Great Highland Accompaniment

Durt · Post by **Durt** » Wed Jul 17, 2002 10:46 pm

I'm not even sure I know why a person would want to try, but if I wanted to play along with some pipers, what whistle would I use? With my limited knowledge and brainpower I've concluded it would be a high F. Right? And whatever the correct answer is, does it even make any sense to think about doing it? Or would it be the equivalent of a male chihuahua trying to strike up a really close interpersonal friendship with a female Irish wolfhound?
By the way, this is not only my first post at chiffandfipple, but my first anywhere, so I'd really welcome some reinforcing response. Thanks.

Rod Sprague · Post by **Rod Sprague** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 12:24 am

This was part of the "Whistle Jokes" thread:

On 2002-06-09 21:51, rossmpfc13 wrote:
On 2002-06-08 15:58, Rod Sprague wrote:
On 2002-06-08 15:19, rossmpfc13 wrote:
Q-A whistle player and a piper fall off of the Empire State building. Who hits the ground first?
-Ross
What is the appropriate tune to play if you have been throw from a tail building and find you have a piper to accompany you? Aren't most pipes tuned to something close to Bb? The best I could think of was Amazing Grace, but you would probably hit the ground before you were done.
ha.
Well, the Highland pipes are somewhere between a Bb and an A. I think you can get tunable ones. Well, they're all tunable. But to a concert pitch.
If I was thrown from a tall building, I would play Ashokan Farewell by Jay Ungar.
lol
-Ross

Walden · Post by **Walden** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 1:11 am

A tunable F whistle might work, I think.

fschafer · Post by **fschafer** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 4:18 am

Hi there!

I might be able to help a little bit...
I've had to play guitar with bagpipes before, so I was forced to figure out excactly how a bagpipe relates to other instruments.

The bagpipe scale, starting at A, has an F# and a C#, just like the D major scale! So if the bagpipes are tuned to concert A, you should be able to just play a D whistle along with them. If the pipes are pitched around Bb, probably an Eb whistle tuned sharp would work best.

Hope this helps!

Regards,
Forest

SteveK · Post by **SteveK** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 4:34 am

I agree with Forest. If you are really going to play with highland pipes you probably will want an Eb whistle as it has all the notes of the bagpipe scale. Some people like Bb though even though it is missing the lowest note of the pipe scale. I have played with small pipes tuned in A and found a D whistle to be satisfactory. It's nice to play with small pipes because they aren't as loud as highland pipes. Shuttle pipes are good too. I think they're tuned in A. They aren't loud at all.

I'm not sure why you'd want an F whistle. You and the piper would be playing different scales.

Steve

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 6:31 am

I've done it before (yes, recovered very nicely, thank you) and second the last post: Eb or Bb. The lower Bb flat is a bit more pleasing to the ears, but that might not be a consideration, since you are already subjecting your audience to the GHB. The Eb is able to play the Ab (xxx ooo), but realize that you can do just as well on the Bb whistle, if you play any Ab's an octave up (oxxxox on a Gen Bb).

I recommend earplugs, by the way (and that is not a joke).

Feadan · Post by **Feadan** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 6:44 am

On 2002-07-18 08:31, Bloomfield wrote:
I recommend earplugs, by the way (and that is not a joke).

Wimp!

-David

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 6:46 am

Pardon me, what did you say? I couldn't hear you.

MarkB · Post by **MarkB** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 8:43 am

How about a 12" Mance Grady Highland bodhran. Vance makes this size to play along with the pipes, that way you wouldn't have to worry about which key to play in.

Bodhrans make life life easy.

MarkB

It should have read Mance Grady.
_________________
Nemo

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: MarkB on 2002-07-18 11:19 ]</font>

Feadan · Post by **Feadan** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 8:48 am

Sorry Bloomfield. I couldn't resist

Hey if the piper can stand being so close...y'know. GHB isn't as bad volume-wise as some other European pipes. Take the Breton biniou. Louder than GHB and an octave higher (ouch!). A pipemaker friend of mine brought a gaita pitched in D that he had made to an Amherst session once (and only once thank God). Practically peeled the paint of the walls it was so loud.

Cheers,
David

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Feadan on 2002-07-18 10:50 ]</font>

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 8:49 am

On 2002-07-18 10:43, MarkB wrote:

Bodhrans make life life easy.

Unless you like actually having friends.

MarkB · Post by **MarkB** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 8:57 am

Ah Bloomfield I knew you would rise to the occassion.Your rants against bodhran players are widely known on this board.

MarkB

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 9:03 am

Well, I don't know if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Anyway, sorry if it gets to be a bit grating, it's all in good fun. Some of my best friends are bodhran players.

Best!

Bloomfield · Post by **Bloomfield** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 9:16 am

Feadan, just saw you're response. At that very same Amherst session, several weeks in a row, a GHB piper showed up and actually played. Let me just say that I think he was rushing the 7-years/7-years/7-years thing a bit. I can appreciate music as well as the next guy without clinging to such old-fashioned concepts as melody and rhythm. But the sheer volume was amazing. Amazingly painful. I actually like the term War Pipes, because it suggests that that thing should be played on a battle field, and not in a crowded 1000-square-foot pub.

BTW: Welcome Durt! Both to the wonderful world of whistling and zaney realm of Undisputed Online Whiste Journalism.

MarkB · Post by **MarkB** » Thu Jul 18, 2002 9:18 am

Actually Bloomfield I have admonished my bodhran students in a session, if I thought that they were playing to fast, to loud, or just weren't listening to the music being played. But at the same time I have also told them to stop playing if other musicians start to blaze to fast rather than try to keep up.

In gigs we have done, I have stopped playing on stage if the other players are speeding up to the point were the tune is almost unregonizable.

And I have accompanied pipes on the bodhran indoors, not nearly as loud as a snare drum or as sharp.

Mark