Often, when I tune my pipes, I have trouble trouble hearing the bass drone. Tuning the tenor drone is easiest, and tuning the baritone drone is not so hard, but for some reason I can’t hear the bass drone so well (too much rock-and-roll music in my youth, a stint in the Marines, three kids?). Does any one have any tips on overcoming this problem? Thanks.
(I apologize if this has been discussed before, but I was unable to find a thread on it in my searches.)
Pump up the bag and then cup your bellows hand round the end of the bass drone so that the sound is reflected towards you. You might want to tip the baritone drone so that you only have two notes to contend with, use less air and give yourself a longer timespan to tune up.
If you fiddle around with the tuning of your drones long enough you will start to suffer from “ear fatigue” and have more and more difficulty getting your drones right. A guitar tuner is a cheap and relatively quick way to check your tuning so you can get back to playing.
djm
Thanks to the both of you! Regarding the guitar tuner, do make note of the D of your chanter on the tuner and then get the drone(s) to match that? I’ve heard of people doing this, but I never have myself?
A tuner is the simplest way to go. In situations where breaking out a tuner would be awkward, I tune by trying to hear beats rather than pitch. Once the tenor is in tune, turn off the bass drone and tune the baritone to the tenor by trying to hear ‘beats’. When two drones are out of tune with each other you’ll hear them out of phase and you can actually hear the ‘waves’. Tune until you no longer hear the waves and repeat this with the bass drone (with the tenor off)
Agreed. The “beating” method is the easiest to employ to get rid of the worst of the noise, but it won’t take you that last bit where you are close but not spot on. I try to keep my chanter playing as close to D on the tuner as possible in the first place, so setting the drones to the tuner is not a big deal. Expect tuning to drift as you play and the reeds “warm up”.
djm
Thanks to the both of you! Regarding the guitar tuner, do make note of the D of your chanter on the tuner and then get the drone(s) to match that? I’ve heard of people doing this, but I never have myself?
If you chanter is consistently sharp or flat and you don’t feel like adjusting the chanter reed to correct this then, I’d say yeah. You want the instrument to be in tune with itself or it just isn’t going to sound good. This will be a problem though if you try and play with other people who are A-440 (depending how off you are)
Usually when I start playing my chanter is dead on A-440. As I play, if my chanter starts going sharper, I just turn the drones off and use them again tomorrow. I’d rather be playing than tuning all night. As the weather gets warmer my reed is becoming more stable around A-440 so this is becoming less of an issue for me.
Agreed. The “beating” method is the easiest to employ to get rid of the worst of the noise, but it won’t take you that last bit where you are close but not spot on.
Here’s a trick that I heard from Benedict Koehler: First, tune the drone a bit sharp so that you can easily hear the beats. Remember the speed of those beats and mark the position of the tuning slide. Then, tune it flat so that the beats are at the same speed. Finally, put the tuning slide halfway between those two points.
If you don’t already have a guitar tuner and are contemplating buying one you would be better off buying a KORG CA-30 which is a chromatic tuner and more versatile .The CA-30 is about the same price as a KORG GA-30 guitar tuner.The CA-30 can be adjusted sharp or flat of 440.First you need to check your chanter to see if it is in tune ,then using the reading from the chanter tune each drone to that reading individually.If you need more clarification on this matter I would be only too happy to assist.Being partially deaf I rely on the tuner quite a lot.
Thanks again, everyone. Mike, I just sent you an e-mail!
Aye,
If you can hear the wavering of the out of tune drones, then you shouldn’t need to use a tuner. Once the wavering ceases, you are in tune, or at least pretty damn close that it should sound good. Like Darthweasel, I was taught to tune the tenor drone (by itself) first, to the A on the chanter, then once that’s done, stop the air coming to the chanter then tune Baritone to the Tenor, then Bass to the first two.
Cheers,