Christopher O'Neill: Sophisticated Tubular Objects

I would have a blast blowing into paper towel rolls like they were trumpets, and that obsession turned into a further love of blowing into more sophisticated tubular objects, which led to me joining a local pipe band.

I watched the movie Braveheart a whole lot, saw lots of St Patrick Day Parades, and hung around way to many musicians and pipers not to become completely spellbound with joining this playing culture.

My goals are to play for dances, with and for friends and to have musical joy always in life.

Though I didn't ever truly quit, I was convinced I didn’t have the time to learn or felt I wasn’t progressing with the rigid system I was using. I had decided to give piping another go and was looking for interesting podcasts on the subject to immerse myself back into piping and I stumbled across the Pipers Dojo Podcast.

I signed up for the Dojo very shortly after hearing about it. It seems everyone is very supportive and passionate about the joy and culture of piping, that’s always a good place to be! It’s shown me there is a different way to learn and succeed, to love what I am doing again.

I’m only playing on the practice chanter, but while before I felt stuck on scales and embellishments without much direction and what for, now I feel I have the whys and how’s and the tools to have fun and be successful!

In such a very short time the Dojo has increased my happiness, instilled in me more confidence and a deeper love and connection to our piping culture.

Christopher O'Neill, Virginia, USA