Question for Scots

[brionon]

How do you know when it's time to tune your bagpipes?

[Octavius]

Pretty much similar to when a guitarist realises one of his strings is out of tune. The notes of the melody pipe must be in tune with each other, just as the notes of a piano or any other instrument must be in tune with one another, and additionally the note produced by the drone must be in tune with the chanter's notes. If you have more than one drone, then this needs to be tuned �in� also.

If you listen to a piper and it sounds an awful cacophony, then it is generally in need of tuning. A good set of tuned pipes will be music to the ears.

If generally it sounds awful, then maybe you just don�t like the sound. I get this when I listen to Mariah Carey. She definitely sounds like a bag of discordant wind.

[WaldoMcFroog]

No, no, no. Carey's not dischordant. It's not that she doesn't hit the notes that makes her so awful. It's the fact that she's a triumph of technical ability over emotion. She's the Steve Vai of vocals. It's impressive and undoubtedly difficult to do, but it doesn't mean you want to listen to it.

I quite like the sound of pipes, as it goes. Uilleann pipes are particularly nice.

[Octavius]

Waldo, it is clear that your almost �religious� devotion to Careyism is clouding your judgement and giving you delusional audibility.

I agree with you on the pipes though, I have 2 highland sets and 1 uilleann set, but don�t tell anyone.

[WaldoMcFroog]

I am an acareyist, and I resent your suggestion otherwise.

[Octavius]

Its just that you always seem to know all the words.

[WaldoMcFroog]

No more than you would have to in order to know that I did such a thing.

[Octavius]

I can recognise that any sentence containing excessive vowels with several �OooOOooOOoohs� at the end is either a banshee wailing or the work of The Carey. Both are more or less the same thing.

[WaldoMcFroog]

Then I put it to you that what you must have observed is me aping a banshee, since I can only even name one song by your musical heroine, let alone sing them/type out the lyrics.

[Octavius]

One song? That many eh? That�s twice as many as I could name. Maybe its time to step out of the dressing room and stand up for your Careyism?

Honestly, not that many people will laugh.

[WaldoMcFroog]

We all know that you like nothing better than an evening than dragging up as la Carey and watching your favourite film Glitter, so why don't you take your own advice?

[Octavius]

I'm a Catholic, why in God's name would I do that?

[dundurn]

To get back to the original question - I think the answer for those playing in a pipe band is "every time you play". The pipes need to be "warmed up" principally as a result of the wood and the reeds absorbing moisture form the player's breath. You get the same problem with all woodwind instruments. Some players find this takes longer than others and for this reason band leaders will have some members of the band playing for what seems like ages before a contest, where other players will go in almost "cold".

[Octavius]

dundurn, are you metaphorically comparing pipe playing to bedroom sport? Warming up, wood, moisture, members, taking longer than others, going in cold�. good grief, I need to lie down.

[brionon]

The question was meant as a gentle insult, meaning 'The pipes sound So false that it must be difficult to know when they need tuning'.

[Octavius]

And there we were (albeit dundurns lewd suggestions) providing you with informed advice and clarity in your quest for bagpipe knowledge.

I hope this advancement in your piping wisdom sparks your interest and fuels your enthusiasm to take up pipe playing as a hobby.

[brionon]

Last Summer I went to the Bagpipe Museum in Scapoli,Italy and I make flutes ,both front and side blowing and whistles. One day I hope to make a Doodlezak-Bagpipe to you . B. XX