video interview with Ford's piper
article and pic
wow...that had to have been a hard funeral to play.....
reminds me of my grandfather's when I played, tears streaming down my cheeks the whole time, arms shaking, snot running out my nose (great picture huh? ) missing grace notes ( but never cut out ) ...it was tough!!
but it was also June in AZ. so the only reason I would have had if I screwed up was myself!
everyone seems to say " it couldnt have been that cold....the weather channel says it was 47 degrees out that day "
ok ..I'll give you that ....47 degrees .....but what was the humidity?
I have played my pipes in TUCSON AZ when it was 47 degrees....with 20% humidity and my pipes sounded FLAT and shytey! ( no matter how much I fiddled with them ) and my hands were froze in about 20 mins! I imagine up in grand rapids humidity was alot higher!! hell I've been in Illinois with about the same temp ...and 40% humidity and had to wear 4 layers of clothing just to take the BITE out of the cold! (yes I'm a wuss) over at Bobdunsire.com it almost made me sick at how mean and critcal they were being to a fellow piper ( one who has 16 years under his kilt belt on the pipes and has played for countless police funerals as I understand it ) so dont think that he's just some hack piper..... there were alot of factors involved with this and the outcome SUCKED! it's something he's gonna remember ( and haunt him ) forever!
imagine this ....you get there on time, everything is set up you warm up at the right time, everything sounds great!
but wait ....the plane is an hour late....but you have to stand there inthe cold and wait for the procession to show up ......they wont let you go into the warmth and keep you pipes "warmed up " your hands get to be like ice and of course ...as murphy's law is in effect everyone shows up now your pipes are cold and your blowing hot air (compared to outside) into them and the reeds are SCREAMING (literally ) in protest! not to mention your hands probably dont want to work..... and on top of all this ... because you cant get it to play right you now get flustered trying to get a decent note out of the #$%&%$&#^% THINGS !!!! now it turns into a cycle.....and you get worse and worse till you give up the fight and hang your head silently cursing your own name at your failure! how do I know this? ......well lets just say I've hung my head a time or two at some bad public performances...
now I'll admit that I cringed when I heard it .... but I wouldnt think of talking smack about the performance ....thats just not fair to the person that can't defend himself with a response....
ok rant over.... sorry if I sound mad or anything but after checking this out AFTER going to BDF( and the threads got locked after it got REAL bad) I was kinda upset at the universal bashing of a guy that had a really bad hand delt to him....
Scott
Irish diplomacy: is telling a man to go to he)) in such a way that he looks forward to the trip!
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