click on the banner for our home page
Newsletter - June 2010
Dear Piping Enthusiast,Welcome to June's newsletter and hopefully the start of summer in Scotland. With the tourist
season now underway, and overseas Bands visiting for the major competitions, I am really looking
forward to welcoming old and new customers to our shop in Bath Street, Glasgow. By way of
advance information, Begg Bagpipes will be an integral part of Piping Live! in August with a Begg
Bagpipes 30th Birthday Party in the Street Cafe Marquee at the National Piping Centre. This is on
Tuesday the 10th August, followed by demo workshops on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday in
our shop - Bath Street is Glasgow's answer to Las Ramblas in Barcelona so don't miss it!
Yours Aye,
James C Begg
www.beggbagpipes.com
News
Check out some of the many events taken place in Glasgow during Piping Live
in August.
Click on the image for more information.
At the Scottish Championships held at Dumbarton on the 22nd of May, Field Marshall
Montgomery won Grade 1, followed by a storming second place from Boghall and Bathgate
Caledonia. We are closely monitoring the progress of Inveraray and District in their first year in
Grade 1 and they came in with a creditable 8th place. For more on the event, see the Field
Report below.
A-Z of Piping - a Personal View by
James C. BeggB could have been for many subjects, but it has to be Bagpipes!
Are Bagpipes a hobby, a business or a profession? Well in my case
they are probably a bit of all 3. From early beginnings, bagpipes have
made money for pipers. Buskers or town pipers made money in the
early days of the 17th/18th century and perhaps before then, playing
the pipes in the local villages and of course, we had the clan pipers
who were full time paid players. More recently, we have seen
professional Army pipers and Police pipers although these bodies have dwindled somewhat in
recent times due to cut-backs in the public purse. I remember the late, great Seamus MacNeill
lecturing about pipers' pay at the Glasgow Highland Club and he went into great detail, quoting what
pipers were paid. It was a very good talk as you might expect from such an authoritative person,
albeit with a rather dry delivery. Piping to some extent or indeed to a large extent, has been affected
by having the ethos of a charity status attached to it although it is not all one-way traffic - as a result
of great generosity, I was taught for nothing so I won't charge pupils either. This is a great ideal and
we have it still to the fore, and so if piping is a hobby, this works well. However if we have to pay
for something, does it focus the mind more? I suspect it does -it's not to say that getting paid tuition is
necessarily better tuition but you know where you stand -i.e. you pay and you expect a return, and
the relationship between student and teacher is clear. Perhaps the sooner piping can stand on its own
two feet the better. Prize money is shocking in most cases but it asks the question if it is a hobby
or a profession - but even a hobby deserves better support. Why are pipers and piping regarded in
the general domain as not being worth much more financially than a bottle of whisky? In some
circumstances that may be ok, as when I played at my daughter's school Burns night but in others it is
not. The syndrome of the bottle of whisky persists today as it always seems to have done and no
regard is given to the quality of player. You could have John Burgess or Jimmy Smith for the price of a
bottle - whilst we are all Jock Tamsons Bairns, the public should surely show some recognition and
respect for quality. So we all have to be Bravehearts and as Roy Williamson of the Corries wrote,
"send them back to think again"! We need to win this battle and stand up for a decent and respectful
payment - add up all the time spent travelling, the time discussing the requirements, the hours of
practice, the stress and panic if my reed might fall into the bag just at the crucial moment (which it
never does)..........It all adds up. I would also advise payment in advance - it lets everyone get on
and enjoy the event. How many times have you been chasing around after playing to try and find
the paymaster? And how often do you find that you end up playing for far longer than was
originally intimated but at the same old price? It can be really awkward at the time of trying to
re-negotiate the deal, so stick rigidly to what has been agreed - if they want more, then you have the
upper hand and are in control. So as a hobby, the current attitude is fine, but for many of us, it really
is time to challenge the status quo and push the boundaries - a quality job which is well done deserves
its just rewards.
Technical Academy - Blowing
You probably know some pipers who continue to blow hot air even after they have stopped
playing(!), and since blowing is so crucial to the pipes, it seems appropriate to discuss blowing
techniques in the Academy.
How should you blow your pipes? Well it's a big question and I suppose quite difficult to answer.
The first point is to make sure your pipes are maintained properly and are as well set up as
possible.
1. Don't play a chanter reed that is too strong for you.
2. Adjust drone reeds to the optimum setting.
3. Use the correct blowpipe length for you.
4. Use a correct bag size which suits you physically.
So in essence, have your pipes customised for you -I do this week in, week out for customers so if
you are interested, please make an appointment. The good news is that I offer this as a free service.
In the next issue -how to blow and squeeze. Online Special Offer - Chanter Month
It's a chance to grab a great bargain this month on a chanter. 20% off the World Famous
MacCallum synthetic pipe chanter, with a great volume of sound - reduced to £74.90.
(plus vat if applicable). Click on the image.
If you are thinking of changing/renewing your whole band, let us know and we will sharpen our
pencil even further.
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
Each month, we will give you the opening bar of a tune and your job is
to nameit! This 2nd tune in the 3 part Name that Tune contest is hopefully fairly easy and we trust a lot of
pipers will get it correct. However July may well prove to be somewhat harder and sort the
"pros out from the hams". Email the correct answer to Bill mailto:bill@beggbagpipes.com for the
first three tunes shown in the May, June and July's Newsletters and be entered into a quarterly
draw with the chance to win a Begg hand made African blackwood practice chanter. It is also
not too late to submit your suggestion for the May tune.
Field Report - Scottish Championships, Dumbarton
Dumbarton proved to be a well run event on a lovely day, being surrounded by the river Clyde estuary, the salmon filled River Leven (although Bill fished it many times as a boy and never caught anything!) and the ever present Dumbarton Rock. It is a great location and maybe the Worlds should be there - Glasgow Green is far from appealing! There's plenty of room potentially for the bands at Dumbarton and much more so than that of Glasgow Green but I still find it too much in your face when the layout is deliberately tight - it's hard to listen to a band when another band is only 2 metres away( I exaggerate but you get the drift). How a band can tune in the grade one final tuning area is beyond me, as bands are queuing up faster than flights at Heathrow. Perhaps there should be a line of bands at intervals rather than the current haphazard situation or at the very least, a gentleman's agreement that the distance should be at least 50m. The other area for comment apart from the quality of tunes being played -i.e. some odd harmonies and unrecognisable tunes, is the actual size of bands. Somehow the size of today seems rather intimidating. Whilst it looks impressive, it gives the impression of being a touch coarse and aggressive rather than what should be a subtle musical approach. Did you hear the women crying " Quick - get the weans oot the way. The Band's coming". Even the local Bobbies get into gear as a monolith of a 40 strong band approaches. So would it not be better to have more bands again rather than the massed bands we have now? Could Shotts not have one bass instead of the two they fielded? This would give a wider variety of bands with more diverse views and musical interpretation. So we wonder what gimmicks will be next -kilts shorter to keep the ladies in the crowd more interested because the tune selection /music at time can't, or could this perhaps be another reason for bands to face their audience? No is the answer -stick to the music -stick to a reasonable band size and keep a good distance apart .What about having some seating round the arenas and another beer tent? I stayed well clear of the solitary beer tent since who wants to fight their way through huge crowds to get poor service and a poor product - surely in the 21st century we should expect better. Remember the people who set up these events are meant to be pros -they do it time and again and the Pipe Band World should demand better. (Photo shows a mighty turnout from Culleybackey Band of Northern Ireland, with 8 pipers in the first row alone.) YouReportIf you would like to report on any aspect of the Piping World from wherever you live, or if you have
had display difficulties with the new format of this newsletter, we'd be pleased to hear from you. mailto:bill@beggbagpipes.com
