Ryan Sullivan Online

Eight Days A Week

2010-06-17T15:07:00.079-06:00

It was recently brought to my attention that I haven't been

upholding my end of this blogging arrangement, ie. - I was a

couple months behind again!

The problem is that I haven’t had time! Who has the time for

anything these days, with the pipe band season picking up, the

kids in soccer and baseball, teaching everyday...

With each week getting busier and busier and the hours, days,

weeks and months flying by, I find myself wishing I could slow

down time. Hmm, perhaps that’s possible. The problem, really,

is that I need to add time, and that's not possible!

What the heck is “time” anyway?

A quick dictionary search will bring up about a hundred

definitions for time, but, how’s this one: “a system of

measuring duration”? I like this, because we can relate this

concept to music!

Music only exists in relation to time.

Every piece of music is played in relation to time, dependent on

the time signature and tempo. If we play 30 measures of music

in 4/4 time at 120 beats per minute, we create 1 minute of music

which exists as a physical entity for those 60 seconds only. It

does not exist before or after. (Sometimes this is a good thing!)

Music is created by combinations of sound and silence, and

organized by time (meter and tempo).

Music, like time, can be explained mathematically.

Einstein proved that perceptions of time are relative, and not

absolute. That’s fine for Einstein but, for musicians, we need

absolutes. We, as musicians playing together and playing

“in time”, need an absolute starting point, an absolute ending

point, and absolute landmarks along the way, in order to play

in proper unison.

These absolutes are important to the listener as well, because

the brain requires order to process information. Music without

an absolute start and end point and without the proper mechanics

(rhythmic pulsing, cadence, tension, resolution, etc) could not

be preceived as music by the listener.

In music, we use a metronome to measure time.

Thinking of our earlier example, if we play 30 measures of

music in 4/4 time at 120 bpm, we’re playing a given amount of

time as determined by the metronome.

We have our absolute staring point

(A) = beat #1 of measure 1 at time :00 -

and our absolute end point

(B) = beat #1 of the silent measure 31 at time :60.

But what happens along the way from A to B?

The metronome will click out every beat in each measure along

the way, from A to B, in equally spaced intervals. In this example,

the metronome will click one beat every half second, or two beats

every second for one minute.

Although the metronome will never waiver in it’s spacing

between clicks, sometimes the musician will choose to play “off

the click” for musical effect.

Think of every beat as having 3 possible attack points: dead

centre (we call this the “pocket”), slightly in front of centre, or

slightly back of centre. Playing ahead, behind or in the pocket

will greatly change the overall feel of the music for the listener.

But, what if this slight shifting of beat placement isn’t enough to

achieve what the musician is trying to express? Answer:

We play “off the click”.

This is an important technique in bagpipe music because the

instrument itself has some significant limitations in the sound

it’s able to produce. The bagpipe is limited in its range, unable

to vary its volume, produces only legato notes, is unable to play

rests, and no one knows how to tune the things.

Subtle variations in articulation become extremely important

in giving traditional bagpipe music shape.

Pipers compensate and add expression to their music by

varying the length of the beats within a measure or phrase. We

refer to this as long and short note articulation, and it's a

form of rhythmic dynamics.

The important thing to remember is that, with the start and end

points (the time, in other words) predetermined, we need to be

careful that all our long and short beats add up mathematicaly

correct in the end, (so that A eventually lands cleanly on B). This

is where our landmarks come into play. Landmarks should fall

precisely in the pocket (the more precisely they land, the "deeper

the pocket") and, the more landmarks we have along the way, the

more solid our time will be.

The best and most effective (and most musical) way to do this

is to start every bar of triple or quadruple time (3/4, 9/8, 4/4 or

12/8) in the pocket, and every two measures of duple time (2/4 or

6/8) in the pocket, as a general rule.

Using 4/4 (standard) time as an example again... beat one of

each measure should land deep in the pocket, and the remaining

beats have room to move on or off the click at the musician’s

discretion (provided that the next beat 1 lands in the pocket again).

So, here’s the deal:

If, in 4/4 time, every beat 1 landmark falls precisely in the

pocket with consistency, we can give each measure a relative

value of 100%. Hence, 100 is the sum of our 4 beats in every

measure.

The metronome, with its equally spaced intervals will, therefore,

assign a value of 25% to each beat in each measure:

The musician, however, may assign different values to each beat

note to change the rhythmic feel of the piece. Such as, the

following for a strathspey:

Notice that the measure still adds up to 100%. The attack point of

every beat 1 will land in the pocket producing landmarks for the

musician and points of reference for the listener.

The key to remember is that you can not add time! I hear the

following time and time again, and, I'd say this is the biggest cause

of ensemble phrasing problems in band playing:

Remember... music, and time, are products of the universe and

follow all the same rules. Every action must have an equal or

opposite reaction. If you add time somewhere, you must subtract

time somewhere else.

Music is mathematics, music is time, music is life.

And... we're out of time... (for now)

Cheers!

-Ryan

Distant Early Warning

2010-02-23T23:46:00.000-07:00

Ok, so it's been a wee while since the last post again...

This month, let's take a look into the inner workings of the

Rocky Mountain Pipe Band Drum Corps!

The band meets once a week at the band hall (Thursday nights),

and the snare drummers have an extra go at my house most

Sunday nights. Generally, when it comes time to work on new

material, it goes something like this:

Pipe Major Sean emails me the piping sheet music and an mp3

of the set. I write the snare scores, then come up with the

midsection parts. We have a closed group on facebook - for the

drum corps - where I post .jpgs of the drum scores and practice

videos. I'll generally do a video for the snare drummers (pad &

chanter) and a video for the midsection (pad, chanter &

midsection parts). Everything gets posted on the facebook group,

and it's been a good, reliable, central place to keep all the music

up to date. Until today. Today I can't get into the group.

Normally this wouldn't be a major issue (perhaps tomorrow the

page will load just fine) but I'm in a little bit of a rush just now.

Rocky Mountain (and Alberta Caledonia Pipe Band) are doing a

concert in Calgary on March 13th. We've just picked a new set of

jigs to play at the concert and have just over 2 weeks, I guess, to

learn them. I finished up the music and made videos tonight but,

with the buggering of the facebook group, I have nowhere to

upload the practice videos for the drum corps. Which brings me

back to the lowly, oft-neglected blogger!

Lets call this the "drum scores of the month" for Jan/Feb/March.

Sean put this set together specifically for the March 13th gig, and

it's rather basic stuff, for the most part.

The set starts off with a slow air by Pat Napper; Polyrhythmically

Challenged. I really like this tune. It's a bit unorthodox as far as

slow airs go; not Gaelic, not lullaby-ish. Very 21st century pipe

band medley-ish, and really uses the whole scale, to good effect.

And it's built for ensemble!

A small snare break at the end of the air sets up the jig time, and

we go into 4 little jigs. First up is "The Blunder" by Sean Somers,

which we played in the City of Regina band 15 years ago. This is a

good, musical jig and one of Sean's earliest compositions. Then it's

two Gordon Duncan tunes - "The Panda" and "Blow My Chanter",

and finishing with the classic "Kesh Jig".

Because of the tight schedule, the drum scores are dead easy. I

went with a lot of recurring phrases, and the ending phrase is the

same throughout all 4 jigs. The Blunder and Kesh Jig have the

same first part. Not my shining moment as a writter, but as a

concert set... if it keeps your foot tapping for a couple minutes...

I guess it's served it's purpose!

Now, dearest RMPB drummers, here's your practice videos! If

the facebook group sorts itself out, I'll post them there as well.

Sight reading on Thursday... by memory on Sunday, please!

Oh, Maggie

2009-12-16T10:46:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last post here, so, I thought

I'd better get typing...

November was a good month, and a busy month for RMPB...

a successful fundraiser... a few good practices... a

few good parties... a few good shuffleboard tournaments...

I thought I'd continue with the "Drum Score of the Month"

series by featuring a tune from our new MSR...

Maggie Cameron!

We're playing this classic strathspey between Miss

Elspeth Campbell and The Rejected Suitor; all new tunes to

the band this season.

Maybe surprisingly, this is the first time I've written a

score for this tune, although I did play the Duthart

score with Alberta Caledonia for a few years in the early

2000's. In fact, you can hear the AlCal version on the

2000 and 2001 Worlds albums. I just had a quick listen to

the '01 recording, and was pleasantly surprised; not a bad

version of the score, actually! I hear lots of little

problems that show the inexperience much of the corps

had at the time, ie- mushy accented roll patterns, and very

little unison playing on the fortes (lots of lead-only

playing). You can also hear "chickenshit" roll endings in

a few spots. A chickenshit roll ending is where a roll is

supposed to end strong, but players worry so much about

missing the end of the roll that they "chicken out",

thinking that they'll be able to hide if they miss it.

Trust me, it doesn't work! Play the damn roll!

Even worse is when you hear drummers do it on the attack:

ZZZZZZZZZZZZut....... ZZZZZZZZZZZZut. Oh, man.

Anyways, the '01 performance was nae bad in the end, and,

for a band that usually struggles with their strathspey

playing, that was quite a good one. Believe me... there

was a lot of heart and soul in that performance. Just now

was the first time I've listened to it in a long time,

and it brought back some great memories!

Speaking of the Duthart arrangement for Maggie Cameron...

if you don't know it... learn it. It's one of the great

old drum scores that every drummer should know.

Ok,

Maggie Cameron is a beautiful strathspey. We don't know

who wrote it (I guess that makes it "trad"), but it's been

published many times. The earliest published version I can

find is in James Scott Skinner - The Strathspey King's -

"Harp & Claymore Collection" published in 1904. Skinner

was a dancer and fiddler, and his hand written manuscript

for Maggie Cameron was marked with the phrase

"Pipe Strathspey for Violin". However, only the first two

parts were published in this collection.

Maggie, herself, was actually Margaret MacKenzie, wife of

the great 19th century piper Donald Cameron. Donald was

employed as piper to Sir James Wemyss MacKenzie at his

home, Rosehaugh, on the Black Isle north of Inverness.

Margaret was a maid at Rosehaugh and married Donald in

1841. Donald later became piper to Seaforth at Brahan

Castle and a highly decorated solo competitor. It's not

known, however, if he composed the great strathspey that

honors his wife.

I have a personal theory that this was in fact a two part

tune, with the 3rd and 4th parts added some time later. The

first two parts have wonderful 8 beat phrase patterns which

is not common in strathspeys. Most strathspeys follow a

strong-weak-medium-weak 4 beat phrase pattern with

the strong beat 1 giving definition to each bar. Composers

tend to add contrast from one bar to the next, with an almost,

"call and answer" style of phrasing (think Arniston Castle,

Athole Cummers, Blair Drummond...). A few strathspeys,

however, lend themselves better to an 8 beat phrase

(S-W-M-W-M-W-M-W); less emphasis on beat 1 of bars

2 and 4, in other words. Maggie Cameron follows this pattern

beautifully for the first 2 parts, not for the last 2 parts. I also

hear this phrase pattern in a few other strathspey: Bob of

Fettercairn and Susan MacLeod to name a couple.

My objectives in writing this score were, obviously, to match

these phrase patterns in the tune. The first 2 parts are

played as 2 bar phrases, the 3rd and 4th parts played as one

bar phrases.

I won't go into every aspect of drum score composition

here, ie- dynamics, tension and release, and the rest of it...

that should be an aspect of every drum score. I'm just

touching on a couple things that were very specific to this

tune when I wrote it.

The other main focus of mine (after defining the phrases)

was separating the groupings. It's so important in a

strathspey to keep each individual triplet grouping "clean"

with a wee bit of space between them. When we refer to a

band playing strathspeys "too round", it has a little to do

with the interpretation of the dotted 1/8th and a lot to do

with the lack of separation between beat groupings. We

don't want our triplet grouping to sound like:

tu-ku-tu-tu-ku-tu-tu-ku-tu-tu-ku-tu, we want

tukutu-tukutu-tukutu-tukutu. It's that separation that

gives this simple time signature a compound feel. (This also

probably explains the lack of open work and straight ahead

singles in the score).

Cheers!

...'til next time,

-Ryan.

And though the news was rather sad, well, I just had to laugh.

2009-10-23T14:48:00.000-06:00

In the summer of 1985, my sister Robyn, a terrific Highland

dancer, was asked to participate on a tour of Scotland with our

local pipe band.

She went.

In fact, we all went; Mom, Dad, my sister and I, and my Grandma

Helen. It was a great 3 week trip 'round Alba that August - 25 years

ago. I was young, and the memories fade over time, but two

significant things happened on that trip, that will forever be a part

of my life.

One thing that I'll never forget, and that would ultimately shape

my personality as I grew up, was the atmosphere of the bus.

"Flyin 'cross the land, trying to get a hand, playin' in a Traveling Band"

Yeah!

No doubt, I enjoyed seeing the band perform, and seeing the country,

the Highlands, the funny looking cows, and the castles... but I loved

the bus! That's what it was all about! The country was nice... the

history I could appreciate, but get me back on the bus! The

camaraderie, the music, the singing, the laughs... that was the life

for me!

We got home and I started drumming lesson immediately.

The other significant memory from that trip to Scotland was

August 17, 1985. We rode the bus to Hamilton for the World Pipe

Band Championships! The band we were travelling with competed

in the grade 4 event, and, Robyn competed in the Highland Dancing.

Mostly my Dad and I walked around listening to the grade 1 bands,

and it was easy to see who owned the park - The Strathclyde Police.

Everyone was there to hear the Cops. They seemed like celebrities

to me. Every grade one band would have a handful of people around,

having a listen, but the Cops had hundreds. I even recall the few

days in Glasgow prior to the Worlds, and always hearing the same

from the locals: "Aye, ye're here fer the World Pipin' are ye? Well ye

shuldnae bother. It'll be the Polis again!". The people in Glasgow

were proud of "their band", and I knew the importance of the

Strathclyde Police Pipe Band before I knew what a paraddidle was.

By 1989, I was making regular trips to Scotland with Alberta

Caledonia (Edmonton Caledonia in those days...) for the World

Championships. I was 13 years old in 1989 and a bit blown away by

the whole thing. It was interesting to have watched the games in '85,

but now, 4 years later, I was there competing with a grade one band!

I couldn't believe it. All the bands that I'd been listening to on the

record player at home were there, and, who does our bus park

beside? The Strathclyde Police! What a great experience! I was

mesmerized watching the band, and boy did I watch! I watched how

they walked off the bus, how they set their drums down, how they

stood, how they tied their brogues... lol, it was amazing to me. I

remember how hard my band worked to get set up, and try to find

a sound, get organized and stay calm, but they just seemed to be

perfect out of the box. Not surprisingly, they won it all that year (as

they did nearly every year from '79 to '91) and I consider myself

lucky to have watched 3 of those Championship performances in

'85, '89 and, their last win, in 1991.

I have dozens and dozens of piping and pipe band recordings on LP,

cassette, cd, VHS, dvd, mp3, even a few old 78's! The first album I

ever bought was The Strathclyde Police "Champion of Champions -

Champions of the World"! What an album! I also have "6 in a Row"

and "Strathclyde Police Pipers"... even a couple from the Glasgow

Police era. The Polis, to me, were never breaking any new ground

with their arrangements; I listened to the Vale and the Frasers for

that. However, those Strathclyde albums from the '80s were my

text book, and they continue to be today. When I wanted to

understand how to properly play a polka or a 6/8 march or a

9/8 march... I studied the Polis. I still use those album all the time

with my students. They are definitive.

Now that I think back over the years, I remember attending

seminars with Scott MacAulay in the early '90s - the topic being

ensemble and medley construction - and his examples were always

the Strathclyde Police. I remember another seminar on "idiom"

(by Colin MacLellan, I think) and the examples we listened to were...

yep you guessed it! I also have memories of John Fisher transcribing

the Polis MSR from '91 and us playing it together: Miss Elspeth

Campbell, Cameronian Rant & Pretty Marion. Singles from hell! John

called that MSR the epitome of pipe band ensemble! It just seemed

like there was the Strathclyde Police, and then there was everyone else.

Sadly, there's now just everyone else.

http://www.pipesdrums.com/ViewObject.aspx?sys-Portal=57&sys-Class=Article&sys-ID=17980

God Bless the Strathclyde Police Pipe Band!

A Dark Scottish Lake, Loch Ruan.

2009-10-13T20:37:00.000-06:00

I hope everyone's enjoying the new website - rmpb.org!

The past year has been a really exciting time for Rocky Mountain, and it largely started with Sean Somers taking the lead in September 2008.

http://www.pipesdrums.com/ViewObject.aspx?sys-Portal=57&sys-Class=Article&sys-ID=17572

A few new players followed, and, the 2009 season - our first in grade 2 - was a successful debut. I don't think any of us could predict what would happen this off season, though. The number of new members this year is almost staggering; 8 new members to the pipe corps, 4 to the snare corps, 2 to the midsection!

Most of these new members bring grade one and two band experience, some are World Champions, others are North American Champions.

It's always exciting to see the band grow - to make new friends, and add numbers to the ranks - but what we've seen in the past 12 months has not only doubled the size of the band... it's changed the dynamic of the organization in every conceivable way. We've been so fortunate to gain members that have previously played at the highest level in Nova Scotia, Quebec, Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia, and, having this tremendous mix of people, and ideas, has been a benefit in so many ways. It's been a benefit to the executive, to the fundaising commitee, to the music selection commitee... and the addition of so many accomplished players has brought with it a deeper focus, and a passion that comes through in the music.

I always appreciate when a person decides that our band is the band that they want to play with. I really get excited when I see those people anxious to get involved with the executive, eager to raise funds... overflowing with ideas, musical and otherwise!

So, welcome to the band Andrew, James, Emma, Kyle, Duncan, Krissy, Sandy, Derrick, Matt, Brent, Willie, Ross, (but not Willie Ross), Andy, Gregor, Elizabeth, Trevors 1&2, Holly, Abbey, Elliot & Pat! You've made this organization bigger, better and stronger already!

-----------------

Now, everyone looks forward to this time of year for one reason: new music!

All the drum scores for 2010 are written and being worked on already, which is a freakin' record for this perpetually tardy lead drummer. Last year I was still writing and handing out new scores in April, and, it didn't make me a popular guy with the corps!

As the lead drummer, I have a bit of say into what tunes we play but, generally, I don't make too many suggestions. When you have pipers like Sean Somers, Andrew Smith and Ann Gray in the band, the selecting of music is in pretty good hands! I will, however, suggest some ensemble ideas, breaks, etc., or vote out a tune that I just can't get a feel for.

This season however, I had the band add a little 4/4 march that I've been in love with for about 10 years; Loch Ruan. I first played this tune in 1998 with Iain MacDonald and the City of Regina Pipe Band, and I wrote the following snare score that year. We only played it for one season (I left the band in 1999), but I've always kept it in the back of my mind, hoping to play it again. RMPB added it to the repertoir last month, and, it opens a set of "little 4/4's": Loch Ruan, At Long Last (by James MacHattie) and the classic Flett from Flotta.

The popular 2 part, Loch Ruan, was written by George McIntyre and published in his Minard Castle Collection. This is one of McIntyre's most famous composition [he also wrote the hornpipes Lucy Cassidy and Hazel Thompson to name a couple] and the tune has become a standard in many a Celtic fiddlers repertoire. Often played briskly on the fiddle, and sometimes as a hornpipe, we play the tune at a more suitable marching tempo of about 84 bpm.

In 1996, I attended the Long's Peak Scottish Festival in Estes Park, Colorado, with Alberta Caledonia, as one of the featured guest bands. The other guest band that year was the Victoria Police Pipe Band, from Australia, who would go on to win the World Pipe Band Championships two years later. The Vic Police band, and especially lead drummer Harold Gillespie, were a major influence on me in the late '90s. I remember being absolutely in awe standing beside them as they played. The 1st and 5th phrases of this score, with the snares playing the most basic of rhythms, was influenced by a march that the Vics played that year in Colorado...

Hope you like it!

ps/ there's a wonderful recording of Loch Ruan on Stu Liddell's solo album Inveroran.

Cheers!

Hey you, out there in the cold, getting lonely, getting old, can you feel me?

2009-10-04T17:59:00.000-06:00

I'm really excited to have a new website up and running, and thanks to snare drummer Andy Kopciuch for taking the time to set it all up! I like it! It's very clean and easy to navigate, and very functional too! Make sure you check back often for updates to the schedule, all the latest news about the band, and, of course, THIS!

I'll do my best to keep the blogs coming semi-regularly. My plan for this section of the website is to keep everyone up to date on the goings on at the ass end of the band. I'll be featuring a different drum score every month (or so), and maybe describe a bit of the process that went into writing that score. I'll talk about things that have influenced me over the years, musically or otherwise, and it may get completely random at times. Whatever. This is my blog...

-Ryan.