From Chris Gregg:
So that is why my pipes always sound out of tune, and I thought it
was
just poor musicianship on my part!
The whole tuning thing is a bit of a quagmire, and as a solo
instrument
it is not a problem, but I would like to know how people get around
it
in recording sessions.
Hello Chris
This sounds to me as though your bottom G is a tad flat and that's why
so many notes seem sharp.
The other thing to say is that the chanter, in all likelihood, could be
brought in tune with careful use of PVA glue (for sharp notes) and a
scalpel fitted with an 11P blade (for flat notes).
Before doing anything drastic, however, I would get to know your
chanter's idiosyncrasies by removing the cotton wool plug, if there is
one, from the bottom of the bore. Then I'd repeat your measurements
(draw up a table) with a cotton bud inserted at set positions into the
bore. I'd start off with the rounded tip in at 10mm then go up by 5mm
increments to within 15mm of your bottom D (for a 7 key chanter)
checking the tuning of each note as you go. Write down your results so
the pattern can be seen at a glance. This will tell you how much effect
the standing waves below each chanter note are affecting the pitch of
each note. You might find one position will bring your chanter closer
in tune with itself. If the cotton bud makes matters worse I'd insert a
20mm narrow cone of cotton wool (point first) into the chanter and see
if that helps.
If you do need to resort to scalpel glue I'd do this with the cotton
wool cone to minimise standing waves interfering with your tuning.
Let me know how you get on.
With regards to recording sessions every group of pipers of pipers will
have their own solution. As you say solo is fine as the piper can
adjust where necessary. At the other end of the scale massed pipes are
OK too because variations with 5 chanters or more tend to balance out.
The trickiest we find is when 3 pipes are playing together. We found
that recording the three chanters together without drones (live or
recorded) works best as each of us listens out for what is happening
with the other players and adjusts where necessary. Then drones are
tuned to the chanters and added to the mix. This can mean up to 11.5
mins of constant drone without fingering the chanter at all which is
surprisingly tiring on the fingers. It also means that chanters have to
be played at a fairly consistent pitch and in with each other without
any external reference point at all. But then as we can see from the
recent posts external references are often a hindrance rather that a
help in that situation.
I hope some of this helps but please remember no theories whatsoever
have been used as a basis for this advice just 40 years mucking about
with some of the loveliest chanters around (Burleigh, Gruar, Hedworth,
Nelson and Ross) and nowt but my own lugs as final arbiter.
Good Luck
Anthony
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