Any idea how to squeeze every bit of tone, expressivness & different colors out of great Concert chanters & use all the potential character there is in that stick. Asking moustly for SLOW playing, which is real challenge for being astonishing!
…To get max. of that praised qualities which great flat chanters possess - i.e. wide pallet & variety of colors, note strengths - increased dynamic & volume effects, cross fingering effects… you know => the wider pitch & tonal variation if you use old fingerings…
I gues learning to make great reeds, try many fingerings inc. the old 19th century ones & learn using lots of cross fingerings + half holing is a start.
Did you mybe noticed & remember anything unusual/unique what the players who play very rich in style do[/b] (David Power, B. Koehler & many others)…when playing certain notes, doing ornaments, shaping the sound, doing vibrato, opening holes, venting…
Focused observing while they play live would help, but not possible. Thanks a lot, AA
There really isn’t any mystery to it. You sit down, forget about fingering charts and find the different ways your chanter/reed combination allows you to play a note, to colour it and blend it with the drones. You play it by ear. And I wouldn’t agree this is just relevant to slow music, maybe less obvious (to some) in fast music but just as important.
In my opinion Mr. Gumby is absolutely correct. Past the beginner/intermediate level fingering charts are advisory only. Depends on your reed, your chanter & most importantly your ear.
The fine tuning of the C is a job for the piper. You adjust the pitch as required. If you’re not good at it, you practice it until you are. It’s not a push button, fixed pitch instrument.
its just a matter of sitting down with your chanter & instead of playing a tune, discover what its really capable of & then going on to exploit that. Take it note by note, see what shades of colour can go on each one by doing this, that, or some other nuance… what kind of ‘envelope’ suits each note best… how then to mess with the envelope for contrast…Vibrato, is it deep, is it shallow…is is a fast or slow oscillation,will it oscillate at the same rate during the tone, or will it begin slow, then speed up, then slow again???..then there is the matter of connecting all the necessary notes, which is yet another op for lots of exploration & exploitation. Finally comes putting all the learned resources together to express a unique perspective in music.
IMHO FWIW, theres a lot to be said for finger control, not in terms of making the fingering in time & in tune, but HOW one closes & opens the vents. its so much more than just on / off.
