I don't find that it is any worse than some of my Cornamusen. I have built
up a lot of tolerance for the back pressure, but with any double reed and
capped double reed playing a long time with no break can be difficult. When
we play we tend to choose pieces that we can take breaks with. We will
switch short phrases back and forth so that we are not playing straight
through a piece. It is more an issue of finding someplace to exhale and
another short space to inhale or if we are lucky a place to do both at the
same time. Joanne and I do a lot of Cantigas where she will play the gurdy
and I will play cornamuse. The back pressure is pretty bad, but we tend to
play them with me dropping off a couple of measures in the middle of the
piece. We arrange it so that it doesn't sound like I am dropping off, but
that the music dictates it. If I do have to play straight through I try not
to gasp too much at the end.
I do think that the Cip Rauschpfeifs are easier to play than others I have
tried. We did get them to be our fanfare instruments. I don't know how much
we will use them for other uses. They are just too loud for most of our
other gigs, though in an outside dance they might be useful, but they will
drown out just about any other instrument I can think of except a big
duddlesak. The other issue as far as dances go is the limited range. A lot
of dances want a greater range. Joanne is an expert at finding limited range
music, which is a good thing since we play a lot of limited range
instruments.
I hope this helps.
Katie
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [HG] Rauschpfeif?
Date: Tue, 3 Apr 2007 03:54:43 EDT
In a message dated 4/2/2007 11:07:53 P.M. Central Daylight Time,
[EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
Though we had never seen their Rauschpfeifs we did
not hesitate to purchase from them. I'm glad we did. Though they are
extremely loud, as all rauschpfeifs are, they both have amazingly
beautiful
tones. The tenor has the tone quality of an english horn on steroids. The
alto is smooth and just loud, not obnoxious. We have already decided that
we are buying their single bladderpipes because we wants some that are not
droned.
If all this is true, then of course I want one, but does it address the
issue of back pressure? Since you have experience with all these others,
how long
(say renaissance dances) can you play one? I used the rauschpfeiff for
fanfares before giving up and selling it. No problem as fanfare
instruments; gave
me time to recover my breath.
Cheers,
Alice
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