strathspey@strathspey.org:11658

Maclachlan

Re: Dancing to pipes

April 16, 1998, 1:47 a.m. (Message 11658, in reply to message 11646)

<< The idea of a "tame" Piper is a delightful oxymoron! Anyone wild  
 enough to get good enough on the pipes to play for dancing will never be  
 tamed! >>

But they can be civilized!  And become SCDancers!

<<There are good pipers and gawdawful* pipers. >>   ABSOLUTELY!

I posted the original question about dancing to the pipes, and am a member of
the same group Missy is.  I am also a piper.  20 years ago I played for
highland dancers, but never for RSCD.  The tunes are a lot longer here!  And I
am not currently ready to play for any dancers, but hope to be in a year or
so.  Like many things, what you don't use, you lose, and not playing the pipes
for 12 years means a lot of ground to recover.

The importance of keeping the beat became crystal clear when I had a mind wipe
while performing in front of my teacher at a very large demonstration when I
was 20.  I suddenly realized I had NO idea what the next two bars were.  I
played something in the correct rhythm, did the repeat, and still had no idea
of those bars.  Correct rhythm again, and I went on.  Afterwards, the dance
teacher reached me at the same time as my pipe teacher, who said "I didn't
teach you that tune!"    "What were you playing, that's not what we
rehearsed!"  The other dancers were startled...they had had no idea anything
was wrong...they had danced to the beat, not the music.  Then both teachers
congratulated me for maintaining the rhythm, and my teacher said "Next lesson,
let's go over that tune again!"

Beverly Laughlin
Eunice, LA