benhall.1 wrote:
pancelticpiper wrote:
About chords and Highland pipes, it's not the complex harmonies that my ear craves but the simple ones, the basic moving from the I to the IV chord while the melody is resting on the tonic, or here in this example moving from the I to the vii while the melody is resting on the 3rd (at 0:57) which is lovely and essential:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7001WDL135I(But why oh why couldn't they have tuned the bass drum??)
Oh yes, I do definitely agree with you about the bass drum.
But that wasn't the only thing that disturbed me about that video. I can't quite get my head around the fact that that doesn't sound remotely Scottish to me. I can't help feeling that the elements are there, but somehow, the essence is not ... odd ... I'd like to be able to analyse it, but I just can't see/hear what's wrong ... I'm wondering if it might be something to do with the tuning overall ... too ET?

Partly that it has become a Production-- yes, with a capital P. 1. It's not a "Scottish" performance... it's the Mormon Tabernacle Choir with some bagpipes thrown in. 2. The impression I get is of "so we got a pipe band... we also have all these other people, let's make them fit in." It's a hodgepodge.
pancelticpiper wrote:
About chords and Highland pipes, it's not the complex harmonies that my ear craves but the simple ones, the basic moving from the I to the IV chord while the melody is resting on the tonic, or here in this example moving from the I to the vii while the melody is resting on the 3rd (at 0:57) which is lovely and essential:
I guess I should have been more specific. I meant "complex" as in "something more, harmonically, than someone else in the band playing seconds."
I'll listen to
Highland Cathedral either way, and appreciate the differences... but I vastly prefer an organ playing with the pipe band than a brass band, if there needs to be something else. Partly the sound (as I said, I'm really not into brass bands, nor do I think they blend well with Highland pipes; it's like when your jazz cousin and your opera cousin decide to get together and jam) and partly that the brass band is just going to drown out and compete with the pipes.