Prototype drone reeds and the entire practice session

There’s a LOT to conquer in this post.

  1. I’m unemployed now so I figure I’ll start practicing for real, haha. Expect a lot more posts, although the kids get out for summer in a month so we’ll see how that goes. Got any topics you want covered?
  2. I’m testing some prototype drone reeds. This post has them in Colin Kyo bagpipes with the mic in front of me. Yesterday had them in Gellaitry bagpipes with the mic behind me; a single recording of that is HERE. The chanter is exactly the same as it fits in both pipes (older Colin Kyo with Sound Supreme reed). I like to stand behind people when I’m listening to them play so that I can hear the drones at their best, but when listening for chanter drone balance, those consulted thought it best to record from the front. However, the mic is still up high at about 6’4″. What do YOU think of the drone tone?
  3. These reeds are a second iteration, the first having VERY bold tenors with harmonics flying everywhere. The tenors have been dialed back a bit but still have non-negligible overtones, more overtone amplitude than many commercially available reeds currently on the market. What we’ll see below is that the drones go out of tune more often due to these overtones (not really). A while back I wrote a couple of posts (The Illusion of Drone Locking and Tuning Tenor Bold Pipes) about how there was a trend in pipes (MacDougall-ish) and reeds (mellow tenor, big bass) that posited the stability (why such pipes were/are in demand) perceived with such pipes with dominant bass and mellower tenors was not actually stability, but the inability to hear the drones going out of tune because the higher frequency overtones weren’t loud enough to be heard (the beating frequency is faster for overtones than for the fundamental for the same amount of out-of-tuneness). In the recordings that follow, you can hear the drones go out of tune and it’s not super obvious sometimes, but the overall tone just sounds…dirty. They eventually settle in a bit, but even the last track has me retuning beforehand. It is terribly fun to play with such overtones WHEN they’re in tune! But it is a bit distracting when the drones start to drift. If your tenors weren’t as full of overtones, it would be harder to notice the drones drifting because the lower frequency fundamental wouldn’t sound out of tune over the length of a typical note. Take note that retuning involved moving all 3 drones in the same direction every time, so they’re largely moving together, but not with the chanter pitch. Note that I tune the outside tenor first with the other drones off followed by tuning the middle tenor to outside tenor with the bass off, then I turn the bass on and the middle tenor off. Also note that most movements of the drone are tiny little twists that move the drone very small amounts up and down. I usually hate tenors with overtones because I can never get them tuned, but these reeds are very easy to tune. Also, these two tenor reeds are not identical as one has a smaller aperture than the other; this is on purpose as various designs are tried. Perhaps if they were more similar I’d experience even less difference in tuning drift.
  4. I played for the first time in a month yesterday, the hiatus due to sinus illness. So this is my second day back on the job. What follows is my entire practice session, tuning included, broken into chunks. Some of it is garbage but I’m posting it anyway. Maybe you’d like to hear me suck at playing? If you’re interested in listening to me tune to these audible overtones, listen to the tuning clips. *If you’re just here to listen to the audio that’s in tune with minimal flubs, look for asterisks to denote less-sucky recordings.*

1_jeannie_carruthers – don’t bother, warming up

2_reels_that_sucked – ugh, how does that tune go again?

3_drone_tuning – straightforward drone tuning, a little bit of wondering if I need to do something about high G

4_donella_beaton-curlew – something like that, I should buy a metronome, huh, not the tune I meant to switch to

5_drone_tuning – high G gets a little mod too

6_pm_calum_campbells_caprice-big_yin-arnish_light – yeah…keeping tunes straight is HARD, and huh, phrasing needs “work” – you can hear the drones start to drift at the end

7_drone_tuning

8_kalabakan-sleepy_maggie-dancing_feet – hey, I didn’t totally screw up, just maybe started a little faster than my brain could remember how the tune went

9_E_tuning – notice how it just sounds dirty with hard to hear beat frequencies

10_king_of_laois-lark_in_the_morning_merrily_kissed_the_quaker – I hate that the drones were out for this set, from the get go, my bad, can you tell?

11_out_of_tune – confirming out of tuneness

12_drone_tuning – fairly straightforward

13_mo_ghile_mear-neilis-ger_the_rigger*Listen to this one*

14_high_G_tuning

15_snug_in_a_blanket-thornton_jig-humours_of_trim – did they settle yet? maybe not…*Okay you can listen to this one also*

16_drone_tuning – just a tad bit out as suspected

17_seth_hamons_gamble-paddy_cronins-ballater_rant-lady_doll_sinclair – *Listen to this one* I think it went okay despite not remembering how a tune I wrote goes

18_cowal_gathering-susan_macleod-murdo_macgillivray_of_eoligarry – yeah….ugh……meh…..phrasing sucks in the march, especially the ending phrase; focal dystonia is lame, I thought it was going a lot better than it sounds in this recording, haha

19_aires_de_pontevedra-muineira_de_casu – *Listen to this one* high G, you are my favorite note! It is probably obvious there are lots of versions of the second tune, as I fumble between them, lol

20_ellenor-quaker – haven’t played either in ages, at least that’s the way it feels! Drones seem to be holding well enough to this point.

21_drone_tuning – just a little out, and then I make them a lot out, and then I fixed it…

22_irish_giant-humours_of_whiskey-eavesdropper-paddy_clancys – a few muffs due to fatigue so I decided to turn around half way through so you can hear them with the mic in front of me at the beginning and behind me at the end

3 thoughts on “Prototype drone reeds and the entire practice session

  1. “Topics I’d like covered?”
    Well, similar to the poly vs blackwood blind comparison you did last year, I’d like to see a blind comparison of different drone reeds including cane.

  2. Yes, I suppose it’s a tricky request, sorry. Probably best keeping it as simple and apples to apples as possible; “A, B, or C which do you prefer and which is cane?”

    … it is inspired by the somewhat recent ‘cane drone reeds’ thread on the Dunsire forums.

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