Tag Archives: Workshop

News

August Workshop

Another Back to Basics Workshop
(With a focus on practising)
Saturday 15 August 9.30am – 12.30pm
Nelson Park Band Rooms

Have you ever been frustrated while practising?
Ever feel like your hours of practice just aren’t paying off?
Want to know what consistently separates those who make steady progress from those who spin their wheels?

Then come along to our Back to Basics Workshop and learn how to overcome these barriers.

Objectives of the workshop:
  • giving learners and playing members a chance to meet, have
  • some fun and experience the enjoyment of playing in a group.
  • using your technology (metronomes and recordings).
  • exploring some simple practice techniques to improve practise.
  • developing a learners’ concert item.
Then as a follow up we will perform our item at the Tea ‘n Tunes afternoon at Clubs Napier 2.30pm Sunday 23 August

Register now by email workshop@napierpipeband.nz with your name and contact details.
 
We look forward to seeing you at the workshop.
Music, News

Workshop – June 2025

The workshop about tuning your drones covered the basics.

Sound Theory

Sound consists of longitudinal waves: the particles of the medium through which a sound travels oscillate along the direction in which the sound is travelling. In air, this causes small compressions and rarefactions of pressure, above and below nominal atmospheric pressure.  The human ear responds to frequencies between 20 and 20,000 cycles per second, although children can often hear up to 30 kHz whilst older people have a more limited range. Fortunately for the latter, human speech is mainly confined to the region between 300 Hz and 3 kHz.

Bagpipe Drones

Tuning drones is nothing more than blowing your bagpipe to pitch and then adjusting your drones to produce a harmonic sound that blends perfectly with each note on your chanter and with each other.  In the simplest example, you want to eliminate all of the “wha wha” that the drones produce when out-of-tune.

Key things to remember

  • Pitch will change with time, environment and you
  • Always tune when fully sounding the chanter
  • Playing low A will tune flat for most pipers
  • Play a simple tune (so you’re not multi-tasking)
  • Bass drone is most important – provides that rich deep sound

The practical process

  • Outside tenor
  • Bass drone to tenor
  • Middle tenor to the other two