CHANTER

* Tune Lessons
* Exercises
* Tutorial Articles
* Theory Explained in Detail
* Practice Programs
* Pipe Maintenance

AVAILABLE SINCE 15 JANUARY 2011
10 issues per year (approximately every 5 weeks)
£20 for a complete 10 issue subscription*
the cheapest quality professional instruction you’ll ever have

ISSUES 1-10
£20

* In the event of this publication being discontinued any unused
subscription proportion will be returned

START WITH ISSUE 1 AND BUILD YOUR SELF-HELP LIBRARY

‘CHANTER’ is a mixed-media tutorial magazine based on discussion
papers, tutorials and multi-media files which are embedded into the
magazine document which is then presented as a pdf file (with separate
sound files) and then sent via email.
It’s target market is Foundation stage up to Level 3 (PDQB) which
Provides current tuition as well as an ability to be able to refresh or
Archive sections for future practice/study.
It is extremely innovative in its concept and there is nothing like it on
the market today.
It has been 10 years in the making and is the result of extensive
development and research.
Editor Bruce Campbell brings a unique mixture of attributes to the
table which make production of this magazine a possibility including;
* professional piper since 1971
* successful top level competing solo piper since 1983
* professional piping teacher since 1983
* 13 years full-time experience as a sports journalist and editor
* 25+ years experience as a publisher
* editor and publisher of PIPING WORLD

All subscriptions start with ISSUE 1 - so nothing is missed.

INDEX FOR ISSUE 1
1. LOOKING AT MUSIC
- repertoire management
- Slow Airs or Slow Marches?
2. TECHNIQUE & EXERCISES
- D Throws
- Doublings
- Grips
3. INDIVIDUAL TUNE LESSONS
- ‘Teribus’
- ‘Duncan McInnes’
- ‘Pipe Major Willie Gray’s Farewell to the Glasgow Police’
4. GETTING TECHNICAL: PIPING TUTORIAL ARTICLES
- building a music library
- pipe chanter reeds: don’t slobber, experiment
- reels: round or pointed
- looking for maintenance skills
5. TUNE REPOSITORY
- ‘Dream Angus’
- Chi Mi an Tir’
- ‘The Dark Island’
- ‘Fingal’s Weeping’
- ‘Loch Rannoch’
- ‘Morag of Dunvegan’
- ‘The Piper’s Waltz’
- ‘Pipe Major Willie Gray’s Farewell to the Glasgow Police’
- ‘Teribus’
- ‘Duncan McInnes’

BUILDING A LIBRARY

MANY pipers today find themselves in the strange situation of not being able to hear any top class piping or at least not on a regular basis.
And it is that lack of exposure to regular quality playing that can prove to be the most damaging to anybody’s future progress.
Without the ability to distinguish between great, good, not so great and plain out and out rotten, any learner will struggle to get on a straight road to better playing.
BBC Radio Scotland’s Pipeline program is certainly one answer but it is not the only answer.
The program offers listeners a regular diet of quality piping but also brings another problem.
Perhaps a while back that problem didn’t exist as the show had a more purist approach than it does now.
But today’s magazine-style program schedule sees a varied mix of different types of piping as well as both pipe bands and solo piping all from within the Scottish idiom - as well as other types of piping.
While that might be great for a narrow group of 5% of listeners it once again falls short for the learner or student.
Because of that, building a library of CDs made by top class solo players really comes into its own as a study aid.
The advantage with a studio recorded CD, of course, is that the player rarely feels pressured into releasing a track which he is not completely happy with.
So the end result is good representation of a player who will likely be in the top echelon anyway - hence, the recording company’s decision to invest cash into the project.
And it isn’t just faultless technical execution which can be heard, it is the other aspects of immaculately balanced chanter sound and top quality drone accompaniment.
But perhaps the major bonus is the ability to be able to hear quality phrasing and expression.
Turning what was a rare or occasional opportunity to listen to top class playing into a regular diet will no doubt make the difference.
After all, if you don’t hear piping at the top how can you hope to aspire to something which is intangible?
It isn’t fair to compare the greats of the piping world to the well-meaning but technically challenged local band player and by building a quality musical library any piper is now able to have access to some fine role models at the touch of a finger.
Recently I had the opportunity to discuss recording with a highly influential contest organiser and was stunned by the opinion that CDs were fazing out.
Unlike some types of popular music recorded pipe music has never been as popular.
Sales of piping CDs have gone through the roof in the last few years and despite the changing of the guard as far as recording companies is concerned, a new wave of quality CDs has been launched on the market in the last recently.
Sales of pipe music books are also encouragingly high.
That is all good news for the aspiring piper who can start to build both the print and recorded versions of music in a way which was only dreamed about just a few years ago.
There will always be those who download pirate tunes and music from the internet but if on the evidence of some of the ‘settings’ I have seen in the last few years my fellow publishers have really little to worry about.

103 x A4 pages