The First Half of Improvement

I have been spending a lot of time with pupils lately helping them improve the precision of their playing.  A number have been producing generally “muddy” sounding music – imprecise movements from one note to the next, inaccurate timing, uneven sound due to irregular blowing and other issues.  A number of them are improving these …

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The All Important Up-beat

Good strong simple time (2_4, 3_4 or 4_4) March rhythm does not only depend on proper emphasis of the metrical accents (the ones on the beats), but also on correct timing of the “up-beats” i.e. the pulses halfway between the beats.  I have heard many performances where a band’s rhythm becomes “muddy” or unclear, because …

Correct finger positioning on a chanter

Could YOU improve the positioning of your fingers on a pipe chanter?   This article is for you to think about. It suggests some things that may not suit some people, but I believe it will be helpful to many. Over the last several years, I have come across a number of experienced pipers who …

Dare to play with expression

Why does one piper sound dull and boring while another sounds so interesting and musical? As pipers (and drummers) we are taught techniques of playing bagpipe music. “Hold that low A”.   “Your tune needs some more phrasing”. “That note’s a dotted quaver”. These are good things to think about when you’re learning how a tune …

An example of a good solo drone tuning process

How Brett Tidswell tuned his drones on-stage for a hornpipe and jig contest.

8 Common Drone Tuning Mistakes

Drone tuning is actually a reasonably simple process, not a mystic art. Yet I see so many pipers, including many A grade soloists, who approach it in a way that makes no sense and often produces poor results. This post is about common mistakes in the drone tuning process, not a tutorial on how to …

Great piper ≠ great teacher ≠ great judge ≠ great Pipe Major

Today I had a critique sheet I had written fed back to me from nearly two years ago.   I remembered the particular performance, because it involved an uncharacteristic “train wreck” on the part of the performing band in their final tune. It reminded me that people often don’t realise that judging is a skill of …

Strathspeys are not so hard to play

In my opinion, the strathspey and reel are the crown jewels of light music. Outside of Grade 1 bands, I rarely hear strathspeys played well, by bands or soloists. Even among A grade soloists I hear in NSW, I don’t believe the correct way of playing strathspeys is widely understood. Strathspeys require some strong finger …

Tuning your own drones

When I started playing pipes as a youngster, it was more or less assumed that bagpipe tuning was the mystic art of the Pipe Major, so it wasn't taught as a fundamental skill for pipers.  For many pipers today, this is still the case.  And I find this very unfortunate - for two reasons: Tuning, …