Friday, June 19, 2020

honey plants: 'Honey in the Bag' - UPCOMING #ScottishSmallPipes solo album in A - tune list, And learning to play Scottish small pipes' chanters in B flat and D & COMBO DRONE * * * Some further thoughts about bagpiping expression: :) Giving Scottish small piping lessons! * * * Playing in both Stuart Liddell's and Gordon Duncan's expressive piping styles, comparatively, further opens my eyes to what expression in piping means :)



These top 2 Tweets just popped up (thanks to re-Tweets from https://twitter.com/nz_mackenzie/status/1274131140396249088?s=20):



Ma′unga Terevaka volcano: "Honey in the Bag" UPCOMING #ScottishSmallPipes solo album in A - tune list, And learning to play Scottish small pipes' chanters in B flat and D & COMBO DRONE
https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/02/maunga-terevaka-volcano-honey-in-bag.html & https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/search/label/bagpiping ~ https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Scottish_smallpipes_and_borderpipes
@scottmacleod ~

https://twitter.com/WorldUnivAndSch/status/1226921026761744389?s=20




*
New! - Bach on Bagpipe Project.
https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Johann_Sebastian_Bach -  Scottish Small Pipes -
https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Scottish_smallpipes_and_borderpipes
@WorldUnivAndSch especially re Bach Google Doodle AI http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2019/03/western-meadowlark-world-univ-sch-live.html?m=0 & http://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2019/03/common-bluebell-ongoing-envisioning-of.html?m=0 & possibly re my
@scottmacleod upcoming 'Honey in the Bag' SSP album

https://twitter.com/TheOpenBand/status/1179059080943435776?s=20




* *
Then found others of mine in the

Scottish small pipes' #hashtag

https://twitter.com/hashtag/scottishsmallpipes?src=hashtag_click



*
Cuttyhunk island, Massachusetts, in 2018
https://photos.app.goo.gl/Wzf17AkcnS32JSpa7 #GooglePhotos with a little Scottish Small Piping https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Scottish_smallpipes_and_borderpipes -
https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Sailing -
@WorldUnivAndSch - @TheOpenBand - #Scottishsmallpipes - #Cuttyhunk - #Cuttyhunkisland ~

https://twitter.com/scottmacleod/status/1155898257526145024?s=20




*
The tune 'My Home' on Scottish Small Pipes on an A Chanter from College of Piping's Blue Tutor V3 on #SoundCloud #np https://soundcloud.com/scottmacleod-com/my-home-on-scottish-small-pipes-on-an-a-chanter-from-college-of-pipings-blue-tutor-v3 #ScottishSmallPipes See too: https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Scottish_smallpipes_and_borderpipes https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Bagpipe_Tutorials -
@WorldUnivAndSch
 - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2019/07/cape-cod-national-seashore-video-tune.html -
@TheOpenBand ~

https://twitter.com/scottmacleod/status/1152605399775961088?s=20




*
Then I found this other Scottish_smallpipes #hashtag, which I think I began -

https://twitter.com/hashtag/Scottish_smallpipes?src=hashtag_click


... with ...


*
Bagpiping 5 years ago in SF Bay Area https://photos.app.goo.gl/DdaJTsjpqy2YmzKr7 #GooglePhotos only playing the Scottish small pipes now ~ http://scottmacleod.com/piping.htm ~
@TheOpenBand
 ~ https://wiki.worlduniversityandschool.org/wiki/Scottish_smallpipes_and_borderpipes ~
@WorldUnivAndSch
 ~ http://worlduniversityandschool.org ~
#Scottish_smallpipes ~ #ScottishSmallPipes ~


https://twitter.com/scottmacleod/status/1042087726047059969?s=20






* * *

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

Hello Taylor!

some further thoughts about bagpiping 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




*

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




*
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




* *

Taylor, 

A further fascinating helpful explanation about keys of GHB bagpipe tunes (within the 9 note scale): 

You can identify the key in which a tune is written by looking at the most common chords in the tune; additionally, most tunes will end on their key note. (This is not only true of bagpipe music, but of over 99% of Western music generally).

and the sentence just before this : 

in fact bagpipe tunes in D very closely approximate this key - for example, "Amazing Grace." It also corresponds to the key signature for B minor (B Aolian) - for example, "Mist-Covered Mountains."  And finally it corresponds to the key signature for A Mixolydian - for example, "Scotland the Brave."  

Good for exploring what SSP middle drones' tunings work with whicht tunes! :) (more related info here - http://forums.bobdunsire.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-112214.html ). Searched in Google on "identifying keys within bagpipe sheet music."

As we've explored (and slightly differently)
Basic Bagpipe Lessons : Bagpipe Lessons: The Birl Technique

https://youtu.be/cGwLwunE2u8

And there's mention here of the 'double tap' girl ...
http://forums.bobdunsire.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-137176.html
Still seeking further birl thinking regarding the tune in CoP Blue Tutor Vol. 3 in Gillie Callum (the slow version of this strathspey) ... and think now that it's the same as a basic birl (and in looking back at earlier birl notation in previous tunes in the Blue book).

Cheers, 
Scott
-- 
- Scott MacLeod




* * *

Hi Ma, 

These Bach Partitas are very beautiful - 

Bach: Complete Partitas
played by Yuan Sheng (who's back in Beijing, but who studied in NYC for years).

I've emailed Connor Sinclair about this album before, since the pianist has 'good hands,' something people say about pipers, as well. 

But I newly hear some influences of Glenn Gould in his playing, - and re piping, I wonder if my upcoming 'Honey in the Bag' album will exhibit influences of the amazing piping of Stuart Liddell, Gordon Duncan as well as Connor Sinclair, - and thanks to lessons with Connor. Making new connections regarding these "Guidelines for Practicing a Musical Instrument" - http://scottmacleod.com/GuidelinesPracticingMusicalInstrument.htm - as well, and what I've recently learned, and regarding the lesson recordings in video as well. Seeking to play more daily than presently - which I am doing - but right before bed; haven't figured this one out yet, psychologically, and in thinking about this yet :) 

How's your day gone, and how are you? 

L, Scott


-- 
- Scott MacLeod




*

Ma, 

Nice to talk earlier! 

Made my first recording for "Honey in the Bag" Scottish small pipes' album in mind this afternoon, using the "Audacity" recording App. It sounds like good quality to my ear - MP3 format. Kinda momentous ... some fast tunes will involve further playing beforehand. Will likely find a new smartphone APP metronome with a flashing light for playing. 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). :) Would like to get this to CD, I think .. .and maybe also in the PIpers of Distinction series out of Scotland, if at all possible. I learn from recording too!

How was your day, and your weekend?

L, Scott

PS
Was inspired again earlier today by the 'good hands' of Yuan Sheng re my album:

Bach: Complete Partitas
played by Yuan Sheng (who's back in Beijing, but who studied in NYC for years).

This is very lovely music! 


People use the phrase too - that pipers have 'good hands.' :)
-- 
- Scott MacLeod




*

Scott MacLeod sgkmacleod@gmail.com

Jun 18, 2020, 8:16 PM (17 hours ago)
to Jane, Scott

Hi Ma, 

How was your day?

Appreciating Taylor's receptiveness, and being a good, capable and interested piping student (as we peer through our Skype computer windows in our developing conversation:). 

Still seeking my sound for 'Honey in the Bag' in playing daily I think, and before recording ... and regarding playing expressively :) I feel my way forward with my 'Honey in the Bag' album in giving lessons to Taylor somehow too. Appreciating the connection. 

Am following up re this earlier 'Connecting' email and thread ... 
Re Connor: as I listen thru and watch my video lessons with Connor ... and he connected .. and so did I, I like seeing his confidence, his responses (and our connection) ... am learning much again and again ... and about connecting in a learning conversation with spoken language as well as connecting in learning a piping language ... and confidence re my playing too ... the feeling (sometimes bumpy, but sometimes good from daily playing) as I improve .. and the feeling of being little shy, or even embarrassed at times as I seek to improve (which feeling I feel far less these days than I recall feeling even in elementary school years, for example).

Interesting to experience re-connecting with Connor in lesson recordings, where we connected in real time (he in Scotland - and regarding even identity questions - being pipers, Scottish identity too perhaps) in the actual lessons (ie which were recorded). 
One aspect of playing a musical instrument for me is that I can have a constant self-critique aspect 'in there' ...

But our lessons are kind of a piping-learning 'blather'  

Connor's a good, responsive and skillful teacher ... am learning a lot from videos to work with ... a lot of 'building blocks' from Connor ... Stuart Liddell's piping is my inspiration for inspired piping ... https://youtu.be/pQEJf5XZPL8 ... 

Focused on piping this morning for nearly 2 hours, playing some, but tuning in further to my 19 Feb 2020 lesson with Connor helpfully. 

L,
Scott

Notes from 19 Feb 2020 lesson 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
*
Back to this ideas from Guidelines for - http://scottmacleod.com/GuidelinesPracticingMusicalInstrument.htm


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.


3 Set goals to chart development.

4 Concentrate when you practice.
Yo-yo says join feelings into your music when you feel bad, to integrate your feelings with your mind and body.

5 Relax and practice slowly.
*
Sinclair chanters were preferred by top pipe bands for a while, some decades ago I think -
"Sinclair is known for their famous chanter, which has been a favorite among top competing pipers and bands for since the 1960's."
https://www.thebagpipemuseum.com/Sinclair_William.html
Sinclair pipes may still be being made by a Sinclair son
http://www.sinclair-bagpipes.co.uk
(Such 'William Sinclair & Son (Bagpipe Makers)' father and son traditions are long and old in some countries, such as Scotland)
I'll have to ask Connor Sinclair whether there's any relation to him. 

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

* * * * 
Further ideas from today ... Friday, June 19, 2020

including Scottish small piping on Cuttyhunk
New Bedford Whaling Museum pics (where I ), 
Peter Smith
a giant whale's heart,
and much more ... 


And some 'Great Highland Bagpiping' photos - https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipMZQpPcYP6iui8UJGvJ_P-Bv53tjCbVcBd151wseKTGwpUOOC2puqDBt30gHADzIA?key=UEtGdFJsckhaV3lDTEtTUWZ1S0h5cUV4MTh6TVNn - from a few years ago in the SF Bay Area, playing at a Yacht Club in Sebastopol in Marin, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge at a gig. 


And some further creative thoughts about piping and teaching this that I just sent to Taylor (and added here to today's blog post - https://scott-macleod.blogspot.com/2020/06/honey-plants-honey-in-bag-upcoming.html)

How was your day, and how are you? 

Love, Scott



Taylor, 

A further fascinating helpful explanation about keys of GHB bagpipe tunes (within the 9 note scale): 

You can identify the key in which a tune is written by looking at the most common chords in the tune; additionally, most tunes will end on their key note. (This is not only true of bagpipe music, but of over 99% of Western music generally).

and the sentence just before this : 

in fact bagpipe tunes in D very closely approximate this key - for example, "Amazing Grace." It also corresponds to the key signature for B minor (B Aolian) - for example, "Mist-Covered Mountains."  And finally it corresponds to the key signature for A Mixolydian - for example, "Scotland the Brave."  

Good for exploring what SSP middle drones' tunings work with whicht tunes! :) (more related info here - http://forums.bobdunsire.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-112214.html ). Searched in Google on "identifying keys within bagpipe sheet music."

As we've explored (and slightly differently)
Basic Bagpipe Lessons : Bagpipe Lessons: The Birl Technique

https://youtu.be/cGwLwunE2u8

And there's mention here of the 'double tap' girl ...
http://forums.bobdunsire.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-137176.html
Still seeking further birl thinking regarding the tune in CoP Blue Tutor Vol. 3 in Gillie Callum (the slow version of this strathspey) ... and think now that it's the same as a basic birl (and in looking back at earlier birl notation in previous tunes in the Blue book).

Scott









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