Derek Bodkin - Posted - 06/10/2013:  12:15:07

Hi all.  I was checking out archived links and there was some fun exchange about banjos, bagpipes and tubas.  I put this together this midi arrangement a long time ago (when I was in the Los Angeles Police Emerald Society Pipes and Drums) and thought I'd share.  Just for fun.  I stuck to the standard form of the tune... including the long opening.  I hope you enjoy.

youtube.com/watch?v=lLoyYUPsNUI

Derek

Edited by - Bill Rogers on 06/15/2013 10:59:25

scooter46 - Posted - 06/10/2013:  12:24:41

Derek, thanks for posting this I really enjoyed it, but I'm a big fan of bagpipes, and it sounded pretty good with a banjo. Larry

the link should work now

youtube.com/watch?v=lLoyYUPsNUI

Edited by - scooter46 on 06/10/2013 12:34:47

oldfart - Posted - 06/10/2013:  12:48:30

That sounded great!! thanks for posting.

Paul R - Posted - 06/10/2013:  13:45:06

Holy cow, Derek - your first post since you joined in 2009?!!!

What a start! Keep 'em coming!

ravedog - Posted - 06/10/2013:  14:14:18

OMG....!...!...!
sorry I couldn't turn the volume higher (and it was 50w extension in a 12x12 room)

brewerpaul - Posted - 06/10/2013:  17:22:46

Most excellent!  You made my day.  Now all my Facebook friends will hear it too.

dmiller - Posted - 06/10/2013:  20:11:32

That was awesome!!!  Thank You!   

Derek Bodkin - Posted - 06/11/2013:  11:49:26

Thanks gang! I really appreciate it.

Klondike Waldo - Posted - 06/12/2013:  18:12:31

Derek, as a working bagpiper, I have a couple of comments.  

 1. Your arrangement could only work as a  MIDI or otherwise synthesized project, because 1Bagpipes* can't play rests. Once they start sounding, air has to be continuously supplied and within a very narrow, constant pressure window.  

2. The bagpipe* scale is not usually written as A major because the G is a g natural.   In some written collections of music for Highland bagpipe no key signature at all is given on the (erroneous) assumption that there's only 9 notes available anyway, so why bother pointing out that it's C#, and F# and G natural.    Some composers & arrangers nowadays use the key signature of A major, but then put a natural sign before every g.  My preference is to put in 2 sharps, F# and C# whether the tune is in A,(major or mixolydian) D major, B minor, or whatever.   I regularly play tunes with C naturals and F naturals and which include a high B above the "usual GHB scale",  but that's easier to do on Lowland bagpipes (which I also play).

Still I enjoyed your MIDI file.

* refers to the Great Highland Bagpipes (GHB). There are over 100 different types of bagpipes in the world, having their own scales and capabilities.

Derek Bodkin - Posted - 06/13/2013:  14:11:24

Thanks , Klondike Waldo, for your input.

1. Indeed. This file could only be midi. I marched as a drum sergeant with the LAPD Emerald society for three years.

2. Agreed. The video mentioned "Sometimes written in A Major"

Klondike Waldo - Posted - 06/14/2013:  18:30:54

Ah, well then Derek, I  wasn't telling anything you didn't know firsthand.    Good job.

C Nyal de Kaye - Posted - 06/14/2013:  22:15:35

That is great Derek, I totally enjoyed it.

Paul Roberts - Posted - 06/15/2013:  17:24:34

Meaningful work. 

Interesting to read in your bio that you perform in several bands.

Boog - Posted - 06/16/2013:  14:28:27

Good one Derek

Derek Bodkin - Posted - 06/17/2013:  08:37:05

To Klondike Waldo - TOTALLY love your input.

You know the hardest thing I have with the use of midi bagpipes - is the fact that the doublings offered by a midi file aren't even close to authentic. I took a handful of bagpipe lessons on my chanter... and I'm terrible. Doublings were incredibly difficult for me. (I've explained 'doublings' to friends as 'like a trill')

Question - are doublings always written? Hoping you can help.

Thanks!
Derek