I’m going to hit “reset” today and go back to our list of 7 deadly sins. #2 was choosing tunes that are too complicated. Most of the tune books today are written by Grade 1 pipers for Grade 1 pipers. There is little that is within the grasp of The Average Piper. This is interesting considering that “Average Pipers” make up the vast majority of pipers, at least in North America.

To be certain, there are lots of traditional tunes that are suitable for Average Pipers. Some are good the way they are and others need the odd tweak. Reflecting back on the previous three posts, I recently played Scotland the Brave for a table of five average pipers just to demonstrate that the melody could in fact be strengthened by removing complicated embellishments. I’m not suggesting that Average Pipers go through every tune and strip out all the embellishments, however where they are problematic, don’t be afraid to alter or eliminate them.

Here’s an example. Often times I hear Average Pipers get way ahead of the beat as they approach a bottom hand doubling. This serves no purpose other than to distort the melody and muddy the unison. When I hear this, I stop practice, to demonstrate what I’m hearing and what I need to hear. I sometimes break the doubling apart. The G grace note is on the beat. It is your heavy accent and must be played. It is critical to the melody. The D grace note follows (separate, distinct, sequential) and is an echo of the G grace note. For some, the D grace note is either optional or it is eliminated altogether.

There is another important lesson buried in the paragraph above. Don’t practice doing things incorrectly. These “sins” will get baked into the tune in perpetuity. Better to “teach in the moment” and this goes both ways. When you hear it being played incorrectly, stop the band, explain what you’re hearing and what you need to hear, and then practice it. When you hear it being played correctly, stop the band, explain what you heard and congratulate the band. This is how progress is made.

It won’t be long before St. Patrick’s Day arrives and I’m already not looking forward to hearing “The Wearin’ of the Green”! Those first two measures are so busy! The notes are generally strung together without any regard for the melody. It’s often just a matter of getting through them. If we can clean them up between now and then, I’ll be one happy guy! It’s not going to happen overnight, so let’s get busy!

By the way, any guesses on the bagpipe in the picture?