Tempo

The other morning I received note from 16 year old piper. He was looking for advice about couple of bagpipe “issues” with his main challenge revolving around tempo. No matter how hard he tried his march playing was always “hurky jerky”. That’s a new phrase for me but I picked up straight away what he meant – I think.
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“Loch Carron”

Here’s a photo I came across that made me laugh – taken a good few years ago.  On a road trip through Skye and the North we (Bill Livingstone, his wife Lillian, Bruce Gandy and me) drove by Loch Carron.  We had to stop, as you can see the scenery is quite good. 
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Building Medleys: 7 Principles

So before we begin this musical adventure – this virtual attempt at creating an interesting competitive selection of music – it might be a good idea to establish a few principles to help move us along.

Consultants and David Letterman love lists: “3 reasons for this” and “top ten” for that; so let’s keep it simple and try a list.
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Pipe Band Medleys

There might be some serious practical limitations when it comes to creating original and engaging competitive pipe band shows these days but I still have to think we’re being too timid in reaching for the hazy boundary and physical limits of pipe band instrumentation (meaning the bagpipe and the usual competitive instruments of percussion). Continue reading Pipe Band Medleys…

Pipe Bands: How to Breakthrough

The original subject was “breakthrough to win”. I thought that a bit crass, knowing that in making music it’s all about the performance, right?

Like competitive figure skaters (part of a subjectively judged sort of thing that is often compared to competitive solo and band piping) we’re so often heard to say (publicly), “I was happy with that. I did it for me. I got through it. It felt good” – regardless of the outcome.
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Cane Drone Reeds: Are You Able?

The trend with some bands to play cane drone reeds (or say they are playing cane drone reeds) seems a natural thing in more ways than one.  Cane reeds seem enviro-friendly. Like paper coffee cups, tap water and one-ply toilet paper, they’re green.  They’re part of the zeitgeist.  Let’s all play cane! 
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