Perhaps the most important task you’ll
undertake in your piping life – besides picking out chanter reeds – is
selecting and managing your repertoire. Your repertoire is the framework of the
music you play and if you want to be a good musical entertainer or competitor
you should plan this repertoire, select it carefully, and then maintain it.
The kinds of tunes you learn depends on
your skill as a player. Advanced beginners and intermediates dwell in the realm
of simple marches and slow marches as they develop their technique and musical
skills. Perhaps they are working towards playing in a band and their repertoire
is given to them in a band tune package. Fair enough: but once you’ve learned the
band tune list, add some non-band pieces that are yours alone. This will give
you you a musical identity outside of your ensemble. These may be utility tunes
such as a funeral lament (maybe “Flowers of the Forest”) or ‘haggis tunes’ like
“My Love She’s But a Lassie Yet,” or “A Man’s a Man for a’ That.” Equally important
are the standard classics like “Road to the Isles,” “The Green Hills of Tyrol,”
“The Rowan Tree,” “Scotland
the Brave,” “Bonnie Dundee” and others. If you perform in public you’ll often
find yourself in situations where these tunes are what the audience wants to
hear and you will do well always to have them at the ready.
But you’ll also want some more challenging
pieces to extend your skills and maintain your interest in your own playing.
Perhaps you’re ready for a simple strathspey like “Lady MacKenzie of Fairburn”
or “The Keel Row,” or a small reel or two like “High Road to Linton” or G. S.
McLennan’s “Dancing Feet.” Jigs can be a lot of fun, and I’ve given “Cork Hill”
or a simplified version of “Drops of Brandy” to many pipers who couldn’t have
imagined they were ready for a jig.
The settings you choose for the tunes in
your repertoire are crucial. Styles change, and sometimes the setting of a tune
in an older tune book is either out of fashion, or not that well thought out in
the first place. Scots Guards Volume 1
and the Seaforth’s Standard Settings
stand out as two very important and popular books that are full of poor
settings of great tunes. Be careful of band competition pieces which often have
gracenotes struck out to ease unison playing. Submitting these simplified settings
in solo competitions is frowned upon.
As your repertoire builds, you need to
manage it. It may be hard to believe, but even though you love what you’re
learning now, after you’ve built a larger collection of tunes and are working
on other material, you may well neglect tunes you’ve known for a while and even
forget about them altogether. It’s a good idea to keep track of tunes as you
learn them. Keep a copy of the music in a binder or in file folders arranged by
time signature and keep a document where you list the tunes you play and even
the sets you play them in. As performing situations arise you can return to
your list to compile a play list. If there are tunes you haven’t played in a
long time you can then go back to your music files and re-acquaint yourself
with them.
Those who are competing at any level or
performing regularly in recital-type situations, will need to be particularly
attentive to the above points. Before you learn a new competition tune,
research settings as best you can, either with your instructor or by listening
to available recordings of top competitors playing them. Willie Ross’s five
books are a tremendous resource for great settings of great competition pieces,
but even some of the tunes in these books have evolved since they were
published. Donald MacLeod’s six books and Scots
Guards Volume 2 are also valuable sources. Don’t underestimate the
importance of a good setting of your competition pieces.
My website www.pipetunes.ca was created
to allow pipers to download individual pieces of sheet music for classic as
well as contemporary tunes, and I have taken great care to ensure that the
settings reflect current trends and standards. In addition to the sheet music, pipetunes.ca also offers mp3
demonstration recordings of most tunes. There are also biographies of most of
the composers for those who like a little history with their music.
If you are planning to add a tune to your
competing repertoire over the winter, consider learning more that just one.
Competition marches, strathspeys and reels are technically intricate, and some
tunes ‘sit on’ your fingers better than others. It’s hard to tell when you’re
learning a tune whether or not it is going to give you problems on the
competitive or performing stage. Successful competition performances are free
of minefields, so learn two or three tunes and you’ll have a better chance of
finding a winner.
Players at all levels, but particularly
those who perform, will entertain their listeners and themselves more
effectively if they plan their performing repertoire carefully. A good mix of 2/4,
3/4, 4/4, 6/8 and 9/8 march sets, strathspey and reel sets, and hornpipe and
jig sets are a must, and how they are put together is important. For example, after
learning a group of small strathspeys and reels, experiment with the order of
the tunes. Juxtapose contrasting keys for tonal variety and make sure the tunes
flow together rhythmically. Some tunes just don’t ‘go together.’ Try to create
sets that engage ongoing interest the way a good pipe band medley does. Rehearse
the tunes in the order you’ve decided, list the tunes in your repertoire
document, and store the music in your binder or file folders. You’ll then have
an effective set of tunes you’ll be able to return to in perpetuity.
Practising your repertoire consistently is
the final piece of the puzzle. Don’t fall into the trap so many young pipers
fall into of focusing only on the two or three tunes you’re working on now,
letting the rest of your pieces slowly fade from your memory and fingers. Don’t
let your previous hard work go to waste.
Being a capable musician requires planning,
learning, practising and maintaining a repertoire that you can call on and play
to the best of your ability whenever you hear those inevitable (and sometimes
frightening) words, “Hey lad, gie us a chune!”
Among
his many piping awards, Jim McGillivray has won both Highland Society of London Gold Medals, the Clasp at Inverness
and the M/S/R at the Glenfiddich Championship. He teaches piping full-time at
St. Andrew’s College (www.sac.on.ca), a boys’ private school in Aurora, Ontario, near Toronto, where he lives.
He also runs two successful piping ventures, McGillivray
Piping (www.piping.on.ca)
and the innovative pipetunes.ca (www.pipetunes.ca). He judged the S.P.S.L.
Bratach Gorm in 2006 and 2007, and performed a recital for interested
membership in November, 2006.
2008
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