Somewhere in 2006 i made a drone trainer for our pipe band.
I was based on Flash, flash is dead. So i redid it in pure HTML5.
There is a long explanation howto tune in Dutch, it was in the Bands Wiki. Listen to the wave-beats and get it in tune!
The page and source can be found here. (Just save page source to your computer!)
https://media.henriaanstoot.nl/dronetrainer.html
While they are not the real thing, and sound mostly bad. These little electronic devices are great on the move.
Great for using with headphones. Nice to have one of those in your backpack on holiday.
I’ve bought a Technochanter in 2004 and a deger in 2005, both with their benefits.
(I’ve got a little batterypowered mixer with dual output, so Coline and I can play a duet in silence 🙂 )
Both can play accidentals like natural C/F and more.
Links
http://www.fagerstrom.com/
https://www.deger.com/
I designed a electronic bagpipe in the 90’s myself, but it never was a success. ( Shall update this page when I find the schematics )
In 2010 I bought a Yamaha QY100 seqencer. I can connect the deger using a DIY midi cable, and use its buildin instruments.
Specs deger:
Specs Technochanter:
Below a link to the QY100
We made a template to make some bagpipe covers, using a sheet of plastic.
We gave a workshop for our pipeband.
Maintenance, making a goose, tuning and general advice.
Below is the work document from a day before (where is the final version???) Dutch only
Tuner with my own calculated offset of perfect harmonics/tuning
I also talked about tuning the drones.
https://www.henriaanstoot.nl/2006/01/01/bagpipe-drone-tune-trainer/
And some other oldskool tricks, like the metal dronestarter for cane reeds.
Some notes i made while playing with a Canadian Pipeband in Holten when i was 16 or so.
Old drone reeds.
A trip to Scotland with our band. I wanted to remember the whole night drinking, staying outside on deck .. and getting lost.
So i composed a little tune we could play with the band.
Coline persuaded several people to stay up all night. We drank a lot, and in the morning we tried to get down to our cabin’s.
But having to much to drink, apparently we took a wrong turn. We where in the living quarters of the cabin crew! A wrong elevator later .. the kitchen .. how did this happen. Friendly members of the crew showed us the way out.
I like playing darts but im not good at it. At least i can say that i played on the same stage as a Dart Champion!
With the pipeband i was at that time, we where asked to perform with Luv. Exciting day. Shame we had to mimic playing the melody.
Parts where recorded a few hours before the show.
I was one of the few who could actually play the melody.
Maybe i’ll post a version where i play this tune
The word ‘piobaireachd’ literally means pipe playing or pipe music, but is now used to describe the classical music of the Great Highland Bagpipe. Another name for it is ‘ceòl mór’ meaning the’big music’, which separates piobaireachd from all other forms of pipe music (marches, reels, jigs etc. ) which are referred to as ‘ceòl beag’ – the little music.
To describe a piobaireachd is not easy. It consists of a theme or ‘ground’ with variations (which vary in number and complexity) that follow the theme. The theme is often very slow, and the general effect of the whole piece of music is slow – slowness being a characteristic of Highland music, though not, obviously, the dance music.
I’ve converted some old VHS tapes using
Or my old DVDR recorder. ( Recorded DVD’s I’ve ripped using tools to video file)
(Its a long time ago)
Contest 1988
Me
Noelle, Sophie ..
Middle top guy, Michel i’ve played with him in 2018 in New Zealand where he lives
My first teacher, Hemmy