Hooray! Someone else who hates the holey halfpenny. I thought I was alone. After many years I still can't actually hear a tune in there let alone play it. I'm going to offend everyone else now (as a Liverpulian, albeit an adopted one, is allowed to do on occasion) but I am happy that any tune that sounds good on the pipes will become part of the tradition and the ear of the listener is the best judge. Fortunately, traditions do change and are alive and well and grow rather than diminish. As an academic debate it's healthy but, as always, the people will ignore the experts and go their own way which is after all, how the pipes came to be the traditional instrument of the NE. Just think, it could have ended up being the Alpine horn or something similar - try playing HH on that! :-) Still, this is an interesting and stimulating debate and gets us all thinking. Personally, I too would start with the tunes we have for the plain chanter and work on from those. Colin Hill
----- Original Message ----- From: "Stephen Douglass" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Cc: <nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu> Sent: Sunday, November 05, 2006 11:38 PM Subject: [NSP] Re: preserving the tradition....a non-traditional approach > Are we going to then confine tunes that are considered passe to the > 'trash folder' > just because they are considered not suitable for modern tastes...or > the tastes of those > who are considered suitable to transmit the repetoire. > > That defeats the whole object of trying to maintain and define the > tradition > (If that is even possible to do). > > Chevy Chase .. a great starter tune (considered passe ?)....was used > as accompaniment to many different > songs in "A Collection Of Songs" (The Newcastle Song Book of 1827). > > I would suggest it is definately in the tradition along with > "Cappy" , "Ranting Roaring Willie" and Canny Newcassel. > Other tunes seem to have fallen by the wayside...such as Chapter of > Donkies and The Quayside Shaver. All from that source, > along with numerous others that are not played much today. Maybe's > they were'nt good enough but it gets back to the personal taste > of influential pipers , and should we be building the repetoire, or > restricting it based on their tastes. > > Personally... > Tom Clough's Holey Ha'penny, leaves me cold..(piping heracy I know) > but I find it more about technical skill than musicality. > I doubt wether it would have been played like that when "Peacock" was > gathering the manuscripts.( But I don't know for sure). > > Billy Piggs "Wild Hills" on the otherhand is free, open graced and > has got 'grain'..(dirt in the music as someone put it recently) and > in the > Scottish Tradition > > But to suggest Scottish tunes are not in the repetoire would be > insular considering the proximity of Northumberland to > Scotland. The level of influence is massive especially the further > north you go. Players in Wooler would have a different repetoire > to those in Gateshead for instance..similarly those in Hexham would > be influenced by music of Cumberland. And Vice Versa. > Obvious stuff...but lets not draw a musical boundry around where we > think the music originated, and suggest that it is only > in the repetoire if it was composed within a certain distance of > Heburn, and only if it is deemed "good enough' by the current > virtuoso's. > > We should listen to as much available advice from good and great > players, and adapt that advice within the range of our individual > capabilities to > maintain levels of playing as high as possible. But because of > the small amount of skilled players influencing the rest... > I'm concerned that a conservative approach to technique and > repetoire is limiting rather than distilling. I dont think there is > any danger that > the right way will not prevail...what ever the tastes at the time > are. But to suggest that other styles, technique and suggested > repetoires are > incorrect based on taste could be constricting. > > > Also I think the Peacock book is a great source of music of the > time..but is not the point of variations, an improvisation on the > tune ?, and therefore > should not be adhered to strictly anyway... and maybes we have lost > the art extemporization on the instrument because we stick so > closely to the notes. > > Just a thought.... > > Steve Douglass > > > > > > > On Nov 5, 2006, at 3:15 PM, Matt Seattle wrote: > > >> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > > >> Sent: Sunday, November 05, 2006 3:20 PM > >> Subject: [NSP] Re: preserving the tradition....a non-traditional > >> approach > > > >> This is why I begged that > >> some > >>> of the people who are imbued with the tradition, and know which > >>> are, and > >>> which are not, the truly traditional tunes, would make a list of > >>> 20 - 30 > >>> traditional tunes to enlighten us. > > > > It is obviously a matter of taste that we are really talking about > > rather than > > tradition as such, because if something gets played for long enough > > it is > > traditional, whether a piping snob such as myself likes it or not. > > But, getting > > at what is behind the question, my recommendation would be the 25 > > or so plain > > chanter variation sets in Peacock for a start. I know some people > > can't stand > > that stuff, and it certainly wasn't clear to me for the first few > > years what it > > was all about; but then, you get out what you put in. There is > > enough instant > > musical gratification elsewhere. > > > > Throughout this discussion, for what it's worth, I write not as > > someone who plays > > NSP (I don't) but as someone who regards the instrument, its > > repertoire and a few > > of its players, as the chief means of transmission into modern > > times of the > > spirit of Border piping, which is my real interest. > > > > I realise that the activity of NSP-ing means different things to > > different > > people, but I believe that there is something precious at the heart > > of the > > tradition, the more so because it is so misunderstood, non- > > mainstream and lacking > > in any kind of academic recognition. > > > > > > > > To get on or off this list see list information at > > http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html > > > >
