Hi Margaret,
One of the delights of being a newcomer to music, and a blow in to
Northumberland to boot, is that there are always new things to learn. The
kipper box is a new one on me, and I think must be very local to Craster.
I've never seen one at a session, even at Low Newton just up the coast, but
maybe I go to the wrong sort of gig. It brings forth a vision of some sort
of coastal folk-skiffle crossover band. I wonder if any tunes were written
specially for it? Caller Herrin perhaps?
I had a quick look on the internet, even on oddmusic.com/gallery which has
quite a range of odd stuff, but could find no reference. Perhaps it is now
extinct, having been superseded by the more durable HDPE type we sometimes
find on the beaches.
Still, it's great that there are people around who remember these things. If
I can ever play the fiddle well enough to sound like you playing the kipper
box I shall consider it an achievement.
cheers
Tim
----- Original Message -----
From: "Margaret Watchorn" <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Sent: Tuesday, February 09, 2010 11:35 AM
Subject: [NSP] Re: NSP duet with other instruments
Anthony is absolutely right about Willie Taylor's dislike of tuning down a
fiddle; the 'knicker-elastic' comment is one he used frequently.
When I'm playing duets with Andy's nsp, I always tune down. For me, I've
spent a long time trying to find the right fiddle and strings so it
doesn't
sound like a kipper-box (or I hope it doesn't) when tuned lower. In my
opinion, it's about trying to find a sound quality/timbre/call it what you
will, that sounds right with the particular set of pipes you're playing
with. That's the case with any two instruments playing together, of
course.
The only time I ever heard Joe play the fiddle was when he was about to
leave my parents' house late one evening and had boxed up his pipes, only
to
hear the rest of us start on a tune that happened to be a favourite of
his.
He picked my fiddle off the top of the piano and played along till the end
of the set, when Hannah decided it was definitely home time!
Margaret
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