Hi folks, For a while i thought i was mad (about 5 minutes) when listen to seamus ennis play the wind that shakes the barley on the wandering minstrel especially but also in other tunes, and i noticed that within the soudn of the melody line, what i think of as a ‘voicing’ sound can be heard. i didnt know if this was as a result of
a, my imagination,
b, the pitch of the chanter,
c, his playing style,
d the tune,
e, magic mushrooms in my water supply.
i absolutely love this effect and it is one of the many reasons why the pipes are far beyond any other instrument conceivable for every reason!
i have heard it since in a friends playing, i also on a c chanter and i dont know what tune,
is it as i suspect because of a legato type playing where the reed never fully closes and so remains open like a throat through the various notes? if so why do i not notice it all the time in players all playing that way, or when i try to play legato? is cause i am shit? a d chanter specific tunes? the drugs have worn off?
please tell me i am not more mental than ev eryone else here?
It’s not the fairies, it’s changes in the harmonic mix between the notes on the chanter and the drones. Which is one of the greatest joys of piping if you have a set that does it well.
When I first read this post, I imagined Seamus Ennis actually humming, scatting, and grunting along with the tune a la Oscar Peterson or Keith Jarrett.
You can hear Felix Doran whistling in the first part of the Lark in the Morning. And I mentioned a tape of Willie Clancy playing a Bb chanter where he and Sean Reid hum some regulator notes.
Sometimes I think I can hear singing on the old McPeake records, too. Hmmm.
(Sorry to revive this 10 year old thread. I am very curious about this phenomenon, and wanted to ask a similar question. But I just thought I would ask on this thread for efficiency purposes. )
What is this voice sound, I think I hear it too, but am not too sure that is what OP means.
But I think I hear a bit of it on Jackson’s Morning Brush at 5:01. Is this it? Plz answer.
Given that we’re not actually talking about hearing the piper’s vocalisations while playing, I certainly know what you mean. I’m convinced Liam O’Flynn’s pipes say “poppycock” when he plays The Frieze Britches on Planxty’s 2nd album haha.
I think the pipes are almost uniquely attuned to this phenomenon - the woody reed vibrating can sound almost vocalcord-like and the conical bore gives a wide range of “vowel sounds” across the notes. The consonants are the tricky bit - the phrasing, ornamentation and timing that great pipers use can really make a tune sound like a conversation in itself.
…and I suppose a nicely tuned set of regs could sound like an a capella group! :-p
I’m surprised, if you mess with the equalizer on your computer, CD player or whatever, you can hear a lot of strange sounds in The Wandering Minstrel (The pipes talking and making the voice sound. A truck going by or a prop driven plane flying overhead, I dunno. Maybe it’s Ennis groaning or humming).
The Wandering Minstrel is very eerie to listen to I find (In a good way though). I guess part of it it’s the unpredictable nature of his playing and the pipes behavior themselves, and the eerily lonely environment of solo playing. It has an ominous feel to it. But I hear the voice sound(I think) mostly on Jackson’s Morning brush. I’m just not sure if this is what OP meant. Because when the regulators sound I hear a talking sound of a woman’s voice. Spooky I tell ya…
I am totally lost on this “voicing” I have the ennis tune and listened at 5:01 and hear nothing different. Any other examples of this or better explanation?? Maybe I am musically deaf?
Well, I could say that it may depend on your stereo system. But then again I could be crazy.
EDIT: I listened to it again, exactly ( I mean EXACTLY at 5:02 in the entire whole second with the A note and F# note and then back to the A again, I just hear that strange sound, (Sorry guys!). I’ll listen for it in another tune.
Again you might not hear it, and I could just be crazy .
eryone else here?
- Mod ]
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