I have spent the last few months working out the kinks in my arm and the Kennedy Chanter/reed combo I have from him while awaiting the half-set I’ve ordered. It’s a great chanter, beautiful tone, and makes me drool with anticipation at the upcoming half-set.
The thing that keeps happening is that the Middle D will autocran unless the bag pressure is close to perfect. Now I’ve been VERY carefully moving the bridle about (all the folks here say 'don’t play with the bluidy thing, so I don’t) and it’s in just the right spot, not too hard to play but gives a good sweet but solid tone all along the scales. (and the watchtower, when I can get there.)
Often, the middle D come out sounding like something that would make a dyspeptic duck start in surprise, then blush with guilt. In other words, the D is weak, often off-key and just not nice. It could well be me, I mean I’m not all that good on the pipes yet, but I was jsut wondering if anyone had any suggestions.
Is it; a) My duck-fart left arm, b) the chanter, c) the reed, d) some combintation thereof, or e) a vast chthonic conspiracy?
Mark, its a combination of you and the reed. JK makes his reeds so that you don’t have to jump up the pressure to go from back D to E in the second octave. Those who are used to having to jack up the pressure to get into the second octave call this a weak back D. However, it is intentional on the part of the maker.
Once you get used to easing off the pressure (a bit touchy to get the hang of at first) you will begin to appreciate the fluidity of going to the second octave E in a smoother transition. Definitely takes some practice and getting used to, though.
In the meantime, don’t forget to keep up the practice on the duck-farts. Its a useful skill that may lead to gainful employment in the public service one day.
i bet if you call mr. kennedy he could tell you exactly what to do. be prepared to play it over the tele to him. opening up the reed lips is the first thing that comes to my mind and THEN croping off spider legs with a razor blade would be next, but only if you feel confident doing such .
good luck, tansy
I’ve been thinking of giving Joe a call but I had understood he was just at Willie Week and thought that I’d give him a bit of time before calling him.
After all, I’m not keeping this chanter (although I am tempted!), it’s just staying with me until the half set arrives. I don’t feel comfortable slicing bits off reeds; I might do it if Joe lived close enough that I could go see him if I screwed up, but there’s ten hours of driving between us, so I won’t be doing that. I’ll probably give him a call but I’m going to be practicing going from D to E to C# until I can play that D without the farty duck noise, even thought it may cost my political campaign.
Tansy, I have been through this with JK. He is only 1/2 hour drive from me. He says he gets this comment (weak back-D) all the time. He is the source for the info on his intentions for back-D. I did not make this stuff up.
Mark, Joe is around, but not weekends. I don’t think he went to WW this year.
sorry, i remember you posting that now. ive had reeds that were like this or became like this on my childress chanter and i was always able to at least make them a little less prone to this weakness of the back D
djm,
though I play fairly soft reeds to minimize chronic shoulder pain… it’s really annoying to have a reed sing in the second octave and sag on back D. Sometimes you can’t ‘get off the bag’ fast enough to make it happen. A slightly stiffer reed might be more forgiving.
Tony, I know what you mean. I still manage to get a back-D gurgle from time to time, usually in the middle of the tricky bits when it stands out most.
I know Joe already trims the corners of his reeds for stability. I don’t know if he burnishes his reeds (per other current threads). I plan to spend a day with him in the next couple of weeks to just work on reeds, so I hope to get more insight into his methods and, dare I say it, maybe even learn something in spite of myself.
Hi Mark-I just had this problem with my new set from Joe, but the D and C# stabilized after a couple of weeks (and two panic stricken calls to Joe!). I found a combination of bridle placement (depending on the humidity, which changes frequently where I live), tape over the thumb hole and bag pressure fixed the problem. Jerry O’ Sullivan played my chanter and declared it to be “a very nice stick.”
Are you sure you are not being too heavy on the bag, I would look at that before saying there is something wrong with the reed. As Jancie has said, pressure on the bag is a big part of good pipering. Whether you have a soft reed or a hard one it should be consistent throughout, not hard on the bottom hand and soft on the top. You should be able to get from top A to back D with ease and if you have drones going under it there should be no serious wavering in the drone reeds when you swap octaves. Ease off on the bag throughout the range and see if the reed still speaks effectively before you open the lips up.
If you can’t easily get to the maker, is there a decent piper locally who can have a look at how the reed is playing.
Thanks for the info, Janice. I’ve more or less decided to just get used to the needed pressure change to play the back D properly. Not that I’m reluctant to talk to Joe, it’s just that complaining about the equiptment is a little too convenient excuse in this situation.
It’s been wonderfully hot and muggy here in Winterpeg (I love to sweat) and the reed seems very very happy, sighing contentedly beside my couch. I like the way the rest of the scale sounds, punchy but sweet, so I’m going to keep it the way it is for now. Until winter hits, which should be something like three or four hours from now, this being Loverly Winterpeg an’ all.
BTW, I’m wildly jealous about you being able to take lessons from Jerry O. himself. I have both of his albums and have two of his tunes in my repetoire, ‘One Rose’ from ‘The Gift’ being my favorite so far.
Hey DJM; It’s odd that you say that Joe trims his reeds; neither of the reeds he sent with this chanter are trimmed, and when he was doing the Reedmaking workshop at the Chris Langan Weekend he didn’t trim them, although he did mention doing that as an option for controlling the sound.
Mark, you’re right. I can’t guarantee that he clipped your reed, but then, I only know he does it because I watched him do it on a couple he made for me. The amount removed is incredibly small, just a little crumb from the wing tips, less than a quarter of a mm.
Joe is always working towards something better. His reed design from CL weekend was different from what he did last fall when he made mine, and he changed it again at a workshop he did in Ireland this spring, and he tells me he has changed it radically again. Thus my visit to him soon to see what he is up to.
Same with his chanter design. I think HarryB noted in another thread that Joe has sent him a new prototype that has people in Dublin drooling that it sounds just like the old narrow-bore Ds.
This may sound like he’s not consistent, but I prefer to think that he is on a journey towards something better. Nothing he has produced in the past is of poor quality however, just a different sound. But as for playability, they are all very good (IMHO). I do not think they will lose any value.
.
