Well, Me, MsVeg, LittleCarne, the fish-eater, BigDog, BarkyDog, WussDog and not-long-for-this-worldCat (sniff) have just moved to a little under 6 wonderful acres. The trouble is that it is now much, much harder to annoy the neighbors. MsVeg has suggested I take up BagPipes, but I’m not so sure. I’m a cr*p whistler, guitarist and harp player, but I love making noise. I’ve managed to avoid WhOA (still love my ShawD and my cheap bamboo flute) and the price of pipes seems kinda scary. Also, I think a lot of my spare time will be spent learning the Kubota (which is easier to tune than my Sweetone). I do have a Kilt (Black Utilikilt, I’m from Blighty and I don’t want to be beaten up in downtown Portland by some expat Scot for wearing Tartan).
So waddyafink? should I give it a go? Or should I just say ‘No’?
Personally I like the pipes. Although I don’t play them or own them, I have tried a friend’s set a few times. It is MUCH harder than whistle, and I would recommend sticking with whistle for a while first.
No, no, no. It’s:
“Bagpipes put the fun back in Funeral”
OR:
My personal favorite when I play either of the two bagpipe songs on the jukebox at the bar..
EVERYONE, loves bagpipes!!!
This generates about the reaction you’d think from a Monday night football crowd…
On 2002-10-09 23:29, avanutria wrote:
Personally I like the pipes. Although I don’t play them or own them, I have tried a friend’s set a few times. It is MUCH harder than whistle, and I would recommend sticking with whistle for a while first.
Congratulations on the new place!
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR…I wrote something really cool, but forgot to enter my password…now it’s gone. I would summarize it, but It’s not possible to express to Ava the facts that the pipes are more structured and ultimately easier than trying to master these stupid little tubes without any guidance. FatVeg…pipes are for meat eaters…their alternate title is War pipes. I have probs reconcilling veg[aterians/ans] with war.
Hmmm – War Pipes, interesting angle. I do think, though, that if wars were fought with musical instruments only the world would be a better place (although the banjos would eventually rule the world as they are definitely the scaryest instruments).
So there seems to be some dissention on how easy the pipes are to play? Funny, I’ve been listening to Shooglenifty and Battlefield and figured I could probably play like those guys in a week or two(*)
You want to annoy your neighbors now that you live in the country???
Okay, first complain if they have a barking dog. Then get a chainsaw and run it a lot.
Now, find a common gate (if they have cattle), leave it open then complain when the cattle get in your yard and eat yer posies.
Finally, get an endangered species, illegally place it on your neighbors side of the fence then call the Sierra Club. They will swoop down and condemn the property for any possible use or alteration.
Other than that, GHB are the way to go… but I wouldn’t find it annoying unless you never got better, or only played Amazing Grace over and over.
Self-taught pipers seldom get good enough to listen to without seriously violent thoughts. I’ve heard that the war pipes were used as a weapon by putting the pipers BEHIND the soldiers. The idea is that they’d rather go forward into battle than let the pipers get any closer…
I grew up around bagpipes. My mother is the only local pipe teacher. I am finally learning the pipes. Self-teaching is really not an option as a beginner. After you get past the ornaments and the flow of Scottish music, there’s quite a lot of progress that you can make without a teacher, but you need someone to show you how to get the right technique for the mechanics of playing.
(Slightly off topic)
I once got to see Battlefield Band in concert (we don’t get a whole lot of big-name groups in Fairbanks, AK) and it struck me as cool to see the piper and the tinwhistler standing next to each other. The piper also played fiddle. Between his two instruments, I suspect he has a value of well over 2000 bucks. The whistler was playing a red-top whistle. $5. And we have equally-respected musicians up on that stage with this huge disparity in value of instruments, availability of instruments, and so on, but all that really matters is what they do with them. Well, it was profound to me.
A Drumset only played in the middle of the night, the cost is much less than the pipes and they don’t require any previous experience to go all night. You could sweeten the pot by playing along with a really loud stereo, born to be wild or the latest punk bagpipe album ought to do it.
Oh ya and mow the lawn on your neighbors day off, really early. That drives me nuts!
There’s an old saying I was reminded of recently: a gentleman is a man who knows how to play the accordion but doesn’t. Now the concept of a gentleman is pretty alien to most Australians and Americans but I get the point. I can’t play the concertina but do. I’m not sure what that makes me. Now, fatveg, you’re clearly on the cusp of something here. I think you’re about to leave the label ‘man’ behind and become a DUDE. Go for it. We all sense it. Every cat has his day and your day is now. Time to wail.
Just one word of advice though. As a member of the Scottish Gael diaspora I strongly suggest that you leave kilts out of it. So called clan tartans date back all the way to the 1830s and were invented by an Englishman (blush). By that time the clan system had been all but destroyed. Kilties around the world celebrate a Scotland that exists (and existed) only in their imaginations. Dudes don’t wear kilts. And when you get your pipes and toot, arrchhh, you’re a dude, Jimmie.
Hey Wombat, what do Australians call a dude? In America a dude is a easterner that goes out west to pretend he’s a cowboy. Usually with the look but none of the skills that go with it, and the look is hundreds of dollars in fancy western clothes, not real working cowboy clothes.
BTW I wear a Utilikilt reguarly, it’s not really Scottish, but it’s comfortable and helps to confuse the natives.
On the subject of bagpipes. You can teach yourself and make respectable music with them, although if you intend on ever playing with other pipers you need to get instruction because it will be extremely dificult to unlearn mistakes that you have taught yourself. GHB technique is highly regimented, and hard to figure out on your own. OTH Highland pipers sometimes get too caught up in proper technique and loose sight of the fact that the goal is to play music.
Take care, Johnz
On 2002-10-11 12:05, johnz wrote:
Hey Wombat, what do Australians call a dude? In America a dude is a easterner that goes out west to pretend he’s a cowboy. Usually with the look but none of the skills that go with it, and the look is hundreds of dollars in fancy western clothes, not real working cowboy clothes.
BTW I wear a Utilikilt reguarly, it’s not really Scottish, but it’s comfortable and helps to confuse the natives.
I think I knew that Johnz (about dudes) but I might have got tangled up in my own irony. (It’s foggy here today and the view from desolation row is well, murky.) Not sure though. Someone who followed my advice about pipes would definitely be a dude in your sense—that was your point wasn’t it. All dressed up expensively but no skills.
As for kilts, I’ve no objection really. Just the clan tartan stuff. But I think a self-taught, non-Scottish, piper wailing away in America in a clan kilt would definitely be a dude in the American sense—don’t you? That’s where the tangle is. I should have advised a nice designer-made McDonald kilt, shouldn’t I. Then you’ve got a dude. Right?
[ This Message was edited by: Wombat on 2002-10-11 12:27 ]
I think best kilt is a real beat-up that looks like its been worn through thick and thin.
Thats the problem with the dress ones in pipe bands and such in that they convey formal perfection.
I thot ol Liam Neeson wore one effectively in RobRoy in the way that I mean.
One with mud stains from stealing cattle or passing out in the heather!
acreage, lots of space, want to annoy the neighbors…
Sounds like you need a trebuchet.
My daughter and I had great fun hurling past their prime cantalopes into the neighbors field last week. The other good thing is if you build one soon, it’s pumpkin season!
On 2002-10-11 13:55, The Weekenders wrote:
I think best kilt is a real beat-up that looks like its been worn through thick and thin.
Thats the problem with the dress ones in pipe bands and such in that they convey formal perfection.
I thot ol Liam Neeson wore one effectively in RobRoy in the way that I mean.
One with mud stains from stealing cattle or passing out in the heather!
Absolutely right Old Pal, you understand the real tradition. Real kilts did exist before the ‘fancy dress’ stage but they were all-purpose garments made from whatever material was at hand and capable of doubling as sleeping bags and much else. Many looked like tatty monks’ habits—filthy habits usually. They were tied loosely around the waist and could sometimes be made to cover the face and head during a storm. No standard shape, no standard design. Look at old drawings of highland soldiers and you’ll get the idea. And highlanders often went around barefoot. Ouch!
Awwww, go for the pipes! I’ve been whistling about three years now, and fiddling about 9 months (though I’ve played classical violin 35+ years). I got started investigating uillean pipes, but decided the cost and learning curve were too prohibitive.
But I do want to eventually learn bagpipes (a lot cheaper and easier to learn than elbow pipes); and mandolin, which is not a far stretch from violin.
acreage, lots of space, want to annoy the neighbors…
Sounds like you need a trebuchet.
Or, if building a Trebuchet is a little beyond your financial means or mechanical abilities do not despair. There is always the ever popular, highly affordable, and easily buildable potato cannon; see http://www.capital.net/%7eanker/spudworks.htm
I had a friend in southern Alberta who had a steel-barrelled, butane and pure oxygen powered, tripod mounted, potato cannon which he used to lob potatoes at a farmhouse over a kilometre away. Made for great summertime fun … until “the explosion” that is
[Edited to add the URL I forgot … doh!]
[ This Message was edited by: garycrosby on 2002-10-11 14:27 ]
