Tuesday, 29 April 2014
29th April 2014
Tuesdays delivery runs take me through a few areas where a busker might ply his trade. Today I decided to launch my pipes at the Forth Bridge. I aimed to get there for 09.45am thinking I'd catch the tourist buses as they stopped for photos at the Bridges. My thinking was that a photo of the bridges would be far more authentic with a kilted piper in the foreground. Quality of the piping doesn't need to be so much of an issue for a photo opportunity. Next week I'll get there for 09.15 as the buses were all just re-loading their passengers as I got there. I blew up anyway and rustled up a bit of interest and £4.80 in 10 minutes. I played a lot worse than I had at Portabello the Thursday before but I got decent feedback about the potential of the spot so I'll give it another go. A chap was down from one of the boat companys taking tourists out to Inchcombe Island and he took this snap of me. He also took another couple for himself for advertising purposes for the boat. I might be famous. My family will be mortified. I wore the hat so that no-one would recognise me, but its going to have to go. The kilt looks a bit short too and those legs look a bit white, but these are all things that can be improved over the next few weeks.
Genesis
At the age of 44, a few external factors in my life collided, and fortune at last favoured my long-standing desire to learn a musical instrument. The instrument in question? The Bagpipes.
With excellent tutors I found I learned to read music from zero to a working understanding in a few weeks and had the scale and several rudiments off in no time. I then went on a frenzy of tune learning. This basically required me to learn the tunes to a point where I could recognise what I played and tried to memorise it. I think I reached about 40 tunes in 8 months. I bought my first set of bagpipes.
It took me a surprisingly long time to realise that memorising tunes - although important - was actually a very small part in what it takes to make a decent piper. In November 2013 I met a new tutor, who very quickly showed me the failings in the phrasing and performance of the embellishments that I was attempting. Taking a step back I could see what was required and with a lot more concentration and less speed, over the last 6 months I have improved much faster than I did over the first 18 months.
In September 2013 I took it into my head to have a go at busking. I knew I was nowhere near ready for it but thought it might be good practice just to get out there in front of the public. On a chilly Sunday afternoon,
I ventured into the Grassmarket in Edinburgh, opened my pipebag, warmed up and began playing my first ever pipe tune in public. I was shaking like a leaf, the drones were squeaky and completely out of tune and the reed was a bit on the hard side. The tune was Amazing Grace, and within 2 bars of the tune a young lady dropped £1.02 into my pipebag. God! how good that felt. I had a rush of confidence and played about three sets of 3 tunes - pretty badly - and didn't get another penny, nobody stopping to watch or anything. It seemed like I'd scared everyone away. I packed up my pipes and slinked away.
It took until April 2014, a year after I'd got my pipes and 18 months from starting to learn the chanter, for me to try busking again. I took my pipes to work with me and when i reached Portabello Beach I decided the time had come to try again. This was just a confidence building exercise, as I expected the beach to be deserted. It wasn't quite as quiet as I expected, but I felt I played far better and got a couple of thumbs-up from passers by before an elderly couple went past and dropped 0.40 in to the bag. That turned out to be the total earnings for that stint, I only played for 15 mins, but I had done what I intended. Made myself feel I could play as best as i could with strangers watching me. So the busking will now really begin.
Lets see where it takes us!
With excellent tutors I found I learned to read music from zero to a working understanding in a few weeks and had the scale and several rudiments off in no time. I then went on a frenzy of tune learning. This basically required me to learn the tunes to a point where I could recognise what I played and tried to memorise it. I think I reached about 40 tunes in 8 months. I bought my first set of bagpipes.
It took me a surprisingly long time to realise that memorising tunes - although important - was actually a very small part in what it takes to make a decent piper. In November 2013 I met a new tutor, who very quickly showed me the failings in the phrasing and performance of the embellishments that I was attempting. Taking a step back I could see what was required and with a lot more concentration and less speed, over the last 6 months I have improved much faster than I did over the first 18 months.
In September 2013 I took it into my head to have a go at busking. I knew I was nowhere near ready for it but thought it might be good practice just to get out there in front of the public. On a chilly Sunday afternoon,
I ventured into the Grassmarket in Edinburgh, opened my pipebag, warmed up and began playing my first ever pipe tune in public. I was shaking like a leaf, the drones were squeaky and completely out of tune and the reed was a bit on the hard side. The tune was Amazing Grace, and within 2 bars of the tune a young lady dropped £1.02 into my pipebag. God! how good that felt. I had a rush of confidence and played about three sets of 3 tunes - pretty badly - and didn't get another penny, nobody stopping to watch or anything. It seemed like I'd scared everyone away. I packed up my pipes and slinked away.
It took until April 2014, a year after I'd got my pipes and 18 months from starting to learn the chanter, for me to try busking again. I took my pipes to work with me and when i reached Portabello Beach I decided the time had come to try again. This was just a confidence building exercise, as I expected the beach to be deserted. It wasn't quite as quiet as I expected, but I felt I played far better and got a couple of thumbs-up from passers by before an elderly couple went past and dropped 0.40 in to the bag. That turned out to be the total earnings for that stint, I only played for 15 mins, but I had done what I intended. Made myself feel I could play as best as i could with strangers watching me. So the busking will now really begin.
Lets see where it takes us!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)