I’ve written a lot about rhythm over the years. Rhythm is my specialty! Why? Simply because I think the difference between being an accomplished bagpiper and being dependent on other players has to do with rhythm. Because the bagpipe is a folk instrument, it is taught by imitation. Imitation makes you dependent. The goal is to be able to sightread any tune…period! This should be your return on spending money for bagpipe lessons.
I hear a lot of funny stories from my students about practicing. Here’s one of them. One of the hardest parts of learning to play the pipes is getting the hand position “right”. The hands need to be flat and straight and slightly angled downward almost at a...
In the past I've written about the importance of a tune list and the dangers of "plate spinning". Here’s a little more on that topic. Bagpipers are always excited about new tunes and different music. That’s great! However, there are some hard and fast guidelines to...
In addition to being musical, playing the bagpipe is all about precision. There’s no denying that our instrument is very loud. Because of that, it not only needs to be tuned to precision, but it needs to be played to precision. In most cases, we memorize all...
I tell my students that they need to practice every day, even if it’s only for 15 minutes. The purpose of that statement is to simply get them to practice every day. As they become more experienced, they will have more to practice and the time will automatically...
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