Last “school” year I had the amazing opportunity to make my own “Irish” flute, the result of which I still have to report on. (The gist: I’m happy )
Next season I’d like to draw some more knowledge & techniques from my teacher by making a bagpipe. Now, I’m new to piping, so a lot of ideas run though my mind that could use some ordering & validation:
First, my teacher used to make the Musette de Cour, and I’d like to extract something from his rather unique expertise in that field. In particular, I would really like to make shuttle drones!
Now historically, these drones could be made as complicated as one wanted, so you could tune them to correctly support major, minor, dorian modes, etc. Me, I just like to be able to accompany whatever can be squeezed out of a G/C button box, with the right drones. I’m guessing some flexibility would be a good idea, but I’m not sure how much.
Then, for the chanter, I could go with a simple Praetorious-style grand chalumeau (just a few keys & no petit chalumeau). But I could also go wild here, and take a chanter from a completely different tradition. In fact, I’m open to any design that would allow me to reasonably play along with the squeezebox, on a modest indoor volume, with versatility and/ or an extended playing range as a definite plus.
Ideas welcome! Go wild , and on the other hand, please also point out any practical concerns that I should be aware of.
were I in those shoes,
I would pick your teachers brain >DRY< about making the MdC, and learn how to efficiently and effecively turn out a supply of this instrument…
what are there, 5,maybe 6 MdC makers active,(one of which I know is no longer taking orders)
last time I got serious about trying to obtain one of these, the price was astronomical and the wait approx 10years.
He’s officially retired and vowed never to make one of those wretched instruments again So I want to do this in portions I can handle. If I’m going for the full thing at once, I’ll have to lean on his knowledge waaay too much; I won’t finish it, and he won’t be amused But on the other hand, if I make my shuttle drone franken-style instrument right now, and leave the double chalumeau as an addition for next year, it’ll be a proportional project…
Your idea of a somewhat simplified Musette sounds very cool- single chanter, shuttle drones perhaps playing notes like G/D (for when playing in G on the chanter) and C/G (for when playing in C on the chanter). Is G the “six finger note” and C the “three finger note”?
Which brings up something I know nothing about: were there known antecedents to the Musette, its evolutionary process known from various earlier instruments, or did it appear more or less out of nowhere in its fully developed form?
If antecedents are not known, it would be cool to invent a proto-Musette, what the Musette’s earlier form might have looked like.
About using a chanter from another tradition, I would think that it might be better to draw upon your teacher’s experience and knowlege of Musette chanters and go with that sort.
The early form of the MdC was a single chanter and drones. Bob Thomas owned a single chanter which was stamped Hotteterre, the only one known. It had either an anchor or other hallmark as well. It was lost to a fire in the early 1980’s.
(Off topic: it feels funny that I try to avoid real-life names in my posts. I guess I’m of the earlier Internet generation Then again, people collect enough information on you these days.)
ok
make that 4, maybe 5 MdC makers active, at least one perhaps more of which I now know is no longer taking orders.
btw I have heard Beekhuizens work live-and-in-person, (via “Piffaro”) in consort those pipes are an exciting sound indeed.
…a day later…
ok sorry not being prodctive there. since you asked for wild ideas, here ya go.
how about a conical chanter in g/c (or a/d) uses closed fingering, range of a 9th with available flat 3rd & 6th, does not overblow,& has no bell- so it can be stopped on the knee. yah. whaddyathink?
After some thinking, I guess I have part of my path already laid out for me:
Since I want to play quietly, I’ll probably have to go conical *)
Since I want to accompany a G/C button accordion, I have to support the common scale (plus some accidentals perhaps)
With that sorted out, it still leaves a few contenders on the field of fingering:
Closed “old-style musette” fingering would make it a genuine old-style musette. (The most boring but solid choice.)
Additionally, sticking a cork in the end just might give me the subtle crispness of the Northumbrian pipes. (Or is there more to it? Cause I love the sound!)
Half-open fingering (a la cornemuse/ hümmelchen) yields the advantage of cross-fingered half notes. (Of course it plays quite different, too.)
(Each of the above yields the same basic range and could be extended with just a few keys.)
Hmmm… At this point I’m leaning towards closed fingering, and doubting between the tradition of the Musette or the crispness of the Northumbrian…
*) I guess I was also kind of hoping that someone would point out that yes, you can make an Uilleann chanter that is as quiet as the most modest Northumbrian pipe; and combine that with shuttle drones…
Well, first class of the new season, and I got a quote on my proposed project: a laugh and “more than one year”… And that’s for the simple variant of the musette, not featuring the petit chalumeau. Still I guess each step could yield an interesting result in itself, so we’ll see. (I first want to make myself a new flute foot anyway.)
)
yah. whaddyathink?