I have a practice chanter (somewhere!). It is a relic from the days, back in the early 1970s, when I took private lessons with a very Scottish, just-retired, Pipe Major. He bought the chanter on my behalf, in Scotland, but I have no idea who made it, and he himself fashioned the reed - something he was apparently noted for and of which he was quite proud.

Although I am musical, or so I have been told, I have never been able to play an instrument properly. Had piano lessons for years as a child, but cannot play a note now! Sang solos in the church choir before my voice broke, but cannot hit a true note now! As for the piping: I persevered (so did the Pipe Major!) for just over a year but then we agreed to give it up as a bad job - I was getting nowhere. The trouble is that I have never been able to get to grips with reading music!!! I desperately wanted to be able to play the pipes too as I was giving a lot of Highland Dance displays at that time, and the two would complimented each other.