Whats on the Net!

Allan Hamilton of Strathclyde Police has developed a website called Pipers Persuasion that features interviews with prominent pipers. These are video interviews divided into segments. Allan obviously has a long history of interviewing people (probably not under the same circumstances) and gets his subjects feeling comfortable and talking about the topic they are all so passionate about. This is a site you can spend hours watching and is going to become a valuable historical resource.

Several new reviews have been posted at the School of Piping site, these include the new Bannatynes Bag, new Glass Fiber Crozier Drone Reeds, Bruce Gandy's new CD "Front Row Seat" and details on the new SoP publication "The Bagpipe Instruction Manual".

Australian Pipe Band Association Summer School 2011

We have just seen the first week long Australian Pipe Band Association Summer School come and go! A lot of work was undertaken by the organizers and they should be commended for their efforts and the way it ran without hiccup apart from some post holiday issues with the University accommodation. Not a huge drama, but a small delay on the first day.

Piping instructors were: Jack Lee (Simon Fraser University Pipe Band), Brett Tidswell (APBA Piping Principal, Strathclyde Police Pipe Band, City of Adelaide Pipe Band), Ian Lyons (Field Marshall Montgomery Pipe Band, Clayton and Victoria Police Pipe Band) and Robert Crozier (Victoria Police Pipe Band). It was a great pleasure working with all of the instructors.

Drumming Instructors were: Reid Maxwell (SFU), Tyler Fry (Shotts), Dean Hall (Band Club), Nick MacLeod (Warrnambool), assited by Rob Bennet (Rats of Tobruk) and Greg Bassani (APBA Principal of Drumming).

Admin was undertaken by Greg and Christine Gordon.

A very professional group but also capable of tremendous humour!

During a session on bagpipe set up, one tutor commented that he sets his 'high A' 20 - 30 cents lower than the octave and later, when demonstrating one of the other tutors stated that it sounded more like a dollar! Any comment on tone invariably resulted in some truly impressive Ian MacLellan impersonations!

Overall there were 92 students, all of whom demonstrated a commitment and enthusiasm for learning. Piping was broken into 4 groups and personally I found that each one was a pleasure to teach. The range of students went from those who could only play a handful of tunes through to a reasonable Intermediate standard.

Each day had a full program of lessons starting at 8.30am and went through to an evening class finishing at 8.30 - 9.00 pm. Chanters could be heard in the accommodation block as students worked on material for the following day and the end of school performances.

It was great to see all states represented and also students who travelled from as far as Singapore to attend the event. Each state branch of the Association had given scholarships to outstanding candidates, and this all bodes well for a great future for the event.

I tremendously enjoyed the opportunity to assist in presenting a two night ensemble discussion along with Reid Maxwell and Tyler Fry. Some of us were not always on the 'same page' as to tenor drum tuning and numbers, but that is what makes these discussions so valuable.

The final Friday saw students present some pieces they had worked on as ensembles with the drummers. This seemed to go down very well and it was good to see that so many had learned a considerable amount of new music in the week. That night we moved on to the LaTrobe University theater and a recital was put on by the instructors. Brett Tidswell opened the show with Ian Lyons and Jack Lee also performing solo. Reid Maxwell and Tyler Fry also performed and later were joined by Alby Copeland, Robert Crozier and the other pipers for a full performance scraped together virtually the day before with no chance to rehearse or tune at all!

A number of prizes were awarded for tune composition which were donated by McCallum Bagpipes. The winning tune by Donna Stemberger was a very pleasant 3 part air. Second prize went to Matthew Gervasoni for a very nice Hornpipe.

Piping scholarships for next year were given to Fergus Barry-Corderoy and Alexandra Culver. All instructors thought these students showed talent and outstanding enthusiasm. A separate scholarship was awarded to Ong Wei Shi to attend the Canadian Summer School.

The schoolofpiping.com awarded Brett Tidswell's CDs and The Complete Pipers Handbook to students that we considered were enthusiastic and deserved commendation.

Lyons Highland Supplies also donated Crozier Drone Reeds as prizes for students.

It is hoped that students will continue with the material taught at the school and it will provide some first class tuition and broaden their musical view point. This has the potential to greatly improve piping throughout Australia. I look forward to seeing everyone again next year. I am sure everyone not only had a rewarding learning experience but also made friendships that will last a lifetime.

Further learning material, reviews, photo albums, sound files and other entertaining material can be found at the School of Piping website. This is an online piping workshop that can be accessed anytime!

How to make your bagpipe fit

The most popular technical article on the School of Piping website is the "Making your Bagpipe fit" article. It is good to see so many people realising the importance of this issue. Improved playing, posture and less chance of strain or injury arise from making an instrument fit you properly. The artcile can be seen here: articles

Improve your piping

Not wanting to over simplify, but I think there is a formula and it has to be put into practice.

1. The most important thing is a good sounding bagpipe. You can improve your playing by 100%, but play on a bad instrument and it still sounds bad! Get someone with an instrument you like the sound of to look at your pipes, make sure they are always clean and maintained in tip top condition and spend some money on reeds, a chanter, whatever is required. You can get away with a lot if you have a nice sounding pipe. There are a lot of tips in "The Complete Pipers Handbook".

2. The next step is to establish a system of scalic exercises, there are some posted on the School of Piping website. These should be repeated to build strength of technique and stamina. Incorporate this into a solid and regular practice regime. Exercises, tune break-up (with a lot of attention to detail), playing on pipes.

3. Lessons concentrating on musicality are a great idea. Try to fix the technical issues before the lessons so you can concentrate on things you need to learn, not covering issues that you could have fixed yourself.

4. Play pipes like you are performing. Establish tuning times, how long it takes to settle the instrument and then play your contest pieces like you are performing. This will train your mind and teach you what you need to know about preparing your instrument.

I hope this helps a little toward steering those who wish to improve their playing. I am sure there are those who can add furthur suggestions?