Easter Baggs

In December I wrote about the dearth of Christmas tunes composed specifically for the bagpipe. I came upon this (slightly wierd) antique Easter postcard – see below – and was struck by a similar thought. Easter is the highest of Christian holidays and [Great Highland] pipers have traditionally been overwhelmingly Christian. Where are our joyous Easter tunes? Is there an Easter tune made for the Great Highland Bagpipe?
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Pibroch Piobaireachd

We know there’s politics everywhere. And, when given the option, the way we choose to spell words is no exception. A Canadian, say, living in the United States, might exert quiet subversion by hanging on to Canadian spelling of any number of words. A note to his boss might read, “…followed up on the neighbourhood initiative; successful in addressing the signage colour controversy; local employees in good humour…”. That Canuck is implicitly saying to his American boss, “I’m Canadian, I’m not like you, I spell bigger, better…”. He’s also implicitly proclaiming to his boss he’s an asshole. But that’s a tangent of a different colour.
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A Fresh Look at Delivering a Clean Performance

The Swedish golder, Henrik Stenson, stole some of the shimmering glow around Tiger Woods’ return last week. You’ve probably seen the story, a quirky breath of fresh air amongst all the gloomy stuff. From Reuters, “Stenson’s wayward drive on the third hole landed in muddy terrain near a water hazard and he decided to get down to basics rather than play the rest of his round in muddy clothes”.
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Booze and Bands

I happened across a really interesting radio show over the Christmas holidays. The virtuoso Celtic flautist, Chris Norman, hosted an hour-long documentary on CBC radio (“The Pure Drop”) – all devoted to the deep (and evidently real) connection of alcohol and Celtic music-making. He travelled all over the place and interviewed loads of people who unanimously supported Chris’s contention that booze and jigs, to put it crassly, went beyond stereotype. Continue reading Booze and Bands…

Tam O’Shanter Suite

To this day the “Tam O’Shanter Suite” has been one of my most interesting and challenging projects.  The recording here, from “Shambolica!” and tarted up visually for youtube, was the first track I tackled when going about making the Shambolica! project happen.  The whole “Tam O’Shanter” experience (meaning my efforts to create this track) tapped in to over 30 musicians and two different studios.  In the end there were nine of us – and the track all recorded in one studio.  Continue reading Tam O’Shanter Suite…

A Christmas Prezzie

Here’s an mp3 you might enjoy, “Doubled Over Happy“, a cheery hornpipe from my CD, “Nine Blasted Notes” released 2003. 

Merry Christmas to you and yours and all the best in the coming New Year!  

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M.  

One of My Motivators

November through to January have traditionally been my fallow practice months.  In part,  because I’ve been fed up with piping and needed time away and, part because I know time away from practice is a very good and healthy thing, especially when that practice is regular and intense.  I’ve always felt better about piping after a good break.  That’s got to be a good sign of a good “training” regimen.   I recommend planned time away from piping – or drumming – or any crazy intense pursuit.
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Precious Practice Pads

A huge number of us are  stricken with the chronic challenge of trying to find a suitable place to practice the big pipes.   If a single chanter can reach 122 decibels and a pneumatic drill can reach 104 decibels, well, then, we all  know we need some fairly sound-tight space to rehearse our tunes of glory.  Hell, we didn’t need to know about the drill statistic; it’s simple, we need space to play our pipes.  Period.
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When Pipers Die

I’m just in the door from Scott MacAulay’s memorial, held this afternoon in Hamilton, Ontario.   A standing room only crowd with lots of music: bagpipes, smallpipes and Gaelic song, and lots of heartfelt memory.  It has been over two months since Scott’s death and, still, emotion was raw.  It was great to see so many old friends and aquaintances.  Scott would’ve been hugely proud of main organizers Kenny Eller, Donnie Forgan, Sue McCarroll and Bob MacCrimmon. “God love ’em, ” he’d say, I’m sure.
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Practice Chanters: Size Matters (Thanks Ben Johnson)

With competitions and general busyness most Saturdays I’ve come to be a chronic Sunday reader of Canada’s Saturday Globe & Mail – a favourite newspaper. Out on the back deck this afternoon, as the setting sun of the last day of summer sort of warmed, I came across an article of interest: one that made me immediately think of a bagpiping parallel (not an entirely uncommon thing to happen – I’m slightly embarrassed to admit).
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