I’m begineeing to think that Seamus Ennis was double jointed in the wrist.
Is there a technique for lifting the wrist to play off of the knee, yet keeping the wrist low enough to sound the lower keys on the regs?
Everytime I play my first octave D I invariably end up lifting my wrist off of the reg keys. Very frustrating.
Any thoughts?
I’m not a piper so take this with a bucket of salt. Wouldn’t it be possible to “tilt” the chanter off of the knee as opposed to lifting it? Or perhaps moving your leg? Or some variation of a combination of both?
Is there a technique for lifting the wrist to play off of the knee, yet keeping the wrist low enough to sound the lower keys on the regs?
There isn’t a specific technique really but it does involve a combination of factors and there is a few things that can help.
Do you use a shoulder strap, this can help a lot.
Where is the stock tied into the bag?
I have 2 fine pipes students and they have the same problem. In both cases I’ve deemed that their stocks are placed too low in the bag for their individual sizes as people. They are both going to try other options before they spend money on a new bag and wisely too.
Examine photos of pipers that may be the same heigth and girth as your good self and then see if you can see how that would work with you.
Seamus Ennis and Leo Rowsome (me too)tended to have the stocks tied into the bags quite high. This made it a lot easier to reach the low regulator notes with reasonable ease, chanter up too.
Mind you, this compromise can make it tricky to reach the higher notes…
Then again there are other pipers who hold the pipe almost flat across their laps and can manage fine, Jerry O’Sullivan et al..
Another thing is that if your bellows/bag connecting tube is too long it will, by default, push away the body of the pipes away from you and, again, make it harder to play the regulators. Also if the same tube is too short it will bring the body of the pipes much closer to your body.
Another thing is, as I found with another student, if the neck of the bag is too long your in trouble.
Like the reason why giraffe the is so tall, his head is so far away from it’s shoulders… ba dum tisch..
Really, if the neck of the bag is too short or too long you’re screwd. Too long and your hitting the regulators with the middle of you’re arm and too short, you’ll hit them when you don’t even want too!
Examine all these factors but don’t go buying new bags or slashing inches off your current bag before you examine all non reversable options.
2 shoe laces tied together will make a perfect shoulder strap which could fix everything!
Regulators are what makes this instrument great. Fair play to you for making a great effort to play them!!!
Tommy
I once had the opportunity to watch Jerry O’Sullivan play a tune where he continuously played the regulator note B throughout most of the tune. When he wanted to play bottom D he would lever the top of the chanter (the reedcap end) towards him, with the hand/regulator contact point as a fulcrum, that is, not moving. The top of the chanter may have moved as much as 4 inches: enough anyway to get the chanter off the knee a little bit.
Can I do this with any facility? NO! But with a lot of practice…perhaps someday.
One possible solution to Kearnybagpiper’s question, anyway.
Nick Whitmer
I think this clip will answer your question very well:
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=0YwcqhGy5dw
just watch the bottom of the chanter and be conscious of how much time it ISN’T in contact with Mick’s leg…
Boyd
Dear All
Thank you all very much for the excellent, excellent suggestions and recommendations!
I tried two things in my practice tonight as a result of your comments - I tilted the chanter, as opposed to lifting it, and I went back to a shorter connecting tube that I have not used in a number of years, and the results were amazing.
Again thank you Jason, Tom, Nick and Boyd!
My concert set is tied in wrong - too high, I think - the keys are too close to my body. I tried drinking three cases of beer a day and eating pallets of junk food to fatten up enough to push the pipes away but nothing doing.
Shoulder strap makes it worse, of course; not really necessary on concert pipes, either. Finally I said feck this and stuffed a bit of foam in between my gut and the pipes to push them away. Will have to make/get a new bag some day. I used to like the idea of tying in high but it’s not for me.
Nick’s right about tilting the chanter a bit while playing bottom D and the regs. I find playing bottom D and a chord a snap, I have a lot more trouble playing an F# and keys for some reason. Helps to have a good hard D, of course.
I find it difficult to hold a hard D and play the D/F# on the bari and tenor regulators. The hard D struggles. I find it much easier to hold the hard D and play on F#/A.
Lifting the chanter for a bottom D while playing the regs is something I’m currently working on with varying success. One tune I can manage it is Maid behind the Bar where there are just bottom Ds at the end of the 1st and 5th bars. I try go from F#/A at the end of the 1st and 5th bars to G/B at the beginning of the 2nd and 6th bars. Replacing the chanter on the knee while moving the right hand on the regs takes practice.
You may be able to experiment with a “poor man’s bag neck extension”. That is, elongating your chanter top’s windpipe/stem/thingy by inserting hobby tubing in/on to it. This might help and it is a cheap an non-invasive way to have the chanter further from your body and at a different angle.
t