Re: Lower Pitched chanters???? -- The Bagpipe Message Board

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Subject: Re: Lower Pitched chanters????

Author:
Chris C.

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Date Posted: 12:24:05 05/24/03 Sat
In reply to: John Mitchell 's message, "Lower Pitched chanters????" on 15:22:25 05/22/03 Thu

>We are being told that lower pitched chanters are not
>flat!

They're only flat if they've been run over by a large truck. Then they are indeed truly flat.

>What a load of horse manure that is! A band that comes
>on with a flat tone sounds dull and not very clean.

I think the higher pitched pipe bands sound very shrill, and rather thin sounding. They are sounding more and more like tinwhistle bands than bagpipe bands.

>It's unplaeasant to listen to and I wouldn't buy any
CD......

You could always move up the pitch control on your CD player, if you have one on yours, and make it even better sounding to your ear. You can increase the pitch on the CD by 10% or more on some players.

I think most pipers who dislike higher pitched chanters, do so because they dislike the screech of shrill bagpipes. All the soul is being taken out of the sound of the instrument.

When I took up the bagpipes, I wanted to play the bagpipes, not a piccolo with a bag and drones attached.

Cheers,
Chris C.

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Re: Lower Pitched chanters????

Author:
Brant
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Date Posted: 15:02:16 05/28/03 Wed

Is this just my observation, but do pipers in the lower grade bands prefer a flat pitch because that is what they are used to?

Maybe the bands John has played in had higher pitch and that is what he is used to.

I don't think anyone is right or wrong, but the upper grade players sound better then the lower grade players.

Wonder why?

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[> [> [> Subject: Re: Lower Pitched chanters????

Author:
Mike Miller
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Date Posted: 20:04:09 05/28/03 Wed

snip>
>I don't think anyone is right or wrong, but the upper
>grade players sound better then the lower grade
>players.
>
>Wonder why?

Why?

Usually because the higher grade player has better fingers, blowing, good ear, and sense of rythym. John Mitchell is one of many pipers that would sound better than me if his chanter balanced at 440 and mine was at 476 even if he played Scotland the brave at 130 bpm. So as much as John worries about flat pitch, I am sure John would agree that pitch is only one of many things. In Competition brightness dose help butdoes that mean you have to keep it climbing?

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[> [> [> [> Subject: Re: Lower Pitched chanters????

Author:
John Mitchell
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Date Posted: 13:51:49 05/29/03 Thu

Mike, would have to agree with the other poster about pitch as proved by the St. Thomas Alumni band this weekend.

The reason that the top bands sound better is because they are higher pitched and I think that 480 is the optimum pitch for the bagpipe as it sounds much cleaner at that range.

STB at 130 BPM sounds much better at 480 too! ;-)

Lets hope the massed bands learn something else, your point on Dunsires was missed!

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