I’ve got some exciting news: starting today and every day until December 3rd, I’ll be recording a video of myself playing a tune and posting it to my Youtube channel. It’ll mostly be me on the complex border pipes I play, although I’ll occasionally be doing a bit of flute and whistle as well. I may even be joined by a friend from time to time. The tunes will be mostly from Scotland and Cape Breton, although a bit of music from Donegal might sneak in as well.
Why am I doing this? Well, aside from my love of the music and my natural inclination to share it, I’m recording an album this winter. I’ve just launched a Kickstarter campaign to help finance it, and I’m trying to get as much as I can of myself playing out there to give folks a taster of what’s in store. Over at the Kickstarter page, you can check out a video about the album and preorder a copy, amongst other things. You can find the Kickstarter page here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/671115452/will-woodson-and-eric-mcdonald-the-sunny-hills
The pipes I’m playing on are what I’ve been calling the “complex border pipes”, which are based on more typical border pipe designs but with a few extensions added. The drones feature a contrabass in addition to the usual tenor and bass, and I also use an alto and a baritone that can tune to E or D. The chanter has six keys, which allow me to play nearly two full octaves and to play staccato when the chanter is on the leg. However, at its heart the instrument is still based on the nine-note Scottish chanter, and I’m moving my fingers in more or less the same way I was when I was first learning to play these things at age ten.
Anyways, I’ll keep this space updated as new tunes come out, and do get in touch with any questions.
Very nice, Will. I’d only suggest that the Tune a Day doesn’t need to be a Post a Day on the Chiff. A once-a-week reminder throughout the month should suffice, no? - Mod
My chanter actually tends to play a bit quieter compared to most of the concert pitch sets of uilleann pipes I’ve heard, Ted–our chanter bores are far narrower than most border pipes, and when you put that on the knee it gets quieter yet. And yeah, I suppose we’re pretty close to the uilleann pipes in terms of range and capability, although I think that the sound and expression is still quite Scottish in character. Of course, the fingering on the chanter is more or less the Scottish system as well.
And heard loud and clear, MTGuru. I’ll edit in to my original post a link to the playlist I’ll be creating for the entire series and quiet things down a bit. Thanks!
I’ve created a playlist on Youtube for the Tune a Day series, where you can find the tunes I’ve been adding. Recently there’s been a bit of flute and a familiar piping march. I’ll continue adding my new tunes there, so can subscribe to me on Youtube to keep up to date. The link is here: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLb4FJ7saiWQB8UUunkIEJya-oM1d1AUYc
In other news, I’ll be playing a live streaming concert on Concert Window this Thursday at 7 pm Eastern with guitarist Eric McDonald. It’s pay what you want, so if you’re interested in seeing a bit more, put it in your calendar. You can watch it anywhere you have internet access, so check it out: https://www.concertwindow.com/shows/10559-will-woodson-eric-mcdonald-the-sunny-hills