Negativity in Publishing

I was having an email interaction following an interview that I did for a well know piping magazine. The editor was telling me about a topic that he wanted to "have a go" at, but had refrained as it would have been too negative. I thought at the time, what a refreshing attitude. You know, over the years we have had so many that have "had a go"! We see it more and more now on the internet. We used to see it frequently when Seamus McNiell (love him or hate him) used to get stuck into someone. At times it was entertaining, but most times it just put someone offside and eventually it becomes predictable and boring.

We all see the scribblings on judging sheets, and in that place, it is the judges role to comment on why points were removed during a performance. It is often testing to try and make the sheets positive, and in some cases being too positive on a sheet is out of place. I think we become used to this type of criticism of piping performances and expect it in all forums discussing piping.

Here's to a more positive future for piping!