
5:59 PM (0 minutes ago)
to Taylor

Hi Taylor,

Some further thinking about piping expression:

I was amazed re 'expression' in piping, and regarding both the Solve for MIT Yo Yo Ma clip about technique -

At about the 1:05 of this 1:34 MIT video:
Virtual Solve at MIT 2020: Event Recap - "We're All One Crew."

https://youtu.be/9SIa7Pt1SjA

- and Ma & Marsalis's 'Guidelines for Practicing a Musical Instrument' (http://scottmacleod.com/GuidelinesPracticingMusicalInstrument.htm) when my teacher Connor Sinclair 2 or 3 months ago played in both a Stuart Liddell what Connor calls 'metronomic' style   and in a Gordon Duncan style! So great, and interesting.

It occurs to me too that your first way of playing the birl would be worth exploring in playing a double birl - technique-wise! Am looking online for some further thinking about playing double-birls, and am exploring both ways myself.

Am also further seeking my 'sound' - another question Connor asked me for my upcoming 'Honey in the Bag' SSP album, and consciously - and Connor's playing in both Stuart LIddell's and Gordon Duncan's expressive piping styles, comparatively, further opens my eyes to what expression in piping means. (Am personally looking for something a little further out the box, but am still exploring in these regards ... ) I haven't yet identified a Connor Sinclair style consciously. :)

Re successive approximations (one approach I take to learning) or iterations toward Mastery Learning (in a Sal Khan Khan Academy sense), I think

2 Write out a schedule, a plan with goals. (Choose pieces you enjoy playing – S.M.).
Yo-yo Ma says, never make a sound without hearing it first; hear it in your mind.

could apply to these tunes we'll explore next week:

Gillie Callum (quick step)
Dorrator Bridge
Willie Gray

Adding more recent thinking about piping expression here -
- https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/06/helianthus-debilis-bagpiping-what-is.html :)

Cheers, Scott


--
- Scott MacLeod
- http://scottmacleod.com








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