Because I offer a free lesson consultation to new students so they can try me out, I was contacted by a prospective student in New Zealand a few weeks ago. After going back and forth on finding a time to meet, we met for about 40 minutes last week. This gentleman...
The problem: I find that my students come in on a regular basis and say “this is what I did this week”. If you have been reading my blog, you know that I ascribe to the premise that my job is to teach my students how to practice this week. The growth happens...
Well, does it? I have spent the last 22 years teaching (mostly) adults how to play the bagpipe. Most of my adult students work 9 to 5 Monday thru Friday. The students who succeed are the students who blow their pipes regularly (at least 3 to 4 time per week). If you...
After 22 years of teaching bagpipe students of various ages, I am now teaching mostly adults. One of the characteristics of being an adult student is that a lot them think that learning to play the bagpipe will be an easy task…until they get started. I always tell...
One of the goals of being a music teacher is getting students to become musicians. At 54, I am a “Professional Musician”. I am a musician first and make money second. The question is: what is a musician? In my mind a “musician” is a person who has dedicated a portion...
As a bagpiper for more than 45 years, I have learned one thing that I deem the most important: “A bagpiper is a person who can play a list of tunes on the bagpipe by memory”. It’s just that simple. The first question that I ask you as a bagpiper: Do you have a list of...
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