> I seem to remember a certain well known piper who entered an open
> competition playing a simple chanter and won it.
Who was that then? I did win the Beginners and Intermediate at
Newcastle in '71 on a keyless chanter but had to play in a key other
than G for the Open, so was forced to play my 9 keyed set. True I did
well that year and even forced a rule change but can't claim to have
won an Open on a keyless set. Perhaps it was some one else entirely -
if so apologies all round.
On the other topic -
I'm saying little apart from offering some quotes from Will Atkinson
who was active on the Northumbrian music scene during and well-beyond
Tom Clough's time.
"In those days the population was so different. Each steading was
almost a village. You might have ten ploughmen, two shepherds, two
spademen - who did ditching, fencing and general work, Turnip Dick - a
young lad who led turnips to feed the sheep, plus a steward and a
ploughman steward. Most of these had families who also played their
part in work on the farm so you had quite a few folk living there and
nearly always there were some who could play something. After work you
would get washed up and then gather at the corner end for a bit of
crack and some music - sometimes even a dance.
Then on a Saturday night you might walk to Wooler for a dance a that's
about six mile each way. Of course, if there was a gang of you, you
would be chatting as you went along, constant leg-pulling so it didn't
seem far"
"I mind biking from Lyham to Low Bleakhope and all the way up the
Breamish valley the wind was head on, well it nearly always is but this
time you could hardly mover against it. I had to push my bike more than
I rode it and you had to walk the last three mile anyway. I was never
so pleased to get my supper from anyone as that night. Anyway once we'd
had some supper and a bit of crack we walked on up to Geordie
Armstrong's at High Bleakhope and got him out of bed for a few tunes.
It must have been midnight when we got there. Oh, we were keen on the
music, keen but foolish a a silly venture really."
"You would go away and buy a new record and there was no contentment
until you got that record played and some tunes learnta|.not being
readers there was nothing to go off - except we heard them."
These people did not just understand music, they understood the
importance of the social bonds, fun and enrichment it brought to their
lives and their communities.
Will sent his son George to Billy Pigg for lessons and was very pleased
and proud of the results as George, in his turn, brought joy and
enrichment into the lives of those who heard him.
Anthony
--- On Sun, 26/4/09, what.me <what...@ntlworld.com> wrote:
From: what.me <what...@ntlworld.com>
Subject: [NSP] nps
To: "Dartmouth NPS" <nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu>
Date: Sunday, 26 April, 2009, 7:18 PM
Running notes in is rubbish, choyting is rubbish and I would rather
see
the pipes die out if certain pipers, who are promoting this and who
cannot play, are pulling the wool over listeners ears by showing the
world that their playing is the way to go forward.
Adrian
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