Pipers, a totally bizarre question

[JS Sanders]

Alan,
I've been piping for a fair number of years and to the level that it's more than an avocation, it has become my livelihood.

It is generally believed amongst pipers that 1 in 10 individuals who purchases a practice chanter ever become fully fledged pipers. My experience is more like 1 in 15.

Simply put, if you don't have a fire-in-the-belly to learn the noble instrument, you won't be able to talk yourself into it. At best you'll waste a hundred bucks, your time, and someone else's. You must want it and want it mighty bad.

I love Klezmer and have several CD's I routinely listen to on road trips. If I could be in a klez band, the Bb clarinet would be my instrument of choice.

Slainte,
steve

[Alan H]

It is generally believed amongst pipers that 1 in 10 individuals who purchases a practice chanter ever become fully fledged pipers. My experience is more like 1 in 15.

Simply put, if you don't have a fire-in-the-belly to learn the noble instrument, you won't be able to talk yourself into it. At best you'll waste a hundred bucks, your time, and someone else's. You must want it and want it mighty bad.
Slainte,
steve

My gut feeling is that you're probably right. It's a blinkin' lot of work, from all accounts, and I learned long ago that most (not all, but most) things worth doing, only get done well if you the THE WANTS, and bad.

But you didn't tell me what musical satisfaction you get out of playing the pipes....what it is that draws you from a musical standpoint.

[auld argonian]

Okay, guys, look at it this way...

...it could be worse; you could be an oboe* player.


Best

AA


oboe: an ill wind that no one blows good.

[JS Sanders]

<< But you didn't tell me what musical satisfaction you get out of playing the pipes.... what it is that draws you from a musical standpoint. >>

Almost every event I play, someone asks me what prompted me to learn the pipes.

And the most truthful answer I can provide is that I honestly don't know what pushed me in this direction. No one in my family plays. Growing up, I never had a friend/colleague that exposed me to it either. I just don't know.

From a musical standpoint... certainly I receive a lotta accolades. The money's decent, and I have a stack of business cards that females have given me ("Call me."). But those aren't sufficient enough to keep up with the rigors the instrument demands.

I suppose it's that deep visceral feeling that those who hear a live piper for the very 1st time and are completely overwhelmed by it. For me, that feeling has never been absent.

Slainte,
steve