Monthly live play-along workouts on the practice chanter. Warm up, tighten your technique, and play with pipers around the world.
Highlight your tunes by rhythmic pattern instead of by phrase — the Duke of Roxburgh and the High Road to Gairloch colored live — plus crossing noises (raise, then drop), why 16th notes don't exist in pipe music, and learning piobaireachd by ear first.
A small but lively practice chanter session: A member reports progress on bellows pipes, another member — six months into the full pipes — describes…
This session is built around member questions on Jock Wilson's Ball, a classic reel. A member emailed the sheet music in advance and asked about bar…
This practice chanter session runs on member questions, and they're good ones. I open with a quick rave about Stuart Liddell's new CD, then dig into …
I open with a look back at my front-page New York Times story on online bagpipe lessons, then dive into two meaty topics driven by member questions: …
In this small-group practice chanter session, members bring two live projects to the table: getting Peter MacLeod's tricky Major David Manson up to…
This practice chanter session opens with hands-on help for a member whose arthritic fingers struggle to cover the bottom-hand holes. I share my…
This live pipes-on session pairs a finger workout with one of my most original pieces of research into bagpipe sound. The group starts with the Power …
This session is built around Mockingbird Hill, a jig I brought back from my Hawaii workshop after first hearing Alasdair Gillies play it — and which…
This play-along session turns into a relaxed practice chanter workshop on two classic 4/4 marches: The Pikeman's March and The Meeting of the Waters. …
I build this practice chanter session around Archie Beag, the well-loved Donald Morrison jig, and use it to demonstrate one of my favorite learning…
This practice chanter session is built entirely around member tunes and questions, and it turns into a masterclass on two things every piper wrestles …
A member kicks off the final live session of the year with a request: help with back-to-back cut notes in 2/4 marches like The 79th's Farewell to…
This session grew out of an MSR that one of our member bands sent me for help, and in particular their strathspeys, so I turned it into my strathspey …
This session is a deep dive into one band's new MSR, requested by email with sheet music in advance: The Road to the Isles, Captain Colin Campbell,…
This is a live "Get the Pipes Out" session, my informal play-along and open-discussion format where members bring their full pipes on camera to play…
This practice chanter session runs entirely on member questions, and they are good ones. It opens with The Sound of Sleat and a deceptively deep…
This practice chanter session zeroes in on two of the most-played movements in piping: the D throw and the birl. I break the light D throw into its…
In this Inner Circle Live session, I walk members step by step through the pipe band style attack — the sequence a band uses to start up together on…
Sparked by a member's hand-built taorluath chart, this session becomes a complete tour of one of piping's core movements and its exotic piobaireachd…
This session opens with a deep dive into reed care. I introduce my new Precision Tuning Toolkit and tell the story of why I abandoned decades of…
This 'Get the Pipes Out' session opens with a hands-on chanter maintenance demo before moving into a full group play-along built around one of my…
This month's live Practice Chanter Session opens with a quick round of member topics and a practical gear note — how to get the InTune mic working…
This March Practice Chanter Session opens with an easy catch-up about St. Patrick's Day gigs and a trip to Ireland, but it quickly turns into one of…
This is a live "Get the Pipes Out" session recorded March 11, 2024 — a St. Patrick's Day-themed group play-along where members join me over video,…
This session is a deep dive into one of the trickiest corners of practice chanter technique: the grip family. Working from a comprehensive chart a…
This February practice chanter session opens with a wide-ranging conversation about learning bagpipes as an adult, sparked by a panel discussion I…
This Get the Pipes Out session opens with a member's real struggle — blowing that goes unsteady mid-set, especially when the tune's energy suddenly…
This is the Inner Circle's first practice chanter session of the year, and I use the fresh start to go back to basics on hand position while also…
This 'Get the Pipes Out' session turned into a full live drone reed clinic. Rather than a straight play-along, I set up a brand new set of Easy Drone …
This month's Practice Chanter Session works through two member tunes in detail — Peter MacLeod's four-part reel Major David Manson and a fast…
This November Practice Chanter Session opens as an open Q&A, but quickly zeroes in on a single, universal rhythm problem: what happens when a short…
This 'Get the Pipes Out' session is a live play-along class where I work through two tunes in real time with a small group of members, mixing…
This month's live practice chanter session opens with a member question about the best beginner's tutor book, and I walk through the three I'd…
This Get the Pipes Out session opens with a hands-on gear walkthrough before the group plays together. I demonstrate the Infinity B-flat chanter and…
This month's Practice Chanter Session opens with a simple but powerful practice tool I discovered after a student wished for a way to hear a phrase…
This July Inner Circle practice chanter session opens with a demonstration I have been asked about for weeks: a homemade foam pad taped to the back…
In this Practice Chanter session, I tackle one of the biggest challenges in piping: how to play clean and fast without sacrificing quality. I revisit …
This 'Get the Pipes Out' session opens with an open floor for questions before members play together, and I spend the first stretch working through a …
This month's live practice chanter session opens with a genuine puzzle several members have run into: a birl that's completely reliable in one tune…
This session is billed as a 'Get the Pipes Out' play-along, but it turns into something more specific and more useful: a video study of the pipe band …
This month's Practice Chanter Session is a member-driven workout, with me fielding questions on tunes people are actively working on. A member…
This is a monthly live Practice Chanter Session, the play-along workout where members bring their own technique questions and I work through them…
This Get the Pipes Out session opens with an extended live Q&A about chanter tuning, sparked by a member's question about whether the Infinity…
This month's live practice chanter session runs almost entirely off member questions, and it turns into a deep dive on two topics every piper…
This February practice chanter workout opens with me settling a question I get nearly every week: does chanter length matter? I line up three RG…
This session opens as a live play-along: I get my own pipes out on camera and walk the group through a quick maintenance routine before playing —…
This January workout is a member-driven Practice Chanter Session built entirely around requests brought to the class: a tricky third part of Cock of…
This open, play-along session starts wherever members are — a member working through a set of marches, another chasing down a measure that fell apart …
This 'Get the Pipes Out' session opens with me checking in on what each member is working on, from a piobaireachd setting with conflicting published…
This monthly Practice Chanter Workout Session opens with a look at homemade grip mods for the back of the practice chanter — foam padding, a…
This "Get the Pipes Out" session opens as a walkthrough of my pre-play ritual before pipes ever leave the case: checking the bag for airtightness,…
In this member session, I work through a specific request: a small group preparing 'Sound of Sleat' for a competition medley wants help with the tune'…
This month's practice chanter workout opens as an open-floor session, with me inviting the group to bring their own questions and tunes. The…
In this Practice Chanter Session, I lead members through a complete workout built around one central idea: playing fast and clean depends on…
This is a live 'Get the Pipes Out' session — no lecture, just me and members playing together in real time. I open with a full pre-play gear check…
This August session is an open Q&A and practice chanter workout recorded live for BagpipeLessons.com's Inner Circle, right in the middle of my online …
This month's session opens with a member wrestling with crossing noises: I can nail a single note transition cleanly, but the moment two land back-to-…
This Inner Circle Live session opens as a grab-bag of member questions before turning into a full practice chanter workout on the birl. I field…