By TIM CUMMINGS Piping Today #83, 2016. In the previous article of this series, I tried my best to introduce the phenomenon of harmonics in musical sound. And in an effort to keep the discussion accessible to non-physicists — myself included — I first compared harmonics to something more familiar: […]
By TIM CUMMINGS Piping Today #82, 2016. When you come across the word “harmonics”, do mysteriously inconspicuous high notes come to mind, the ones that some people claim they can hear embedded in the sound of drones, and that are apparently used to more finely tune their instrument? If so, […]
By TIM CUMMINGS Piping Today #81, 2016. In the previous round of this Theory Top-Up series, we began to look at familiar tunes whose original melodies spanned beyond the nine-note range of the standard Scottish pipe chanter. The word ‘compression’ was introduced as a way of describing the process of […]
By TIM CUMMINGS Piping Today #80, 2016. Because there are only nine melodic notes available on a typical Scottish chanter, piping students become aware of the limitations of our instrument pretty early on in their piping careers. Inevitably, the moment arrives when they realise that the entirety of the Braveheart […]
By Tim Cummings Piping Today #79, 2016. For nearly two years this Theory Top-Up series has been exploring specific musical keys in our piping repertoire. We’ve covered about 10 different specific keys, and in doing so explored the tonal foundations of perhaps 96% of our repertoire. So what’s left? About […]
By Tim Cummings Piping Today #78, 2015. In this Theory Top-Up series, we have already explored the nine specific musical keys that are most commonly found in our Highland pipe repertoire. My best guess is we’ve covered approximately 95% of our repertoire in this way. There’s not much left but […]
In the spring 2000 edition of The Voice, Dr. John A. MacAskill conducted an interview with James Campbell, the son Archibald Campbell of Kilberry. When MacAskill asked him what he considered to be his greatest legacy, Campbell replied: “… I have taken pride in my contribution in the Piping Times […]
Dan Nevans wrapped up the February Piping Challenge last night, Tuesday March 1, with a live presentation to bring it all to a conclusion. Dan thanked everyone for their participation and feedback, announced prizewinners for the five most involved participants and offered everyone a 10% discount off everything (except bagpipes, […]
On day 22 of the February Piping Challenge Dan Nevans spoke about the myelination process that goes on in your brain while practicing deliberately. Dan demonstrated a slow deliberate technique to practice doublings going up and down the scale on the chanter. He suggests this consistency is what is needed […]
On day 21 of the February Piping Challenge Willie McCallum taught practice techniques for the grip, taorluath and rodin. Willie emphasised the need to play them slowly, rhythmically and accurately before building speed, and played though demonstrations of each movement on his chanter. Willie’s video can be viewed again here on […]
