I’ve been playing just one drone with the chanter (the tenor) with the others blocked. Will it be a big step progressing to have the baritone going too? I mean in terms of working the bellows more and having to keep the pressure on the bag.
Well…yes…and no. Pumping the bellows more does take some getting used to but if memory serves it comes pretty fast - especially if your motivation is there to play along with drones. Of course adding each drone takes more air and a little more getting used to.
But the biggest thing in my mind is to do what needs to be done to have good steady drone reeds. Nothing worse than a tenor that want to go up in pitch with more pressure when the bass wants to go down!
Try it and see. You might be pleasantly surprised. If your reeds are in good working order and you have no leaks, there should not be any major difference between having one drone going and two, or even three for that matter. If it turns out to be too much, then go back to just the one for a while longer.
I have a bit of this problem. When i jump to the second octave there is a small but well heard jump in pitch with my drones. I have not spent the time, i should, to see if its all the drones or just one.
So is this usually a problem with bag pressure control. Like putting too much pressure to get second octave. Or is it a reed issue. And if its reeds then do you try to fix it at the chanter reed or the drone reeds?