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Date Posted: 11:12:50 07/16/05 Sat
Author: Jim Ryan
Subject: Last Night's Practice

All,

Jeanne, Diane, Cory and I have decided we're going to compete in Scotland this year as a quartet.

Just kidding, but we really had a terrific practice.

We ran thru the set about 6 times, if I recall correctly. Let me tell you, playing for 5 sides was quite the thrill. I hope everyone works hard to make the grade so we can go out with that many in Scotland. That includes the pipers. If the grade III goes out with only 9 pipes, say, I think we'd be hard pressed to run 5 sides out there because it would throw the entire ensemble outta whack. KEEP PRACTICING.

Each Friday night in July, I've tried to focus our attention on one particular area of the medley. We then have reviewed the material on the following Tuesday. Last night, we focused our attention on the jigs. This is one of the "big rocks" that we do need to focus our attention on. Shame on me for picking the night everyone is in (or going to) Flagstaff to work on them.

There were really two areas of concern with the jigs that I heard. One was our tendency to slow down the tempo as we progressed thru the tunes. We attacked that pretty vigorously, with some very good results. In fact, I personally now have to make a conscious effort to not go TOO fast in the 2nd part of the 2nd jig. I'll work on it.

The 2nd area of concern was at the end of each part. We're playing the jigs pretty round, as is typical in the band idiom. In the first jig, on the "D" at the end of the parts, after the g-grace/strike, we don't want to hold that D too long. Some of us were/are doing that, and the tune loses the flow that we've established. We could certainly play it that way, but we're not. It's not "wrong", but it's not what we're doing. So make sure the D at the end of each part comes out as a 1/4 note, and the subsequent pickup note (low A on the repeat, E going into the 2nd part) is a full 1/8th note. That will keep us in the rythmic flow we've established for the tune.

For the 2nd jig, we've been doing a very good job of playing the first part at tempo. We addressed some sluggish playing in the 2nd measure of the first part (g-grace F, High A, E - g-grace F, High A, F) where that particular note combination of 6 notes can tend to get weighed down. When we had people focused on that, there was noticeable improvement in the unison.


The 2nd part has some minor issues with unison and dropping tempo. We worked on that last night as well. The very first High A doubling doesn't need the stress some of us are putting on it. Also, on the next beat, the E-doubling tends to act like a kind of "speed bump" to slow us down a bit. Make sure you're adhering to the tempo in those two spots, and that jig is really going to be spot on.

Remember that we want to play the jigs pretty round, with no loss in that rounded expression in any of your groups of three.


Man, we sounded and played awesome last night. We are hitting our peak at just the right time. On Tuesday, we will continue to cover some of the ground we covered last night. The results have been truly spectacular, and I am incredibly pleased with the progress we've made.

This coming Friday, we will work on the reels. When we get those hammered out, that will be the set. Once in Scotland, it will just be a matter of reviewing the set a few times on PC's/Pads, playing it on pipes, then working on stops/starts/breaks. We will also pay some more attention to some blowing issues. Not to single anyone out, but Dianne has made tremendous strides in controlling her blowing, and I am very proud of her commitment and willingnes to work on these things.

Good luck in Flagstaff this weekend!

jr

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