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| Author |
Message |
jep
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bagpipe music
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Jul 14 16:05 UTC 2001 |
There is only one other item in this conference which includes the
string 'bagpipe', according to the search I just did using Backtalk. I
happen to like the bagpipes. Maybe there are others, or at least
sympathizers.
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| 29 responses total. |
jep
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response 1 of 29:
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Jul 14 16:07 UTC 2001 |
I've just come from the best assembly of live bagpipe music I've ever
heard, the Saline Celtic Parade. There were 5 marching bagpipe bands
there. My 5 year old son covered up his ears, always a good sign. I
thought it was really nice.
I should note, I know absolutely nothing about bagpipes, except I like
their sound. Maybe I'll learn more.
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jep
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response 2 of 29:
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Jul 14 16:13 UTC 2001 |
I did a search on amazon.com for bagpipe CDs, and didn't find any at
all. There were some CDs which included bagpipe music, but there wasn't
anything called "Scottish Bagpipe Marching Band" or anything like that.
So then I did a search on Google, and got thousands of links. About how
to play the bagpipe, how to find others who play, about playing
different types of bagpipes (there are different types, wow!), about
bagpipe organizations in New Zealand... but I didn't see CDs.
I'm certain there are CDs of primarily bagpipes, or pipes and drums.
Does anyone have any to recommend?
I did find a few downloadable MP3 files and the like. Maybe someday
when I have a whole lot of time I'll download and save a bunch of them.
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mary
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response 3 of 29:
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Jul 14 20:33 UTC 2001 |
One of the most beautiful sounds on earth is that of a
bagpipe being played ppp.
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orinoco
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response 4 of 29:
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Jul 15 05:40 UTC 2001 |
Must be one of those newfangled ones with the volume knobs...
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davel
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response 5 of 29:
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Jul 15 20:50 UTC 2001 |
Heh. Exactly right. I love the pipes, but not the volume you get from being
right next to even one. When we visited my inlaws in Milwaukee, they'd gotten
tickets to a Tannahill Weavers concert - wonderful seats if it had been
something else, about 3rd row.
Scots pipe & drum marching bands used to have a fair number of LPs out back
in those days, so I'm surprised you can't find anything on CD.
And if it's not that style of stuff you want but just a piper, I used to have
an LP or two by Seamus Ennis - Irish piper, but solo pipe all alone.
_The_Pure_Drop_ was one, I think. Don't know if his stuff has been converted
to CD. (Lent them away & never got them back.)
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md
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response 6 of 29:
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Jul 16 00:51 UTC 2001 |
Bagpipe music never did much for me. I do like the already-famous
bagpipe entrance at the end of Maxwell Davies' "An Orkney Wedding, with
Sunrise," composed in the 1980s.
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orinoco
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response 7 of 29:
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Jul 16 07:52 UTC 2001 |
I have to say, the few attempts I've heard at sticking bagpipes into a concert
piece have done nothing for me. I don't remember whether I've heard Davies'
effort or not, though.
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jep
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response 8 of 29:
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Jul 16 13:12 UTC 2001 |
For some reason, when I try to order books and music on-line, I think
"amazon.com" and not "borders.com". That was a mistake in this case;
when I went to borders.com and entered "bagpipe" into the search engine,
I got a ton of returns that all seemed promising.
So I went to Borders, the main store.
I'd entered their classical section once before, looking for CDs of
marching music, and encountered a woman asking if she could help. I
found to my surprise she could help, all right; she gave me a tour of
their marching music selections, along with recommendations about
different types and different conductors.
I ran into her again -- I still didn't get her name -- and she was
almost as helpful about bagpipe music. She led me to the two sections
where such CDs can be found; marching music and Gaelic music. I bought
three CDs. I have *got* to remember that there is expertise to be found
at that Borders.
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jep
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response 9 of 29:
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Jul 16 13:25 UTC 2001 |
So what have I found out. I'm sure that's what you want to know.
There are two overwhelmingly well-known pieces of bagpipe music. One is
"Amazing Grace", which you no doubt know everything about that you want
to. It's a well-known song.
The other, the one I keep hearing from bagpipe marching bands, and
which you'll probably always hear anytime you hear bagpipes played, is
"Scotland the Brave". The words to this can be found by searching the
Web. I have no idea (yet) when the song was written, or what it's
about, except a sort of general call to arms. Perhaps everyone else
here knows all about it; if so, please enlighten me.
Of the 3 CDs I bought, 2 are collections of medleys. Here's the name of
one typical track: "The Battle of Waterloo/Killiecrankie/Scotland the
Brave/The Rowan Tree/The Water is Wide/Galician Jig/Asturian Jug". the
two CDs are compilations of music from several different bands, with
enormous names, such as "Pipes and Drums of the 1st BN. Scots Guards".
This isn't stuff designed for the Top 40.
My main purpose for it is putting it on my hard drive at work,
using RealJukebox, along with all of my other marching music, for use in
blocking out the distractions around me. I put on the headphones when I
get too distracted, and turn up the volume loud enough to block
everything out, and then hope my phone doesn't ring while I do my work.
If people annoy me enough, I can use these CDs as combat music. I'll
play it on the speakers. What better combat music than bagpipes?
(Hopefully I'll generally be able to resist this urge, or else I won't
be here long.)
Anyway, typing in all these song titles and band names takes a lot of
time.
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orinoco
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response 10 of 29:
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Jul 16 14:09 UTC 2001 |
I actually know very little about Scotland the Brave. Now, if you want to
know about bawdy parodies of Scotland the Brave, I may be the one to ask.
Pity, really...
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albaugh
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response 11 of 29:
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Jul 16 17:39 UTC 2001 |
Of course, there are bagpipes and there are bagpipes. Most people think of
those used in Scottish pipe & drum corps. Those are filled with air from the
piper's breath, which collects in a bag which must be squeezed under the arm
to force air through the chanter and drones. The uillean (sp) pipes, used
most commonly in Irish traditional music, employs a bellows, controlled by
the piper, to force the air through. Very often the drones are disconnected,
as the uillean pipe(s) carry the melody with other instruments.
There are all sorts of pipes, e.g. the Northumbrian pipes, pitched in
different keys. I don't know enough to talk sensibly about details.
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davel
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response 12 of 29:
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Jul 29 23:53 UTC 2001 |
My impression is that Northumbrian pipes also have a bellows-filled bag, and
to my ear they also have a mellower tone than the highland pipes.
(On the former point I'm going from memory of photographs, & could well be
wrong.)
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krj
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response 13 of 29:
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Aug 2 06:18 UTC 2001 |
((( classicalmusic item:60 <---> music item:319 )))
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krj
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response 14 of 29:
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Aug 2 06:33 UTC 2001 |
Hmm, I should keep more of an eye on the classicalmusic conference. :)
Recordings with bagpipes are one of the things I tend to collect,
mostly as an outgrowth of an interest in Scottish, Irish and
continental European folk music.
At this time of night, just tossing some names out:
Spain: Susana Seivane, Xose Budino. I think Susana Seivane's CD is
currently in the playstations at Borders. A guy named
Hevia from Spain has had two giant hit albums playing pipes.
Brittany: Brittany has a pipe & drum corps tradition similar to the
Scottish one; the only band I know by name is Bagad Kemper
Ireland: Davy Spillane and his old band Moving Hearts. Moving Hearts
was an attempt to build an Irish rock sound using uillean
pipes as the lead instrument instead of electric guitars.
Their last album "The Storm" remains in print and is highly
recommended. Spillane had three or four albums I liked a
lot before he went all squishy "new age."
Northumbria: Kathryn Tickell is the best known Northumbrian piper for
the last decade or so, she has bunches of albums out.
Scotland: Battlefield Band always have a bagpipe player. Runrig, an
arena rock band, use a lot of bagpipes. MacUmba put
bagpipes into a setting of African percussion. Lots, lots
more I can't remember now.
Somewhere in a box I have a two-CD set, "A Celebration of Bagpipes in
Europe."
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orinoco
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response 15 of 29:
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Aug 2 14:03 UTC 2001 |
I hadn't realized that Davy Spillane had a pre-squishy period. I'll have to
take a look at that sometime.
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jep
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response 16 of 29:
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Aug 2 14:55 UTC 2001 |
Wow, Ken; thanks! That's a lot of information.
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grimm
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response 17 of 29:
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Mar 30 17:31 UTC 2002 |
"Maybe it's bred in the bone, but the sound of (bag)pipes is a little bit of
heaven for some of us"--nancy O'keefe
:) I find it amuseing how diverse the reactions to 'pipes are. Personally
there's nothing more relaxing than 'cadence to arms' but some people would
rather jump in a lake.
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rcurl
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response 18 of 29:
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Mar 30 18:59 UTC 2002 |
I love the Scottish bagpipe - because of a love of Scottish Dancing, and
years of doing Highland and Country dancing. I can't do the dancing
anymore, so I seldom listen to just the music. It reminds me of loss,
after a while.
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flem
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response 19 of 29:
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Apr 1 21:19 UTC 2002 |
I was in the parade mentioned in #1, though I wasn't carrying a bagpipe. The
only other piece of information I have to offer at this time is that my uncle
is a pretty good uillean piper.
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jaklumen
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response 20 of 29:
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Apr 17 03:15 UTC 2002 |
resp:11 I remember an exchange student to our high school who showed
us an instrument he'd crafted himself. I don't know if it could be
called 'pipes,' but the drone was created by turning a crank. Rather
than holes, it had keys to the side, making it more a bit like an
accordion or concertina, I guess.
Any idea on what that's called? Has anyone heard of such an
instrument?
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keesan
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response 21 of 29:
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Apr 17 12:24 UTC 2002 |
hurdy gurdy?
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scott
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response 22 of 29:
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Apr 17 12:30 UTC 2002 |
A hurdy-gurdy is a stringed instrument, using a wooden disk as a bowing
mechanism.
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davel
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response 23 of 29:
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Apr 17 13:08 UTC 2002 |
Nonetheless, I suspect that's what jaklumen is thinking of. (It sounds just
enough like a bagpipe to confuse some people.)
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krj
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response 24 of 29:
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Apr 17 14:55 UTC 2002 |
There's a hurdy-gurdy site, with picture, at:
http://www.hurdygurdy.com/hg/hghome.html
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