Pied Piper’s six hundred and sixty-six comments

Hi Nicholas. more…

Let us not forget the Irish form of the "Big Pipe" played throughout Europe. Though it became extinct around 1750 we still have some of it's music in the tradition and it's playing style probably had some effect on what’s come down to us. more…

The ancient "Celtic" origin theory for the western European big pipes does not hold water; the modern instruments are descended from a generic medieval form that spread from Europe into England around about 1100 and thence into Scotland and Ireland in th... more…

http://www.bagpipejourney.com/articles/finger_positions.shtml more…

Paraffin wax melts around 60 degrees C, so you'd be pretty uncomfortable for a long time before it melted. more…

I use a piece of garden cane rapped in thread for grip with the ends sanded down to curves. more…

Sessions are quite variable but the ones I attend are fairly laid back on etiquette stuff, just be friendly and you’d be fine at ours. We're pretty eclectic in musical sources and glad to see a new face. more…

As a bit of a dodgy site reader I prefer to have things written out in full rather than 1,2 endings, is it considered best practice to write the ABC parts as efficiently as possible to keep size down to a minimum? more…

Sorry about the short notice but the session at the Peveril of the Peak https://thesession.org/sessions/166 is on tonight starts 9:00 ish, alas not with Bernard, but if you want it to continue please come along and play. more…

3/2 Hornpipes (usually written in 3/4 in the NSP tradition) often have a 1,2,3,4, 1,2 or 1,2, 1,2,3,4 split as for the first example "1-You 2-shall 3-have 4-a 1-Fish 2-ie" more…