Tam Stewart Music and Art
Big T and the Squeaky Octopus
Who is that handsome devil?
I started learning to play the Great Highland Bagpipes in 1999. My pal Dave McKenna very kindly gave up his lunch breaks to teach me and listen to my feeble attempts at learning notes, grace notes, grips, taorluaths (pronounced truelooth), strikes and doublings. Poor lad. I joined a pipe band and left it after a few years. The remnants of that band are now under new leadership and now play only for fun. I like that approach and wish them nothing but success, but I am still happy being a solo piper.
The pipes are a temperamental beast and can give immense pleasure with moments or days of utter frustration. Some 25 years or so later nothing has changed.
I have had a love/hate relationship with the bagpipes over the past few years. I had a stint as the North Yorkshire Piper. I found that as soon as money becomes a factor all the fun disappears and it becomes a chore. Accountants and tax returns proved it was not worth the bother.
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I released an album in 2021. It was on iTunes and Spotify. In early 2022 I decided to put the pipes down and step back from public playing as part of my simplifying my busy life. I removed the album from iTunes and Spotify. If you want to download it, have a look on the Audio Page for the Purple Tree tunes. They are all free if you want them.
That was over a year ago but now playing the bagpipes brings me pleasure again. As with all my art and woodwork and metalwork, I do it all for enjoyment only. I am not interested in earning anything from them. And I am happy with that. I am still happy to play in public for free as long as I can turn up in jeans, have a Guinness or two and play a few tunes for my friends.
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You can listen to a few on the music player below. The first tune is my favourite. The Gael, a collaboration I did with some outstanding musicians and utterly brilliant people down in Southampton. 71 Chain - thank you chaps for doing this with me and also for your hospitality. I have also added some tunes played on Twist Trap Pipes which give a mellow sound.
Having dusted off my pipes and practice chanter I wanted to re-learn the old tunes I used to play and also some new ones with a bit more about them than the old marching tunes that I have played for two decades. Some Hornpipes, Jigs and Reels.
Here are the tunes I currently play and also the ones I am in the process of learning or polishing to a standard acceptable for public playing. The skill fade and finger dexterity loss are substantial at the moment after over a year not going near the pipes or practice chanter. I even had trouble remembering some tunes names!
