Seven days in a kilt...

[Hologenicman]

I got a kilt as a Christmas present and had a week off from work so I decided to take the plunge and spend the week entirely in my new kilt.

Tomorrow makes my seventh day and all has gone really well. I did wear sweat pants one morning half way through the week when I washed the kilt and let it air dry.

My activities for the week so far have been:

Visiting family with christmas gifts.
Shopping at Walmart in the city to the north.
Having dinner at the winery on the coast.
Hauling and stacking firewood.
Being a tourist in Seaside, Oregon.
Shopping at Petco and Costco in the city to the south.
Took out the garbage.
Stretch and workout a few times along the way.

The only thing that I did not do is anything public in my small local town where I live and work. Perhaps that is from still being self conscious in my old fashioned retirement community.

Tomorrow's plans are to chill and get ready to go back to work...

[OC Richard]

Wow that is taking the plunge!!

I have traditional wool kilts/traditional outfits which I only wear when performing on the pipes. They're my "work clothes" in that sense, much like an orchestral musician's tuxedo.

That being said, I have spent several consecutive days kilted, especially around St Patrick's Day, due to lots of gigs.

[grizzbass]

always go to where you comfortable but my church was really conservative and there were still a lot of people who were very supportive. (probably also some who weren't but they never mentioned it). Hope it was a great week.

[Hologenicman]

Wow that is taking the plunge!!

I have traditional wool kilts/traditional outfits which I only wear when performing on the pipes. They're my "work clothes" in that sense, much like an orchestral musician's tuxedo.

That being said, I have spent several consecutive days kilted, especially around St Patrick's Day, due to lots of gigs.

I got a utility kilt which lends itself to everyday wear but it still is a new adventure.

I also got a chanter and lesson book or two. Of all the instruments that I have ever played, i find the chanter to be the most challenging. Using grace notes to mark time, delineate notes, and give emphasis is entirely foreign to me. It is a great challenge and I love it!

[Hologenicman]

always go to where you comfortable but my church was really conservative and there were still a lot of people who were very supportive. (probably also some who weren't but they never mentioned it). Hope it was a great week.

Amazing week!

Except for one shoutout of encouragement for wearing a kilt from a passing car no-one has made an issue or even really acknowledged the kilt. It made for a very comfortable week.

Yeah my local town will probably be the same, but I have to work up to that...

[Steve Ashton]

When I became a kiltmaker I understood that customers expect to see kilts being worn in a kilt shop. So I converted over to wearing a kilt every day.

I don't remember my 7th year anniversary because, by that time, it was just another normal day.

Welcome to the rabbit hole.

[Hologenicman]

When I became a kiltmaker I understood that customers expect to see kilts being worn in a kilt shop. So I converted over to wearing a kilt every day.

I don't remember my 7th year anniversary because, by that time, it was just another normal day.

Welcome to the rabbit hole.

Thank you, Sir!

By the time I hit my seventh year I wil be retiring and free to enjoy wearing a kilt whenever I desire.

[MichiganKyle]

Nicely done! Good on you for having the guts to try it. Not everyone who has a kilt ever really takes the plunge.

When I got my first kilt, my method of getting comfortable with it was to go walk around the mall or other public but semi-anonymous (unlikely to run into anyone I knew) places. Worked great. Got all kinds of comments from guys about how either they owned a kilt and loved how comfortable it was but could never work up the courage to wear it outside of their house, or from ladies asking how to get their significant other to wear one. That pretty much convinced me that it was a perfectly okay thing to wear whenever and wherever and that kilts are well-accepted in the USA. Since then, I have worn one as daily wear pretty much whenever circumstances do not prevent it - generally stuff like welding (I have welded in a kilt but don't recommend it), painting, going up on ladders, machining on the lathe, or anything else where "loose" clothing is a hazard where I wouldn't want to wear long sleeves. But, yeah, I think you'll find that folks nearly universally see it as "wow, that guy's confident" rather than "wow, that guy's weird".

[Hologenicman]

Nicely done! Good on you for having the guts to try it. Not everyone who has a kilt ever really takes the plunge.

When I got my first kilt, my method of getting comfortable with it was to go walk around the mall or other public but semi-anonymous (unlikely to run into anyone I knew) places. Worked great. Got all kinds of comments from guys about how either they owned a kilt and loved how comfortable it was but could never work up the courage to wear it outside of their house, or from ladies asking how to get their significant other to wear one. That pretty much convinced me that it was a perfectly okay thing to wear whenever and wherever and that kilts are well-accepted in the USA. Since then, I have worn one as daily wear pretty much whenever circumstances do not prevent it - generally stuff like welding (I have welded in a kilt but don't recommend it), painting, going up on ladders, machining on the lathe, or anything else where "loose" clothing is a hazard where I wouldn't want to wear long sleeves. But, yeah, I think you'll find that folks nearly universally see it as "wow, that guy's confident" rather than "wow, that guy's weird".

Yeah, it was a good experience. Tomorrow I go back to work and resume wearing pants.

Next time I will probably be more public in my local town but that will be in the future...

[OC Richard]

I got a chanter and lesson book or two. Of all the instruments that I have ever played, I find the chanter to be the most challenging. Using grace notes to mark time, delineate notes, and give emphasis is entirely foreign to me. It is a great challenge and I love it!

You're learning at a great time, due to the internet.

There are tons of online lessons/tutorials. You can hear all the top players performing, both current players and famous players from the past. You can chat with pipers on Skype or Zoom.

When I started, in 1974, all I had was a couple albums to listen to and the College Of Piping "green book".

There were no pipers around to take lessons from, so I was self-taught the first couple years. Happily then my family moved to an area with more people including several Pipe Bands and a large number of good pipers. I worked my tail off and joined a good band in 1977.

I can't encourage you enough to stick with it. You obviously have the musicianship, that's the biggest part of becoming a piper, as it is with any instrument. The rest is diligent practice or "face time" as the jazz guys call it.

It's critical to make sure that you're doing everything right from the very beginning. Some people, due to not knowing, practice their mistakes and ingrain them into their muscle-memory. Then it takes twice as long to get them on the right track.

As they say

"Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect."

I was going to ask what instruments you already play, but in truth it doesn't matter. Many years ago a wise old musician told me

"A musical instrument is merely a mechanical device. The music is in the person."

If you have the music in you, for sure you will become a good piper, if only you diligently and correctly practice the technical details.