I can remember the exact moment when I heard it. I’m talking about that moment when I heard the harmonics of my chanter blend with those being produced by my drones. It was an entirely new world opened up.

I had placed myself in a corner of a room and allowed the sound to completely envelope me. I listened intently to every note on the chanter and its harmonic relationship to my drones. I initially worked with just the inside tenor. I adjusted that drone to be in tune with each individual note on my chanter. Up slightly and down slightly, listening to what my bagpipe was telling me. Then I began adjusting my chanter. First looking for a balance between the High A and Low A. Then coming to terms with notes that were inherently sharp or flat relative to that particular pitch. This was a time when some bands were introducing tape to tame notes that were sharp, however we hadn’t gotten around to carving flat notes yet. This all happened in 1974 and from that point forward no Pipe Major ever touched my chanter.

I learned to blow the chanter evenly from top to bottom. Some suggested that pipers needed to “back off” the top hand, which always seemed insane to be. I learned that small adjustments in my blowing might be necessary to match the PM. It might be necessary to “lean into it” just a touch or “back off” to match that sound. Most of all, I learned to listen.

I learned that if you aren’t completely confident with the music, there was no way to blow good tone. Don’t try to tune your drones or your chanter playing just the scale. Play a slow or easy “tone tune” and listen. In the band, if one piper is struggling with the music, the tone will be compromised. Everybody needs to be competent with the music.

If you’re competent and confident with your instrument, then there is no need to “search” for the tone during a performance. You know that you’re not the offending sound. You can simply blow the way you blow and let the PM find and fix the problem.

Yes, there is a physicality of blowing tone. There is also the musicality of blowing tone.

Here’s Ringo’s Rules. Always show up with your bagpipe in top shape and pre-tuned. It’s not the Pipe Major’s job to tune your bagpipe. It’s your job. Know your bagpipe. Know it better than you know anything else. Know the music. Listen, listen, listen! Listen some more! Make it your personal goal to have a perfectly tuned bagpipe all the time. Never, ever, play on an out-of-tune bagpipe.

None of this will happen without a total commitment to make it happen. You’ll need to experiment somewhat as well. It’s all part of the learning curve. To the Pipe Major who says “Don’t touch your bagpipe” I say “and how am I supposed to learn?” The bottom line is that you can’t mess things up so badly that they can’t be fixed. Yes, it’s complicated and yes, it’s completely logical. Have fun and blow GREAT tone!