Quote Originally Posted by EagleJCS View Post
It's interesting that people make the presumption that you've got to have superior "lung power" to play the pipes. Far from it. The bag is a reservoir for the air that drives the reeds. All you have to do is breathe normally and exhale into the bag to refill the reservoir.
I've never seen a piper breathe normally when piping! They all look like their heads are about to explode, with their cheeks puffed out and their necks straining. Sometimes they pass out. As I understand it, inflating the bag isn't the hard part. It's squeezing the bag to create enough pressure to drive the drones and their reeds, and then keeping a range of pressure (i.e. overcoming it with each blow) with one's lungs that's the issue.

I bought a practise chanter from a fellow XMTS member several years ago and tried it for a few weeks. Even that was more than I wanted to do. I am a smoker, but used to play brass instruments when I was younger (baritone, tuba). I just don't care for sustained blowing into an instrument these days, though I respect those who do! I'll stick with my plucked, frailed, and bowed instruments that I can play while I smoke, LOL.