In the instruction book published by the Northumbrian Smallpipes
Society in 1896,
Mr Fenwick wrote,
'The note G is sounded by lifting the fourth finger off the bottom
hole. To produce A, replace the fourth finger on the hole, and raise
the third finger. The other notes are produced by closing and opening
one hole at a time as given in the scale.'
It seems to me that there are some deficiencies in this description.
If we follow the instruction in the first sentence, we are left with a
G sounding. This will go on until we decide to play another note. In
order to play that other note we have to move two fingers in a
coordinated fashion.
I would suggest a better description as
A note of G is sounded by lifting the fourth finger off the bottom
hole for the length of time appropriate to the note and then replacing
it. Other notes are played in the same fashion either by lifting a
finger or thumb to open a tone-hole for the required duration and then
replacing the finger or thumb or by depressing a key for the
appropriate length of time and then releasing it.
The major difference is that every note has a length as well as a
pitch, the player is aware of the length of the note when he starts to
play it, and the note isn't complete until it has been stopped.
Mr Fenwick's description seems to me to owe a lot to the style of
playing appropriate to open ended pipes such as GHB. Once the pipes
are started, a stream of sound emanates from the chanter and the
player is engaged in directing this to various pitches. It is a bit
like operating a garden hose with no access to the tap. You can direct
where the water goes but you cannot stop it.
Conversely, with a closed end chanter NSP can produce distinct notes,
and I think this is the way the instrument is best approached. Once we
know how to play a G quaver, we can decide to play a G quaver without
worrying about where the note will end. Our training will kick in and
the fourth finger will descend at the appropriate time. we should
imagine the whole of the note in our head before playing it.
We can decide to follow that G with an A and to do that we lift the
third finger at the appropriate time. and the fourth finger has
already closed the G hole. Initially the gaps between the notes will
be large, but with practise they *will* come down to an appropriate
length.
This description is my own but it owes much to detailed listening to
recordings of Chris Ormston, to practice methods described by
Inky-Adrian and discussions with other pipers who shall for now remain
nameless. I feel that there are parallels with the methods used by
Sports psychologists and coaches who encourage those they are teaching
to break down the actions they require into well defined segments, and
to have a clear vision of the outcome they wish to achieve before they
start the action - we should 'think' the note before we play it.
Does this make any sort of sense?
Barry
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