Piping on St. Patrick's Day

**ANP3** · 13th March 12, 01:37 PM

Hey all,

I have some rather important questions to throw out to the membership, more the pipers than anyone else.

First, I have been hired to play a party at my college, and then walk some people down to the rapid station maybe 3/4 of a mile from the home I'll be playing at. All in all maybe a 3 hour commitment. I did some online pricing for pipers, and one guy I found charges $250 for parties! Is that normal? I can't charge that for college students, and expect to be paid...can I? I mean I'm an OKAY piper, and this will be my first gig, so what should I charge?

Next I want to know what dose everyone think of my St. Patrick's day get up. My kilt will be a MacDonald Modern, with black leather sporran, With a white shirt, blue and red regimental stripe tie, Green hand knit hose, lastly a camel coloured v-neck Pringle of Scotland sweater. All in all I think It's quite the look, maybe a sprig of shamrock to pin to the sweater to tie it all togeather?

Thanks everybody!
Nick!

**Jock Scot** · 13th March 12, 01:45 PM

I cannot help you with the prices I am afraid. Your proposed outfit sounds fine to me for an informal do. A bit of a smarter do? Well if that is all you have, just go with what you have and look confident! What about hose and shoes? Don't forget the pictures! Good luck.

**ANP3** · 13th March 12, 01:50 PM

Yeah, I like the look a lot, it's a nice "day dress," look. I think it will help with busking when I head to down town Cleveland.

**ANP3** · 13th March 12, 01:52 PM

Oh, and black Ghillies.

**masonpiper** · 13th March 12, 02:29 PM

I usually charge $75 /half hour, with a “free” half hour to hour for tuning etc. That is a price for Weddings and Funerals. A Funeral usually works out to a set in the chapel (1/2 hour) and/or a set at graveside (1/2 hour). Weddings, I charge from the time the show is supposed to go on, until I leave, with at least $300 paid up front, as I have been burned by parents. If I was playing a pub for an hour or so, like 3, 10-15 minute sets, I would go with $50-100, plus tab and tips, depending on how much I like the pub.

A party like that, $150 maybe, that’s $50 bucks an hour and you might get some other gigs from it. Remember, YOU learned how to play that darn thing and YOU maintain it and that’s worth something, if people want the pipes they need to pay to appreciate it and for the rest of us. A very wise old Scot told me once, if you will do it for free why should they pay me?

**mull** · 13th March 12, 04:23 PM

Remember, YOU learned how to play that darn thing and YOU maintain it and that’s worth something, if people want the pipes they need to pay to appreciate it and for the rest of us.

Hence the saying you have to pay the piper!

**flyingshamrock** · 13th March 12, 06:08 PM

Originally Posted by masonpiper

If I was playing a pub for an hour or so, like 3, 10-15 minute sets, I would go with $50-100, plus tab and tips, depending on how much I like the pub.

A party like that, $150 maybe, that’s $50 bucks an hour and you might get some other gigs from it. Remember, YOU learned how to play that darn thing and YOU maintain it and that’s worth something, if people want the pipes they need to pay to appreciate it and for the rest of us. A very wise old Scot told me once, if you will do it for free why should they pay me?

I've went as low as $50 but I wanted an endless supply of Guinness while I was there.

**EagleJCS** · 15th March 12, 10:02 AM

Pipers around here start out at US$150. That gets one piper, dressed and tuned, for one hour. How long that piper plays depends on the gig and what's requested. The fee is negotiated up from there. My piping instructor (with 30 years of experience and countless tunes) I think starts at $250 these days.

One thing I'd be sure the hosts are aware of is how loud the GHB is, especially indoors. Casual conversation within about 20 feet of you will be next to impossible. I recommend YOU wear earplugs.

I'm all for using sheet music, especially if you're not confident in having a wide variety of tunes memorized. It would be quite different if you were in a concert setting or on parade (hard for a piper to carry sheet music).

**OC Richard** · 16th March 12, 05:01 AM

Originally Posted by EagleJCS

I'd be sure the hosts are aware of is how loud the GHB is, especially indoors. Casual conversation within about 20 feet of you will be next to impossible. I recommend YOU wear earplugs.

This gets into an issue that I have to deal with quite a bit: churches banning bagpipes altogether because they're too loud.

What these people don't realise is that there is quite a range of volume possible, even sticking with the GHB.

A really good piper, say a piper who plays in a Grade One band, is going to have a band chanter set up to be extremely loud and extremely sharp. Loud and sharp are exactly what you want in G1 band competition but not ideal for playing in a church or restaurant!

I've found over the years that a 466 chanter (that is, a chanter which plays at Concert B Flat) is far better than a 480++ band chanter for indoor gigs of any sort. The volume is much lower, the tone is more mellow, and the pitch agrees with any canned background music or live band in another room or what have you.

This really came to roost when on successive St Patrick's Days I played my 466 chanter at a daylong gig where I travelled between various locations of a restaurant chain the first year, but my 484 band chanter the second year. The reaction was very different, the people finding the 466 chanter pleasing but the 484 chanter annoying. Annoying isn't good for a gigging musician!

I have to explain this stuff all the time to church people who have banned bagpipes. Also I have uilleann pipes which are the same volume as a violin or flute, but these church people have never seen one and think it's the loud Scottish pipes. Oi oi oi.

I had to move heaven and earth to get the church people to allow me to play the uilleann pipes yesterday at my Father-in-law's funeral Mass. They could not wrap their minds around the idea of the uilleann pipes, even though I had played at that same church in the past and everything was fine.

One guy even told me that instruments were banned inside of Catholic churches during Lent. What BS... I had just played uilleann pipes along with a guitar, flute, drum, and keyboard at a different Catholic church last Sunday!

**Jack Daw** · 15th March 12, 10:40 AM

If you're of the Grade 4 variety Masonpiper's prices sound about right. In Houston, I'm lucky to get that, although sometimes I can charge more depending on the venue. We have a glut of very good pipers in Houston as there are at least four GHB bands, and the St. Thomas Episcopal School is a piper factory; so, competition for gigs can be dire.