Looking for Chanter and Instruction Books in Toronto

**HamishTheBlack** · 1st February 10, 10:51 AM

Greetings,

I know I could look on Ebay or order online from an online store, but I would rather talk to a real person and be able to ask questions.

Does anyone know of a good place in or near Toronto, ON, Canada where I can get a practice chanter and books to learn how to play?

With Greatest Respect,

Matt

**chasem** · 1st February 10, 11:02 AM

Best bet would be to find a pipe band nearby and talk with someone in the band about those things.

A band would help in many ways (lessons, answering questions, etc). And, if you play with the band, it would help knowing/having the same/similar equipment if you stick with them.

Aside from that, I'm not much help, as I have no idea what the local piping world is like in Toronto, but I do wish you the best of luck! I'm young in my piping career as well (not yet on the pipes), but it's been exciting so far, so I hope you get to share in that!

**KenB** · 1st February 10, 11:34 AM

Here is a link:
www.dunbarbagpipes.com
Dunbar is located in St. Catherines.
Good luck!

**Wompet** · 2nd February 10, 04:12 PM

The next closest one I know of is the British Shop in Buffalo.
But following chasem's line of thought - there are enough bands in the region that there has to be another shop, which may be closer to you than St. Cats or Buffalo.

**rocscotjoe** · 2nd February 10, 04:31 PM

Originally Posted by Wompet

The next closest one I know of is the British Shop in Buffalo.
But following chasem's line of thought - there are enough bands in the region that there has to be another shop, which may be closer to you than St. Cats or Buffalo.

Got my practice chanter and green book from the British Shop...a piping friend referred me to them.

**Andrew M. Stewart** · 10th March 10, 08:49 AM

Originally Posted by HamishTheBlack

Greetings,

I know I could look on Ebay or order online from an online store, but I would rather talk to a real person and be able to ask questions.

Does anyone know of a good place in or near Toronto, ON, Canada where I can get a practice chanter and books to learn how to play?

With Greatest Respect,

Matt

Long and McQuade on Bloor st will order them in for you at a pretty reasonable price. The thing with them is that they dont know anything about Bagpipes, but if you get a product code off of a site like www.scottshighland.com/ they will get it for you.

www.celtworks.com/ is another good source and he is in Barrie. The 48th Highlanders P&D offer lessons to beginners as well on Friday nights down at Mosspark Armoury, free of charge.

Private message me if you need and questions answered. Cheers

**thescot** · 10th March 10, 11:21 AM

Local pipeband members highly recommend this site: http://www.hotpipes.com/

If nothing else, it's worth the time to read their stuff.

**SteveB** · 17th March 10, 07:20 PM

You may want to contact Dunbar in St. Cats. They have been exceptionally great at answering questions, and their Deluxe blackwood practice chanter with an Abbot reed is an instrument in its own right. it is my favourite practice chanter as the hole spacing is near identical to the chanter on my Shepherd pipes.

If it is not too dear, you may want to ring them up as they may know of instructors in your area.

Slainte

**ohiopiper** · 25th April 10, 08:50 AM

I'll second the suggestion of checking out Oliver Seelers website. lots of reading and a small but good selection of piping stuff.

Being in Toronto, there are bound to be more than a few pipe bands in your area, as piping seems to be even more prominent in Canada than here in the U.S. Face to face contact and instruction will become necessary at some point, the only question is the regularity. Sooner is better to avoid developing bad habits.

I also recommend looking into John Cairns' books, "Bagpipe Solutions". A fellow Canadian, he has written these tutorials to take one from rank beginner to up and running on the pipes. Make no mistake, there are no shortcuts, Cairns goes through six volumes to get one on a et of pipes.

Along with SteveB, I use a Dunbar PC with an Abbott reed. Sounds fine with the usually supplied Walsch, sounds better with an Abbott.

Above all, avoid E-Bay for anything piping related. Far too much junk posing as useable goods. For used equipment, from PC to pipe, check out the forums at Bob Dunsire. Kinda like XMarks for pipers.