In part 1 of my Memorial Day Back-to-Basics, I talked about
the need to strengthen lips, lungs and arm, in order to play the music we love.
With these three working with strength and control, you will be free to relax
and play the chanter with more skill. With the big three working together, your
mind will be free to concentrate on musical performance. In Part 2, let’s look
at the bagpipes themselves.
Maintaining your instrument is fundamental to playing well.
Even before playing, you should inspect your instrument, tuning, and warm-up.
We sometimes (I know, because I have done it!) jump right into playing our latest
and greatest tune without making sure our instrument is ready to be played. This
inspection is not necessary every time we pick up our pipes, but certainly
before our weekly band practice and any performance. A good rule of thumb is to
do the maintenance the evening before an important event.
Start with a quick inspection. Are the drones (both stock
end and drone slides), blowpipe and chanter properly hemped? Do the fittings
sit too loosely in there stocks. Do the drones’ slides move smoothly but
firmly? The last thing you want is to loose the top of a drone when it bumps a
door, branch, etc. Inspecting and
adjusting these is to control your instrument to minimize changes in pitch and air
loss. If any of these is loose (or too tight), the piper should work with hemp,
waxed hemp and Teflon tape to insure the pipes can be adjusted.
You should also check the air tightness of the bag on a
quarterly basis. If I’m going through the effort of playing, I sure don’t want
to waste any air in keeping my pipes going. Cork the chanter stock (the chanter
is removed). Then blow up the bag to the point that the installed drones have
all stopped. Set the bag down and listen as the air slowly escapes. Listen and
time on a watch for which drone plays first, which is second and third. The drones should all hold and then moan at
about the same time, in thirty to 40 seconds. If they don’t, then there may be
a need to adjust the drone reed and / or drone valve (if you use valves). Also
listen to the blow pipe for any air exiting due to the flapper valve not
seating properly. Fix or replace as needed.
Then look at the pipe chanter for any tuning tape applied.
Review that the tape is new and not slipping from the hole it is tuning. If
it’s slipping or sticky when removed and re-applied, then it is time to replace
the tape. Some pipers use black electrical tape, others use a clear bagpipe
tape. As the weather changes, so does our tuning. So always have a piece (or
two) of fresh unused tape stuck to your chanter sole in case you need to
replace a piece.
Do you use a moisture system with your pipes? Moisture is one
of the enemies of our pipes staying in tune. I highly encourage the use of
moisture control systems. I use one moisture trap attached to my blow pipe and
then secondary moisture capture to each drone. There are many different ways to
capture the moisture in our breath. Some people swear by one brand over
another. The key is to be using one. To use one, also means to maintain them.
So I use a pipe bag with a zipper that lets me access the bag and moisture
systems. I will regularly clean and dry the moisture systems. Another time we
can speak to the different types on the market.
One last comment about maintenance. Do you have a
maintenance kit with your pipes? You need one with tape, drone stoppers, hemp
(waxed and un-waxed), Teflon tape, small scissors, etc. When you are confident
in your instrument’s maintenance, you are ready to warm up and tune up. Stay
‘tuned’ for part 3.
Happy piping.
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