[NSP] Re: Doubleday
One thing I like about NSP is the way vibrato alters the colour, rather than the volume of a note. You can emphasise higher harmonics this way, and Billy Pigg seemed to use this a lot in The Lark in the Clear Air, for example. As for apples and potatoes - in Cologne they have 'Himmel un Aed' - Heaven and Earth, meaning apple kompott and mashed potatoes served together with eg, Bratwurst. There's a place for both - not necessarily far apart. John -- To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[NSP] Re: Doubleday
John, I know what you mean. I also think that fiddle and pipes in duet are a Northumbrian version of 'Himmel un Aed'. If I may rewind the discussion and with particular reference to the Chris Ormston's Blackbird, I have to say it is a far superior track to anything I managed to offer on that album (or indeed in the 10 years either side of it - that was a dreadful period for me stuck in the music doldrums). The thing about the Blackbird was that in about 1985 Greg Smith recorded it for me (with his own variations) on my trusty old Dansette tape recorder. It was breathtaking. Visits over subsequent years produced more recordings of the same tune with yet more mesmerising oramentation/tune development. This piece with its rises and falls, embellishments and softness of song going into harshness of the alarm call had everything and had been firmly implanted on my brain for years before I heard Chris tackle it. When he did, he made a fine job of it but even in a master's hands the pipes failed to touch me as the fiddle version had. I did listen to that track again this morning and I can understand its appeal. I also had the misfortune to hear the embarrassingly unsuccessful attempt at trying to play two lovely Northumbrian Rants after it. So, it's apologies all round for the rubbish perpetrated in the name of piping by yours truly during the years '85-'05 As aye Anthony --- On Sat, 18/12/10, gibbonssoi...@aol.com gibbonssoi...@aol.com wrote: From: gibbonssoi...@aol.com gibbonssoi...@aol.com Subject: [NSP] Re: Doubleday To: cwh...@santa-fe.freeserve.co.uk, nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu Date: Saturday, 18 December, 2010, 12:35 One thing I like about NSP is the way vibrato alters the colour, rather than the volume of a note. You can emphasise higher harmonics this way, and Billy Pigg seemed to use this a lot in The Lark in the Clear Air, for example. As for apples and potatoes - in Cologne they have 'Himmel un Aed' - Heaven and Earth, meaning apple kompott and mashed potatoes served together with eg, Bratwurst. There's a place for both - not necessarily far apart. John -- To get on or off this list see list information at [1]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[NSP] Re: Doubleday
The defining performance of the Blackbird for me (both the air and the set dance) was Paddy Keenan's on his solo UP album. That probably owed a bit to Johnny Doran's famous recording. But Chris achieved a tremendous lot on his recording of the air - proving that NSP can be powerfully expressive, if you know how to play them, and respect their limitations. Less is more... From: lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu [lute-...@cs.dartmouth.edu] On Behalf Of Anthony Robb [anth...@robbpipes.com] Sent: 18 December 2010 14:04 To: nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu; gibbonssoi...@aol.com Subject: [NSP] Re: Doubleday John, I know what you mean. I also think that fiddle and pipes in duet are a Northumbrian version of 'Himmel un Aed'. If I may rewind the discussion and with particular reference to the Chris Ormston's Blackbird, I have to say it is a far superior track to anything I managed to offer on that album (or indeed in the 10 years either side of it - that was a dreadful period for me stuck in the music doldrums). The thing about the Blackbird was that in about 1985 Greg Smith recorded it for me (with his own variations) on my trusty old Dansette tape recorder. It was breathtaking. Visits over subsequent years produced more recordings of the same tune with yet more mesmerising oramentation/tune development. This piece with its rises and falls, embellishments and softness of song going into harshness of the alarm call had everything and had been firmly implanted on my brain for years before I heard Chris tackle it. When he did, he made a fine job of it but even in a master's hands the pipes failed to touch me as the fiddle version had. I did listen to that track again this morning and I can understand its appeal. I also had the misfortune to hear the embarrassingly unsuccessful attempt at trying to play two lovely Northumbrian Rants after it. So, it's apologies all round for the rubbish perpetrated in the name of piping by yours truly during the years '85-'05 As aye Anthony --- On Sat, 18/12/10, gibbonssoi...@aol.com gibbonssoi...@aol.com wrote: From: gibbonssoi...@aol.com gibbonssoi...@aol.com Subject: [NSP] Re: Doubleday To: cwh...@santa-fe.freeserve.co.uk, nsp@cs.dartmouth.edu Date: Saturday, 18 December, 2010, 12:35 One thing I like about NSP is the way vibrato alters the colour, rather than the volume of a note. You can emphasise higher harmonics this way, and Billy Pigg seemed to use this a lot in The Lark in the Clear Air, for example. As for apples and potatoes - in Cologne they have 'Himmel un Aed' - Heaven and Earth, meaning apple kompott and mashed potatoes served together with eg, Bratwurst. There's a place for both - not necessarily far apart. John -- To get on or off this list see list information at [1]http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html -- References 1. http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
[NSP] Doubleday et al
Thanks to everyone for the edifying discussion. To me Doubleday seems to be saying, the NSP are a rude, wee thing with enough charm to make them worth preserving, and within its narrowest scope in its own way it's quite nice, really. Another way of looking at it is that he's saying fa\g a phiob bhochd, leave the poor pipes alone, which makes good sense to me too. All that is fair enough. Contrast that with George Sand's novel, The Bagpipers, which is truly inspired by the rude sounds of peasant instruments. I think she wrote about the same time as Doubleday. The discussion lost me when it took on the topic of most expressive instrument. Whatever gets you through the night, as the late, great Liverpudlian once sang. All music is nostalgic and so much depends on your frame of reference. When I first heard the NSP when I was about fifteen I was drinking tea in a close corner by a wood stove after a cold, wet day of scavaging fire wood from a logged off patch where alder and madrona were left to rot. My friend, Sandy Ross (somehow related to Colin), put a recording of Billy Pigg on the record player and I was hooked. If he had put a recording of the best violinist in the world I would have hurried out the door without finishing my tea. There is much more to the context of that moment, social and personal, that made it so important to me. But suffice it to say that for all it's many flaws and short comings the NSP are the only thing that works to express some things for me, and every time I hear and play them that moment of contentment and happiness shines through. Of course, I have many flaws and shortcomings, which explains a lot! To get on or off this list see list information at http://www.cs.dartmouth.edu/~wbc/lute-admin/index.html
