Many years ago, sitting in the passenger seat of our family car, my dad brought up the subject of possible career fields to go into. I wasn’t seriously looking at colleges yet, maybe early teens. The field mentioned as a possibility was chemical engineering, large impact on society and just a little lucrative. I don’t know why the memory stuck in my head. I remember looking at the chemical engineering building at Texas Tech University with the goal to do at least do something productive with my life. A year ago I graduated with my Ph.D. in chemistry (not engineering) from Texas Tech and today I signed a contract for a dual appointment in chemistry (teaching Chemistry II) and chemical engineering (prepping/fixing/piddling around their fluid dynamics lab) for the spring 2013 semester. It has taken a while since that moment long ago for me to make it to the chemical engineering building, but I’m here!

So with that sap story comes another one. Today, I’m playing my dad’s old pipes again. I’ve got them set up with a Gannaway bag that’s a little too big (thanks Bryan, better than no bag at all!) and Colin Kyo drone reeds. Same chanter as before. In the vein of recollection, I feature many of the tunes I grew up hearing my father play. I hope you enjoy hearing them from me as much as I enjoyed hearing them from him.

First up is a 2/4 march by Pipe Major Robert B. Nicol followed by a reel. The sheet music for the reel my father first worked off of was a handwritten copy from Mike Cusack (former piping director, now school headmaster, at St. Thomas Episcopal School in Houston, TX). I think the march would be a great one for grade 4 solo players. Unfortunately it can only be found in one book that I know of: The Gordon Highlanders, Pipe Music Collection, Volume I. Funny enough, it starts out A LOT like John MacColl’s March to Kilbowie Cottage.

Pipe Major Bob Brown’s Farewell to the Ballochbuie and Captain Lachlan MacPhail of Tiree

Next we have an air my dad used to play along with the jig I named after him, the second or third tune I ever wrote, and one of my best, I think. I say used to play because of course, he has retired from piping, so he’s not dead if you were wondering!

Laggan Love Song and Hilton McLaurin

I end this post with one more recording of Bryan’s Colin Kyo bagpipes with Canning tenors and a Rocket bass. The post previous to this one was recorded in the walk-in closet as the little people were sleeping, but since they were off at dance class today I get to record in the larger bedroom, so I wanted to give the CK one last airing in a bigger room. As I’m wont to do, I play tunes associated with whose pipes I’m playing, so this time we’ve got Bryan’s competition MSR.

Arthur Bignold of Lochrosque, Highland Harry, and Bessie McIntyre

My friend stopped playing his Colin Kyo bagpipes long enough for me to have a crack at them for the blog. We were running all Canning (old worn out ones) but the bass reed fell in the bag like, I don’t remember how long ago at band practice, and I didn’t notice until I couldn’t blow up the bag that my friend hadn’t fished it out yet (tsk tsk, I can’t get the middle tenor out either, it’s spinning in the stock, tsk tsk). So the Canning carbon bass is not acting right (maybe got a bit of seasoning on it?) so I’ve got a Rocket bass in there now. Anyways, the Canning in the tenors are the important part. Good volume on the overtones but not harsh, which is nice. There are some crazy harmonics going on on B and especially low G, listen for it!

I am sorely out of practice, if you hear any spitting in the last track due to loss of lip seal, DANG IT, the microphone picked it up, lol. So, like the idiot I am, I figure I’m out of practice, so I should play fast tunes. Duh. The first set the drones start out all right but then go out a bit as I’m getting warmed up still, so I recorded it again but at the time I was trying to fix the D tuning and forgot about the drones. So…here’s the first set of tunes twice. The first one the drones are in tune (at least at the start); the second one the D is in tune (I think).

Me Clootch is Awee (x2, Mark Saul) and 1st Hype Cowboy Division (Murray Blair)

Me Clootch is Awee (Mark Saul) and 1st Hype Cowboy Division (Murray Blair)

Then I tuned my drones ;o) and played some jigs. I was digging through “Gordon Duncan’s Tunes” and ran across Rory Gallagher which is a neat tune; I don’t play it like it is written but how I remember hearing it on a World’s album from a while back. That’s followed by Rob’s Shower Shabang by Murray Blair, a tune I learned a long time ago and played with a fiddler friend and then again I played it with Lyon College as it was in our Medley at the World’s in 2001 (2nd grade 3B). Lastly, since these are my friend’s pipes, I played his favorite jig o’ the day, Leisa McCord by Ebert (better known as EJ) Jones.

Rory Gallagher (Gordon Duncan), Rob’s Shower Shabang (Murray Blair), and Leisa McCord (EJ Jones)

Lastly, I figured I better play some slow stuff so you can hear the drones better so here is a waltz that I learned off of EJ as he plays it on a Clandestine album (I think I have the title right?) followed by a waltz written by myself which really doesn’t go too well with the first one, and then I finish with a jig I wrote after I remember how it goes.

Kate Martin’s Waltz (?), Calista Anne McLaurin (Patrick McLaurin), and Latisha McLaurin (Patrick McLaurin)

To conclude, below are three great books that you should definitely have in your collection from which a lot of the tunes I played in this post can be found.

To actually conclude, here are some pictures of the pipes I was playing. Drool away! Why yes, it is fully mounted in moose antler.