Variations on a Theme of Good Intentions

Last Saturday at the Georgetown games the band I play in, The Toronto Police Pipe Band, participated in the grade one pipe band contest. The event was a “medley” event and we played a piece of music I built called, “Variations on a Theme of Good Intentions“. What an experience.  We had all anticipated playing this “medley” and the crowd reaction was spine-tingling.  I have never in my long piping career experienced spontaneous, mid-performance cheers from a crowd at a pipe band contest. I’m not sure about the other players  but it was all I could do to hold concentration.  Believe me, these are the kinds of “challenges” we want to be faced with when competing! Forget the results for a moment, reaction like this is a performer’s triumph.  It is what this is all about, or should be. 
Continue reading Variations on a Theme of Good Intentions…

Music-making

I really liked this quote.  It made me think a little differently about music-making:

“No good opera plot can be sensible:… people do not sing when they are feeling sensible.”

  ~W.H. Auden (English poet)  

Early 20th Century Pipe Band Ensemble

A while ago I happened across a great site, the University of California’s (Santa Barbara) Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Project. Here you can have a listen to any one of a vast array of mp3 recordings lifted from the university’s collection of almost 8,000 wax cylinders.
Continue reading Early 20th Century Pipe Band Ensemble…

Music-making Advice

My friend (and electronic music-maker) Mikael Hansson just passed me a quote that I absolutely love. 

So, some fantastic advice from Brian Eno, the “father of modern ambient music” and co-producer of the good U2 stuff:

“Play more things that make me dance around and less things that make me sit and look miserable in a plastic chair”

Yes, please.

M.

Pipe Band Circles are So Square

I’ve been going on for ages now about the standard competitive pipe band performance configuration, “the circle”.  This arrangement makes no sense to me.  Yeah, everyone can see the hands of the person leading the band, and that helps unison and timing of rhythmic transitions, but what about the many and varied down sides, the good reasons not to perform in a circle?
Continue reading Pipe Band Circles are So Square…

A Jig, “Jenny Hazzard”: Score & Sound File

I’ve had a couple of notes from people looking for “more jigs”.  So for the jig hounds here is a 4-parted 6/8 jig, “Jenny Hazzard”, from “Old & New Tunes“, published 1995.   I’ve played this in solo jig competitions with success and I’m pretty sure Peel Police Pipe Band played a couple of parts in a competition medley when I was PM in the mid 90s. 
Continue reading A Jig, “Jenny Hazzard”: Score & Sound File…

A Great Spirit

When I decided to start making recordings that went beyond a capella bagpipes a lot of good musical things started happening.  One of the best?  The chance was created to work with other, non-bagpipe musicians.  One of the first musicians – and best – that I’ve worked with is fiddler and violin-playing maestro, Oliver Schroer.
Continue reading A Great Spirit…

A Huge Part of Pipe Band Ensemble

There seems to be a fair bit of upset these days about ruling that came to be as a result of a vote at the recent Annual General Meeting of the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association. Apparently members in attendance voted to remove the “best bass section” prize from the list of those awarded at major pipe band championships. The upset appears to be coming mainly from bass and tenor drummers caught off-guard by the rule change. Like most meetings of this kind attendance was reportedly sparse and a poor representation of general membership. What transpired is a good reminder for next year’s meeting: turn up if you want a voice. I have to admit, to be fair, that not turning up at an AGM never stopped me from crabbing about what I viewed was an ill-conceived rule or policy change.
Continue reading A Huge Part of Pipe Band Ensemble…

Be Open to Something New (Also Score & Sound File: “The Oyster Wives’ Rant”)

In honour of St Patrick’s Day, a quote from the great Irish novelist, Jonathan Swift:
Continue reading Be Open to Something New (Also Score & Sound File: “The Oyster Wives’ Rant”)…

A Competition Strathspey: “The Blue Heron” (Score & Sound File)

This tune comes from my third collection of tunes, “Old & New Tunes” (1995). The Blue Heron is a competition-style strathspey.  Continue reading A Competition Strathspey: “The Blue Heron” (Score & Sound File)…