Posts

The Average Piper - How to memorize new tunes!

Many Average Pipers struggle to learn new music. They can pick up a new song on the radio in minutes. They can also sing along with the oldies from 50 years ago without forgetting a single word! If I sang out "There she was just a-walkin' down…

The Average Piper - Bagpipes are not taught...

Many apologies for the interruption in The Average Piper posts. I could provide hollow excuses, but I won't. I will take advantage of the pause in tactical information to regroup on a more philosophical level. Ready? Here goes! I have often…

GDE's The Breakfast of Champions - Part 2

The “flip” to even GDE’s (as in the previous blog post) is the dot/cut rhythm you’ll find in some tunes. This is shown in the image above where the G is a dotted eighth note, or three sixteenths. The D is a sixteenth note and the E is…

GDE's - The Breakfast of Champions!

The Average Piper - Vitamins GD&E Simply stated, there’s nothing else like it. Nothing even comes close. A regimen of properly executed GDE exercises is like steel-cut oatmeal with nuts and berries for breakfast. If you master GDE’s,…

The Average Piper - Tic Toc - You can't catch up!

I sometimes hear pipers attempting to “catch up” after having fallen behind the established tempo of the tune. Hint…YOU CAN”T CATCH UP (without making a mess of things)! What is the appropriate tempo? A march played at 70 beats-per-minute…

The Average Piper - The Importance of Goals

Years ago, I penned a time-management training program called “Time for Life” which I licensed to Day-Timers and their parent company, ACCO. It’s a long story that needs a pint or two for the telling. I’m very impressed to see that Andrew…

The Average Piper - Fixing Doublings

Last night I arrived at band practice a bit early. Several people were already there. One piper was practicing bottom-hand doublings, slowly and deliberately. I asked how things were coming along. “Nobody ever taught me the correct way to…

The Average Piper - Are You Motivated?

I’d like to continue with the thinking I expressed yesterday. Many pipers are hung up on “fingers.” It’s not uncommon to witness young pipers slamming through tunes that they shouldn’t be playing at lightning fast tempos and generally…

The Average Piper - Tunes & Tempo

The question – Is it better to make a so-so job of a difficult tune and or a good job of an easier tune? The answer should be obvious however I consistently hear pipers attempting tunes or tempos that are beyond individual and collective (the…

The Average Piper - What's your Goal?

Let’s get back on track today and head into the weekend with clear thoughts. We finished off the other day with the question “Do you hear what I hear?” I’ll follow that up with a couple more questions…When was the last time you asked…