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------Est. 1980 Glasgow city centre's oldest bagpipe shop------
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Newsletter - July 2010

Dear Piping Enthusiast,

June has been a good month in Glasgow weather-wise and we are all enjoying the world cup - well perhaps not, if you are French, Italian or English! However, the piping season is going smoothly. The British Championships at Annan saw the Field Marshall maintaining their fine form and another storming performance from Boghall and Bathgate to come in second. Inveraray and District are still going strongly in their first year in Grade 1, and achieved a very good 7th position. (Photo is of King Robert the Bruce on Annan Town Hall).

I am on a week's holiday from 3-10th July, round the Med on a large boat - not the old Clyde paddle steamer the Waverley but the rather grander Norwegian Jade. So bon voyage hopefully and as you read this, I'll be having a few sundowners as we drop anchor. The shop and website will still be open, so normal service should be in place -please call 0141 333 0639 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting 0141 333 0639 end_of_the_skype_highlighting or mailto:bill@beggbagpipes.com This is the last "Name that Tune" part in this series with the chance to win a unique hand made blackwood Begg practice chanter, so we are showing all 3 mystery tunes this month - if you've not entered yet, there is still time.

Yours Aye,
James C Begg

www.beggbagpipes.com

News

I have been speaking recently with Don Bradford, P/M of Strathclyde Police, who informs

me he has a book coming out shortly. Don is a prolific composer and I look forward to

stocking his book - will confirm when it's out and I'm sure it will be worth purchasing.

Talking of the Police Band , I now have a new split stock water trap with a sponge

device to collect extra moisture should you be a moist blower or be playing for long

periods. It's very straight forward and Don uses it in the Band. With the split stock, you

are able to remove the sponge and tube and either dry them off or replace the sponge.

It may seem  simple enough but it is very effective -cost £59.58 plus vat complete.

I would like to remind you that 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

3.30-4.15pm. I hope you can find the time to pop in to our very informal afternoon

event. Beyond this, I will be at the marquee outside the National Piping Centre on the

Tuesday where Begg Bagpipes are sponsoring the event. We have the excellent

Finlay MacDonald at 12 noon, Ru-Ra at 1.15, myself at 2.00 followed by a new band

called Barluath. Pipe Idol starts at 3, and we finish with Julian Goodacre at 4.45.

Edward Seaman, who is a piper at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama,

was in our shop recently  and told me he had formed a new group from the Academy

called Barluath and so I thought it would be good to showcase the band -it's exactly

what Piping Live! is all about. It's a young group and hopefully the start of big things

for them -thanks Edward. It's also one of our 30th year celebration events so fun and

games will be the order of the day - hope to see you there.

Check out some of the many events taken place in Glasgow during

Piping Live! in August. Click on the image for more information.

A-Z of Piping - a Personal View by James C. Begg

C is for Compulsory!
Either follow the rules or face the Tawes!

   A tawse is an implement for corporal punishment. It was used for
   educational discipline, primarily in Scotland.
   A tawse consists of a strip of leather, with one end split into a number of
   tails. The thickness of the leather and the number of tails varied. James
   and Bill have both experienced it on several occasions, but never for
   misdemeanours on the musical front!

1. Make accurate grace notes.

2. Support piping as much as possible.

3. Be in the audience and don't just  attend to compete on your own behalf

    -put something back.

4. Stop the drum corps leaving en masse. There's no easier way than this to

    destroy a band - should be a new rule for the RSPBA to discuss at the AGM.

     i.e. if leaving en masse, 1 year's notice should be given - that might stop the

    madness.

5.  Don't slag judges -just like football refs, these are the whipping boys.

     ( This rule doesn't apply if you are English and the judge is from Uruguay!)

6.  Buy something this year from beggbagpipes.com

7.  Make  sure your gillie brogue laces are tied properly -not too high up your

    leg -not too long, with a nice bow at the side -you may retie them occasionally

   as your  leg muscle seems to have an effect in loosening them but there is no

   worse crime than dodgy gillie laces.

8.   Avoid sky high pitch.

9.  Don't play your pipes after apple or rhubarb crumble -very messy.

10.  Play  tunes in massed bands other than the current Green Hills etc

    -great tune but  plenty of others out there which are also easy to play.

Technical Academy - Blowing, Part2

So when we have the pipes set up with air escape to the minimum, we can get the blowing

correct. When someone is at the learning stage, we tend to start with the chanter

on its own and when we have the chanter performing on a consistent basis, we add one

drone at a time. I have only seen one or perhaps two people initially getting the pipes

going with all 4 reeds and these people were basically the size of a house!

Start by blowing the bag up till the bag is nearly inflated. Strike the inside of the bag firmly

but not too hard and slide the bag under your arm. Blow the bag at this point to fully inflate.

We now hear the drones and with a bit more pressure, we bring in the chanter reed -

normally an e is played -followed by the low a or in the band set-up, we hear a clear e

and commence the tune. Individually, it can be pleasant if your drones are going well, to

have an extended drone sound before you bring in the chanter. This is hard to explain but

 if you bring your drone reeds in slowly, it can have nice effect.  However, nobody wants

to just listen to a flat drone going for too long -so as you bring the drones in and get

them up, the chanter should then enter cleanly to give a nice solid, bold sound. So you now

need to just blow your arm smoothly off the bag whilst keeping the pressure as even as

possible, and then it's a case of keeping this going in a regular manner. As the bag is

squeezed in, just wait till it's at the point where the chanter may choke and then gently blow

again. This technique comes with practice and whilst not easy in the first few months or

year, it will get better with experience and when mastered, it is just like riding a bike -once

learned never forgotten. It is important to get your blowing steady and solid as without it,

tuning is difficult. Your pipes will have a weak sound and your chanter reed will sound

erratic -check out the legendary Donald Macpherson  as someone to copy as there can be

 few who make blowing look so easy.

Online Special Offer - 20% off cow-hide bags - online orders only

If you are thinking about making a move into natural materials with
all the benefits that brings, but can't quite stretch to a sheepskin, why
not try a cow hide. 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

   July    June    May

This is the third and last part of our first competition to Name That Tune. July is
shown above and we have repeated June and May for those of you who may have
missed them. If you have already submitted answers for May and June then there is
no need to repeat them, but others may wish to have a go at all three this time around.
Email the correct answers to Bill mailto:bill@beggbagpipes.com to be entered into a
draw with the chance to win a Begg hand made African blackwood practice chanter.
Entries close July 15th.
We will announce the correct answers and the winner in next month's newsletter -
good luck!

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

Begg Bagpipes
202B Bath Street | Glasgow, STRATHCLYDE G2 4HF
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