Kevin Fraser Bagpipes – The Man in the Kilt
Loud Pipes Save Lives!
Came upon a link to a PDF of the list of tunes the College of Piping recommended for sitting their exams, back in 2007. The list is probably reasonable for the SCQF that replaced the framework at the time. Trying to upload the PDF has failed, so I’ve copied and pasted (unedited) below. […]
On the following link, Matt unboxes a set of bagpipes he purchased off of Amazon for $150USD. Out of the box, they aren’t worth playing. He promised a 2nd video to see if they could be made play-worthy. Note: he intentionally purchased this set to compare against professionally made pipes. Over the last few years […]
We recorded some tunes on video for the band this past week, and the members also recorded some solo’s. Here is Kevin’s Hornpipes on youtube
This tune is traditional. It is believed it was written in the early 1700s. Apparently Old Wife in this context is slang for spider. Another title speaks of Sacred Women of the Mill. I recorded each part individually on a practice chanter, whereas I recorded the entire tune on kitchen pipes. Tune in its […]
mixolydian scale The Bagpipes has a range of nine notes, low G to high A. The bagpipe scale is tuned close to but not exactly on the “concert bb” scale. The traditional (western) scale is tone-tone-semitone-tone-tone-tone-semitone, with the octave divided almost evenly into 12 parts. The Bagpipe scale is an octave (fairly) evenly divided into […]
The Musical Alphabet Each pitch is named. There are 8 notes in an octave, after which the names repeat. The musical alphabet is notes with the following names: A B C D E F G When we get further into theory talking about Scales, Sharps and Flats, we will also talk about Enharmonic notes (ones that have multiple names).
Care, Cleaning and Storage of the Practice Chanter Practice chanters are sensitive to extreme temperatures. Don’t leave them in your vehicle during the hottest days of the summer or coldest days of the winter. Heat will melt the plastic chanters and reeds. Cold will make both plastic and wood chanters brittle allowing them to break […]
