The Smallpiper Blog

Hello!
Just a quicky! To let everyone know that there is no session on Sunday. Because we gave The Willows the option of sorting out the license we feel obliged to wait and try to sort it out. So, fingers crossed we'll be there on Sunday the Teenth of January. Watch this space! In the meantime, you can catch us at the High Barn in Great Bardfield (in Essex) on Sunday 23rd December (that's next week) and there'll be a session afterwards, so bring your instruments!!!
:)
Vicki & Jonny

Hello!
We've just spent the last two days learning all about the 2003 licensing act and the PRS / PPL. It's been a steep learning curve. We arrived at The Willows on Sunday night to be told by the landlord that we'd not be able to have the session there anymore as his license didn't cover it, that he could only have two people playing at any one time. Of course, this sent us straight down the wrong road and a day of researching the 2003 licensing act. We spoke to a really helpful lady at the Braintree Licensing Department, she was able to tell us what a pub would need and whether The Willows was licensed. It turns out, the pub was licensed.

So next stop, the PRS. We have had a nightmare trying to navigate their website in the past. So it was another phone call. To hold a traditional music session in a pub there are two things that can be done. If you can prove to them that you are only playing traditional copyright free music then you don't need a license. All you need to do is to send them a set list of around 200 tunes (make sure they're really trad!), they'll check it and write to you saying it doesn't need a license. They don't really advertise this, but they will admit it when pushed! The guy we spoke to originally admitted to knowing nothng about folk music, so I pushed him until he transferred me back to the switchboard, where I requested to speak to a folkie. We had a long old chat about this and that and was very helpful! Anyway, the second option is to just get a PRS license! These are surprisingly in expensive, for a folk session in a pub, you need Tariff P 3.1 This comes in at around £7.62 per session. The pub itself needs the license, but we're now at the stage of giving the Willows one of three options.

1. We go down the we're traditional and don't need a license we'll get written confirmation of this from the PRS
2. We pay the pub the money for the license and whip a hat round.
3. We amble up the road to The Three Ashes and see if they'll hold the session.

Watch this space!
:)
Vicki & Jonny
PS. We've been played on FolkCast this month (right at the start) so go have a listen. It's a live track from the Red Lion in Birmingham.

Hello!
Finally after it's conception roughly six years ago the tutor for the Scottish Smallpipes is finished ready and for sale. We're sat here with a box of CDroms ready to find good homes to go to and teach the Scottish Smallpipes in. So if you're a budding Scottish Smallpipe player check out the trial page and the to the shop and place your order!

It's been a fantastic year all in all. We have a few gigs left that you can catch us at and if you're in our area you can catch us at our Sunday the 'Teenth session. We've put up our photo gallery for 2007 so have a look!
We're now going to lock ourselves in the shed to learn those new songs that have been hanging around for a while!
:)
Vicki & Jonny

Hello!
We've just come back from the Sheffield Folk Festival, a fantastic festival up in Yorkshire. Unfortunately Jonny was very sick on the day of our gig, but he bravely went on stage. We'd like to thank James for nearly having to dep for Jonny! Jonny is still recovering at home, some well earned hours in bed should fix him! Hopefully by Thursday when we play for Hector Gilchrist's album launch in Surrey and also for Saturday when we're running 3 hours of Smallpipe Workshops and a half hour presentation on the nyckelharpa up in Cumbria.

If you'd like to catch our Sheffield gig Pete Simmons was there with his camera and you can view the clips that he took at his youtube site.

We now have reviews in from fRoots and Living Tradition which are being posted in our reviews section. Our favourite quote so far has to come from Mardles where we are compared to the road the A12. You'll have to read the review to find out more!
Hope you're all well and hope to see you somewhere on the road!
:)
Vicki & Jonny

Hello!

A week ago we set up our little camera at the back of a hall and videoed ourselves, so if you'd like to see the nyckelharpa and the Roses Three you can now see a video of this fantastic song on our myspace site.

We've just returned from a fantastic weekend recording with George Papavgeris on his new album due for release early next year. It's always such fun being in the studio and Georges songs are always amazing and we were very honoured to be asked to work with him on the album. We can't wait to hear it or to play for the launch!

Finally the tutor book for the Scottish Smallpipes was finished last night. All the artwork, the pdf, everything. The only thing now is to investigate whether an isbn number would be prudent. So fingers crossed, the book and CDrom will be ready by the start of November. It's been a long journey!
Hope to see you soon!
:)
Vicki & Jonny

Hello!
We played at the Red Lion on Saturday and took a mini-disk recording. So for a limited time only we've uploaded the song we call the Roses Three, it's the latest song to be added to our repertoire, the one we've translated from Swedish with added nyckelharpa. We'll probably only leave it up for a few days, enough time for everyone who subscribes to our blog to have a listen! So enjoy whilst it's there!
Click here for our myspace site
:)
Vicki & Jonny