Pipers and walking...just curious

nikiarrowsmith · Post by **nikiarrowsmith** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 12:22 am

Hi guys! I'm a whistler not a piper (trespassing!) and I have an incredibly ignorant Question. I noticed that highland pipers walk around, up and down the stage while they play (not marching bands but solo players.) Is there a reason for this besides keeping rhythm?

mukade · Post by **mukade** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 1:16 am

I'll get them in before anyone else does.

From the pipers' joke book.

Why do pipers walk when they play?

1) To get away from the sound.

2) A moving target is harder to hit.

Mukade

nikiarrowsmith · Post by **nikiarrowsmith** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 2:25 am

oh my god...you got jokes...

that's hilarious

pancelticpiper · Post by **pancelticpiper** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 7:53 am

If you go to a Highland Games and see the solo piping competition, you will see that pipers usually march when they are playing a march in competition. A common competition medley is the march, strathspey, and reel (MSR to initiates) and you'll see that the piper marches while playing the march but stands in place while playing the strathspey and reel (which are tunes played for dancing). Likewise pipers stand in place while playing jigs and hornpipes in competition. Piobaireached is different, in that pipers may wander about while playing, sometimes in a circle. They are not marching to the tune's beat but meandering.

nikiarrowsmith · Post by **nikiarrowsmith** » Mon Nov 19, 2007 11:21 am

Thanks a lot! That's really interesting.

Baglady · Post by **Baglady** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 4:10 pm

It's mostly about blending the sound. We pace back and forth to present the drone sound and blend it with the chanter.

nikiarrowsmith · Post by **nikiarrowsmith** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 4:36 pm

It's mostly about blending the sound. We pace back and forth to present the drone sound and blend it with the chanter.

That's interesting too. I see how it works now that I know that. It is a pretty nice sound, a sort of travelling sound. Pretty cool.

AaronMalcomb · Post by **AaronMalcomb** » Tue Nov 20, 2007 4:38 pm

Baglady wrote:It's mostly about blending the sound. We pace back and forth to present the drone sound and blend it with the chanter.

That would seem to be a secondary goal. We march because it's a march and for piobaireachd, I think it's more that standing in one spot for 12 minutes of intense concentration would be more of a distraction. If the instrument is well set up, it should be obvious from any direction.

Rojellio Es Caliente · Tue Jan 22, 2008 7:57 am

Theres Marching because your playing a March. This will be easily identified when seen. Identifying a competition is also easy.. if there are approx 6 people watching including the pipers parents/family, A Kilted person is sitting at a wee table, the piper does not tune his/her pipes (an instructor does it for them), and the piper plays realy realy realy painfully SLOW.. then its a competition.

Sometimes Pipers move around, sort of meander while playing dang near anything. No particular rhythm or bugger all. "to get away from the noise like". I had never even thought about blending the sound for the audience. I was just moving a wee bit so as not to look like a noisy statue ALL the time.

pancelticpiper · Post by **pancelticpiper** » Wed Jan 23, 2008 9:26 am

Now that I think about it for a minute, it's interesting that in competition pipers retain a fossilised memory of the function of the various tune-types which influences what they do with their body.
For marches, they march back and forth, often with fairly precise military-style countermarching.
For strathspeys, reels, jigs, and hornpipes they tend to stand at an angle to the side, as if they were at the edge of a dancefloor trying to keep out of the way of the dancers.
For piobaireachd, they meander around in a big circle, as if wanting to project their playing to all directions (as they would do if playing a "clan gathering" tune in the old days).
I myself don't like standing in one spot and, if playing for listening in a sufficient area, will meander in a circle regardless of what type of tunes. Only when people are actually dancing will I stay in one spot facing the dancers.