interesting thing happened at my mom's funeral

[Kiltedfirepiper]

well as you all know, things went really well.

Vinnie and I played "on the turning away" (pink floyd) and going home.
both with harmonies. and didnt miss a note, honestly it was the best we ever played together EVER.

well FF to the end of the whole thing and we are gathering up the flowers ect.

and the Funeral director pulls Vinnie and myself aside, apologizes for bringing it up NOW, but then explained that we sounded SO good, and she wanted to know if she could call on us for other services. even though there is a pipe band in town ( of which Vinnie is Pipe Srgt. ) she said that finding a piper is neigh impossible as of late. Vinnie told her our price, and she said no problem!


well I just did my first paid gig EVER on Wed. and it went well!
I feel good that I could help to honor the deceased, even though part of me feels bad for charging them to play. the Scot in me says

years spent learning
kilt
pipes
pipe maint. ( reeds, hemp, repairs ect.)
hose, flashes, gillies , sporan, belt, cover
time to get there, wait for 2 hours, play, time to get home
+ babysitter

= fee being worth it

the widow also pulled me aside and said that I was in her address book now and if she ever needed a piper that she'd call on me, which to me is quite an honor.

now I'm getting calls from other funeral homes to do more gigs!
my next one is a WWII vet w/ full honors( color guard, taps , gun volley)
I thought the last one was nerve wracking.....this one is going to be worse!!
I just hope they have a real bugler not the "taps in a can " set up

anyone involved in a Military Color Guard?
advice on how things are done, protocols, ect would be helpful

the service is on Sat.

TIA
Scott

[brandycr]

Congrats!

[Mr. MacDougall]

The military color guard will do their own thing. Find the NCO in charge of the detail before hand, and find out if they'd like you to play while they're folding the colors, perhaps.

[Kiltedfirepiper]

well at my grandfathers funeral, they played taps right when they lifted the flag off the coffin, when tapps was done I started playing amazing grace while they folded the flag, and completed AG when they handed the flag to my grandmother.......it worked out well but I understand that the NCO is the HMFIC so I'll follow his lead thanks for the info


KFP

[macwilkin]

Our own piobear has two very good articles on his web site about piping at funerals:

http://home.sprintmail.com/~ejb/pipi...ary_honors.htm

http://home.sprintmail.com/~ejb/funerals.htm

They're worth perusing.

Regards,

Todd

[SnakeEyes]

well at my grandfathers funeral, they played taps right when they lifted the flag off the coffin, when tapps was done I started playing amazing grace while they folded the flag, and completed AG when they handed the flag to my grandmother.......it worked out well but I understand that the NCO is the HMFIC so I'll follow his lead thanks for the info

It's a casket, not a coffin. Good job though, concerning your newfound source of enjoyment/moolah.

Edit:

I charge, same as any funeral director, officiant, limo company, florist, and everyone else associated with a funeral (or wedding, or whatever), that's why there are death benefits. I take an extremely dim view of dilettantes who sanctimoniously infer that I'm somehow doing something dishonorable for trying to earn a meager living, while by doing so many freebies they give folks the impression that pipers aren't worth paying for; directly or otherwise in a very real sense stealing money out of my pocket!

Yeah; it's a particular pet peeve of mine.

Here here, thanks for saying that. A lot of people expect to get a discount because they're grieving. Sorry folks, it doesn't work that way.

[Riverkilt]

You might also get some ideas from watching the movie Gardens of Stone, or reading the novel (Nicholas Proffitt).

A noble thing and should be well paid.

Don't be surprised if some folks want to tip you after. Be gracious and accept. THEY want to.

Ron

[Kiltedfirepiper]

It's a casket, not a coffin. Good job though, concerning your newfound source of enjoyment/moolah.

.

thanks for the encouragement on my piping
but for the other part...

per wikipedia when I looked up coffin AND casket......the same thing came up for both......

Any box used to bury the dead in is a coffin. Use of the word "casket" in this sense is a North American euphemism, introduced by the undertaker's trade; a "casket" properly so called is in fact a box for jewellery. [1] Some Americans draw a distinction between "coffins" and "caskets"; for these people, a coffin is a tapered hexagonal or octagonal(also considered to be anthropodial in shape) box used for a burial. A rectangular burial box with a split lid used for viewing the deceased is called a "casket" as seen in the picture above.



as you can tell I'm not one of those people.....
so basically it boils down to the same thing as calling potato's "spuds"
was it really necessary to comment.... or rather correct me in my terminology
when it means the same thing? and everyone understood what I was saying?

I see people correcting spelling, and use of punctuation and what have you, and I'm sure the person that typed out the incorrect what ever felt REAL good being called out for something minor like a miss spelled word ( like getting called in front of a class in 4th grade so the teacher can show the students how bad you #*$&%ed up on a paper) I KNOW its a pet peve for some folks....trust me I know, cause every time you bring something up thats your appology for bringing it up!

hell thats why I chose the tag line I have!!! so when I type someting out at 0300 and I send it everyone will know that every now and then I wont spell something right, or miss a punctuation!
I'm not applying for a job here ....I'm talking to my friends! if I had friends correcting my grammar all the time .....I probably wouldnt be friends with them for very long because who wants to be treated that way?

how often would people post on this site if they new they were going to get graded on what they posted?
I understand that good spelling, grammar, punctuation are important, but in a relaxed atmosphere the saying should be " come as you are" right?
I'd hate to have to proof read, and spell check everything I posted, it would make it time consuming, and make responding no fun at all

is it REALLY THAT important?!?!?!?

getting off the soapbox now


and for rants like this is why I have the OTHER tag line!

KFP

[SnakeEyes]

thanks for the encouragement on my piping
but for the other part...

per wikipedia when I looked up coffin AND casket......the same thing came up for both......

Any box used to bury the dead in is a coffin. Use of the word "casket" in this sense is a North American euphemism, introduced by the undertaker's trade; a "casket" properly so called is in fact a box for jewellery. [1] Some Americans draw a distinction between "coffins" and "caskets"; for these people, a coffin is a tapered hexagonal or octagonal(also considered to be anthropodial in shape) box used for a burial. A rectangular burial box with a split lid used for viewing the deceased is called a "casket" as seen in the picture above.



as you can tell I'm not one of those people.....
so basically it boils down to the same thing as calling potato's "spuds"
was it really necessary to comment.... or rather correct me in my terminology
when it means the same thing? and everyone understood what I was saying?

I see people correcting spelling, and use of punctuation and what have you, and I'm sure the person that typed out the incorrect what ever felt REAL good being called out for something minor like a miss spelled word ( like getting called in front of a class in 4th grade so the teacher can show the students how bad you #*$&%ed up on a paper) I KNOW its a pet peve for some folks....trust me I know, cause every time you bring something up thats your appology for bringing it up!

hell thats why I chose the tag line I have!!! so when I type someting out at 0300 and I send it everyone will know that every now and then I wont spell something right, or miss a punctuation!
I'm not applying for a job here ....I'm talking to my friends! if I had friends correcting my grammar all the time .....I probably wouldnt be friends with them for very long because who wants to be treated that way?

how often would people post on this site if they new they were going to get graded on what they posted?
I understand that good spelling, grammar, punctuation are important, but in a relaxed atmosphere the saying should be " come as you are" right?
I'd hate to have to proof read, and spell check everything I posted, it would make it time consuming, and make responding no fun at all

is it REALLY THAT important?!?!?!?

getting off the soapbox now


and for rants like this is why I have the OTHER tag line!

KFP

I was only correcting you because that's the industry I work in, and we prefer that people call them by the proper term, and that's all I was saying. I'm sure that if someone used the wrong word to describe something you're passionate about you'd be upset. Maybe I didn't need to correct you, but if that's the case then you had no reason to get on my case. I'm sorry I corrected you infront of god and everybody, and I'm sorry that it upset you. Now that's the last you're going to hear from me on this.

[gangreenfootball]

Congrats