Anglo Concertina And Scottish Small Pipes

[Jody Kruskal]

I have a new student. She is a beginner on the Anglo with a C/G Rochelle and without much experience at instrumental music or theory. One of her interests is in joining her husband and son in playing Scottish tunes. They play bagpipes in a traditional band and the husband suggested that she learn The Rowan Tree and they would play it on the small pipes with her as a family project. The husband is not a very experienced piper or knowledgable musician and I need some help in making this work for them. I know about music and the concertina, but not much about the small pipes.

 

It seems that their small pipes play tunes in the key of A, with a flattened 7th, i.e. the Mixolydian mode in A.

 

This is not what I usually start my beginning students on but it's quite doable on the C/G. Still there are lots of details that I need to fill in for them and simplifications I would like to use to make it easier for her and also missteps I would like to avoid in arranging concertina pieces that fit with their needs.

 

Are any of you squeezers here Scottish pipers too, who might be able to advise me?

 

For instance, The Rowan Tree. The example the husband gave is here

as played by piper Tom Jamieson. As all traditional musicians know, there are lots of ways to play a tune. Is this a good example of that tune or one that is eccentric? If I wanted to simplify it for my student; any suggestions about what could be left out? I'm not going to include all the grace note ornaments (at least at first) and focus on just the basic tune, but in looking and listening on the web I hear that there are many slightly differing versions of that.

 

So, any assistance would be greatly appreciated.

Edited March 6, 2013 by Jody Kruskal

[felix castro]

Hello, I don't know if it would be hepful.

 

Although I don't play scottish pipes I play galician gaita in several pitchs, mainly in C and Bb (also in D and A but less commonly). With my brother I play a lot in Bb and record mainly in Bb, Eb, G# it was the reason for me for buying my first concertina in C#/G# for playing the tunes pitched in Bb along with the bagpipe. The equivalent would be A in a concertina with the C/G layout. My brother had his first flutes in D and Eb for the same reasons.

I consider very useful to have the C# doubled for playing in A.

When I play not along the pipes I play the concertina more in G.

 

If you want I can send several tunes played with the concertina in Bb (of our for many years unfinished CD) for ilustrating.

Niall Vallely recorded in several Cds some scottish tunes that I have heard from the playing of the late Gordon Duncan, and I suppose that he played in A, I don't have here now the recordings.

 

Here in Asturias (more) and Galicia (almost only my brother and I) groups as The Tannahill Weavers influenced to many musicians for playing in their groups with galician and asturian bagpipes tuned in bb flat.

The first ones, Llan de Cubel (an example with a muiñeira, muñeira'l Centru).

One of these asturian themes was recorded by the Tannahill Weavers years ago.

 

Myself playing at the same concert than Llan de Cubel but with pipes in A (as Felpeyu changed six years ago the pipes from Bb to A pitch) as "Felpeyu Old Stars" with exfelpeyu members and felpeyu members.

It was a memorial concert for Carlos and Igor, mates of the renowned asturian band Felpeyu (I and my brother founded it with Igor and Ruma when we were studying in Salamanca and in which we played until we finished our studies in 1993) that died in a car crash when the group was going from Asturias to Catalonia for a concert.

 

The Bb, or A playing in galician music is more difficult that in scottish music because we use also the sensible note, in A the G#.

We have tunes with the G note and others with the G#, and some times alterned. The bottom note always in G#.

Old galician pipes had the seventh note flattened (in the middle of the sensible and the subtonic), about the ends of the XIXth century with he influenced of clarinets, etc. that were played in civil bands that were very popular in Galicia the galician bagpipes were tuned to the major scale for playing along with them.

The asturian bagpipes remained more time with the seventh flattened and finaly in the 1970s they put definitely the subtonic in the seventh note of the scale as in the scottish pipes, although the bottom note is the sensible.

 

Sorry for the long reply and perhaps a bit off-topic.

[Frank Edgley]

The tune as played on the UTube video is pretty standard the first time it is played with the exception of the last bar or so. When he plays the tune the second time around, it isn't the way I have ever heard it, but I think that's just his arrangement.

[felix castro]

I have heard the tune, I see in you tube other versions,including one titled tutorial slower with a lot of ornaments.

And other simpler and a bit quicker

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwyppwMDKT8

 

There are several ornaments that are easy to do in general imitating pipes with the concertina, one of them the separation between notes with the fundamental note of the chanter, in this case A. This ornament is typical of the close fingered pipes but with opened "ears" not as the uillean pipes

Some grace notes and the rolls doing three times the same note (and button) with two fingers are easy to do.

Other ornaments could be copied in a similar way that I think is done i.e. by Simon Thoumire, but of course for experienced players.

I played now scotland the brave and several Tannahill Weavers tunes now in A and I noticed that I use a lot the 3rd row pushing A, and even the pulling G

I play the A push a lot i.e. for doing quick A-B-C#-D-E notes pushing, even the A pushing on the 3rd row of the right side, that in the jeffries layout doesn't exit. If I play them pushing all the time it fulls the bellows.

The A-C#-E notes played followed are very common in piping tunes.

Hope it is helpful.

[felix castro]

Re-reading your post I understand now that you mainly ask about the version of the pipe tune, not about of people that played the concertina in A usually, as you know perfectly how to play in this key. Then perhaps my messages were superfluous or obvious.

[Jody Kruskal]

Hi Felix and Frank,

 

Thanks so much for your help with this. Actually Felix, I rarely play in A on the C/G so it's quite an education to figure out how I want to play Rowan Tree. Your comments were very helpful. As you probably know... in making decisions about what buttons to use, there are competing needs that all have to be satisfied and sometimes compromises need to be made. I try to make it sound good to my ear, but I also want to keep it as simple as I can for my students. I try to avoid left hand melody, but can't always. I try to make my arrangement balanced as to push and draw. I try to make button/direction choices that contribute to the phrases of the melody but sometimes there is a less than optimal choice that gets made because of all the other needs outlined above.

 

 

Fun!

 

I've got a nice arrangement now that is hard, but not too hard (I hope) to play in the harmonic style that I like. It sounds very bagpipe like and can stand on it's own without an actual bagpipe playing too.

Edited March 7, 2013 by Jody Kruskal

[felix castro]

Hello, my style is usually more melodic, my harmonic style is more in C, and D minor, and in G, not in A, I would be curious about what accompaniament you have done, but it is for your student.

I tend to play more in the right side in A, but for me or the music I play the right hand has more notes pulling, and I use some times for pushing the left side notes.

My style, as I learned alone is very eclectic, and I do sometimes things that perhaps are unorthodoxy, and more complicated, as playing consecutively buttons with the same finger, or I am remembering a tune that I play in A, that I play B, A, B, and I do both Bs pulling in the C right hand row, first button and the G# in the accidental row pushing of the left hand, and not the B pushing in the G row of the left side with the middle or ring finger of the left hand, that it could be more logical but it works for me.

[Jody Kruskal]

Hi Felix,

 

I'm assuming that you meant your example to read that you were trying to play B, G#, B... not the B, A, B that you wrote; perhaps a typo? Only then do the rest of your words make sense.

 

Yes, both fingerings work for the pitches B, G#, B, but have a different articulation (sound quality) when played in context of your tune's phrases. Your first example has more separation between the notes, and your second would allow the notes to be closer together in time and even overlap a bit, a smoother sound. Making this sort of choice is exactly what I'm talking about above. There are lots of reasons (the ones I mentioned and perhaps others) why you might choose one fingering over the other.

[felix castro]

Yes, sorry, I mean G# (third row left side pushing) as I told that in galician bagpipes the bottom note is the sensible one, not de subtonic, and then we use (in A) the G# note.

The subtonic note, G. of the scottish bagpipes is much easier as you can do all the notes pulling B (right side pulling), G (third row of the left side pulling), B (right side pulling).

I galician music is common to do this sequence of notes B G# B, the same than C# A C#, speaking in C notes, D B D, or E C E, i. e. in muiñeiras (similar to jigs), or some arpegios (?) speaking in C, C E G C.

Many tunes have the most part of the notes of the tune in a very limited range of 4 notes, some times many adjacent, i. e. a jota that I play, in C, D E F E G F, that in diatonic instruments is a bit tricky or complicated to do it quickly.

As example of a jota the famous piper Carlos Núñez plays the second tune, a galician modern (composed) jota (the last arpegios are from his own version).

Edited March 7, 2013 by felix castro

[Alex West]

A good friend of mine plays Scottish small pipes (and highland pipes and border pipes) and has given me this answer:

 

"The "A" chanter, is probably the most common chanter for the Scottish Small Pipes and can play tunes that fit on the following scale (low to high): G, A, B, C#, D, E, F#, G, A. So the A chanter is "A mixolydian". You could think of them as playing in the key of D, but only the notes in this particular 9-note range. Just to confuse matters, pipe music is often written without any key signature, because the key signature is always the same. Occasionally you'll come across pipe tunes with accidentals, e.g. Cnatural. These accidentals require cross-fingering technique that typically doesn't work on the small pipes, but will work on border or highland pipes.

"Most of the well known Scottish pipe tunes will work fine on the small pipes, i.e. any tune (such as the Rowan Tree) that fits in the above scale. Unlike the Highland pipes, a set of small pipes 'in A' will indeed play in the above scale (A mixolydian). Other popular alternatives would be a "D" chanter or a "Bflat" chanter. You can swap chanters in the same set of pipes, but your drones may or may not be tuneable to a range of chanters...

"Highland pipes are a different beast : the music is written in A mixolydian (the scale above), without key signatures, but the instrument usually plays in Bflat, i.e. sheet music A = highland pipe Bflat. To complicate things even further, many sets of Highland pipes are tuned slightly higher than Bflat, to give a brighter sound."

 

I hope this helps, Jody

 

Alex West

[davidcorner]

"Highland pipes are a different beast : the music is written in A mixolydian (the scale above), without key signatures, but the instrument usually plays in Bflat, i.e. sheet music A = highland pipe Bflat. To complicate things even further, many sets of Highland pipes are tuned slightly higher than Bflat, to give a brighter sound."

 

Historically, the Highland pipes were always in A, but after the ban on bagpipes was relaxed, pipes were incorporated into Scottish regiments, and the pitch changed to Bb to go with the military band instruments in that pitch.

 

In terms of playing pipe tunes, I tend to ornament by playing a single grace note, usually the note above the melody note.

But I'm playing English concertina, so that might not always be possible on Anglo.

[felix castro]

A nice summary of the scottish pipes.

Galician pipes are fully chromatic, and people read and write down scores in "D" or in "C" (there isn't a consensus) independiently of the pitch of the pipes played, the notes readen actually represent positions of the fingers over the chanter.

Edited March 8, 2013 by felix castro

[felix castro]

Hello, I shall put some of my recordings (that we made almost 8, 9 or 10 years ago) playing bagpipes along with the concertina, accordion, and my brother with bouzouki and flute. But I don't know how, shall I you upload first the mp3 with my account to my media?

Edited March 7, 2013 by felix castro

[Jody Kruskal]

Hi Felix,

 

I would love to hear your music. Post a link, OK?

[felix castro]

All these tunes were recorded at home before 2006.

 

Muiñeiras de Vilaquinte e de Vilar

http://www.mediafire.com/?c2488w5lndbclju

First tune as like a song that I don't remember where we learned.

The muiñeira of Vilaquinte, is from a piper, the late Jose Ramón from Vilaquinte village - Lugo, that emigrated to Argentina when he was very young, more than sixty years ago. He has a nice style of playing, we use in this tune the flattened bottom note because he played with an old bagpipe that it remained the flattened bottom note. He died four years ago (more or less) with 90 years old and he had a nice soloist style.

The las muiñeira we learned from the Gaiteiros de Vilar (a small village) close to the portuguese frontier, and the tune is played also in Galicia - Spain and Protugal, Ourense is next to Portugal and galician and northern Portugal are brothers and with many cultural (almost identical) similarities .

 

Muiñeiras de Vilaquinte

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?1r4l88znpnzlanz

The first is a song, that actually it would be more in 5/8, in pandeirada rythm, but we play more in a 6/8 time.

The second and third are from Jose Ramón, he plays the last one, we recorded it over his pipe and his percussion recorded by itself in a tape in Buenos Aires many years ago.

 

3 Muiñeiras da Ilustración Gallega y Asturiana, X. L. Foxo, e da Fonsagrada

http://www.mediafire.com/?c95vok4atd3o5o1

The first is a composed muiñeira from the XIXth century, the second one one that is in a book of galician tunes by X.L. Foxo, a very polemic man who introduced in Galicia the pipebands with a heavy (excesive) strong influence from the scottish pipebands -there are other pipebands more linked to the galician tradition-, and the tune shows this influence, and the second one a nice muiñeira from A Fonsagrada - Lugo, that have a nice and disctintive style.

 

Danzas e pezas en 2/4 con gaita, accordion, concertina, and bagpipes

http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?32wr9i61mm592x0

Several tunes in 2/4 time.

[Jody Kruskal]

Wow Felix,

 

I enjoyed your music very much. Thanks for sharing that. What a great energy and grace your group has.

[felix castro]

Thankyou very much for the comments.

Well, it is just my twin brother and I, we need another two twin brothers for doing it live! ;-)

[12barblues]

Thanks very much for that, Felix - loved it!