Building Blocks

The third article from Hamish Moore – acknowledged as the premier small pipes bagpipe maker in Scotland now working in Barga as artist in residence 2008  – Twas on the Monday morning and I had put in a good three hour shift at the lathe and was just thinking about stopping for some lunch when an astonishment of scarlet clad beings came streaming across and completely filling  Piazza Angelio. I peered out of my door in amazement ; it was almost as if a flock of human scarlet ibis were coming in to roost from the North East coast of Venezuela to the Caroni swamp in Trinidad in The West Indies. But these were of the genus and species, homo and sapiens  respectively ——–  but  there was  tartan in amongst it too  –  and lots of it. The males of the species wore woollen garments coming as far as their knees while the females had the benefit of total leg cover on this bright but sharply cold alpine type  morning. 

I now had to piece this together and quickly I did – the scarlet was unmistakable ( I remember the blazers and the rugby shirts ) – The formality of the blazers had been replaced by 21st century fleeces and quite a few schools of the public variety in Scotland now encourage the wearing of kilts –   Loretto : a very expensive "private/public" school situated in The Lang Toon of Musellburgh just to the east of Edinburgh and heading for the East Lothian coast.
 
It made me think of the Bellany man again and how I came to come to be here in the first place.  I never did work out why these expensive and exclusive boarding schools are called "public".  What I knew of a public school as a child was of a free education and school open to all.
The public school name and concept originated in England and was enthusiastically adopted and embraced north of the border throughout the length and breadth of Scotland but probably  nowhere  more  than in the environs of Auld Reekie, Scotland's capital. How did an exclusive, expensive and private establishment become to be known as public ? Language is a funny   –(and)–      peculiar ——     thing indeed.
I had to find out what they were up to in Barga – a school trip – yes – but I was in for a treat – a school choir as it turned out of extraordinary talent out doing a Tuscan concert tour .
If I had only known that they had just given a performance in The Theatre in Barga !!!.  However . I poked my head out the door, got chatting , offered a tour of the studio and an explanation of the pipes, a bit of their history and the revival and gave them a bit of a performance in the form a of a few tunes.
 They returned the compliment with an astonishing arrangement and performance of "The Piper of Dundee".
Absolutely wonderful and it thrilled me for it's beauty and inventiveness – and to hear this magical wall of sound resounding round my wee studio – my own public ( or should it be private ) performance.
 
There was no more work on the agenda for me that morning so I quickly packed up and headed out in the searingly beautiful sunshine for my daily walk. I thought to look for a slightly different route that Monday and followed a lovely path down a steep hill to the north of Barga. It looked a fairly public path : at least I didn't see any  "private property keep out signs" .  I mourn the fact that these signs have sprung up in recent years in Scotland. In the past somehow we didn't need them and everyone just seemed to respect all . We do now have an official Right to Roam Policy in the Countryside but somehow in the old days it didn't seem necessary.
What I did see however on the way down my lovely wee path just under the precipitous north wall of the old city was a view of an amazing juxtaposition of two plants ; two of the basic building blocks of these woodwinds which I make. On the left a good example of a box tree ( Boxus boxus ) and across the path and just a meter away, a fine stand of of the cane which grows wild (and some would say as a weed) all over the Mediterranean : Arondo donax. From these two building  blocks ( plus a few others ! ) we take these raw elements and turn them into musical instruments which give pleasure to the player and listener alike.
We are probably one of a  few remaining  pipe makers in the world who continue to use cane (as opposed to synthetic materials) for the making of drone reeds.  To achieve this and to make reeds of the highest quality the cane has to be carefully selected.  We make an annual trip to Cogolin near St. Tropez in the south of France to buy from a cane producer who is one of the finest in Europe.   Sr. Rigotti and his family grow cane , store it in just the right circumstances , cure it and produce a raw material for the world that is as good as it comes. Not only that, but they run a small family run factory producing, with this cane , fine reeds for clarinets and saxophones and slips of cane for reed makers for oboes and bassoons. Sr. Rigotti certainly changed my life when he allowed me to come and pick the cream of his crop and showed me a pile of drone cane which not only will see me out but  had my name on it too. They're  lovely people and all of this goes to restore a faith in human nature. !
 

The other plant I referred to on the walk that day was boxwood and it can be seen extensively all over Barga and surrounding district ; but mostly as hedges. The Victorians in Scotland were also very keen on it as a hedging plant, but, if  allowed to grow to its full potential, will mature into a fine tree. We use it extensively in our pipe making and for me it produces a tonal quality that is probably second to none of all the woods at our disposal. It was my good friend and colleague, Rod Cameron who taught me about Box. Rod is  one of the finest makers of baroque (or for that matter) any wooden flutes in the world and he has given me so much guidance and teaching in my professional career.  Boxwood however for all its qualities has the most awful propensity for bending and many a chanter or flute can end up looking more like a banana than a musical instrument. Rod however told me other wise. Through his careful explanations he taught me that the wood could be micro waved and therefore stress relieved and achieve 95% of its bending while in its raw state. It can then be  returned (if you could excuse my pun ) to centre and bend no more. It was used in the 18th century all over Europe in flute making and in Scotland for pipe making along with many other indigenous timbers such as laburnum, yew and the fruit woods. The end of the 18th and beginning of the 19th centuries saw the introduction of ebony from Mozambique and by the early part of the 20th century, African Blackwood from Tanzania had become the standard timber of choice for pipes of all varieties.
 
So here in Barga are my building blocks. Boxwood and cane.
 
I remember so well one hot June day sitting outside, in the afternoon sunshine in Eyemouth ( a beautiful fishing village on the east coast of Berwickshire in Scotland ) in 1994 with my good friends Dave Francis and Mairi Campbell and over a glass of chilled Muscadet we played some  tunes , sang some songs and had some lovely conversations. There was warmth in the air and warmth between us. The pipes I was playing  on that occasion and the ones I have with me here in Barga are  my beloved boxwood small pipes in the key of D.
 Having played the Loretto choir a tune on these pipes last Monday morning, I sent out a challenge  ——— " anyone with perfect pitch then – what's the key ?. The choirmaster responded instantly  —— "D" . What a gift ! "Perfectomondo" – the makyup word my daughter coined as a sort of quasi Italian expression of near perfectness.
I wonder if I can introduce it into the Barga vocabulary , even as a sort expression of the near perfectness of their old city (the smallest in Italy) But this is for another day – another diary – another blog and reminiscence.
 
Dave Francis and Mairi Campbell took an innocent wee phrase that afternoon in Eyemouth. I was sitting after a tune admiring the raw materials of those pipes. I mentioned the boxwood, the hemp, the gold and the leather – the building blocks of the instrument  and out of that they took with them that night and ran  and made a song –  for me –

" The Piper and the Maker "

The drones are turned from boxwood and the chanter's bound with gold
Finest beeswax hemp and leather
Here I'll give you them to hold –  Dave Francis and Mairi Campbell

The instrument in Eyemouth that afternoon was the initial inspiration but I know the groove we dug ourselves in Pitlochry on another Sunday afternoon on our way to The Eistedford in Wales joined  the ends together – it     "Made the Circle Whole"
 
Taking these building blocks, making these instruments, presenting them to the players and hearing what they put into them – their personality , their tuning and their music – makes complete that old Celtic Concept     –     " To Whole Circle "
 
See  The Cast  -The Colours of Lichen – Greentrax Recordings.
         Hamish Moore – The Piper and the Maker   – Greentrax Recordings  –  CDTRAX265

Hamish Moore – 26th February 2008 –  All of his weekly articles can be seen here

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