Posts

The Average Piper - Explanation!

The point of yesterday’s post… Play the tune as "musically perfect" as possible within your personal abilities. I am not advocating eliminating embellishments for every piper or from every tune. I’m saying that there are more important…
Today we’re going to talk about note value. We’ve all heard the same; whole-note, half-note, quarter-note, eighth-note, etc. explanation of note values, but what does this mean? Is a quarter-note in one tune the same as a quarter note in…

The Average Piper - Matt Marshall

It’s important to understand that bagpipe makers of old didn’t have hydraulic tracers or CNC automation. Makers relied on either they own skills or the skills of their turners in the hand-crafting of bagpipes. Jack Dunbar was a wonderful…

The Average Piper - Short Review

We've covered quite a bit of ground in a short period of time. Today is a good time to take a breath before we forge ahead. Over the past couple of weeks we’ve focused on increasing both our understanding and discipline. Let me elaborate. We’ve…

The Average Piper - The Consistency Factor

I’m going to encourage those reading The Average Piper to incorporate these lessons into your daily practice regimen. Never practice without a metronome. Rip the tunes apart and understand exactly where the notes are supposed to land. Practice…

The Average Piper - The Metronome

Let’s wade into the deep end. The reality is that many Average Pipers do not know how to use a metronome effectively. The word I’m about to use are not intended to be mean. If another word was as descriptive, believe me, I’d use it. Many…

The Average Piper - How to Improve

I don’t know of any outstanding piper who will tell you that things came “naturally” to them and that they didn’t really have to work at their craft. In fact, most will tell you the opposite. They will tell you the long hours of practice…

The Average Piper - Two Issues

I’m going to double-up on today’s post and give examples of two “deadly sins.” I recently encountered the quintessential “average piper”. Please do not interpret this as negative. It’s anything but “negative”. I’m so happy…

The Average Piper - Highland Cathedral

Highland Cathedral is a beautiful tune, widely loved and played…but I’ve got a problem and I need your help. I hear many pipers and bands being very aggressive with certain notes and I wonder why. I took a brief tour on the Internet and…

The Average Piper - Complicated Tunes!

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…