Almost 30 Years of Teaching Bagpipers!

Almost 30 years ago, I started my “bagpipe business” at The Neshaminy Adult School, a local night school program. On the first night, 15 students showed up wanting to learn to play the bagpipes.

“Wow,” I thought. “What am I going to teach all these people?”

My Bagpipes for Beginners book, now in its fourth edition, grew out of that program. It began with me handing out composition books. I had a teaching sequence in mind and three goals. I wanted to develop bagpipers who could:

• Play a list of tunes on the bagpipes.
• Develop their own music.
• Set up and maintain a set of bagpipes.

The tune list gave us a path. Our first milestone was “Scots Wha Hae,” followed by “Amazing Grace,” and then “Scotland the Brave.” I knew reaching those goals would keep us working together for a while.

We started around one table. As students progressed at different rates, we added tables and grouped people according to where they were in the program. When they were ready, they moved to the next table.

It became a bagpiper assembly line!

Two pipe bands grew out of that program, and along the way, I learned a few things about organizations.

The first band became a nonprofit with a board of directors and a vote for everyone. When I pulled the drum major out of the parade lineup because he couldn’t keep a beat, it started a coup d’état.

Oh, well. Back to the drawing board.

For the second band, I took a different approach: reward the people who do the work.

To me, a bagpiper is someone who can play a list of tunes on the bagpipes. A pipe band is a group of people who can play those tunes together.

I had one rule: No faking!

I told everyone coming into the program, “You can sit at my table and stand in my circle if you can play the tunes.”

We had a set tune list, and we played down that list every week. You played as long as you knew the tunes. When you ran out, you were done for the night. Your goal was to come back the following week and play a little longer.

I also taught everyone how to develop their own music so we didn’t spend band practice spoon-feeding notes and rhythm. We only had two hours a week, and we needed to make them count.

I never had to dress anyone down for not practicing. The rule was the rule. The people who practiced more moved up the ladder faster. By the end of the night, I had my strongest players still in the circle.

From that group came the band. At that point, we could hand out a march, strathspey, and reel, or work on a medley.

I’m telling this story because, over the years, I’ve spoken with and taught many people who felt rejected by pipe bands. Many bands simply don’t have the time or energy to teach beginners.

Some of my own students visited bands after they had learned to play, only to find there was no set tune list and something different was practiced each week. They came away confused and feeling unwelcome.

A clear tune list gives people something concrete to work toward. They know where to start, what is expected, and how to make progress. They can hear their improvement as they stay in the circle a little longer each week.