.Do you believe in the existence of reed fairies
-
goldy
- Posts: 258
- Joined: Sun Aug 24, 2003 11:04 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Canberra, Australia
Do you believe in the existence of reed fairies
Unfortunately there are some delusional members in this forum that swear the existence of fairies that make their reeds work :roll: (follow-on from a recent discussion thread). As a graduate of a psychology degree a year ago, I am interested in looking for a correlation between reed-making and insanity. I already know first hand of the correlation between reed-making and dangerously high levels of stress, but would like to know how many of you have been driven to this delusional state .
.We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all manage to live in the same box.
-
Joseph E. Smith
- Posts: 13780
- Joined: Sat Mar 06, 2004 2:40 pm
- antispam: No
- Location: ... who cares?...
- Contact:
-
goldy
- Posts: 258
- Joined: Sun Aug 24, 2003 11:04 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Canberra, Australia
Joseph,
That's an interesting slant you've put on it. I'll contact one of my old Uni professors and suggest that some funding be sought to do a longditudinal study of pipers from beginnings on the instrument through to crazy old reed-maker.
That's an interesting slant you've put on it. I'll contact one of my old Uni professors and suggest that some funding be sought to do a longditudinal study of pipers from beginnings on the instrument through to crazy old reed-maker.
We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all manage to live in the same box.
-
Nanohedron
- Moderatorer
- Posts: 38240
- Joined: Wed Dec 18, 2002 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Tell us something.: Been a fluter, citternist, and uilleann piper; committed now to the way of the harp.
Oh, yeah: also a mod here, not a spammer. A matter of opinion, perhaps. - Location: Lefse country
-
Joseph E. Smith
- Posts: 13780
- Joined: Sat Mar 06, 2004 2:40 pm
- antispam: No
- Location: ... who cares?...
- Contact:
Hey, can I be your case study Huh? Can I, can I? Pick meeeeeeeee.....goldy wrote:Joseph,
That's an interesting slant you've put on it. I'll contact one of my old Uni professors and suggest that some funding be sought to do a longditudinal study of pipers from beginnings on the instrument through to crazy old reed-maker.
-
glands
- Posts: 1172
- Joined: Wed Nov 06, 2002 6:00 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Ess Eff
Once upon a time a piper was walking home from a session along the road in somewhere Co. Leitrim. He'd had a pint or two too much to drink and wasn't so careful about all the jabbering on he was doing aloud. He had known there were fairies in the fields along the way and they came out at night. A wise and sober man knew to keep quiet as the fairies would listen to your conversations and take advantage of you based on what was said. Well, our friend the piper, well under the influence was particularly eleated as the session had gone very well for him indeed.
"Ah, me pipes they played perfectly and in lovely tune tonite. Me lovely reed has caused me no problems a 'tall. 'Tis the best reed ever."
Well, don't ya know, as fate would have it one of the wee little folk was standing in the hedge and heard the goings on. He popped out and ran down the road. "Ah, its me lucky day...to meet such a piper...a piper in perfect tune. I've been looking for to meet one of ye for many moons. "
"Leave me alone ye little devil. I'll have nothing to do with you."
"I have a proposition for ye my piper friend. I will make your reed play perfectly for the rest of your born days."
"I don't believe it!!!"
"I will I tell you!! Just let me see your reed."
Being somewhat disinhibited, and stricken by the prospect of the perfect reed for life, the poor piper thought long and hard on the matter. He figured that the fairy was going to trick him in some way but he could not resist the temptation to allow himself to be the beneficiary of knowledge the fairy might impart. The fairy, of course, had only one thing in mind....to steal that reed and play it in his very own pipes.
"Oh, all right, I'll show ye my reed."
The piper proceeded to separate the chanter into two pieces by removing the windcap. The fairy grew ever more evil in appearance as his deception turned into greed. It was dark, however, and the piper could not see this transformation.
At the very moment the piper removed his windcap the fairy rushed the chanter, grabbed the reed, and attempted to wrestle the reed from the chanter. It was seated fairly well and was thus somewhat difficult to wrench from the instrument. When the piper realized what was happening he slammed the windcap over the reed trapping the fairy, who was shrinking to get away, within. Distraught, the piper hurried to his cottage where he lived alone. He did not play the pipes for a fortnight as he was afraid of the fairy that may be quite angered and vengeful. One day, he took up the pipes, filled the bag, and found that the chanter was playing well but the tuning had sufffered greatly. Overcome with grief that his best reed had been ruined he suffered for three days then died.
One year later, his session friends paid him a visit as he had not been seen or heard from for more than a year. They found his rotted corpse, mostly bones, in his tattered clothes and that is how they identified him. That, and the fact that his skeletonized hands were wrapped around the chanter as if to remove the windcap. One of his piper friends decided to acquire the pipes which were highly regarded as the last time they heard them they were in perfect tune. He went to play them and found the reed not going as well as he had remembered. In attempt to tweak the reed and improve playability and tuning he carefully removed the windcap. Much to his amazement, he saw a brown-colored little irregular strip of metal wrapped around the reed. His vision had deteriorated over time and he failed to recognize the strip of metal had the faint silouette of a little person. "Ah! That's how Johnny did it! His little strip of metal must help tune the reed. I'll use this little gem on me own reeds and I'll be able to get the perfect reed meself. "
Two hundred years later, pipers are still applying little strips of metal on their reeds. They call 'em bridles. They do this in search of the holy grail of pipering...the perfectly playable and in tune reed. Many wonder if there are reed fairies as the pipers of the 21st century have a great deal of reed tuning and stability problems. Little do they know the real reasons for their problems are related to an evolutionary change in reedmaking that took place after one fateful discovery over 200 years ago.
Seamus Ennis must have know this story as he once remarked something to the effect that a pipers problems begin when the set is finally in tune.
"Ah, me pipes they played perfectly and in lovely tune tonite. Me lovely reed has caused me no problems a 'tall. 'Tis the best reed ever."
Well, don't ya know, as fate would have it one of the wee little folk was standing in the hedge and heard the goings on. He popped out and ran down the road. "Ah, its me lucky day...to meet such a piper...a piper in perfect tune. I've been looking for to meet one of ye for many moons. "
"Leave me alone ye little devil. I'll have nothing to do with you."
"I have a proposition for ye my piper friend. I will make your reed play perfectly for the rest of your born days."
"I don't believe it!!!"
"I will I tell you!! Just let me see your reed."
Being somewhat disinhibited, and stricken by the prospect of the perfect reed for life, the poor piper thought long and hard on the matter. He figured that the fairy was going to trick him in some way but he could not resist the temptation to allow himself to be the beneficiary of knowledge the fairy might impart. The fairy, of course, had only one thing in mind....to steal that reed and play it in his very own pipes.
"Oh, all right, I'll show ye my reed."
The piper proceeded to separate the chanter into two pieces by removing the windcap. The fairy grew ever more evil in appearance as his deception turned into greed. It was dark, however, and the piper could not see this transformation.
At the very moment the piper removed his windcap the fairy rushed the chanter, grabbed the reed, and attempted to wrestle the reed from the chanter. It was seated fairly well and was thus somewhat difficult to wrench from the instrument. When the piper realized what was happening he slammed the windcap over the reed trapping the fairy, who was shrinking to get away, within. Distraught, the piper hurried to his cottage where he lived alone. He did not play the pipes for a fortnight as he was afraid of the fairy that may be quite angered and vengeful. One day, he took up the pipes, filled the bag, and found that the chanter was playing well but the tuning had sufffered greatly. Overcome with grief that his best reed had been ruined he suffered for three days then died.
One year later, his session friends paid him a visit as he had not been seen or heard from for more than a year. They found his rotted corpse, mostly bones, in his tattered clothes and that is how they identified him. That, and the fact that his skeletonized hands were wrapped around the chanter as if to remove the windcap. One of his piper friends decided to acquire the pipes which were highly regarded as the last time they heard them they were in perfect tune. He went to play them and found the reed not going as well as he had remembered. In attempt to tweak the reed and improve playability and tuning he carefully removed the windcap. Much to his amazement, he saw a brown-colored little irregular strip of metal wrapped around the reed. His vision had deteriorated over time and he failed to recognize the strip of metal had the faint silouette of a little person. "Ah! That's how Johnny did it! His little strip of metal must help tune the reed. I'll use this little gem on me own reeds and I'll be able to get the perfect reed meself. "
Two hundred years later, pipers are still applying little strips of metal on their reeds. They call 'em bridles. They do this in search of the holy grail of pipering...the perfectly playable and in tune reed. Many wonder if there are reed fairies as the pipers of the 21st century have a great deal of reed tuning and stability problems. Little do they know the real reasons for their problems are related to an evolutionary change in reedmaking that took place after one fateful discovery over 200 years ago.
Seamus Ennis must have know this story as he once remarked something to the effect that a pipers problems begin when the set is finally in tune.
Last edited by glands on Wed Jan 19, 2005 10:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
-
Joseph E. Smith
- Posts: 13780
- Joined: Sat Mar 06, 2004 2:40 pm
- antispam: No
- Location: ... who cares?...
- Contact:
-
snoogie
- Posts: 757
- Joined: Wed Nov 07, 2001 6:00 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Roswell, GA USA
- Contact:
Obviously, I'm both delusional and insane...otherwise (as Joseph so eloquently put it) I wouldn't be both playing these things as well as trying to make reeds.
Lewis, get out of the medical profession...your true calling is as a landscape artist and author. Not to mention a darn good piper.
While you can dispute the existence of reed fairies, I personally would never say anything to anger them. There are too many stories of people angering the wee folk only to find themselves in deep do do.
If you can prove that there is a scientific correlation between one reed functioning well and another (seemingly identical reed) that doesn't work well at all...then I'll reconsider my position. Until that time, I'll stick by my hypothesis that there are reed fairies at work. Its as plausable an explaination as any other.
As you can see from the results of the poll, either the rest of you are as insane/delusional as me...(distinct possibility)..or there is some validity to this position.
-Slan
Lewis, get out of the medical profession...your true calling is as a landscape artist and author. Not to mention a darn good piper.
While you can dispute the existence of reed fairies, I personally would never say anything to anger them. There are too many stories of people angering the wee folk only to find themselves in deep do do.
If you can prove that there is a scientific correlation between one reed functioning well and another (seemingly identical reed) that doesn't work well at all...then I'll reconsider my position. Until that time, I'll stick by my hypothesis that there are reed fairies at work. Its as plausable an explaination as any other.
As you can see from the results of the poll, either the rest of you are as insane/delusional as me...(distinct possibility)..or there is some validity to this position.
-Slan
There is no try, only do or not do. - Yoda
-
goldy
- Posts: 258
- Joined: Sun Aug 24, 2003 11:04 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Canberra, Australia
Glands,
That was a very creative story. I generally don't read works of fiction, but I was hooked early in the piece. My wife is a professional writer so I'll show it to her since she can appreciate the plight of us pipers to get the reed in tune.
Oh, by the way... after reading your tale, I have ascertained that you are definately one of the outrightly insane pipers so you can expect to be contacted when my proposed study has abtained funding approval from the Ethics Board (we might be able to arrange some follow-up treatment to cure you of your illness too!).
That was a very creative story. I generally don't read works of fiction, but I was hooked early in the piece. My wife is a professional writer so I'll show it to her since she can appreciate the plight of us pipers to get the reed in tune.
Oh, by the way... after reading your tale, I have ascertained that you are definately one of the outrightly insane pipers so you can expect to be contacted when my proposed study has abtained funding approval from the Ethics Board
(we might be able to arrange some follow-up treatment to cure you of your illness too!).We could learn a lot from crayons. Some are sharp, some are pretty and some are dull. Some have weird names, and all are different colors, but they all manage to live in the same box.