Post by Ace on Nov 24, 2003 0:51:23 GMT -5
Corsican Daily Sun
11/16
PLAYING THE 'PIPES:
Tiffany Speegle takes instrument to heart
At 16, Tiffany Speegle of Blooming Grove has been playing the bagpipe for three years. College plans include choosing a school with a quality bagpipe band, and she hopes to spend at least one semester studying abroad. Courtesy Photo/LYNN SPEEGLE
By JOAN SHERROUSE/Daily Sun Staff
Imagine a balmy, starlit night with the rich sounds of a bagpipe riding on a light breeze, but you're not in Scotland, you're in Blooming Grove.
Tiffany Speegle, a 16-year-old high school junior, is the musician, and her story has a tenderly romantic side.
"I've been playing for about three years, and I started because I fell in love with the Irish actor Pierce Brosnan when I was about 10," she said. "I got really interested in Ireland, and originally, I wanted to take Irish dancing lessons, but there wasn't a teacher in Waco, so I took up bagpiping instead."
At the time, she lived in Waco where her mother works, and she still attends a private school. Her teacher, Wade Harper, drives up from Austin weekly to meet with her and three other bagpipers, and help them hone their skills.
"We meet at someone's house every week," she said, adding that she and her mother often spend the night with a friend after the lesson ends at 7 p.m.
Not all music is appropriate for this instrument which has a nine-note range, but "Amazing Grace" may be the best known and loved selection. Speegle said tunes written in 2/4 and 6/8 time, slow marches and piobaireache work the best.
This ancient instrument with its early roots likely buried in Mesopotamia has four parts, including the bag, the chanters, the drones and blowpipe.
"You start by filling the bag with air by blowing on the blowpipe, then you have to push the bag with your hand to make the drones start humming," she said. "Then, you press on the bag with your fingers on the pipes to make the music."
Speegle said she practices 30 to 45 minutes a day, but more to her liking are the frequent performances and competitions she does.
The most recent one was last weekend, and she walked away from the Salado Gathering of the Clans with two gold medals, a silver and bagpiper of the day honors in the grade-four junior division.
After she got past the challenge of coaxing sounds out of a beginner's instrument -- which amounts to a chanter and blowpipe -- she graduated to the real thing.
Then, as she refined her skills and technique to performance quality, it was time to add another element to her music.
A full-dress kilt.
She chose the Prince Royal Stewart tartan after researching the tartan of Bonnie Prince Charlie, a one-time heir to the British throne. The kilt is required dress in competition, and Speegle ordered hers from a California specialty company.
As she continues to study the history and culture of Ireland, she had the opportunity to spend time with her parents in England last summer and hopes to spend a semester studying there.
"All my college choices right now have really big bagpipe bands," she said. "My first choice, their bagpipe band goes to the world championship in Scotland every year, and I want to do that."
She made directing her career choice, though, and plans to study theater at the university level.
Meanwhile, music will remain a mainstay in her life, with the bagpipe replacing the piano which she began studying at five, long before her hands could possibly span a full octave.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Ace
11/16
PLAYING THE 'PIPES:
Tiffany Speegle takes instrument to heart
At 16, Tiffany Speegle of Blooming Grove has been playing the bagpipe for three years. College plans include choosing a school with a quality bagpipe band, and she hopes to spend at least one semester studying abroad. Courtesy Photo/LYNN SPEEGLE
By JOAN SHERROUSE/Daily Sun Staff
Imagine a balmy, starlit night with the rich sounds of a bagpipe riding on a light breeze, but you're not in Scotland, you're in Blooming Grove.
Tiffany Speegle, a 16-year-old high school junior, is the musician, and her story has a tenderly romantic side.
"I've been playing for about three years, and I started because I fell in love with the Irish actor Pierce Brosnan when I was about 10," she said. "I got really interested in Ireland, and originally, I wanted to take Irish dancing lessons, but there wasn't a teacher in Waco, so I took up bagpiping instead."
At the time, she lived in Waco where her mother works, and she still attends a private school. Her teacher, Wade Harper, drives up from Austin weekly to meet with her and three other bagpipers, and help them hone their skills.
"We meet at someone's house every week," she said, adding that she and her mother often spend the night with a friend after the lesson ends at 7 p.m.
Not all music is appropriate for this instrument which has a nine-note range, but "Amazing Grace" may be the best known and loved selection. Speegle said tunes written in 2/4 and 6/8 time, slow marches and piobaireache work the best.
This ancient instrument with its early roots likely buried in Mesopotamia has four parts, including the bag, the chanters, the drones and blowpipe.
"You start by filling the bag with air by blowing on the blowpipe, then you have to push the bag with your hand to make the drones start humming," she said. "Then, you press on the bag with your fingers on the pipes to make the music."
Speegle said she practices 30 to 45 minutes a day, but more to her liking are the frequent performances and competitions she does.
The most recent one was last weekend, and she walked away from the Salado Gathering of the Clans with two gold medals, a silver and bagpiper of the day honors in the grade-four junior division.
After she got past the challenge of coaxing sounds out of a beginner's instrument -- which amounts to a chanter and blowpipe -- she graduated to the real thing.
Then, as she refined her skills and technique to performance quality, it was time to add another element to her music.
A full-dress kilt.
She chose the Prince Royal Stewart tartan after researching the tartan of Bonnie Prince Charlie, a one-time heir to the British throne. The kilt is required dress in competition, and Speegle ordered hers from a California specialty company.
As she continues to study the history and culture of Ireland, she had the opportunity to spend time with her parents in England last summer and hopes to spend a semester studying there.
"All my college choices right now have really big bagpipe bands," she said. "My first choice, their bagpipe band goes to the world championship in Scotland every year, and I want to do that."
She made directing her career choice, though, and plans to study theater at the university level.
Meanwhile, music will remain a mainstay in her life, with the bagpipe replacing the piano which she began studying at five, long before her hands could possibly span a full octave.
---------------------------------------------------------------------
Ace
