Boomer and Merry got me a righteous practice chanter upon which I can learn how to play bagpipes for my birthday. The fingerings are way confusing... not linear at all, like, say, on a recorder or Native courting flute. Playing a simple scale is like trying to rub your tummy and pat your head at the same time! The chanter pictured is the Gibson, the one they bought me. It came with a book and DVD, but I found a somewhat better fingering chart on line. The only beef I have with it is that theres no delineation between left hand and right. I fixed that by taking a pencil and drawing a line dividing each illustration into left hand (the top three holes and thumb) and right hand (the bottom four holes). It makes it so much easier to quickly determine the right fingering for the right note. Its range is barely over an octave, (basically an octave plus one note), so youd think itd be easy, but think again... Since it is winded from a leather bag, and not directly from your face, a tortuously complicated system of grace notes are used to separate and differentiate between notes. I can muddle through Amazing Grace, but NOT with the grace notes... not just yet. The third pic is of the music for same... note all the friggin grace notes, (for non-musicians, they are the itty bitty, teeny tiny notes that are about half the size of the others and are played so quickly you barely hear them). Fortunately, due to my experience with Native courting flute, Im familiar with the use of lots of grace notes and ornaments. The cool thing about the chanter is that it is SOOOOO much quieter than a real screaming octopus sack. This tends to minimize the inevitable death threats which invariably accrue during the painfully lengthy learning period of new songs and techniques! I all ready play Taps at military funerals, and if I can get bagpipes in my fingers, I wouldnt rule out playing Amazing Grace at funerals, either. Fortunately, the U.S. Navy has a tartan!
Posted on: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 01:16:11 +0000
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