The long haul to Melrose

Bridget Taylor gives a participant's view of this year's LBPS March teaching weekend at Melrose

FRIDAY NIGHT, the M6, traffic jams near Preston, everyone in the car a bit tetchy after a hectic day at school and work (and we were missing the Scouts' pudding party on Sunday after donating a huge lemon tart and chocolate fridge cake) ... I didn't feel like the most popular mum in the world as I dragged the rest of my family up to Melrose for a piping weekend. The dog looked the most excited as he observed the bikes being loaded on top of the car and anticipated a weekend of exploring the Border hills and forests.

However, we all cheered up when we reached Penrith and found the fish and chip shop.

A quick phone call to the ever friendly George and Abbotsford hotel to warn them of our late arrival and we were back on the road north. We arrived in Melrose just as the evening session was winding down, so took a couple of drams up to our room and let the kids wind down too.

It soon became evident the next morning that the weekend had been very well thought out, with a printed class list and timetable accommodating Border pipes, smallpipes in A and smallpipes in D. Everyone had the opportunity to attend classes with three different tutors, each with their own inimitable style.

My D chanter had a well overdue outing in the first class with Richard Evans - and I have to say that the minute we started playing I remembered just how much I enjoy these weekends and why it is worth making an effort to get to them. You are suddenly immersed in piping with fellow enthusiasts from a variety of musical backgrounds and all worries about work etc, go out of your head.

Richard taught us some tunes from the north of England and the Border country by ear, (you really have to concentrate), then gave us some others with the music in front of us. His background knowledge of tunes is excellent, so you got a history lesson as well.

After a leisurely and quite liquid (for some) lunch in the local bistro, attended by some past committee VIPs (Hamish and Rhona in particular), it was back to an afternoon class with Fin Moore. Not easy - quite challenging in fact - to pick up a strathspey and two reels playing by ear. But it was a thoroughly enjoyable class.

I missed the early part of the Saturday evening festivities as we needed to take a family trip to Kelso to see my parents. My long suffering husband Andy (who was generous/ foolish enough to buy me a set of Hamish Moore pipes in 2001) had entertained Rachel (9), James (6) and Danny the dog with a visit to Melrose Abbey then a bike ride in Glentress Forest near Peebles.

A session was in full swing when we arrived back from Kelso - and a variety of whiskies were being sampled. After battling with Irish/English tune dominated sessions at home in Cheshire - where you have to keep jumping octaves and explaining your limited scale it's such a relief to play a Scottish repertoire, whether whistles, fiddles, melodeons and an accordion as well as pipes, and we carried on until well after 1a.m. and even received requests (for tunes, not to shut up) from the very polite bar staff.

Sunday morning's class was with Chris Ormston and we rattled through a huge number of tunes, being urged not to speed up but not able to restrain ourselves. Chris had some great hints for remembering rhythms - a rant characterised by “tomato soup”; a jig - “Liverpool, Everton”; a reel - “Rangers, Celtic, Rangers, Celtic”, etc.

Perhaps there should be an LBPS competition to think of some more!

I had lunch with the family, who had been swimming in Kelso (in the pool, not the Tweed) while Fin demonstrated pipe maintenance using my pipes. I wasn't in the room to hear any comments about my lack of care, but in his hands they sound lovely - so there's no excuse for me.

Many thanks to George Greig for organising the weekend so efficiently. I would urge fellow members of the LBPS,

if you haven't ever been to the Melrose teaching weekend or if you haven't been in recent years, try to come along next year. It's a refreshing, stimulating and relaxing weekend which recharges your piping batteries.

Post-mortem

During a post-mortem on the Melrose teaching weekend, the organiser George Greig, reported to the LBPS committee that after two very successful weekends with attendances in the twenties, this year he had found it a struggle to drum up 17 participants, although those who had attended had thoroughly enjoyed it and feedback was positive. But he did wonder why there had been less of a response. The Committee agreed that members should let the society know what they would like to see on the March teaching weekend that would encourage them to attend.