Well that's the first snow on the hills of Arran this week, which means that we are well and truly moving into the Winter, but the Autumn has been a lot of fun. August finished off with a three day tour of Argyll with Joy Dunlop which was much fun and great to see some busy venues in Oban, Dunoon and Tobermory.
The middle of September took me to Colonsay for the full Colonsay Music Festival, Ceol Cholasa - I'm not sure how I managed to survive 5 whole days but it was one of the best festivals that I have had the pleasure of playing at for a while, and loved the local beers from the Colonsay Brewery! As well as a solo workshop/concert I also enjoyed playing with Manran and testing out my new Hamish Moore A440 Chanter alongside Calum Stewart on Uillean Pipes, all went well! Speaking of Uillean Pipes, I finally got an Uillean Chanter from Ray Sloan which I've been after for a while. Here's my progress after one day practicing it and taking lessons from the Online Academy of Irish Music which is fantastic.
9 pipers from the Red Hot Chilli Pipers performing 9 part harmony!
Later on in the month I went down to London with a Chilli Piper supergroup of 9 of us to perform a piece written by Julia Wolfe called "Lad". It's a piece that people either seem to love or hate, and I really liked it - though it is VERY experimental making use of unusual techniques on the pipes like chirping bird sounds, trailing drones and strike ins.
The Finale of the 2012 Colonsay Music Festival
The middle of September took me to Colonsay for the full Colonsay Music Festival, Ceol Cholasa - I'm not sure how I managed to survive 5 whole days but it was one of the best festivals that I have had the pleasure of playing at for a while, and loved the local beers from the Colonsay Brewery! As well as a solo workshop/concert I also enjoyed playing with Manran and testing out my new Hamish Moore A440 Chanter alongside Calum Stewart on Uillean Pipes, all went well! Speaking of Uillean Pipes, I finally got an Uillean Chanter from Ray Sloan which I've been after for a while. Here's my progress after one day practicing it and taking lessons from the Online Academy of Irish Music which is fantastic.
9 pipers from the Red Hot Chilli Pipers performing 9 part harmony!Later on in the month I went down to London with a Chilli Piper supergroup of 9 of us to perform a piece written by Julia Wolfe called "Lad". It's a piece that people either seem to love or hate, and I really liked it - though it is VERY experimental making use of unusual techniques on the pipes like chirping bird sounds, trailing drones and strike ins.