I’m curious about how other people practice. I try to spend an hour a day on my pipes and want to get the most out of it.
What I do is generally
warm up for 5 -10 minutes by
play D scale and a G scale
play a few arpeggios (DF#AdAF#D, GBdgdBG)
roll each of EFGAB in sequence, up and down
play a couple of tunes I know well
play each of the tunes I’m learning (usually about 4 on the go) for about 10 minutes each
play a random selection of my other tunes for about ten minutes to keep them fresh
have a crack with the drones on for ten minutes
put them back in the box before divorce procedings begin
I don’t usually spend much time practicing ornamentation (unless it’s relevant to one of the new tunes I’m working on).
Do others have a rigid regime of practicing ornamentation and spend less time on tunes; do you just play what tunes come into your head when you practice? Any tips for getting the most out of my practice time?
I think it depends on the individual and level…at the very beginning I was regimented but like anyhting else..I hate excersise so I just play for pure enjoyment and I will stop at times to repeat or work on technique..but I get bored real fast and end up moving on to something easier. I usually have to start with playing a series of tunes for pure enjoyment just to get it out of my system and then settle down to practice for a bit and then I must always end on a good note like playing through a tune without mistakes.
Monthly plan that includes Ornaments and Songs I would like to learn
6:00 to 6:45am - Go through ornaments without blowing the reed (if you push just a bit of air through, you can tell if your fingers are landing at the right time). Ornament carries into next month’s plan if it is not clean.
5:30 - 6:30pm - Go through songs in the following order: Aire’s, Waltzes, Hornpipes, Jigs/Reels. The slower songs act as a warm up.
Sat - Sun – when nobody is around I do the ornament list actually blowing the reed.
Waiting time – Think of how much time you spend sitting around waiting for things or watching TV. I made a replica of my chanter using a broom-stick (same size and spacing of holes), labelled it “Lightning Fingers”, and carry it wherever I go. In the waiting time, I pull it out and go through a song with my fingers. It has accellerated the time it takes me to learn a song greatly, even though everyone in Toronto think’s I have a mental challenge.
Cardinal Rules:
Always use the metronome (aire’s are an exception).
Don’t speed the metronome up until the song is clean at a painfully slow speed. Exception – if you play the song well past your comfort speed, you will quickly find out which parts of the song gives you trouble. That is the part to practice.
Record yourself and listen back. It may feel clean but when you hear it, but your sloppiness will shine through.
When your wife’s eyebrows furrow, move to the next song or put the pipes down .
Recognize a non-piping day, when it feels like someone has shortened your bag, changed the spacing of the holes, and clogged your bellows , that is the day to watch football instead.
If you are interested in my list (Excel) of ornaments, email me privately and I will send it to you.
With all due respect, I do not see any point in sitting there with the chanter and practicing ornaments without sounding the reed. I’d say that you’re wasting 45 min per day that, if restructured, could be much more productive. You simply have to have the aural feedback of whether you played the ornaments in tune, had appropriate closure between notes, hit the right octave, etc. :roll:
Beginners over pressure the bag and make up for it by holding the chanter with unecessary strength. Doing exercises without blowing the reed allows one to learn to relax whilst practicing the finger movements.
I would argue that 80% of the sound comes from the carefully timed movement of the fingers, landing and rolling at the correct time. You can hear the change in the movement of the air, even when doing pops, without blowing the reed.
Memorization – To do an ornament well, your fingers must memorize the movements. This is hard to do when one is pre-occupied with pumping consistency (which Uilliam pointed out is a common weakness among beginner pipers).
Results – I have learned to play over 35 ornaments, the hard scale, and vibrato’s in less than three months. These are clean (up to a speed of 100 bpm) and on tune when I play them blowing the reed. My mentor (Deborah Quigley), who was the guest instructor at the Pipers Gathering in Vermont said to me two weeks ago…“It is sick how fast you are learning!” I am not a prodigee, just a grinder with an unorthadox learning strategy.
Octaves – The fingering fors for ornaments applied to octaves are the same in both octaves (cran, quadruplet, role, triplet), making your statement incorrect.
I do spend two hours on the weekends going through the same list of ornaments blowing the reed. This presents an opportunity to ensure the tone and sound are correct.
To close – unless you have sat for 45-minutes a day for three months and gone over ornaments with a whisper going through the read, your view could be unfounded and hubris (with due respect). Mine is founded and heretic.
Well, I’ll have to (partially) agree with what Colby said. It’s kind of hard to explain, but if you finger an ornament or tune without the reed going, you can kind of sense little imbalances in finger timing that you might not have noticed otherwise. I think it just lets you concentrate on the minutiae of finger movements without any distractions from other aspects. Of course, the point is to carry over the light-fingered approach to when you are actually playing the chanter, so you wouldn’t want to do it exclusively. Anyway, despite the fact that I can see some benefits to it, I almost never practice this way as it sets my boring meter off. You’d have to be really disciplined to benefit from this kind of thing. It’s the same with playing exercises of any kind, even though I know it’s beneficial to my playing, sometimes it’s just too boring for me to be consistent with it.
Hidee Ho,
James
A rather well known piper has the habit of tapping on the steering wheel whilst driving (and I mean as in the piping technique). I have sat late at night when doing the same on an unplugged chanter. I don’t know about ornaments per se, but tapping is good, tones and strengthens muscles and reflexes. There are a bunch of similar hand exercises which help.
Finger Individuality – this helps the fingers learn to move alone, especially the left hand which is the weakest link (for right handed players).
Practicality – Living in a condominium, it is hard to practice at 6:00 in the morning without offending someone. I agree with the boring part, sometimes I bore the hell out of myself, but the reward when I come home to blow the reed and find that my fingers are a little more precise is worth it.
On leaving: What does “Slan go foil” if I spelt it right mean?
Tapping is a great discipline. I gave a flute class locally once where I made all the students play the tune with their ear by the blow hole (technical term anybody?) just to see whether their fingers were hitting the holes cleanly and to stop some of them relying on tonguing for articulation. Meant also I didn’t have to listen to a dozen slightly out of synch fluters murdering my favourite tune at the time. My own playing sounded pretty good that way and I still practice lazily that way sometimes, and it works okay on the pipes - better if you let a trickle of air go through so you hear something. I’m not able to put the chanter up near my ear and keep the bell end down on the knee - never got into yoga.
Slan go foil means cheers, bye, whatever you like.
I usually start with a few scales, D and G, then run the thirds up and down several times, and then launch into the tunes I know well, paying attention to bits that I know are sloppy and try to tighten them up. I’m nowhere near as regimented as vcolby, but he does have that bright light of fanatisism in his eyes.
I play other instruments and I have that kind of discipline with them, but when it comes to the pipes I know it’s going to take me years to get where I want to be so I don’t hound myself too hard. I try to learn a new tune every couple weeks -that way I have something to learn when I’m bored of trying to add ornamentation to tunes I know a little TOO well- and I try to pay attention to playing the notes properly, something I have trouble with. I think that the more one plays the more one notices one’s shortcomings. A self-correcting system, if you will. There, all done now.
Hi folks…I use a McAdams metronome when praticing pipes. The McAdams is a self contained Dr. Beat(ie- it does all of the subdivisions,different tones for strong/weak beats). Difference between it and Dr. Beat-the McAdams was designed for use with school bands it can beset to relatively soft or REALLY loud(at its loudest, it can be heard above a 100 piece concert band) and so it is ideal for upipe practice. I find that regular metronomes are too soft to be effective…plus they don’t subdivide-something that one really must be able to do in order to become a sucessful piper. I highly recommend it as a practice tool; additionally, it also forces one to become very methodical in one’s approach to practicing (always a good thing).
Not much light in my eyes as 6:00 in the morning, just a type A person that is stubborn as hell. Sometimes, I’d rather just get on my Dirt Bike which has enough suspension to land the space shuttle and fly. However, now I am afraid of busting my arm (which I have done twice), for having to miss the pipes for two months.
I learned in music school that an hour of good practice is worth at least three of any bad practice . That means that you dont just repeate sloppy piping tecniques and add them in to the piping .
I like to start by warming up the set for 20 mins or so . Then I like to play what I like as far as the tunes , and If I need to focus on certain skills I will . If the particular skill is really not up to speed I will shut of the drones and work on it . And , or add that orniment into a tune so I can go at it that way . I see a limit to rote practice without adding the practice to a tune . When it gets too sloppy . I go to the slow airs . Something like that .
I agree completely, and usually warm up with about 10 legatto scales (5 in d in 5 in G). Question to you…I am getting my drones in about one month – How do you usually incorporate the drones when practicing (75% 50%, 25% of the time)?
On the rote practice limit, no argument there that it has it’s limitations, but for a beginner who still has clumsy fingers, it is still beneficial to do.
vocalbee .
I had to work up to the full pressure of the drones and it took me 1 mounth . I still shut them off if I need to really work on something . It is nice to see your level of patience and dedication though I must say , lol , I wonder if really , " air piping " at 6 am will do it , .
I see building up to the arm pressure for drones as any bodybuilding thing . I dont go with the no pain no gain approach , though I like the previous comment as to finishing offwith a well spun chune and that seems to set the stage for the next good practice session . There is really no easy way around it , I remember working up a sweat for days to get all the rools in both octaves with a double cut roll . I like to get the orniments down like that . Also to put them in a tune when it gets too much to just repete .
tok .
Having been hanging around music majors (particularly music ed and performance majors) for years, I can say that some of the best advice on practicing is as follows:
set a goal, don’t simply run through tunes
don’t simply run through the song you’re learning until you get it, focus on key phrases and work on them. This also adds to the satisfaction of finally getting every phrase and playing it straight through for the first time.
don’t spend too much time frustrating yourself. I’ve become quite adept at the violin and harp (and pipes) in 20 mins a day. remember that it’s not how much time you spend practicing but what you do with that time
do warm up, especially with the pipes
treat yourself to a set of tunes straight through to wrap up the practice
that’s my two cents
and Virgil - Slán go fóill means roughly “see you later” (Fan go fóill meaning “wait up”). Slán is simply “goodbye” but actually means “health” (as in sláinte) and is an abbreviated form of slán agat (health to you) and it’s traditional response, slán leat (health with you). Go n-éirí an t-adh leat!
.
, that is the day to watch football instead.
