This week for the Blarney Stone jam session I brought my highland (big) pipes and smallpipes, but forgot to pack my whistles. Not a huge deal as I had not been able to get in much practice on the whistles. I was able to get some good info on some tunes to work on to join in the jam.
- Kesh Jig
- Connaughtman’s Ramble Jig
- Flowers of Ediburgh
- March of the Kings of Laois (from last week)
My smallpipes were not exactly ready for joining in the jam. Perhaps it is better to say I was not ready. I have not played them for a while, and was able to get in a new reed. The reed only arrived Friday, and so not a great amount of time for the session on Saturday. I did play a tune, Scotland the Brave, but it was definitely coming in flat so I didn’t try to play anymore than that.
Even better than playing a flat set of smallpipes was that a mate, Mark, a drummer from the Bangkok pipe band came with his wife Sharon. Mark brought his pad and sticks and played along with a good majority of the sets that the session played. Although a pad and sticks can be heard easily enough at a pipe band practice, it was not as easy to pick up at the session.
Highland pipe set at the Irish session
However, when I was asked to play a bit on the highland pipes, Mark played directly on the table. His wife and I agreed that it sounded pretty good – reminds me of a time in Seoul when I played in a bar, and a patron there was using a table as a drum that was surprisingly close in tone… Who knew that tables are good percussion instruments for pipes? Not sure if it was the volume of the table, or that Mark was just behind my left ear, but I could hear him drumming while I played and it made staying on the beat so much
The jam session went on past 7 in the evening, and I was able to chat with some of the folk that had not been at the session previously. I brought my pipes in a mandolin case, and so the organizer of the session, Tex/Techs/Teks suggested I should bring my mandolin next time for him to play. Sure, the instrument is just sitting at home anyway.
So that will be something to look forward to, though next Saturday is the Bangkok St. Andrew’s Society Burn’s Night. Mark and I will be “uniform-ing up” and may not be able to make the session, depending on the time. Turns out the Japanese couple that plays the harp will also be playing at the Burn’s night. Looking forward to that!
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