advice on reg playing needed

[ChristianRo]

Hi all,
browsing through my private recordings I recently gave a live recital of piper John O'Brien (brother of Mick) a close listen. On a certain "party piece" he shows off with some impressive reg playing. I was struck by his obvious ability to strike a G-C chord (baritone and tenor reg) with his wrist while playing the chanter two-handed. How does he do that? You would expect only a G-B or A-C. Furthermore, has there ever been an attempt to dispense with the A key on the baritone and, instead, extend the G key (similar to the lower D-F and D-G combination on these two regs) so a G-C (which would complete I-IV-V in Gmajor) can easily be struck?

Second question: Do you have good fingerings for left-handed only G, A, B, Cnat and d on the chanter? When I try melody and counter-melody with chanter and regs, my chanter sounds terribly off, despite attempts of half-holing, cross-fingering and the like?
Maybe the experienced buffs can shed some light on this.
Thanks,

[Pat Cannady]

Weeell. I have been getting more and more comfortable with my regulators of late, and can do some things with them I only used to dream of doing...it's not hard if your instrument has a good reed setup and your instrument is laid out well for your physique. You should have an expert piper help you determine what works for you.

John plays the G-C diad by bending his wrist so the the heel of his palm hits the C on the tenor and the edge of his bottom hand hits the G on the baritone. It takes some practice but it's certainly doable if your instrument is set up properly for your body size. It took me a little while to learn to do it reliably but if I can do it you can too.


RE: the extended G key on the baritone. I don't know of anyone having tried this but it's certainly possible. There is a considerable tradeoff - you lose the A-C diad, which has its uses. Learn the technique of bending your wrist to hit the G-C and you don't have to sacrifice some of the harmonic capability of your instrument.

top hand only fingerings? Here's what works with my chanter:

G xlxxxoooolx

A xlxxooooolx

B xlxoooooolx

Cnatural: as B above but curl your index finger off of the C tonehole in a manner so as to leave the tone hole half-covered without lifting the index finger entirely off the chanter (think "piper's C").

d: oloxxoooolx

Your mileage may vary. It may be that your chanter will not accommodate top-hand only playing because of the way it is designed or reeded.

[ChristianRo]

Thanks for your input, Pat.
It certainly is all about physique. At first I had loads of problems reaching the keys at all because the main stock, with my preferred strapping and blowpipe setup, is quite close to my body whereas with most other pipers I know, the drones and regs cross the player's right leg near to the knee cap. However, I learned to deal with that. Maybe I should bend up the C key on the tenora bit to make the "cross-wristing" a bit easier. Or maybe not Have to do a bit of experimenting, maybe along with some more cork to glue under the keys ...
As for the left hand only fingerings, my particular chanter does so only reluctantly, as opposed to John's Rowsome (maybe an indication of "open style" preference on behalf of the maker).
I found the d fingering you gave to work best, indeed. My Cnat is not so successful, though, so far I have been using X DXXOOOO X
(D = half holing)

[Pat Cannady]

Try this:

With your bag less than half inflated, put your bass regulator bar firmly in the crook of your bag elbow and let the bag rest just below your armpit. Now inflate the bag.

This does two things:

It pushes the ends of the drones and regs out closer to your (bellows side) knee.

It also makes more of the regulator keys accessible, including the top rows (you may need to rotate the individual regulators and/or the entire mainstock to make this work). Edited to include following: to play the bottom rows - the D -F# and D-G, sit up straight with your shoulders back, it should bring the bottom rows up into a playing position if your arms are of average length.

If the bag tends to move away from this position, a shoulder strap attached to your mainstock can help.

You may need to adjust the positioning/length of your bag's neck in order to reduce tension or discomfort in your hands/wirsts.

Good luck

[djm]

There is a part of the piper's physiology that does not receive nearly enough attention. I am referring to the hips. You should practise loosening up the hips to the point where you can sit in full lotus position. Once you are easily able to manage the lotus position, you will find that, while sitting in a chair in the normal piper's position, you should be able to bring up your off-side leg, i.e. the one without regs on it, and play the extra keys with your toes.

[tommykleen]

Something I do for a Cnat on my Rogge D is to sneak my left-hand pinky UNDER the chanter and hit the Cnat key with it. Blasphemy...I know. But it allows me to play extended open-hand reg stuff a la "Castle of Drumore" pretty much in tune.

Heretically,

t

[djm]

I think it has been mentioned before, but apparently Leo Rowsome used to use the thumb of his lower hand on the chanter to hit some reg keys. Obviously, it is more important to get to the reg note you want than to worry about what is "cheating" or "blasphemy".

djm

[Pat Cannady]

Well that's easy when you have those long, long, fingers that curl around the chanter like the gent in your avatar

[ChristianRo]

Once you are easily able to manage the lotus position, you will find that, while sitting in a chair in the normal piper's position, you should be able to bring up your off-side leg, i.e. the one without regs on it, and play the extra keys with your toes.

Excellent advice, DJM! But personally, I remedy all this by playing while standing - with my upper body bent over and doing the headbanger's pipes! Best accessibility of regs, no one sees the grimaces I make while playing and I can shake away in best Mötley Crüe fashion.

[djm]

Rock on, dude!

djm

[ChristianRo]

. But it allows me to play extended open-hand reg stuff a la "Castle of Drumore" pretty much in tune.

YES - that's the tune I was referring to. Is this piece the obvious piper's choice for their "look-I-can-tap-those-semiquavers-quicker-than-eddie-van-halen"?

[eskin]

I've just recently started using this cross regulator technique for a C chord (typically against a second octave E on the chanter) on my 3/4 sets to play a couple of aires.

For me the I did whatever was required to get my hand, chanter, and regs in the proper position to allow me to do the bend move up from the G course. I can't really describe how I was finally able to get it figured out but, I know that being willing to experiment with open chanter fingerings, staying loose in the shoulders and having the proper right knee drop as well as a shoulder strap all contributed to making it possible. Now its starting to seem pretty easy, at first it seemed impossible.

Good luck. Its an awfully pretty sound, never fails to get a good response from the listeners.

Cheers,

Michael

[djm]

It gets even worse. Thomas Kannamacher in a recent article in the Piper's Review displayed and explained his addition of an E reg key. He reaches it with some serious arching across the regs between the flat of his palm and the edge of his fingers. He has an example of playing the E reg key on the CD that accompanies his UP instruction manual.

djm