A "New Day"

Arrrgh... We are finally moved out of the old digs and into the new. It's a "Horse Property" about a mile north of the old location. No horses, but lots of construction equipment, and now after almost a month I can get back to my pipes!

Tonight they really punished me! After four weeks without touching them my lips and cheeks "blew out" in no time at all. Its going to take a little time to get it back I'm afraid. But hey, its Summer, parties, parades, camping , a few weddings, a GREAT time to be a piper (but then any time is a great time to be a piper if you think about it.)

Enough rest, back to the pipes you slackard! Blow, blow your lips off! Swear you'll never leave them alone so long again! :-)

Slainte,

Pops

Extended absence!

Wow, it has been a while. A lot has happened and is happening. The Family is lauching a new business venture, a construction company, and all hands have turned to. Doesn't have anything to do with piping, but it sure sucks up every available minute. My poor pipes are sitting over in the corner chair giving me a very baleful look. I've got to get my act together though as there are parades just around the corner, and a wedding coming up, not to mention several birthdays..... it is bad to be a slacker!

Breast Cancer Relay

The local pub (Joe’s Grotto) participated in a 12 hour Breast Cancer Relay May 1st. The enthusiasm was such that the pub patrons, headed by Kellee, a survivor, actually signed up two full teams of participants. Initially, they had asked me to Pipe the two teams around the course, a task I would have been honored to perform. Sadly, organizers got in the way. Regardless, there still was an entire Kilted contingent from the pub. Let me be perfectly clear, this was an event the pub was participating in, not hosting.

By the time you are my age you can not help but have been touched in some way by the tragedy of this awful disease. It is wonderful to be able in some small way to contribute to the fight against this bane.

So Jan, Liz, Tori, Kellee, here’s to you ladies and to your good health. You beat it and God willing so will many others!

Pops

Dear Mr. McGee:

First: Good website!

I am of Scot/Irish descent and there are questions I have and would like answered. I'm having a difficult time getting the proper history about my heritage
...why are the bagpipes played at funerals? I can't find the answer to where they started, why it is done, and when was the origination. …..where I might learn more about the tradition of playing the pipes at funerals? It is a wonderful thing..."piping someone Home"...

Thanks for your help.
Judith Bingham

Dear Ms. Bingham, I wish there were some beautiful story or even some glorious tale I could regale you with explaining why Pipes are played at funerals. The truth though is a little sad and certainly a blemish on our history.

It would seem that when the Irish and Scotts were "displaced" by the Land Clearances of the early nineteenth century many immigrated to our shores. Like most new arrivals they were less than welcome. There was great resentment against them and employment was extremely difficult to find. "No Irish Need Apply" was a sign found in almost every window. The exceptions of course were those jobs considered dangerous or not desirable, such as police officer or fire fighter.

And so it was that our fore fathers gravitated to these occupations no one else wanted. These were and remain occupations which engender a strong sense of comradeship and when coupled with a common heritage the bonding is doubly strong. They are also professions with a tragically high mortality rate. And so it was that when one of these brothers fell he was honored by his comrades in a traditional manner, which in this instance included "Piping the departed home". The soul wrenching skirl of the Pipes touched all who heard it and in a very short time they became associated with funeral services in general. From there the Pipes have gravitated to Honor Guards of every sort.

It goes without saying that this is the most solemn act a Piper can perform, escorting the Fallen to the Gates.

Warmest regards, Michael McGee

El Zaribah Shrine

Late yesterday afternoon was the spring equinox. The gray cold grip of Winter gave way to the new life of Spring, life once again returning to the World.

Today, the first full day of this season of re-birth I was privileged to Pipe for the new Nobles of El Zaribah Shrine. New Nobles stepping forward from our Masonic ranks, to carry on our work, and the work of all who have gone before.

Nobles of the El Zaribah Spring Class of 2009, we salute you!

Slainte,
Pops

Yet another St. Patty's :-)

Well, Saint Patty’s day 2009 has come and gone. A brief five days and evenings of parties, pubs, and suds. Now the public demand for pipers will return to normal (near zero). Try pub crawling with your pipes for the next 51 weeks and you are more apt to incur bodily harm than free drinks. Still for a glorious 120 hours the public could not get enough of us! If you had a particularly unique experience or captured that once in lifetime photo share it with the world. Send it to gopiper.com and we’ll post it with everyone else’s. Or leave it here as a comment and I’ll “cut and paste” it over for you. Keep the party alive!

Slainte,
Pops

Tune it D*#mn it!

I'm not much in favor of "Cutting and Pasting" Blog Posts but Nate over at keydetpiper.com has posted a very good blog. Rather than commenting on "tutored" versus "self-trained" pipers he focuses on the primary problem with many self-trained pipers. ie. They don't TUNE THIER INSTRUMENT. Listen up lads, no one would tolerate a guitarist who was seriously out of tune.

Here follows a re-print of Nate's post. Its a very good read.


"As much as I hate to admit it, not everyone likes bagpipes. Yes, I know it’s hard to believe, but there are people dislike or even outright hate bagpipes. Just do a search for “I hate bagpipes” and you’ll find a plethora of sites devoted to the hating of the instrument I love.

I have this theory that goes like this: “If you don’t like the bagpipes, you’ve probably never heard them played correctly.” I will be the first to admit that listening to bad bagpipes is a terrible experience. The best way I’ve found to describe it is sushi. Good sushi is a wonderful dining experience, but bad sushi will have you in the bathroom retching your guts out. Bad bagpipes have a similar effect.

The problem is that most people don’t have an opportunity to hear good piping. If someone only hears pipes that sound like this, or this, or this, there’s no wonder the instrument has a bad reputation. Those performances have all the musicality and tonal quality of banging pots and pans together, and most people would recognize that it isn’t really music.

So the question is how to expose the general populace to better piping. It doesn’t have to be top-notch playing, but it should be close to in tune with correctly-played embellishments and some sense of rhythm. I offer a two-part solution.

First, if you are a decent player, play often in the public eye (or ear). I play outside all the time when the weather is nice, and your local park is a great place to get some playing in while exposing the non-piping public to decent playing. The more they hear good piping, the better off everyone will be.

Second, educate the poor pipers that most people usually end up hearing. Once a piper learns how to tune his or her pipes, the result is much more pleasant on the ears. I think the problem with a lot of the buskers and street bands is that they haven’t been taught properly in the first place, so they themselves don’t really know how the pipes are supposed to sound.

There’s my recommendation for how to improve the pipes’ public image: better pipers should play more where the public can hear them, and we should all work together to improve ourselves and our peers as pipers."

elegant solution

I had just gone into the garage to begin my practice session when once again my base drone reed found its way out of the drone and into the bag ( a non-zippered hide bag). My son who was working on another project asked for a quick definition of some of the explicatives that followed and what was the cause. Now he is a rather fine mechanic and when I explained the situation he came up with a most elegant solution. He went over to his tool box and took out a set of taps. He then “threaded” all my reed seats, in both the drones and the chanter. I doubt I will ever drop another reed! Thanks son!