Category: pipeband

Recordings – Preparing for the ASPD Robbie Burns 2024 performance

In preparing for the Airdrie Scots’ 2024 Robbie Burns performance, I recorded some of the tunes.

Banjo Breakdown

 

79th Farewell to Gibraltor March-Strathspey-Reel

 

Birkhall Hornpipe

 

Mist Covered Mountains – Paddys Leather Breaches

Longueval – Steam Train to Mallaig

New Recording: Hallelujah

I recorded a 6 track (5 voice) rendition of Hallelujah on my pipes today, using the built in mic on my laptop.  This is a work in progress that my band is working on for our upcoming Robbie Burns dinner and performance.

How not to buy a set of Bagpipes

On the following link, Matt  unboxes a set of bagpipes he purchased off of Amazon for $150USD.  Out of the box, they aren’t worth playing.  He promised a 2nd video to see if they could be made play-worthy. Note: he intentionally purchased this set to compare against professionally made pipes.

Over the last few years I’ve had a number of students who had purchased a set of pipes online from either E-Bay, Amazon, or even “a store in Scotland” who then come to me for lessons.  I’ve been in those stores on the Royal Mile; They are selling “budget” pipes almost identical to those in the video.

The short form of the story is, only purchase professional pipes if you playing the bagpipes is more than a passing fad.  Purchase from a manufacturer who is involved in the Piping scene.  There are a couple dozen names.  Off of the top of my head some of the big ones would be (in alphabetical order) Dunbar, Hardie, Henderson, McCallum, Naill, Shepherd (my apologies to any I missed).

Whats new in August 2019

After a busy July working around the house, I’ve had a few hours to go through the website and update many of the pages. There was some major cleanup needed as I had migrated my website hosting from one provider to another.

I have also started putting my individual lesson material online here as products you can purchase. This is still in the experimental stage, but my initial experiments were working, so I will continue.

My pipe band the Airdrie Scots Pipes and Drums has performed a few parades and we have 2 left on our schedule. We have started working on the tunes we will play for our Robbie Burns night in January or February (date TBD). New members always welcome!

My wife and I are attending the Airdrie Farmer’s Market this summer. We will be at the next 7 (August and most of September) on Wednesdays. I have my Fraser Highland Shoppe and Marcia has Marcia Fraser’s Custom Travel as vendors. I also take my pipes along and play a tune from time to time throughout the day. Stop in and say Hi!

Listen to Air106 to hear an interview with me

I was interviewed by Air106 about the Airdrie Gaelic Society and the Airdrie Scots Pipes and Drums. There will be a followup interview Monday about the Burns Night dinner, after which the segment will air.  As well, I will be interviewed in the near future on their Morning Show.

            I was interviewed by Air106 about the Airdrie Gaelic Society and the Airdrie Scots Pipes and Drums.

There will be a followup interview Monday about the Burns Night dinner, after which the segment will air.  As well, I will be interviewed in the near future on their Morning Show.

Interviewed by the Echo about Scottish Culture and Piping

I was just interviewed by a writer for the Echo.  The article is expected to be in next week’s paper, though it might be delayed a week.  We spoke about Scottish Culture, heritage, the bagpipes, learning the pipes, etc.

            I was just interviewed by a writer for the Echo.  The article is expected to be in next week's paper, though it might be delayed a week.  We spoke about Scottish Culture, heritage, the bagpipes, learning the pipes, etc.