Yesterday John Gibbons wrote: Is 'the NSP don't move Anthony as much as the fiddle does', a sentence about the NSP or about Anthony?
He has now explained that this is his own paraphrase based on something I wrote about one particular tune played by two top rank players on the two best instruments in the world. That's not much evidence on which to base an accurate conclusion so here are some bits of information to set things in context. 1) Some time ago I sold a fiddle made in 1749 in Prague by Eberle (authenticated by a large auction house in London) to fund my ivory G pipes. I got 650 GBP for that instrument. These fiddles last year were selling for between 40,000 and 70,000 GBP. Do I regret selling it - not one bit. Pipes are my greatest love and always will be. 2) Loving something most in the world and being aware of its strengths and weaknesses is to me a perfectly tenable position. 3) I have always been moved by music and it affects me often at a physical level. Not just bringing me to tears when it is beautiful but also hurting when it's not right. A while ago I was playing at a pub session where the jigs were being pushed along very forcibly and it caused physical discomfort. As we jostled along through the tunes it was like receiving tiny shocks (like a PP3 on the tongue). I am delighted to say no pipes were involved in this unpleasant experience. 4) I'm not 'back' in the piping fold as John implies. I never really left it. What has happened is that my fiddling experience has enriched my whole approach. I discovered among other things that fiddles too will tell you to "go forth and multiply" in the afternoon despite being nice as pie that same morning (but fiddles don't do it on such a regular basis). 5) I have found my reappraisal of pipes/piping and consequently working within the limitations has changed my approach since the Cut & Dry days and is now hitting the mark in other pipers in a way my piping never did in those days. There has been a particulary embarrassing number of OTT compliments this year but it was the strength of praise which tells me I have taken the right route for me. Yes the pipes have the most wonderful sound, they can be played lyrically and musically and can really hit the spot. But, as Inky Adrian implies they need to be played 'properly' to achieve this. The trouble is this is much harder to do on pipes than any other traditional instrument. Perhaps we have reached the stage in piping history when need to say to ourselves let's stop bagging tunes like Munros. May I suggest picking one tune that really speaks to us but isn't yet inside us (this includes brain, heart and fingers) and devote half our practice time each week to that single tune for 1-6 months (depending on time allocated to practice and complexity of tune). Yes by all means develop repertoire in the other half but keep that one tune until it becomes your very own music. When it has reached this point choose another and what you have learnt in that first experience will pay dividends. I might have been a bit of a bright spark on the pipes in my early days but it took me more hours than I care to admit to turn Jamie Allan and Because He Was a Bonny Lad into something which is (more or less) music to my ears. As aye Anthony -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
