I don't know what someone fed you for New Year's Day Dinner, Francis, but it should be on sale only under the counter. Salutations. Richard. Francis Wood wrote:
On 1 Jan 2010, at 21:18, Richard York wrote: There's also the theory that said crusaders found the Saracen bagpipes upset their horses so brought them back as a way of bagpipe-proofing horses - urban bagpiping myth or not? Well, Richard, I like that speculation. However there's also a theory specific to our own pipes which is less distant. Earliest reference to the closed-fingered small-pipes is to be found in an early English account of a visit to the court of the ancient Irish King Brian or Bria n Boruma. This famous warrior had lost a thumb in a hunting accident, a misadven ture which affected him but slightly, although he was greatly saddened by his in ability to play Irish smallpipes, his skill on this instrument being renowned th roughout the kingdom. The subsequent emergence of melodies with only a seven no te range can be traced to this period, and the recent discovery of a smallpipe c hanter from a contemporary burial site with the distinctive absence of the upper octave hole seems to provide evidence of the adoption of such a chanter followi ng the royal example. An old inventory refers colloquially to the instrument as "No-thumb Brian pipes" and in translation this term has survived in English to this present day, despite the restoration of the thumb hole. Happy New Year, all! Francis To get on or off this list see list information at [1]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
