Practise Chanter Advice-- Getting BACK into piping

[Calgacus]

Hi Bren,

Some great advice already from other members, and I can't really add anything more, so just to reinforce what's been said already...

1) Invest in a new PC from a reputable maker. Don't buy anything to do with bagpipes from the same sort of source as you bought your last PC.

2) See, you learned something already :-D The bagpipe scale is unique and wonderful. Although it is currently trendy to mix bagpipes with other instruments, I think it shines as a solo instrument because tuning to any other scale ruins the unique harmonics of the bagpipes.

3) The biggest risk here is to your teeth. If you really get in to playing the pipes, this will damage your teeth over the years. It would also be costly if you bought pipes with a wooden mouthpiece, but Delrin mouthpieces are tough and cheap.

4) Get a teacher! Either in person, or by Skype, I feel a real live tutor is an absolute necessity and I do not believe that it is possible to become a competent player without one. Also listen to lots of solo pipe music recordings by the top players. Immerse yourself in how the bagpipes should sound when played well. Once you can squeeze out a few tunes, record yourself and listen to the recordings. This will help you hear which techniques you need to work on to get closer to emulating all those great pipers you have been listening to!

[TheOfficialBren]

Excellent! Thank you for the great advice, gentlemen. Much appreciated.

[crash]

Hi Bren,
I'm just a beginner myself so the value of my advice may be limited.
I've tried Gibson reeds and they are easier to blow than some of the others. I have since settled on Chris App reeds. My PC is a Dunbar long (meaning same hole spacing as a pipe chanter) so I don't have to adapt my hands when I take to the pipes.
Stop biting your mouth piece, lol, unless you have a good dental plan.
Get a teacher, they see things you don't and and can save you wasted effort. Most pipe bands will teach for free. Find one in your area. Like the other guys said skype is an option.

[Blupiper]

Bren:

I second Richard on two points: the Gibson practice chanter and Skype for lessons. I use the Gibson long practice chanter and it never has given me any problems (that weren't self-inflicted!) and plays very sweetly. If you can't find a local instructor, I recommend trying the online ones. I know Jori from reputation and having heard his play. I'm sure the other gentleman Richard mentioned is very good, as well. Good luck with the instructor search; good teachers are hard to find and a real bonus when you can.

JMB

[EagleJCS]

Here's one for our pipers:

[Here are my questions:]

1) my practise chanter has always, even when brand new, been very difficult to blow. I even put a nice, brand new Gibson reed in it and it's still harder than the Dickens to get a steady blow for longer than five or ten minutes. This was always the case. Is it my technique or my intrument?

2) my chanter sounds "pitchy." I had to use Autotune when recording to correct some pitchiness. I suspect that either its holes were incorrectly drilled or pipes don't quite fit into a standard 440-based scale?

3) I've always had the habit of biting my mouthpiece. My piping instructor never corrected this even though I gather that this is a big no-no. It's a hard habit to break. Any advice?

4) Although there is no substitute for a warm body teaching the student (I can vouch for this having had drumming students of my own and having meen a music student many times myself), what and where are some good respurces to help get me back into piping? I'm assuming that starting back at the very beginning would be prudent since that's the advice that I offered my drumming students who had stopped drumming for many years and wanted to take it up again. Is this accurate? Is this a good place to start (http://www.bagpipe-tutorials.com/play-bagpipes.html)? (I know of PM Bill Robertson's reputation and his skill certainly is extremely high on the talent scale [haha, pardon the musical pun]).

The other respondents have offered some excellent suggestions. Here are my answers:

1) Probably more instrument than technique, especially if it’s one of the ‘Learn to play the Bagpipe’ $30 practice chanters made of a burgundy-colored wood. Those are notoriously difficult to get to play properly and anywhere close to the proper bagpipe scale.

Which leads to answer 2) As Richard has posted, the pipes do not use the Western chromatic scale that we’re accustomed to. Also, I’m told the pitch has risen over the past couple/three/four decades to where it is today (A=476 to 482 or so, depending on a few factors like humidity, temperature, etc.). Even practice chanters have been subject to this rise in pitch, though not as dramatically. My PC tends to pitch at about A=466 (Walsh long blackwood).

3) I use a short piece of plastic tubing (clear, water supply grade) on my bagpipe blowstick, but nothing on my pratice chanter blowstick. I don’t tend to bite that. This kind of goes back to your first question. It takes practice to develop the lip muscles in keeping the air-tight seal on the blowstick. In the beginning, expect to have some issues with getting tired, drooling and ultimately being unable to maintain the seal. I still have difficulty after an hour or so of playing the big pipes at band rehearsal.

4) Others have hit on this well already. I would suggest going back to the beginning and (re-)developing your technique cleanly. Invest in a good tutorial book (the College of Piping green book, Sandy Jones’ tutorial, et. al.) and try to find an instructor, either local or on Skype.

Welcome (back) to the journey!

[imrichmond]

Would I be advised to get a new chanter? The one that I have is kind of crap to be honest. Where the plastic portion of the mouthpiece connects to the wooden part of the mouthpiece feels a bit wobbly.

You don't say what make of practice chanter you have, so it is difficult to say whether or not you should get a new one.

Your plastic mouthpiece likely feels wobbly because the wooden part that it screws onto has dried out and shrunk slightly. This happens if the chanter is not played regularly. In fact, a loose mouthpiece is generally a sure sign that a chanter has not been played, as some of my learners can attest. This would cause a serious air leak at that joint, which would make the chanter hard to blow. You could remove the plastic mouthpiece and wrap a bit of hemp (or dental floss, if you don't have hemp) around the threaded wooden part and then screw the mouthpiece back into position. This will tighten up the joint and stop the leak.

Also, if you do not play the chanter regularly, the hemp on the tenon of the bottom section will have dried out and shrunk. This is also a source of considerable air loss. You can try wetting the hemp to cause it to swell and tighten up. However, if the chanter has not been played for some time, or is not played regularly, the wood in the tenon will have shrunk a bit and you will need to play the chanter regularly for a few days to allow it to reabsorb some moisture.

Gibson reeds are good, but generally take a bit more air than most other synthetic practice chanter reeds. They also often need to be manipulated by judicious sanding before they produce the best sound in most practice chanters. Jerry Gibson has a couple of videos on Youtube explaining how to do this. I imagine the combination of the Gibson reed with a substantial air leak is making your chanter hard to blow.