skirl25

[skirl25]

Writing Initiative 7

I think my word allowed me to focus more on Scottish culture and it made me realise how important and passionate I am about it and before I didn't realise how much it meant to me.

I found crafting all the pieces to be the most difficult for me as I didn't have access to all the normal materials I would have at home and I didn't want to buy lots of extra stuff. It was challenging to work out solutions using the least materials possible.

I really enjoyed having a long form project as this is more what it's like at home. I also really liked being able to work on the projects simultaneously so that each one could influence the other.

I was really happy with my final outcomes although I think I could have pushed a bit harder on the creation of each of the pieces and found more interesting ways to present them.

I wouldn't do too much differently. I might have done more exploration with different materials to work out the perfect one for each piece.

[skirl25]

Reflective piece

[skirl25]

Reflective Booklet Three

[skirl25]

Reflective Booklet Two

[skirl25]

Reflective Booklet One

[skirl25]

Reflective Piece

I decided that the sketches and text looked best on a black background for the reflective booklets.

I created three booklets and shaped them so that when they were laid out flat they would sit together nicely and all of the sketches could be viewed together at once.

[skirl25]

Reflective Development

I experimented with the shape of the booklet and potentially having some black and white.

[skirl25]

Reflective Experimentation

It was mentioned in the crit that maybe my booklets should be more of a rounded shape to match with my other pieces. I did some experimentation cutting the paper to see which shape would work.

[skirl25]

Reflective and 4D Audio

My brother playing his bagpipes!

[skirl25]

Reflective Booklet Inspiration

[skirl25]

3D Inspiration

[skirl25]

4D Piece

Again using the circle marks from the beginner chanter music, I wanted to emphasise the sound of the bagpipes filling the space and showing how the notes linger on and how it is a constant sound with no breaks. Like the 2D piece, I also aimed to differentiate the two bagpipe sounds (the droning and the sharp notes). Each circle appears as each note plays with some of the circles growing in size to represent the longer notes. The droning is represented by lines passing over the circles in waves almost replicating vibrations passing through water.

[skirl25]

4D Piece

[skirl25]

2D Piece

To emphasise the flowing and constant nature of the sound, I decided the 2D piece would be better to be a more natural shape and not constricted to a rectangle. I also liked how it felt almost like a map shape.

[skirl25]

Final 3D

[skirl25]

3D Piece

To represent the sound of the bagpipes travelling through the landscape I thought it would be interesting to write out canntaireachd to emphasise the historic connection of the sound of the bagpipes and another method to visually represent a sound.

[skirl25]

Piobaireachd and Canntaireachd

When speaking to my brother, he mentioned that when learning the piobaireachd (a type of bagpipe music) his tutor would sing the tune in canntaireachd.

Canntaireachd which translates to singing in Gaelic, is an ancient method of teaching, learning, and memorizing piobaireachd through a system of vocables (small words) and rhythmic patterns. The singing of canntaireachd is important because it conveys nuances of expression that cannot be easily represented in standard musical notation. It predates the widespread use of regular music notation and serves as a crucial method of preserving and transmitting musical traditions.

Examples of canntaireachd would be "hi-hi-rah-rah," "dee-dee-dee," and "dee-dee-rah".