![]() ![]() “So I did a bit of research on reed types and I found that Troy Reeds were the most suited to sitting naturally at a low pitch. I had tried the B-flat chanter they already had but it was based on an Anderson reed which doesn’t naturally sit at a very low pitch. “It was at that point I realised that we had to get instruments that could cope with concert pitch B-flat and I went to speak to Stuart McCallum at McCallum Bagpipes. He was blown away that these youngsters played and sounded so good… and that was with all that tape. So the band went on to play with Carlos that night and his comment after the show was, ‘This is the best pipe band I have ever played with.’ It was all because they were actually in tune with Carlos and his band - I can only assume that Carlos’s previous pipe band encounters were of poor concert tuning and accepted that this is what pipe bands sound like. We taped up everything, in particular the lower holes of the chanter and lifted the reeds, and eventually got everybody in tune, but the tone from the chanters was horrific because it was all tape. “So we had these normal pipe band chanters and reeds - and just had to go to town on it. So I quickly back-pedalled, and said, ‘Oh no, no, we are close to B-flat, it will be fine, we will get there.’ I said, ‘I understand you have played with pipe bands before, but just so you know, we are not in concert pitch B-flat.’ At which point his face changed colour and he asked what I meant. “Carlos Núñez came to rehearsals to see how things were going and I took the chance to speak to him.
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