In the Weirdest Places

[kaasirpent]

Sometimes I run across what I consider to be ‘writing lessons’ in the weirdest places.

Today, I was listening to podcasts whilst working. In one (Scopes Monkey Choir), the hosts mentioned a music instrument I had never heard of: the Northumbrian Smallpipes.

On YouTube, I discovered that it’s kind of a northern-England version of a bagpipe or uilleann pipes, driven by a bellows that requires the player to pump with his or her arm while playing. It sounds . . . a bit like the bagpipes or uilleann pipes. But with a greater range. And less drone-y.

So anyway, as I’m wandering from video to video to get an idea how these things sound, I ran across this video. As she described her friend for whom the song is written, I thought to myself, “I want to use this amazing description for a character in a story.”

And then at 3:15 in, she says, “It’s not the tune I intended to write . . . but tunes sometimes have a habit of having their own mind about where they want to go and what they want to be.”

Sound familiar? Anyone? :)

Here’s the video. (I apologize for the gigantic size. I don’t know why it’s doing that. My YouTube-embedding fu is weak.)

[youtube_embed width=480 height=360]Zig7QP0LkmU[/youtube_embed]

(For those of you on LiveJournal, just click here. Sorry.)

Originally published at WriteWright. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[ziasummer.livejournal.com]

i am not into music instruments or music outside of listening but I always enjoy hearing new instruments and some of the culture it brings into modern days.

Thanks for sharing!

[kaasirpent]

One of the many things I love about YouTube is that if you hear about X, there's probably a video of it on YouTube. :) It's better than Google, sometimes.

[oneeyeddaruma.livejournal.com]

Oh, how I love the uilleann pipes. I found myself mourning Bruce's loss.

[fauxklore]

I don't remember when I first heard smallpipes, but I know it was at least 20 years ago.

Wait until you stumble upon the various Greek, Albanian and Bulgarian bagpipe variations.