Last week, I received an email from Studio member David Hester. David was excited about some breakthroughs he'd recently made in his practicing, particularly regarding tuning and tone. I asked if...
Sometimes it seems that we pipers are constantly warming up. Warming up the fingers, warming up the drones, going over our tunes, etc. Other musicians seem to be able to pick up their instrument and...
The pipes were designed to be played outdoors. And even though most of us live in cities or climates where we play inside most of the time, one of life's great pleasures is to play the pipes in one...
We previously discussed how to use accurately and reliably tune the notes of your pipe chanter. However, the bagpipe scale is different than the scale used by "normal" Western instruments so you...
The two greatest bagpipe-related innovations of the past 20 years are: synthetic drone reeds and moisture control systems. These desiccant-based systems require proper installation, maintenance, and...
Today's lesson gives a complete explanation of drone reeds and how they work at different pressures. Why do drones shut off with too much pressure? Why do some drones squeal on the strike in? What...
In recent years, several makers of pipe chanters have offered threaded reed seats. The threads allow you to screw your reed into the chanter. It provides a more secure fit for the reed and allows for...
I received an email from Eric K., one of my Skype students and a member of the Studio with several questions that I thought would be perfect for sharing with everyone else. Thanks, Eric! If you have...
I've tested about every stand alone tuner and tuning app I can get my hands on and I'm been really impressed with Cleartune — an easy to use tuner for iPhone, iPod Touch and Android. There are many...
We've previously discussed tone and tuning of your pipes and how important this is to the overall enjoyment of your playing for both yourself and your audience. You might want to check out the...
Here you’ll find hundreds of lessons, videos, audio files and more. This content is designed to help you learn and improve in every area of your piping. Not seeing a topic you’d like to learn more about?
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