geez 
i don’t know if it’s just me…'cause everytime i see a movie, and there’s a bagpipe scene…they never fail to play scotland the brave. maybe they’ve run out of tunes 
or ideas.
I’d have to go for Amazing Grace as the most over-played pipe tune.
Susan
You know, on Braveheart, there’s the part when they are burying Mel Gibson’s dad and there’s a piper playing… That’s a highland pipe he’s holding, but not a highland pipe you hear. That sort of wrecks the whole movie until the real violence starts. I hate when the director figures we won’t know the difference and puts in something really wrong for the sound.
But the reason for the overplaying of these two tunes is probably because most folks don’t really recognize any other pipe music as being pipe music. Amazing Grace is lovely on the pipes and also one of the standard tunes every piper learns. Scotland the Brave is one that every band piper has to know and probably 99% of the soloists learn because they figure they’ll have to know it.
Still, I don’t get sick of either tune if it is played well. Any tune played poorly is heinous on the pipes, though.
-Patrick
There’s a pipe tune on Rice by Eliza Carthy (played on fiddle and guitar) called Mons Meg. Anyone know where there’s sheet music for it? It’s really gorgeous.
TIA, Charlie
Between them, they’re certainly the most played pipe tunes, but I for one won’t say OVER-played. A pipe band that couldn’t play Scotland the Brave would be a pretty poor bunch. And say what you will about Amazing Grace, no massed band performance would be the same without it. It may be played a lot - but that doesn’t prevent more than a few moist eyes when played as a memorial.
If you don’t like hearing them, don’t listen.
It is nice to hear Minstrel Boy being increasingly played as a memorial piece, though of course it isn’t Scottish.
Since I’m a piper (at home) and a tenor drummer in a pipe band I’ve gotta jump in here. Scotland the Brave and Amazing Grace are played so much because those are two tunes that are ALWAYS expected to be heard when folks come out to hear a band.Someone mentioned that those are the only pipe tunes known by the general public and I agree. If they are not played they will be requested by someone in the audience.
For often played,I would have to add those other massed band standards- Green Hills/Battles O’er(3/4) and Brown Haired Maiden/High Road (2/4).
Still, no matter how often played they can “stir the blood”.
p.s. I also agree, Braveheart (Lethal Weapon in kilts)was so full of junk. Give me Rob Roy anyday.
[ This Message was edited by: cowtime on 2002-04-25 23:11 ]
If you want to hear around 1000 different highland pipe tunes try http://www.bagpipesatbest.com
Best wishes,Tom
Even though I’m likely to be singing “Scotland’s Depraved” under my breath when I hear pipers playing “Scotland the Brave,” I don’t mind hearing it again.
And as for “Amazing Grace,” in my book it can NEVER be overplayed. It gives me shivers no matter HOW many times I hear it. I was priding myself on how well I was holding up post 9/11, until a few days later NPR played a sound clip of pipers at Buckingham Palace playing “Amazing Grace.” That’s when I really lost it.
Of course, my all-time favorite thing to hear someone play on the pipes is “Funky Town.” No, I’m not kidding. Neil Anderson can do this and make you marvel at his skill even as you’re falling down laughing.
Sorry all, I have to stand by my personal (and apparently lonely) opinion - I cringe whenever I hear a piper start in on Amazing Grace, and find myself thinking, “Don’t you guys know anything else?!?”
(Maybe it’d be like every time you heard someone playing tunes on a whistle, in with 2-3 other tunes, they ALWAYS played Irish Washerwoman.)
Susan
[ This Message was edited by: susnfx on 2002-04-26 14:42 ]
I dunno, every time I hear someone playing whistle, no matter what else they’re playing I can count on hearing the Kesh Jig… and I’m not sick of that one yet. Maybe I will be when I know how to play it better.