I have decided that after a long period of " irregular" practice to forgo my full set and without distract of drones and regulators to concentrate on basics and techniques of the chanter.
My playing had become sloppy and I’m just not prepared to live with it like this anymore. So I’m going back to regular practice regimes and I’m determined to nail those niggles that I put off and put off some more.
I’ve been piper since 1994 and play professionally mostly weddings and functions but some other gigs and festivals etc.
however I’m mostly involved in teaching ( wood winds) and piping gigs have become few and far between over the last two years.
So just bag, belloweses and chanter for me and for at least the next few months I intend to practice what I preach!!!
Would others agree to concentrate on chanter technique without the drones and regs being there to tempt?
Or do you think I should be going all out on the full set.. Drones and regs blazing
I think it’s a very good idea, I do that myself on a regular basis. What I like is focusing on the chanter technique for a while on a particular tune, and then playing the tune with all the set going. It avoids playing the tunes in the same manner all the time…
I remeber reading posts from a UK piper who did something similar. I cannot remember his name but he was a champion of Dave William’s pipes. He stated that, even though he had been playing for over twenty years, he felt that his playing was not right. He said that he went and got proper instruction on technique. He took the opportunity to re-invent his piping.
I had played with this piper in Miltown in the early eighties and had thought at the time that he was very proficient on the instrument.
I admire this dedication to go back to the beginning again and to start properly on an instrument.
Agreed. BUT: Keep the set - for your proper playing position - take out drone- and regreeds, replace them by little corks, put the reeds in a little lockable drawer and throw away the key.
I’ve often considered getting a spare bag with stock/air-intake but that’s mainly for when I’m making reeds.
A well known piper once told me not to bother with the regulators until I was proficient with the chanter, so I played a practice set for nearly 8 years. It took me so long to build up the full set that I don’t think I’d go back to a practice set.
The drones are hardly a distraction, they are the “harmonic carpet” (to quote Geoff Wooff) under the tune. To achieve this, you have to control the pressure on the chanter to get each note in tune with the drones. Playing without drones is not playing the pipes. It’s is playing the chanter. Regulators can wait. You need mastery of the chanter so that playing the regs doesn’t put you off stroke. But keep those drones purring.
