Logan

I first heard that story at a summer piping school run by the College of Piping with Seumas MacNeill and James Bayne sadly both gone now, in 1987. Seumas was giving a talk after lunch about the etiquette in piping particularly for the piper themselves. He referred to it as the John Ban syndrome a condition whereby your ego runs amuck. He told us if you win a competition you humbly say something to the effect of "I just had the better sounding pipe." It's true today that even professional grade pipers carry out this mantra. Professional piper Bruce Gandy from Canada won a prestigious piping competition, when asked how it felt to win he replied "the pipes were going well and I had a lot of luck." Seumas finished his talk in typical Seumas style telling the tale of another professional grade piper who won a very prestigious piping competition and was interviewed in the local paper. When asked how he did it he replied "when I win I consider it luck, though lately the more I practice the luckier I get." Moral of the lesson as you get better you should get humbler.
This is the time of year when we reflect on one greater than us and born in the most humble of circumstances!