You cannot substitute the HG for the pipes, the flourishes and the ornaments just aren't there.
If you don't use the chien, and you do a unison tuning of the chanters, and 2 drones in 5ths, you can do a passable job of lots of Scottish stuff - just don't expect it to be a bagpipe or to replace the bagpipe. It will be a different kind of approach to Scottish music, reminiscent of a pipe in ways but you have to develop a whole different way of interacting with the existing music. You have to make it the gurdy's own music, not expect the gurdy to sub for something else. I for one play a lot of Scotts/Irish music on my sinphone, and it is an interesting layer to the music, and lots of people are satisfied that it sounds like the pipes they have heard in these songs before. The more experienced and knowledgable the listener, the less it just passes. The experienced listener either likes it or doesn't on it's own merit. Thank goodness, in this case, there are far more uneducated listeners, and this is mostly my audience. You can be successful, if you can accurately judge what the gurdy can bring to the music, and don't try to exceed that limit - being 'over the top' which a gurdy usually is doesn't work as well in Scotts / Irish as it does in say, Romany, Slavic, French, or English music. Chris Nogy *********** REPLY SEPARATOR *********** On 2/17/2007 at 5:06 PM Maria/Joel wrote: >Hello all, > >My name is Joel Hoshaw and my wife and I both play the Celtic harp - she >the >nylon lever harp, and I the wire-strung. Our interest in the hurdy-gurdy >stems from those scenes in The Polar Express: we, like so many, previously >had only associated the word incorrectly with street organs. We were >fascinated by the instrument the hobo was playing, and until recently we >thought maybe it was strictly a product of the screen writer's imagination. >But then I read a review of the same movie in which the instrument was >mentioned by name. I did the requisite Google search, and found a number >of >great sites that have given me more than just a casual interest in this >instrument. It appears that it could easily handle the parts of Irish and >Scottish tunes that pipers normally play. I joined this list so Maria and >I >could broaden our knowledge. I am particularly interested in obtaining CD >recordings of any Irish/Scottish music that has been played on the >hurdy-gurdy. Thanks for your hospitality! > >Joel
