Run a quick pre-flight check every time it matters. Before a gig, a competition, or serious band practice, check your bag for airtightness, reseat your drone reeds, and confirm your moisture control system's hoses and water trap are still pushed in — they loosen and fall out without warning.
Steady blowing means squeezing the same amount all the time, including through the inhale. If your sound sags every time you breathe in, you aren't squeezing hard enough on the inhale — you're not supposed to squeeze harder on the exhale, you're supposed to squeeze consistently the whole cycle, not pump and release.
Top pipers blow roughly four to five times longer than they inhale. My own stopwatch research on a dozen well-known players found 75-85% of each breathing cycle is exhale time — nowhere near the 50/50 or 60/40 numbers you'll hear thrown around informally.
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Get the Pipes Out! — July 12, 2023
1h 1m · Full class available to Inner Circle members
13:29chanter blowpipe warming the and joint, slides, Tuning🔒
20:07Ayrshire the Q&A: mouthpiece valve🔒
22:49pipes tuning together and Getting out🔒
26:09steady drill: firm, pressure arm Blowing🔒
28:17arm upper the isolating Squeeze drill:🔒
32:07together "The Playing Maiden" Brown-Haired🔒
39:11inhaling vs. each? of Q&A: blowing — much how🔒
50:42the My top of ratio research: pipers real blow-to-squeeze🔒
01:00:19to year steady devoted Wrap-up: a blowing🔒
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About this class
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