Nature or Nurture: What Makes a Great Piper?
Nature or nurture? Do the top pipers in the world possess some sort of genetic predisposition that allows them to play with speed, grace, and expression?
Do You Need 10,000 Hours of Practice?
How do you get good at something? The answer has always been practice, practice, practice. The real question is, how long does it take to get good? There is the saying, that has been around for a while, that it takes 10,000 hours to master a skill. Does it really take 10,000 hours to become a master?
Did you overindulge at Thanksgiving?
I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Personally, I had a great few days to recharge with my nearest and dearest, and we had a…
Crafting Great Tuning Sets
Knowing a tune is good.
Knowing a set is better.
Being able to play a good sounding set that also lets you check the tuning on your pipes is the best.
Having a good tune, or set, that allows you to make sure everything sounds correct, but you can also use to entertain, kills two birds with one stone and gives your repertoire depth.
Better Bagpipes While You Sleep
Learning to play the bagpipes can be demanding. Sometimes, in spite of all your efforts, you 'plateau' or get stuck, never seeming to improve past what you’ve been struggling with.
Xavier Boderiou - Irish Medley
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JWyFEjReRU Interesting tid-bit: At the beginning of this video Xavier is tuning, notice how he uses the 'blow trick' when checking if his chanter is…
Wisdom
https://youtu.be/8dgpr9kfDL8 Some excellent wisdom on learning the pipes from Willie McCallum. Check it out!
The Adult Learner
By Dr John H Holcombe
Are you an adult learner? Have you ever wondered why it takes you such a relatively long time to learn a new tune, or to get an embellishment just right?
Bagpipers and the Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military award for members of the armed forces of the Commonwealth countries. This award is given for valor in the face of the enemy of the “most conspicuous bravery, or some daring or pre-eminent act of valor or self-sacrifice, or extreme devotion to duty in the presence of the enemy.” We are going to look at three bagpipers who have won this award.
How to Share Your Recordings With the World
Unfortunately, bagpiping isn't a billion-dollar-per-year industry. If it were, submitting recordings wouldn't be such a pain in the butt here at Dojo U. But, alas,…