Hi all,

I’m very glad to say that Dreaming Pipes: Ten Years of the Lindsay System is now live, celebrating a decade of the open-source, extended range, shareable and downloadable Scottish smallpipe, and its growing international community.

This summer I’ll be taking a new touring exhibition across Scotland, opening at An Lanntair in Stornoway in May and continuing on to Oban and Dundee through the summer, with a Glasgow presentation in development and events as part of Orkney International Science Festival in September.

The exhibition follows the first decade of the Lindsay System in public use: an open-source, extended-range, keyless Scottish smallpipe chanter developed through long practical making, musical use and exchange. Through prototypes, diagrams, instruments, text, sound and film, Dreaming Pipes traces not only the instrument itself, but the wider culture of use, adaptation and making that has grown around it.

At the centre of the exhibition is a simple but far-reaching idea: that there should be a way for pipers to carry hard-won musical knowledge across a wider melodic range and repertoire without having to start again from scratch.

Alongside the exhibition there will be concerts, workshops and public events around the run, including dates with Roo Geddes. A new strand of the project, From Shore to Score, also now brings in the sea-plastic chanter work developed in Orkney with Joel Chaney / Tern360.

I’m also very pleased that the summer tour programme now includes a concert with Alasdair Roberts at Birnam Arts on Friday 14 August.

Summer / autumn dates so far

An Lanntair, Stornoway
19 May – 13 June
Exhibition

Skye
20 May
Public smallpipes workshop (venue to be confirmed)

An Lanntair, Stornoway
22 May
Opening concert with Roo Geddes

Taigh Chearsabhagh, North Uist
23 May
Concert with Roo Geddes

Cnoc Soilleir, South Uist
24 May
Concert with Roo Geddes

The Rockfield Centre, Oban
15 June – 10 July
Exhibition

The Rockfield Centre, Oban
17 July
Concert during the Festival of the Sea

Dundee Central Library
12 July – 22 August
Exhibition

Birnam Arts
14 August, 8pm
Donald WG Lindsay and Alasdair Roberts

The Wighton Centre, Dundee
19 August
Concert

Glasgow
23 August – 14 September
Exhibition presentation in development

Orkney International Science Festival
8 September
Daytime workshop and evening recital

There’ll be more to say as the summer unfolds, including images, details from each stop, and a closer look at the sea-plastic chanter and the wider materials strand.

With thanks, as ever, to everyone who has followed, played, encouraged, hosted, printed, tested, questioned, and helped bring the Lindsay System into its public life.

All best,

Donald

donaldwglindsay@donaldwglindsay.com
07384 764 799