|
------Est. 1980 Glasgow
city centre's oldest bagpipe shop------
click on the banner for our home page
Newsletter - August 2010
Dear Piping Enthusiast,
Hello, bonjour, hola and
buongiorno from the piping hub of Glasgow.
As you will have gathered, I am back from my cruise round the Med, fully
refreshed and rarin' to go as we approach the pinnacle of the piping year
in the Northern Hemisphere with Piping Live! and the World Pipe Band
Championships on the 14th of August at Glasgow Green - click on the logo to
find out more about Piping Live! I am looking forward once again to seeing
old and new customers and friends from all round the world. If you find
yourself in the vicinity of Bath
Street, please pop into the shop for some
piping banter.
We will be running our annual workshop in
conjunction with Piping Live! at our Bath
Street facility on the Wed, Thurs and Fri of
the Worlds Week (11th, 12th,13th Aug).
You will be able to see how the bags are made and to view our skills in
wood turning -
from 2.30-3.15pm and a second session each day from 3.30-4.15 p.m.
I will be at the marquee
outside the National Piping Centre on the Tuesday to support
Piping Live! and to be on hand to offer advice on any aspect of piping as
required.
The new academy band Barluath at 2 p.m.
should be worth seeing, in what I think will
be their inaugural concert. We have lots of other performers starting from
noon through
to 6 p.m - it's all free, so just turn up and enjoy a fabulous afternoon.
We will be going all out this year to have a great time as it's the 30th
birthday celebrations
of Begg Bagpipes.
Yours Aye,
James C Begg
www.beggbagpipes.com
News
It has been a very busy July and the sheepskin bags are selling better now than in the 1980s when the British Army were ordering in large quantities. A lot of bands and solo players, having flirted with synthetics, are now returning to natural materials and all the associated benefits. Our new bagpipe range is selling well too and work on the repair and refurbishment side is increasing. I also had the pleasure to host some visitors from Boston, USA who were on a cruise and had docked at the Port of Greenock on the Clyde. They were given an in-sight in the shop to various aspects of piping and I then marched them along Bath Street for a Scottish High Tea in the interestingly named Butterfly and Pig. Everyone seemed to be enjoying my piping apart from a frumpy business in the neighbourhood who were holding a video conference at the time - they seemed to have been somewhat drowned out by my music.
A-Z
of Piping - a
Personal View by James C. Begg
D is for Donald
When you think of some Scottish words
which begin with D, some great names spring
to mind like:
a) dreich; drookit; dram or
b) Dunvegan, Dundee, Dunoon or
c) The Dee, the Don, the Deveron
but there is none to compare with Donald! Perhaps the most famous Donald
amongst
the general public is that of the late Andy Stewart's Donald who was being
asked
" Where's yer troosers?" but amongst the piping fraternity, we
tend towards some of our
Greats, like Donald MacLeod, Donald MacPherson, Donald Cameron, Donald Ban
MacCrimmon and Donald MacDonald. A book can be written about each of these
Donalds and to the many other Donalds who have contributed to the
development of
Piping. I however, want to single one out -
Pipe Major Donald MacLeod MBE  (1916-1982).
Born in Stornoway, he served bravely in the Seaforth Highlanders and
like many before and since, eventually found himself in Glasgow. It was
here that I first met him in the famous ( but now extinct) Grainger and
Campbell Piping Shop where he worked, and actually where I also
subsequently worked before starting Begg Bagpipes. During the Second World
War, he escaped from a German prisoner of war camp, and when asked about
how he managed it, he used his own slight, physical stature as a fishy, cover
story - " I was too wee so they threw me back in". Clearly, there
was much more to his escape than he wanted to reveal but he had no desire
to bask in any reflective glory - that tells you something about the
character of the man. He was a really exciting and engaging person who made
a huge contribution to the world of piping. In addition to being an
outstanding performer and teacher, he will also be remembered for his many
outstanding compositions - piobaireachds and light music. Some of my
favourites include Knightswood Ceilidh, Susan Macleod, (the unusual)
Malcolm Ferguson, P/M George Allan, The Man from Skye and the classic Flett
from Flotta - the list is endless. His
music and his memory have made an indelible mark on the history of the
Great Highland Bagpipe.
We also have Donald in some of our famous
tunes like Donald Willie and his Dog
( a unique jig), Donald Dugal MacKay (a piobaireachd), the Piobaireachd of
Donald Dhu
( a march and a piobaireachd) , Donald Cameron (a march) and Donald
Cameron's
Powderhorn (a jig).
We also have another famous Donald which I notice has just made a welcome
come-back
- Donald Drone in the Piping Times. Donald is the comic cartoon strip that
was standard
in the Piping Times for years and it added a good touch to it -so glad to
see Donald again
with all the mishaps that happen to him around the Games.
So if any of our readers have a newborn son they need to name, you could do
a lot worse
than Donald!
Technical
Academy - Which
Bagpipe Chanter
Should I buy?
The answer is - probably a blackwood one. Wood always gives a nice mellow sound in most cases. It looks good and feels better to play and although it is abou twice the price of an alternative one, it is definitely worth it. However, synthetic chanters can also do the job and today there is not much to choose between them - some don't have quite as much volume as others so even here there is a subtle choice to make. Chanters are often bought because someone recommends it or your teaching guru loves it. This recommendation is fine up to a point but you really need to be your own man or woman - what someone else likes is not always your preference and so balance advice with logic In my shop, I try to let the customer choose whether it be reeds, bags or chanters but I do try pointing the person in the right direction as to what I think would suit them and not what would suit me as the retailer. So your guru will sound good playing his particular "stick" but you need to find out what makes your own sound good - be unique and don't necessarily follow the mainstream.
Online Special Offer - online orders only
Buy one ball of hemp, waxed or unwaxed and get a second one free.
 Click on the
image.
Look out for more great
offers coming soon!
At the point of purchase, we will price match any product of
the same
quality from another supplier.
Name that Tune -
the Answers
 July
June
 May
Reel
- Sandy
Cameron
2/4 March - P/M Willie
Gray's 6/8 Jig - Turf Lodge
Farewell to the Glasgow Police
Congratulations to our winner, Chris
Knife of Conway, Arkansas, USA.
A Begg hand made African blackwood practice chanter is already on its way
to Chris.
Thanks to everyone who took part and if you didn't get them all correct,
look-out for a new
three part competition starting later in the year..
YouReport
If you would like to report on any aspect
of the Piping World from wherever you live,
we'd be pleased to hear from you. mailto:bill@beggbagpipes.com
|
