More noise isn't necessarily the same as progress

More noise can be fun, though. Yesterday I got around to playing again after a bit of a break with returning from my parents' after Christmas, and also after they came up and delivered my water manometer, which was far too large to take on the train with me. After a quick pressure check I unplugged the thing and decided to just try and play, and it worked out fairly well, although the same old problem with refilling the bag still manifests. This is to be expected, I'm sure.

I've also noticed that differing pressure has a very pronounced effect on the middle notes of the chanter. Particularly today I was finding that the middle D was going sharp at the slightest inclination, and by sharp I mean really sharp. However, once I figured out the cause I was able to keep some better control over it, and it usually only happened around bag filling time, where my pressure control is right out of the window anyway. That does seem to be the critical thing at the moment.

I also thought, just for fun, try opening up drone number two. I was playing simple pieces in G, so I had the low G drone going anyway. Opened up the high D drone and tuned it in (surprisingly easily, I must be getting a better ear or lower standards), then played for a bit. It was nice, but a little odd. Opening up the low D drone as well added a real depth and richness, although the bag empties at an alarming rate with three drones running.

I don't think I'm supposed to use the low D drone for G music, but I thought it sounded quite nice with some pieces. Presumably it'd work horrendously with others though... maybe today I just got lucky.