If I boil everything down, these are the three primary areas of focus for Average Pipers; timing, technique, and bagpipe issues. It can sometimes appear overwhelming however when you break things down and focus on fundamentals, it’s really not so bad. Let’s deal with “timing” first.
Timing is primarily a matter of playing the tune at a steady tempo. Notes line up where they’re supposed to and the music comes out as the composer intended. Train your fingers to follow, not to lead. Here’s what I mean.
Many average pipers tap one foot while they play. Unless you were born with an uncommon sense of timing, you’ll end up tapping your foot to your fingers. Timing and tempo will be all over the place and you won’t even realize it. STOP!
Identify the “landing notes”. These are the notes that land at the beginning of each beat. In a 4/4 march there are four such landing notes per measure. Make sure that these notes land at the beginning of the beat (on a click on the metronome). This is your #1 priority.
SLOW DOWN. It’s more important to have correct timing than it is to have correct tempo. As your proficiency grows, challenge yourself to play at the correct tempo, but do so gradually. Do not sacrifice timing or technique for the sake of tempo.
Next…Practice marching. March in place. March when you take a walk. March in your sleep. Always have tunes playing in your head or other listening device. Sync your feet to the metronome or to the beat of the music. If you’re sitting at the table practicing, pace your feet to the metronome. Left, Right, Left, Right. SLOW DOWN. Start marches at 70 BPM and get all the notes in. Don’t worry about embellishments just yet. Practice those outside of the tunes and add them in later as your ability allows.
If you try to “skip steps” and focus on tempo rather than timing, you’ll be years trying to correct the issues that you’ve “baked” into your playing. Sometimes the rush to get on parade will cause you to develop bad technique and timing that will be very challenging to correct. Do yourself a favor and hurry along slowly!
Today’s picture? Some amazing bagpipes came out of Jame’s Robertson’s shop in Edinburgh. Their standards remained high over the decades and Robertson bagpipes remain high on the list of quality classic bagpipes. Check out James Robertson in the museum. 
