Conventional Scottish pipe chanters have a nine-note diatonic scale. This is true for all the main types: the Great Highland Bagpipes and their various smaller derivatives, the Border Pipes and the Scottish Smallpipes. There are thousands of good pipe tunes using just these nine notes, and many great composers and pipers who’ve remained eternally satisfied with that limitation. So why do some of us want more, and isn’t that a bit arrogant for those (like me) who’ve not even got full control over what’s there? (more…)
10 January 2018
26 October 2017
Friends in Need
Text straight from my YouTube video…
Made this wee video in January (nearly 10 months ago) to show friends on Facebook and hadn’t intended it for public consumption when it took me two days to pluck up the courage even to post it there, but took another listen the other night and thought ‘why not?’ (more…)
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31 December 2015
To be fair to the pBone…
I seem to have finally got that damned slide working properly just weeks after the ‘brass trombone in my future’ quickly became reality with the arrival of my lovely new Yamaha 354. So (touch wood that the pBone continues to behave) I now have two very playable trombones, though nobody should be surprised to hear I still prefer the Yamaha! (more…)
28 November 2015
Master of nine?
A slip of the tongue, a Facebook post later and ‘master of nine’ seemed too good a mistake to waste, so here’s what I wrote with appended list of my non-masterly ‘skills’…
Having described myself yesterday as a ‘jack of all trades and master of [oops!] nine’, I’ve tried to count the instruments I ‘play’… not a clear-cut task when some things maybe count separately (e.g. Boehm flute vs. simple flute or smallpipes vs. border pipes) whereas others clearly don’t (e.g. different sizes/makes of recorders and whistles), but let’s say ten or eleven to a useful (not master!) standard and a few more I’ve dabbled with, taken lessons in or (trombone alert!) started learning now. No way I’m still as good at anything as the recorder player who spent a year at Koninklijk Conservatorium, Den Haag, nearly thirty years ago, but it’s fun… sometimes frustrating fun when I can’t practise everything all the time, but fun!
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22 November 2015
pBone mechanics
[Update, 31 December 2015: To be fair to the pBone…]
Three years ago I got a pBone (plastic trombone) after hearing about them from our school brass instructor and thinking that sounds like fun. Then blew it a few times before hardly touching it again till a YouTube video of Alison Balsom trying the pTrumpet recently had me digging it out for another go. And now I’m making real progress, completely sold on the trombone (yet another diluting diversion for an incorrigible jack of all trades!), but increasingly unhappy with the mechanics of my pBone… (more…)
17 May 2015
Balancing act
Something I posted to Facebook a few hours ago that really deserves a more ‘permanent’ place here where anyone can read it. Facebook ‘friends’ can also read some nice responses over there. :-)
A strange tale of work/life balance, life/life balance, running, racing and depression… (more…)
25 January 2015
Microphone clip webcam mount
Quite a departure here when most of the blog’s about my own outdoor or musical activities, but here’s something I made for work nearly three years ago, stopped using when upgrading from Windows XP to Windows 7 killed off webcams as full-screen, plug-and-play devices under ‘My Computer’, but thought worth sharing now I know how to get the full-screen output back… (more…)
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12 August 2014
Squares, stars, wheels and kelpies
Some tidying up of ‘Munro’ odds and ends last week, with Thursday as ‘deleted Top (square) day’ seeing the missing bumps (which quite frankly probably all deserved to be deleted!) on Meall Garbh and Meall Corranaich efficiently dispatched… (more…)
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29 August 2013
Border pipes and Ben Vorlich
Having a nice new set of Garvie border pipes to collect from Nigel Richard in Pathhead, what better way to start my Saturday than a quick trip up Ben Vorlich on the way? Which is what I’d meant to do till my wee walk slyly morphed into a Vorlich/Stuc a’ Chroin/Vorlich run, with the return over Vorlich included to 1. get the best run back down the main path when the peak was pretty well on/in the way anyway and 2. even up my somewhat meagre Vorlich/Stuc ascent count at three apiece! But not to worry when you can do the lot in three-and-a-half hours and still be down by lunchtime… (more…)
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4 June 2013
Rob Morsberger
Rob Morsberger was a musician of rare talent, writing and performing catchy, literate, eclectic and impeccably-crafted songs standing comparison to the very best of singer/songwriters. He was also a dear friend from Edinburgh University days, much loved and admired by many over his 53 years and very much in all our thoughts right now. (more…)