So you want to play the Bagpipes

So you want to play the pipes?

If you are reading this and you have thought to yourself "... I like hearing someone playing the bagpipes, I wonder just how hard they are to learn..." and walked up to a piper to ask him or her "Just what does it take to start playing those things?" You are not along. This question is one asked of just about every piper from time to time. On the other hand, the other most asked question I get is normally from my wife, "Are you done yet?" Living in rural wooded New Hampshire as I do, the neighbors are not a problem and now that I think about it, neither are the deer anymore.

So to give you some good advice and a fair idea what its all about I called up a friend of mine Mr.Oliver Seeler,who is a lot more knowledgeable about it then I am and asked permission to use a bit of information from his web site www.Hotpipes.com

A Short Overview: The Practice Chanter and Beyond

If you simply pick up a Highland (or most any other) bagpipe and attempt to play it, you will get nowhere. Playing a bagpipe is a complex task with a lot happening at once and a lot to do at the same time. Once you inflate the bag and the four reeds start sounding, you're committed. You can't just stop to think about this or that when things get hectic. Get behind the curve and you're in deep trouble ... the wedding guests may run screaming from the church, your dog might bite you, or the neighbors might start shooting.

Learning to play the Great Highland Bagpipe (GHB) requires a measured, systematic approach. The conventional well-proven method begins with a good quality practice chanter, an instruction book (called a "tutor" with audio accompaniment (a CD), and formal lessons with a teacher. When the student has mastered the practice chanter, he or she is ready to approach the bagpipe itself. Attempts to start right out on a bagpipe - skipping the practice chanter - are almost certain to fail completely, regardless of previous musical experience, for reasons that will be explained shortly.

A practice chanter is an instrument in its own right, but its primary purpose is to provide a path to playing the bagpipe itself. Later it provides a convenient way to practice new tunes, complex fingering and so on, especially at times when practicing on a full pipe is impractical. So, a practice chanter will always be kept at hand, no matter how expert a piper becomes. Practice chanters are available in a wide variety, but all perform the same functions. Good quality and proper design, and a good reed, are critically important, because the student has more than enough to do without trying to work around an inferior and/or unreliable instrument.

Copyright 1999-2009, The Universe of Bagpipes

At this point I would highly recommend going to Mr.Oliver Seeler's web page http://www.hotpipes.com/practice.html to read more on how to get into the fun of playing such an unusual instrument. You will also find a lot more on his web site, just about everything that has anything to to with pipes and piping. The biggest surprise for most people is finding out that there are so much more then just the Great Highland Bagpipes.

Until next time

Picking up on things past.

I have been remiss over the past two or three weeks on keeping up on this blog. In my defense, I can only offer the usual reasons; family, work, life in general and my inborn laziness. So this is my attempt to catch up with the news as taken from my notes, and try to do better.

Last Thursday night we held another practice at the usual place at Post 7 of the American Leagon in Rochester, NH. The turn out was a little light due to heavy work loads or tripping over a cat and ending up with a broken arm. Having there tonsils being removed. You know, the usual stuff. I did get a photo of Cheryl one of our up and coming pipers in training working with Tom on Amazing Grace.

A few weeks ago as some of you know there was a "wood party" held at Sally's. All in all it went well. The weather was cool and though somewhat cloudy the sun broached through from time to time so no one overheated. A large pile of wood logs was reduced to a somewhat smaller pile of wood chunks that would more or less fit into Sally's wood stove. And beaver dam was dissembled so a rising pond in back of the house would not get any higher. At the end of the day no one was injured, and we all ended up the same count of fingers, toes and other body parts that we started with.



Jack and Lois Kelleher, Tom Martineau and myself with Sally's help put away a lot of wood. We also put away a lot of good food and drink during the day. After a short rest the pipes came out and all the dogs in the neighborhood got very still. It was a good day.


This last Sunday the Band held its by-monthly practice at the Police Athletic League building in Manchester, NH. As some of you know we have The Portsmouth Parade next month. In past years we normally play "Jingle bells". After a while that becomes a bit long in the tooth when you play it over and over during the entire route. So this year the Band is adding "Joy to the Word". So the pipes and the drummers spent some time working on the "New" Christmas Set. Later on a new tune will be added to slowly build up the set.

Also we started working on a new tune "Lagan Love Song" a very pretty tune but one that has some tricky timing. You can hear it being sung by going to U-Tube and looking up Maureen Hegarty she has a very good voice and is well worth the time. For a totally different arraignment of the same song on U-Tube try Sinead O'Connor's version.












Question: How many people does it take to tune a set of pipes?

Answer:

A few more shots taken on Sunday: