Bombarde???

stefpat · Post by **stefpat** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 6:27 am

Hello,
Do you already play Bombarde? French instrument (Bretagne)?

Is it hard???
Thanks,

StevieJ · Post by **StevieJ** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 7:19 am

skh · Post by **skh** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 7:24 am

stefpat wrote:Is it hard???

Wear ear protection and bribe your neighbours.

Sonja

pthouron · Post by **pthouron** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 8:44 am

My understanding is that it really only sounds decent when played along with a biniou koz. The bombarde play the "bass" parts while the biniou plays the high parts.
Check out: http://biniou.stalig.com/?LACUR=FR-EUR

SteveK · Post by **SteveK** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 9:11 am

pthouron wrote:My understanding is that it really only sounds decent when played along with a biniou koz. The bombarde play the "bass" parts while the biniou plays the high parts.
Check out: http://biniou.stalig.com/?LACUR=FR-EUR

I've heard both Mark Roberts and John Skelton play bombarde without a biniou koz. I guess it just depends on your taste whether it sounds decent or not. Mark said he got complaints from his neighbors when he practiced. His nearest neighbors lived two miles away. Anyway, an instrument that does sound decent on it's own is the Welsh pibgyrn (pibgorn, pibcorn)-at least according to my taste. I heard some of it last week played by Andy Mclaughlin of Crasdant. I was sitting close by at a session and it didn't blow my head off. Check them out here:

http://www.tyrbwlch.freeserve.co.uk/index.htm

and Crasdant here:

http://www.crasdant.com/eng/index.shtml#Scene_1

Steve

janice · Post by **janice** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 9:34 am

I sat next to Andy at the session Steve mentioned, and though loud, the pibgorn was, as Steve said, not ear splitting (not as loud as a bombarde, IMO). Andy is also a fine flute and whistle player; we shared a couple of tunes and it was quite enjoyable.

corinthia · Post by **corinthia** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 9:35 am

I heard John Skelton play bombarde a few weeks ago actually, in his flute class at Augusta Heritage in WVA.

I would definitely wear earplugs if I ever learned to play that thing. It looks like it takes a lot of breath, too, since reeds are not as sensitive as flute-like instruments.

illuminatus99 · Post by **illuminatus99** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 9:39 am

our bodhran player has a bombard, he uses it to punish his dog mostly but he does pick it up every time I reach for my generation high G.

SteveK · Post by **SteveK** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 9:46 am

janice wrote:Andy is also a fine flute and whistle player; we shared a couple of tunes and it was quite enjoyable.

Andy played whistle a lot at that session. He is really very good. His whistle looked a lot like a Susato Kildare to me and it sounded great. He has a beautiful 8-key flute too. Sigh.

Steve

Roger O'Keeffe · Post by **Roger O'Keeffe** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 9:49 am

After recent revelations about neckties and glaucoma

, I think I'll leave the bombarde to the bretons

Zubivka · Post by **Zubivka** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 9:55 am

Bombarde. The very soul of here, Brittany.

Cosmic blaster.

Heard it live yesterday again, with the Fest-Noz (ball) of Mesquer. BTW the tune "Le bal de Mesquer" is an old classic in Brittany.
Yesterday the bombarde sang along with a Veuze. It's one of our Southern Brittany things; same as biniou-kozh, but one octave lower for both the chanter and the single drone.

Gotta learn this free-reed thing some day. It's cheap, and doubly so because it certainly doesn't need a mike and amp for public performance, even in a stadium.

Just getting cold feet because of the second register. Blowing the first one alone made me discover unknown blood vessels on my forehead. Before, I never thought one could get hemorhoids that far up.

Now if you think your Overtons lack back-pressure, you're ready...

Pat Cannady · Post by **Pat Cannady** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 10:39 am

Zubivka wrote:Bombarde. The very soul of here, Brittany.

Cosmic blaster.

Heard it live yesterday again, with the Fest-Noz (ball) of Mesquer. BTW the tune "Le bal de Mesquer" is an old classic in Brittany.
Yesterday the bombarde sang along with a Veuze. It's one of our Southern Brittany things; same as biniou-kozh, but one octave lower for both the chanter and the single drone.

Gotta learn this free-reed thing some day. It's cheap, and doubly so because it certainly doesn't need a mike and amp for public performance, even in a stadium.

Just getting cold feet because of the second register. Blowing the first one alone made me discover unknown blood vessels on my forehead. Before, I never thought one could get hemorhoids that far up.

Now if you think your Overtons lack back-pressure, you're ready...

Hilarious, Z. I think the Bombarde is a great instrument on its own or with Biniou Kozh, Scottish Highland pipes, or Veuze. The old French Canadian band Ad Vielle Que Pourra used to play them with Flemish-style Cornemuse pipes and sometimes with Grand Bourbonnais pipes, a nice sound at a safe distance

When the players are on their game there is a spine-tingling majesty to the loud, brazen, and very old shawm-and-bagpipes combination in all its permutations. I love it. It makes no apologies. It's rough, it's tribal, and it makes snooty classical types run for cover.

In response to the original question: it's a double reed. Of course it's difficult. That's not the point. You've either got the double reed bug and the passion to be a good double reed player or you don't. If you get one, you will need lots of space or a sound-proof room for practice, and you will need access to a steady supply of reeds. I have heard that scottish GHB reeds can be made to work in a Bflat bombarde, please correct me if I'm wrong, anybody who may be in the know.

NancyF · Post by **NancyF** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 1:43 pm

I went to a Clandestine show right after they got back from Brittany one time and they had a bombarde with them - and played it in a tiny pub - after warning everyone that they call it the "cone of power".

--NancyF

AaronMalcomb · Post by **AaronMalcomb** » Thu Aug 14, 2003 10:15 pm

NancyF wrote:I went to a Clandestine show right after they got back from Brittany one time and they had a bombarde with them - and played it in a tiny pub - after warning everyone that they call it the "cone of power".

--NancyF

E.J. plays a bombarde made by LeHart (the esteemed flute maker). It's a hard instrument to blow, the reed is nearly as hard as a Highland pipe chanter reed. On top of that you do the reed manipulation with your lips like on an oboe. The rest is easy, not very different from whistle. The hardest part is staying friends with your neighbors.
Cheers,
Aaron

pipingturtle · Post by **pipingturtle** » Fri Aug 15, 2003 7:53 am

SteveK and janice, where was that session that Andy McLaughlin played at? I only ask because he works here in Bangor, north Wales, and I quite often see at the sessions at the Nelson pub but as yet have not seen him play a hornpipe (that's the English translation for pibgyrn for those non-Welsh speakers, which also includes myself). He also plays piano accordion, although I haven't seen him do this since the days when he taught Welsh folk music at the old Catholic church in Bangor (which has since been turned into a Weatherspoons).

TTFN.

Chiff and Fipple Forums

Bombarde???

Bombarde???

Re: Bombarde???