Piping Ideas & Tips
Some Ideas To Consider

I'm cautious to give tips -- not because I don't have any, but because of the ever-so-fun debate that all too many people in Highland piping get into.  If someone has a different opinion, fine, let them, and get over it.  That said, following are a few ideas to consider.  If you have some tips you think I should know about &/or add to this page, please contact me.

• I attended a series of workshops at SFU called Highland Arts Festival (2004?).  These workshops were lead by the likes of Bruce Gandy, Neil Dickey, and members of the SFU pipe band.  It was an invalueable weekend indeed; if you get the opportunity to attened something of this sort, go for it.  While in a workshop with Jori Chisholm, I adopted his suggestion of using highlighter-pens to colour-code the parts of the pipe-tunes that have the same phrases.  This seems to help speed learning; further, when you're playing the tune from memory, you can tend to remember the tune visually by its chunks of colour.
• Around 2005, out of having a lack of a personal printer with my computer, I started notating my sheet music by hand.  As a side benefit, I found I gained a better understanding of the tunes I was learning.  It can take a lot of time, but I believe its worth it.  In the cell to the right, you can download a file I've used for blank staff paper -- what I do is print one and then photo-copy it (usually costs less).  Noteooks of blank staff paper are often available through normal-instrument stores.  You may find through hand-notation that you start to compose (hopefully more) of your own music.  I carry a small supply of blank staff around in my sheet-music notebook -- if inspiration hits me, I'm ready to go.
• When seeking an instructor I suggest considering the following...  Often enough its possible to find someone who is a very good piper who is available for instruction; remember though that just because someone is a good player and teaches doesn't mean that they're also a good instructor.  Some instructors don't teach much during lessons -- instead they get distracted by telling you about &/or braging about their piping accomplisments over the course of your lesson; remember that it is YOUR lesson and that they need to be teaching you how to play, not telling their stories about this ribbon & that trophy.  It is 160% okay to stop working with one instructor and start working with another -- it can be awkward to leave one since this tends to be a small community, but pull up your kilt and go for it.  Its 160% okay to work with multiple instructors at the same time.  Whenever you get the opportunity, get a lesson with a different instructor as they may & probably-well introduce new ideas to you and/or introduce something you're already familiar with in a different way and open things up better to you.  Make sure that there is a good fit between student & instructor -- you're going to spend a lot of time learning piping, and likely a ton of money, so be sure that you and your instructor can communicate -- if you find that there isn't a fit, feel free to move on to another instructor.  If this person is the only instructor in town, you're stuck, but if you're really passionate about piping you'll look for work-shops you can travel to and attend &/or move to a different place where you can get good instruction -- no, I'm not joking about moving.
  

Original Compositions & Personal Arrangements
Music I've Composed &/or Arranged *

Humbly, I've composed a small number of tunes.  Like my recording endeavours, I recommend that every musician -- more specifically, Highland bagpipers -- work on composing if they don't already.  The more you do it, the better you get at it.  Located here is some of the music I've composed or arranged; also some of the music from other composers I know who have given me permission to play and post their tunes.


* NOTE The music I ha've posted here is probably under my copyright, meaning it is legally protected by me ... which in basic legal terms as I understand them means you may learn it, you may play it for your own interest, however you cannot record it and sell your recording &/or perform it for pay without paying me my due royalties.  However, if you want to use my music in these ways, please contact me to tell me what you're doing and ask if you may use it -- because I'd probably be happy for you just to use it -- other musicians (Highland bagpipers) have done this with me when I contacted them, most were pretty cool about it.  Just be mindful of applicable national and international laws -- don't make assumptions on law(s).  Too often I've run into musicians who assume that because a living composer's tune has been popular and played many times it is therefore in the public domain -- in otherwords, they feel the tune is in public domain because they say so ... but laws, lawyers and lawsuits will likely tell them otherwise, so protect yourself.  Remember that music compositions do not enter the public domain until 70 years after the year the composer died.

Recording Tips
Things I've begun to learn

Making recordings or albums is a lot of work and a lot of fun.  As I've gotten into making albums I've begun to learn about how to record.  Frankly, I think too few Highland bagpipers record; because of this there is limited experiene/knowledge on the subject.  To date I still have limited experience, but I have collected information from as many pipers as I can -- the likes of Mark Saul, Aaron Shaw and others -- on how to record, the type of gear that works, and what to do with getting your album mixed.  Frankly, this could stand to be a page all on its own ... not to mention I could make a whole page on how to make an album -- ghesh!

I am in the drafting stage of this section, let alone this page, but here's a few things off the top of my head that I've picked up...

• Respect Copyrights -- It is a TON of work looking them up, but it will be worth it -- it respects the artist and potentially protects you legally later on.  What I found to be the least work is to use tunes that you know are Traditional/Public Domain tunes -- more simply put, if you have a book of compositions and the word "Traditional" is part of the information found with the title/composer/etc tune-information, then you're good, you'll need to take this information to your CD manufacturer later on.  Using your own compositions is nice if you have them, because you don't have to pay anyone for using them and you can do whatever you want with them, but do be sure to copyright/register your work.  Remember, just because a tune that was composed 10 years ago and its been played many times by other musicians does not mean its in the Public Domain -- some people like to take the 'because I say so' approach when it comes to tunes that are actually under copyright, but that doesn't make it so.
• Develop a way to keep your notes organized -- You are going to be dealing with a lot of information and communication, keep it manageable. Personally, I developed a series of worksheets using Excel (I'm working on a blank copy with examples that will be posted here for download), a particular set of file folders on my hard drive (including thing such as sheet music, album art concepts, etc), and a folder to keep communications relative to each particular album project.
• While it is possible, it is not advisable to do punch-ins/outs of pipes when recording.  Usually you'll have to record each track with the piper/s playing the song non-stop -- this shouldn't be a leap seeing as how many of us prepar to perform &/or compete.  However, mistakes happen, so roll with them while in a recording session -- beforehand, try to get your songs to where you can play them how you want to record them so while in studio you can do them within 3 to 5 takes ... which doesn't always happen, but its a good aim.
• Some pipers record with their drones shut off -- just their chanters -- and then record their drones separately, recording a strike-in, shut-off, and droning (building the drone-sound behind their chanter looping the droning between the strike-in and shut-off).  For most players this is unadvisable -- to achieve it you need to have a very good ability to control the air pressure of your instrument without drones, and most of us aren't used to this ... so record everything all together.
• Bring copies of other artists' tracks that you want your tracks to sound like to the person who mixes your album -- if you have 12 tracks for your album, you should have 12 other artists' tracks.  These tracks need to represent the sound you want to achieve, they do not have to be the same tune-style that you are recording in (reel, jig, march, air, etc).  If the person mixing your album rejects this in principal or doesn't listen to your example tracks, drop them immediately and find someone else to mix your album.
• When your album is complete get it mixed by someone who plays pipes and mixes -- they'll have a better idea of what your album should sound like.  Since our instrument is a-typical, usually most audio engineers don't know much if anything when it comes to recording or mixing bagpipes. Someone who mixes that doesn't play pipes will likely mix your pipes (particularly if you're playing in a rock band) as a horn (eg saxaphone) and can mess up your album.  When it comes to mixing, my understanding is that pipes need to be mixed more like a vocal track than as an instrument/horn.