Schhh...you know which shottische

The fan is at a session and much as I like to be with him when it’s a choice between sitting in a corner watching other people play and actually playing myself there’s not much competition, especially as I find that watching other people play really makes me want to play. I’m again being reminded of the difference between a chanter and pipes. The chanter is for dull and dreary practice and the pipes are an instrument on which you play and that play just happens to be practice. On the chanter more than twice through a tune drove me mad. I‘ve spent nearly two hours so far this evening on just two tunes over and over. I flip between the two to give myself some variety and also because I find sometimes when I begin on the Highlanders I find I am actually playing Nigel’s Tune. Yes, dotless! I still need to glance at the dots to remind me which order things come in, but it’s coming. Listening to lots of versions online. And that’s what I am posting this evening*. Not the best – have still fluffed notes and timing, but that’s more red button-itis than any lack of ability. I also garble some of the faster parts - I sort of gabble them out at speed and it's not quite right. But look at the timing – run through twice in the same time that Nigel plays it**, so my speed is coming along well! I feel I could put some nice ornamentation in this, but the basics and the speed aren’t leaving room for experimentation at present. What I can’t get is the order of the phrase for part four of the highlanders. Will need the fan to run through it again for me. Oh – and spot the difference. Playing with the full three drones tonight. The fan says it adds a layer of harmony and makes it sound more GHB-ish. It sounds a bit out of tune to me – and quite probably one or more drone is adrift, as I have no fan on tuning duty tonight. *The first attempt a month ago here, and I do feel there's some serious improvement since the last time. **Mysteriously added a few seconds between transferring off the recorder and converting from wav to mp3. Still close though when you remove the faffing about at each end.