[NSP] Re: Doubleday
I hope Francis won't mind if I add some food for thought by sending a slightly altered version of his message: There are many things the harpsichord can't do. No dynamics. ... Limited opportunities for the player to adjust intonation. So an expert concentrates on what the harpsichord can do better than many other instruments; that precise delivery of notes of a multitude of durations and silences perfectly timed. Theres a lot to be said for artificial limitations, and a lot of great art has come about because of writers' and performers' observation of them. You might also substitute organ for harpsichord (although both instruments can change their registration, which in a sense is changing the dynamics, i.e. terraced dynamics). Cheers, Paul Gretton -Original Message- From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [mailto:lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of Francis Wood Sent: 20 December 2010 07:21 To: inky-adrian Cc: Dartmouth NPS Subject: [NSP] Re: Doubleday On 6 Dec 2010, at 01:14, inky-adrian wrote: Expression is emphasised in precision. Well, I think that says it perfectly, really. There are many things the pipes can't do. No dynamics. A relatively limited range. Limited opportunities for the player to adjust intonation. So an expert concentrates on what Northumbrian pipes can do better than any other; that precise delivery of detached notes with duration and silences perfectly timed. Theres a lot to be said for artificial limitations, and a lot of great art has come about because of writers' and performers' observation of them. Francis To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[NSP] Doubleday Post Script and retraction
Thanks, Helen, for making me look more deeply into my words. Highest is, on deeper thought, a bad choice as pipes in the right hands (as Inky Adrian recently pointed out) hit the heart and brain every bit as surely as, say, Heifitz or indeed Choralation (Rowan Johnston's New Zealand choir). I'm not sure if it'll be any better, however, if I substitute fullest for highest. By which I mean hitting heart, brain and body (particulary the feet), simultaneously. This is far harder to pull off on the pipes than, say, the fiddle. It's what Peter Kennedy in the introduction to the Fiddler's Tune Book (OUP 1954) calls Drops and Raises a topic he devotes 8 paragraphs to. This is not done easily or by many and clearly not the genteel ladies and gentlemen who were probably the only people able to afford keyed pipes in the mid 18 th century. This takes us back to Doubleday. For me this letter to the Duke of Northumberland said 3 things: a) the old style pipes were brilliant, perfect for the job and really pwerful for their size (I know some who say similar re their Blackberry), b) the recent development in extra range attracted a fashion set who, more often than not, made a dog's dinner of the pieces they attempted, c) this bad playing was giving the pipes themselves a thoroughly underserved bad reputation. There is a fourth thing which was not in the extract posted but something that if not said openly was perhaps implicit in his letter, so this is my d) please do something about this parlous state of affairs. I add this because if the year is correct (1857) it was the same year the Duke appointed a second Duke's Piper, one James Reid of North Shields, to promote the pipes (presumably on Tyneside) and show people how they should be played. I would love to think that a consequence of this was that the genteel folk thought, 'pipes are not for us after all' and promptly sold them on for a fraction of their cost to the likes of the Cloughs and others who knew what to do with them. Pure speculation and merely the result of my own digestion of the piece so proper research could well prove me wrong. It would, nevertheless, be a lovely and fitting end to the tale. Cheers Anthony -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[NSP] Pipes Fiddles
Today John Gibbons wrote: Is 'the NSP don't move Anthony as much as the fiddle does', a sentence about the NSP or about Anthony? The answer has to be it's about both. My question is where did the sentence come from? Definitely not the email you are replying to, where I said, ... pipes in the right hands (as Inky Adrian recently pointed out) hit the heart and brain every bit as surely as, say, Heifitz or indeed Choralation (Rowan Johnston's New Zealand choir). I included the reference to Choralation because that choir had almost a whole audience moved to tears in Hexham Abbey on the 12th of this month. Not only was I saying the pipes had the power to move me as much as fiddles they even had enough power to move me as much as the human voice. This for me is the ultimate compliment to pipes. He goes on to say: As for Peter Kennedy's 'Drops and Raises' aren't they a survival of 18th C performance practice, which may well have been exactly how the genteel pipers of the early 19th C would have wanted to play, if they could? Well John, they might well be but I don't think so. Here's a little bit of what he says: This rhythm on the fiddle is created by the traditional tecnique, or as the country musicians call it, by the drops and raises. .. This rhythmical technique gives the pulsating effect the dancers call 'lilt'. But it also gives continuity. The shimering melodic line, fluctuating from weak to strong, flat to sharp, short notes to long, soft to loud, gives a continuous living environment for the pulsations. Continuity is also aided by the occasional use of drones. .. Inheriting the technique 'traditionally' makes for a standard of dance playing very difficult to acquire in any other way. Let me repeat that the tunes inn this book are only outlined in the notation and some wider experience is required than learning them from the printed page. Listening to good traditional players on gramophone records or on the radio, or better still, in the flesh, will inform the fiddler as no notation can do. Peter Kennedy That's a taste of it but enough to allow people to decide the answer to your question for themselves. Cheers Anthony -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[NSP] Re: Pipes Fiddles
Sorry about my '...' marks, which were not to indicate a direct quote - but rather to paraphrase the gist of an earlier email, the passage: Years later [Chris] wondered publicly on this list what had happened to that piper. The answer is, Greg Smith played The Blackbird for me. His music, live, fresh, creative, flowing and resonant in my own living room drove me to a radical reappraisal of the pipes and piping. As I've hinted recently, it shattered my world at the time, plunging me into a state of confusion which led to me barely touching the pipes from one month to the for many years. The quotes round my paraphrase were only to say what sentence I was asking about. I'm glad you've returned to the pipes and are now doing your bit for North Northumbrian traditional music. As your piping on Cut and Dry had a powerful effect on me, though, I see where Chris was coming from. De gustibus non disputandum, but at least it keeps the list server busy. John From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of Anthony Robb [anth...@robbpipes.com] Sent: 20 December 2010 17:21 To: Dartmouth NPS Subject: [NSP] Pipes Fiddles Today John Gibbons wrote: Is 'the NSP don't move Anthony as much as the fiddle does', a sentence about the NSP or about Anthony? The answer has to be it's about both. My question is where did the sentence come from? Definitely not the email you are replying to, where I said, ... pipes in the right hands (as Inky Adrian recently pointed out) hit the heart and brain every bit as surely as, say, Heifitz or indeed Choralation (Rowan Johnston's New Zealand choir). I included the reference to Choralation because that choir had almost a whole audience moved to tears in Hexham Abbey on the 12th of this month. Not only was I saying the pipes had the power to move me as much as fiddles they even had enough power to move me as much as the human voice. This for me is the ultimate compliment to pipes. He goes on to say: As for Peter Kennedy's 'Drops and Raises' aren't they a survival of 18th C performance practice, which may well have been exactly how the genteel pipers of the early 19th C would have wanted to play, if they could? Well John, they might well be but I don't think so. Here's a little bit of what he says: This rhythm on the fiddle is created by the traditional tecnique, or as the country musicians call it, by the drops and raises. .. This rhythmical technique gives the pulsating effect the dancers call 'lilt'. But it also gives continuity. The shimering melodic line, fluctuating from weak to strong, flat to sharp, short notes to long, soft to loud, gives a continuous living environment for the pulsations. Continuity is also aided by the occasional use of drones. .. Inheriting the technique 'traditionally' makes for a standard of dance playing very difficult to acquire in any other way. Let me repeat that the tunes inn this book are only outlined in the notation and some wider experience is required than learning them from the printed page. Listening to good traditional players on gramophone records or on the radio, or better still, in the flesh, will inform the fiddler as no notation can do. Peter Kennedy That's a taste of it but enough to allow people to decide the answer to your question for themselves. Cheers Anthony -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
