One Step Back.

I thought I was really well prepared for this week's lesson-turns out, instead of getting better, in my attempt to play faster I just got sloppy.  Everything I played for my instructor was poorly done.  So-yet again-slow down.  Way down-go back to basics.  I learned this week that it is better to play slowly but well than to play quickly and poorly-lesson learned.  My new tune this week is When the Battle's Over- a nice little tune that looks deceptively easy; however, I'm having some difficulty with the timing, probably because it's 3/4 time and everything I've played up to this point has been 2/4 or 4/4.  Hopefully, I'll be able to play it well next week-slowly.

I Don't Need an Instructor-NOT!

I follow a piping forum on a pretty regular basis.  There's been a thread there that has a lot of responses; it's written by a self taught piper who has never had a lesson and he thinks he's a pretty good piper.  He posted videos of himself piping on youtube, and you guessed it-he got a lot of responses that were very critical of his piping.  So he decides that pipers are haters and he titles the forum thread "can't we just play for fun?".  As far as I can tell, this guy wants pipers to pat him on the back and say "Well done, laddie.  You're chock full of natural talent and you don't need lessons or honest critiscism.  Just continue what you're doing and we'll honor you as an outstanding piper."

My short experience with piping and pipers tells me that that ain't gonna happen.  It's not that pipers are haters-far from that.  I've found that they are an accepting, open, encouraging community.  They are also brutally honest.  If your piping sucks, a good piper is going to tell you your piping sucks.  Then he'll spend as much time as he can spare to make your piping suck less, and he'll applaud you when you learn something new that is less sucky. If you aren't interested in learning how to play better, the pipers I know won't waste their time trying to help you, but they also won't stop telling you that your piping sucks.

The only thing pipers hate is a bad piper who refuses to try and improve.  For my part, I just dont' understand why someone would take up a musical instrument without the goal of becoming the best player they can be, and utilizing every tool available to them to work toward that goal.  I would give my left pinky to have true, natural musical talent.  But if I had that talent I would still take lessons.

Finally-my feelings about this particular forum thread reminds me of my teenaged years when my passion was horses and horse shows.  I had no real talent for riding, but I loved the sport and I worked very hard at it, riding every day, taking lessons when I could afford them, and generally working my ass off so I could win a 4th place ribbon in weekend horse shows.  I had a friend who was a very gifted rider.  Combine that with a really beautiful, well trained horse and top of the line equipment, and you have someone who consistently placed first and second, time after time.  The problem was, she never practiced.  Riding was something she did because her parents wanted her to do it; she had no passion for the sport.  So she would go to the stables one or two days before a show, ride for a couple of hours, maybe take a lesson once or twice a year, and then go out in the arena on show day and beat the pants off me.  I was so freaking jealous!  I was compaining to my mother about this girl and how it was so unfair that she could beat me without even trying, time after time.  My mother commented "I wonder how good she could be if she would actually practice and take lessons.  It's a shame she doesn't even try to realize her potential to be a really great rider..".

While my mother's comment was lost on me as a teenager, I realize now that it's a complete waste of talent if you don't utilize it fully.  I think a person who has a passion for piping, who practices and takes lessons and listens to experienced pipers could become a better piper that a self taught, "I don't need lessons because I have talent" kind of piper.  At least I'll know I'm playing to the best of my abilites, however modest those abilities may be...

Tempo!

Yesterday's lesson was all about tempo.  I think, and my instructor agrees, that it's time to pay attention to little details like time signatures and playing on the beat rather than learning new songs and embellishments.  Thus, I have no new song this week, but I have to practice my repertoire with a metronome and I have to pay attention to timing.  Turns out-this will be a lot harder that it was many years ago when I played the piano because of the grace notes.  My grace notes are really, really slow and by the time I play the grace note, then the actual note, I've missed the beat.  I barely managed to play Will Ye No Come Back Again with the metronome and sorta kinda staying on beat after playing it over and over, one measure at a time, and at a very slow tempo.  The good thing is it sounded much better, and more like my instructor plays it.  I could hear where I was rushing the tempo and crowding the melody together.  I'm getting a digital recorder today so I can record my lessons and listen to the instructor play the tunes; she thinks if I do that and work on playing along with the recording, I'll improve on my timing.  This issue scares me a bit-how am I ever going to play in a band if I can't keep up?  And the PM intimidates me.  Don't get me wrong-he's a great guy, and I consider him a friend (he's the guy that sparked my interest in bagpiping).  But I also know he's a perfectionist and I wonder how tolerant he'll be of a newbie with no talent and little skill. 

Make Practice Count!

I now am adding Highland Laddie to my repetoire, a favorite tune of mine.  This one will take some time-there's some bits that seem complicated and the timing is faster; I love a challenge!  As for all my other tunes, I seem to be getting sloppy.  I have a lot of crossing noises and not very clean doublings.  I think it's time to take a step back and concentrate on playing everything really, really well instead of focusing on the melody and trying to speed up the grace notes.  So with today's practice I really thought about each note and how it should sound, not how fast the grace note should be.  I think I'll ask my instructor to not give me another tune next week, and let me just try to play my current tunes better.  I still have issues with playing for the instructor-I sound so much better at home in the comfort of my spare bedroom than I do when I'm sitting across from her and she's scrutinizing each note!  As for the bagpipes-I have a long, long way to go.  I'm overblowing the reed big time, so we uncorked the second drone and suddenly it so much harder!  I can't imagine what it's going to be like when I finally get that mighty bass drone uncorked!

I've been running again these last few weeks and it's been hard.  It's interesting to me that my 2 favorite interests have so much in common-who knew that bagpiping and running were so similar?  They both require lots of patience; when I first started running I could barely manage a 1/2 mile before I had to walk.  I was running for almost 4 years before I got the courage to attempt and complete a marathon-that would be like entering your first piping competition or playing for the first time for an audience.  And it takes stamina for both, and good lungs, and a strong body and lots of determination.  The good side to all this is my instructor thinks (and I agree) that I'm pretty strong on the pipes right from the get-go because I know how to breath properly because of running and I've got lots of lung power!