Klarinet Archive - Posting 000549.txt from 2001/08

From: Bilwright@-----.net (William Wright)
Subj: Re: [kl] external vs. internal reeds; was Cane vs plastic (revisited)
Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2001 19:18:59 -0400

<><> Patricia=A0wrote:
IIRC, bagpipes have the reed itself enclosed in some sort of implement
when the piper is actually playing, do they not?

That's true. To work on a reed, you must disassembled the pipe.

I was hoping to examine a disassembled instrument, but it wasn't
practical because re-tuning is (apparently) a major project on a full
instrument (four pipes, each tuned by adjusting the length). All four
pipes must all be in tune with each other, of course.

So please take my reply with a grain of salt because: (A) I haven't seen
a disassembled instrument, and (B) the strong Irish accent interfered
with my abilIty to understand detailed verbal explanations.

It was surprising to me that one or two of the competitors were out of
tune when they began to play for the judges. Apparently it was too
late for them to re-tune. After the competition, one of the judges
explained to the audience that you can spend a full hour tuning the
instrument. He said that one famous piper spent 1-1/2 hours tuning
before an important performance. This sounds extreme to me (many
string instruments have 4 or 5 or 6 strings, a piano can be tuned in an
hour or two, etc), but this is what the judge said when he advised the
players to be more careful about their tuning.

<><> and the air passes through the chamber to create the sound?

The player blows into the bag through a tube. The tube is not a
'mouthpiece' in the sense that we clarinet players think of it.
There's no 'embouchure'. Tone is controlled by the amount of pressure
inside the bag, which in turn is controlled by how hard you blow and how
hard you squeeze the bag under your arm. This is what made the
difference in the case of the champion with whom I spoke. He had total
control of the air pressure from one note to the next. He said
(imagine the Irish accent) "yeheh, ye use your arms a lot".

<><> [bagpipe reeds] would not warp as quickly due to drying out,
etc.

I may be wrong, but I believe the problem is just the opposite. Cane
reeds get waterlogged and soggy inside a pipe. Hence plastic is
preferable.

<><> I believe they are difficult to play well, as is the clarinet.

The mother of a competitor explained to me that, with four pipes (three
drones plus the pipe that you finger), the primary limitation is air
volume. Not only do you need lots of air volume, but you need to
control it precisely and delicately even though you are operating at the
upper limit of your capacity.

A student begins with a single pipe (no drones) and moves up time to all
four pipes over time. I noticed this difference between the best and
worst pipers. The worst ones looked like the Budweiser frog, about to
bust themselves apart. The champion achieved better music without
noticeable strain. Even the champion couldn't start his pipes with
lung pressure alone. He had to give his bag an extra thump with his
arm to get them all going.

Cheers,
Bill

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