The kind of drone reeds a piper plays is always a topic for discussion – between pipers. Some like the traditional cane reeds, some like the more reliable synthetic inventions.

Here’s a humourous take on one piper’s passion for cane reeds – courtesy of Bryan “Huddy” Huddleston, an excellent piper in the grade one band.
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Though I have not been piping for long, I’ve been given lots of good, and -  well – some not so good advice.   

An example of the bad: “Don’t play sheepskin bags. They smell, and require TONS of maintenance.”   

 Well, turns out that I now play a sheepskin bag, and love it!  They don’t smell, and don’t require much maintenance at all.    (more…)

As the man once said, when it comes to success, “the secret is: there is no secret – it just takes a lot of hard work” and (I’m adding this part) ‘grit’. Grit: a supremely excellent word.

Here’s your inspirational photo of the hour (taken while walking along Cowcaddens Road, towards The National Piping Centre, Glasgow, [August 2008] with TPPB alumnus, Derek Midgley).
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On the evening of January 24, 2009 , Colin MacPherson and I piped in the haggis for a Toronto area Legion celebrating Rabbie’s 250th Birthday. (more…)

It’s finally here; the last day of the year, 2008…hard to believe that yet another entire year has passed us by.   Hopefully for most, you have had some great experiences over the past year, and have also had some great pipe band moments!   

As both our bands have gone their separate ways for our Christmas break from pipe banding, I am starting to remember that there was something that I was supposed to learn, and of course have off for our first practice of 2009: A huge stack of new music!  This of course raises the question:  how best to learn music?  And a second and more important question:  Do I still have enough time to get it done prior to that first practice?  

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