Quote Originally Posted by OC Richard View Post
Exactly so, to us pipers a smart outfit is expected, required, whenever we perform on the pipes.

It's parallel to the orchestra musician's tuxedo. It's very common for musicians to be expected to look a certain way, not only clothes but hair styles etc.
I'd comment that slavish adherence to convention CAN be boring, with little accents meant as humor accepted in the manner they're presented.

For example, the Conductor/Music Director of the Bozeman Symphony Orchestra is young, vigorous (rides his motorcycle in the mountains, etc.) and widely respected (he recently conducted the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center). But, here at home, if there's the equivalent of a "Pops" or "family" concert; e.g., with movie soundtracks, or a family holiday concert, he'll wear his tux, but his shirt will also be black, and his shoes ALARMINGLY pricey brilliant red sneakers (my authority on this point is my college student grandson, who tolerated the music at a recent concert but was REALLY impressed by those sneakers. And, the converse of this is that the music director knows and remembers who I am (including talking to me about my emails) during after-concert receptions, and the major reason for that is NOT that I have a huge amount of classical music knowledge or ANY ability as a performer, but that I show up for the concerts typically in "business dress" kilted outfits (tie, waistcoat, Argyll jacket—or perhaps a nice cable knit sweater atop a tattersall dress shirt), and when at the more formal end of that range, either American business brogues or Ghillie Brogues.

Everybody LOVES the way he dresses, and I get respectful questions and compliments at every concert. One college student even drifted into jealousy when I informed him that Barb Tewksbury was making me a kilt!