Patrick McLaurin’s Piping Blog

Gellaitry pipes with Crozier Cane (my favorite so far), Gael chanter by Jim McGillivray/Roddy MacLellan, and a Colin MacLellan chanter reed. Sorry about the cutouts :o(

Kantara to El Arish

Shepherd’s Crook and Charlie’s Welcome

Kids are sleeping and I’m in my walk-in closet with my Gellaitry pipes and my poly Sinclair chanter I just got back from being borrowed. Stick a MacLellan reed in there with Kinnaird drone reeds, tune them up and just play, with a Zoom H2 sitting on a box a few inches off the carpeted floor. by the closed door. Here’s a set, a waltz I ripped off EJ Jones I don’t know the name of (can be heard on this Clandestine album) and the Swallow’s Tail:

MP3 file

I’m going around in circles, well more like rotating, so the chanter drone balance will change as the set progresses. Yeah, I suck at playing birls, and blowing steady, among many other things. Note to self, don’t face recorder when playing in closet: be ready to lower the volume a bit when I rotate around to face the recorder.

This is definitely my new solo pipe. I was in heaven, well as close as a washed up player like me could be, anyway…

For all you rednecks out there like me that say Gellaitry instead of Gellaitry, the difference being Gell – as in jelly – and Gill – how fish breathe – the latter one is the correct pronunciation. Moving on, Gellaitry drones, EJ Jones chanter and reed, Wygent drone reeds, and the tune (poorly played):

Thief of Lochaber

This was recorded in my practice room (a huge walk-in closet) with my back to the mic so you could actually hear the drones.

So, I just got myself a set of Gellaitry bagpipes fully mounted in boxwood. They came from Gene Mitchell coupled with a Gannaway zip bag, Ezee drone reeds, green cords, and a abw Gibson Chanter. I threw a MacLellan reed I had laying around in there and did some recording. Tuning, or the playing, isn’t great or perfect, but good enough for 20 minutes out of the shipping box! MP3’s are in chronological order going down.

Pipes with Ezee drone reeds:

Calista Anne McLaurin

David Crosbie Miller, The Battle of Waterloo, 51st Highland Division

Major Manson of Clachantrushal, Dora MacLeod, Captain Lachlan MacPhail of Tiree

Pipes with Kinnaird drone reeds:

Rossshire Volunteers, Inverary Castle, Rejected Suitor

Mermaid and Swallow’s Tail

For comparison, you can hear a set of 1980’s Naill pipes in the exact same recording conditions with Ezee drone reeds and the same MacLellan chanter reed, though with a Colin Kyo chanter instead.

Pictures (ripped off tinypic from Gene):

Here’s my 3/4 Center drones playing Wygent A440 drone reeds coupled with an EJ Jones border/highland chanter: Alan MacPherson of Mosspark

Since my pipes are out of commission for a little bit, Bryan/Brain/Brian (however you spell it) lent me his 1980’s Naills with Ezee drone reeds. Here matched with my Colin Kyo chanter and MacLellan reed, the F# was a teeny bit flat, the bag a little big, but I managed to get a few tunes out of it:

Queen of the Rushes, Hag at the Churn, and Fraher’s Jig – irish jigs

Calista Anne McLaurin, Calista and Clark’s Playtime, Latisha McLaurin – my compositions being a waltz, hornpipe, and jig

An old album I have on cassette tape, the William Livingstone Senior Memorial, or something like that, had the contestants play a set consisting of a 2/4 March, Strathspey, Reel, Hornpipe, and Jig. It’s a great album and I’ve been hooked on playing all 5 together since.

I’ve got a little contraption to hold my left pinkie finger out of the way as it has been detrimental to the performance of  my left ring finger for some time now. The contraption certainly seemed to help.

The Rossshire Volunteers (march), Susan MacLeod (strathspey), Charlie’s Welcome (reel), Pipe Major George Allan (hornpipe), The Herringwife (jig):

Kantara to El Arish (march), Dora MacLeod (strathspey), Captain Lachlan MacPhail of Tiree (reel), Lucy Cassidy (hornpipe), and Alan MacPherson of Mosspark (jig):

And a couple 6/8 marches for good measure, Mrs. Lily Christie and Miss Ishabel T. MacDonald: