Some weeks back, I got great advice from someone on this board when I had no luck getting a second octave E: I was advised to roll up a piece of card stock and place it up in the chanter. It worked like a dream (save for blocking the hole of a key, but I don’t know how to use that key yet anyway… ).
Today, I removed this “rush”, thinking perhaps my earlier struggles were some fault of my fingering or bag pressure. Sure enough, I dropped all of my second octave Es where I had not been doing before. The chanter became noticably louder and changed pitch. Drones had to be retuned. I replaced the “rush” after several frustrating minutes of unsuccessful second octave Es and all was well again and I retuned the drones.
The rush obviously changes the entire chanter. It sounds quite nice, actually. I used a tuner to verify that my A was at 440 and that back and bottom Ds were, in fact, Ds. Everything else balances well enough – satisfactory for only playing UPs 3 months.
OK, you’ve read this far. here are my questions:
Is the need for this rush particular to this reed? When I change reeds some day, will I need to remove this rush?
Bottom D is very “delicate”: that is my way of saying I must release the bag pressure a great deal to have the note play in tune. Is this normal? The noise it makes when I apply too much pressure, as when I come from a note that required more, I recognize from a CD I have of Ennis playing (he, of course, corrects the problem on the repeat, whilst I am not yet so good…), so maybe this is one of those deals where I must vary the pressure of the bag (as originally a GHB and SSP player, bag pressure changes were just not done).
A possible related question: my C# needs a LOT less pressure than back D to be in tune. My E second octave requires MUCh more pressure than back D. Mr. Skye’s manual recommends that back D and second octave E play at the same pressure.
How do I adjust things such that second octave E plays at the same pressure as back D?
Everything sounds so good, I hate to futz around with the reed much.
It seems to me that many of the problems you mention are specifically dealt with on his guide. It only takes about 30 minutes to read it cover to cover and it’ll be the best 30 minutes you’ll ever spend with your clothes on!!
PJ.., no offense but.., do you READ peoples posts?
This guy clearly states something said in Mr Skye’s reed manual yet you point him to it.
In another post someone asks about sets of pipes and you answer him with pipers names.
Getting a nice post count is all well and good but..
dave,
let me start with your bottom d problems and a related observation.
the noise you hear on the ennis recording sounds like a hard d. if its a good hard d, you will grow to like it.
however, you also say that you are playing only a few months. so the sound you are getting that you dont like may just be a beginner thing. i believe that these come from very small leaks from incomplete closure of the chanter. as you get more experience, this may get better. anyway, it is not unsual for a beginner to have the impression that he has to back off pressure for the low d. later you will do this without thinking, and maybe improve these microleaks i am talking about.
what you can do now is:
practice holding bottom d as a long tone.
then do an exercise in which you go to bottom d from the low e, then from the low fsharp, and so on. btw, in case no one has told you, some players (not all) believe that you should open the low a for microsed before doing to bottom d. this certainly gives you a consistantly better bottom d. other players do not insist on doing it from a low A but do make sure thay always play some other note, any note, before back D.
i hope that at the 3 month point you are not using your drones the majority of your practice time. that would be a mistake judging by some of the other problems you are still having.
regarding your question of the high E problems and the rolled up card. i am not sure, perhaps others know. i suspect that the reed can be filed to help with this problem, but dont think about doing this yourself.
have you tried taping off the lower half of the ghost e hole? that is the lowest hole you cover with a finger. try that, and you may not need the card. if this does not work, put the card back.
regarding your question about the higher e needing more pressure than the back d. do not futz with your reed. practice making the transition. practice the following:
back d to high e 30 times
then do it again closing the chanter in between notes. this is called stacatto. the first way you did it is legatto.
then practice each note below back d transitioning to high e. you will eventually practice low g to high e, again about 30 times each practice session. always do it legato and stacatoo.
what this will do is make the pressure changes second nature. then you may note be bothered as much.
it is true that the ideal reeed will have vvery little pressure change between back d and high e. however, i suspect that this reed is rare, and also that experienced players are used to the pressure change needed and do not notice it.
hope this helps.
a final point. when you practice, do not rush. enjoy and listen to each transition.
).
