Piping is Poetry
_ UNEDIN is not entirely inhabited by Scots, nor was it entirely settled by members of that race, and Dunedinites of mixed descent may. be pardoned for a little resentment when radio speakers presuppose that we are all kiltwearers down this way. Such a criticism, however, certainly cannot apply to the
BBC feature The Making of a Pipe This programme, first broadcast to Sco tish listeners of the BBC, was appr priately re-directed at Scottish listener to the NZBS through 4YA, and thos who failed to hear it, whether a Welsh, Irish, or English by descent 0 birth, missed a first-rate combinatior of detailed information, unusual musi and that elusive quality known, for lac of a better description, as "human i terest." The programme traced th
career of Pipe-Major William Ross, of" the School of Piping in ome Castle, from his first try on a practic chanter at the tender age of six year through the steady development of hig talent, through his war service with th Scots Guards, to the high place he no occupies teaching a most difficult instru ment and training youngsters of promi to become pipe-majors in their turn. Ig the course of this programme I picke up more information than I can here-the pipes, for instance, gre madé of cocoa-wood, ivory, and reeds whic come from Spain, only the sheepski bag being of local material; there ar three drones tuned to A, and a chant on which the piper plays the tune wit his fingers; marches and dance-tunes ar known as the "little music," and th fascinating pibroch (of which we hear several plaintive examples) is the "bi music." The details of performance wer as lost on me as they would be on any one else who has never handled a se of pipes; but the programme, by e planation and illustration, gave me clearer insight into the purpose of thos characteristic grace-notes, made m familiar with the peculiar and uniq scale of the chanter, and left me i complete agreement with Pipe-Majo. Ross, that "Piping is Poetry." rt BE
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New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 445, 2 January 1948, Page 6
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347Piping is Poetry New Zealand Listener, Volume 18, Issue 445, 2 January 1948, Page 6
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