Pipers, another bizarre question

[Jack Daw]

I take gigs and I compete, but if there isn't either coming up soon, I have the tendancy to leave the pipes in the cradle. Playing is playing, but to keep a pipe band from dying out or a solo piper on the boards, you have to compete because it sets goals. At 50, competing is not a cut-throat thing or even a stressful occasion for me. The purpose of competing is strictly self-improvement; not to kill the other guy. Most adjudicators are very good at giving advice on your score sheet - I don't mind getting advice from Alistair Gillies! Competitor pipers are very friendly with one another and also very helpful. It can also add credentials to your resume as a working piper to say that you are a grade 2, or that you won the gold medal or whatever...

[Mr. Woolery]

Jack-

That's a really good point! For the price of competition, I can get advice from world-class pipers who I would probably never get to meet otherwise!

My first competition, I disqualified for failing to complete the tune. It was a combination of nerves and a loose drone reed. Neither would have done it alone, but together I was killed. Then, I got to stand up in front of the same judge next day and play my march. My only goal was to make it to the end of the tune cleanly. (I'd fixed the reed by this time.) After all the competition was over, the judge, James MacLean, walked by where I was listening to other pipers and he leaned down to say "Petreck, yeh pleed will!" That one sentence made me feel better than the ribbon I won for that march. That one sentence is my goal for this season, as well. I don't really expect to take prizes, but I hope to hear a really good piper compliment me on some part of my playing. That's the real motivation. The additional payoff is the direct advice you mentioned (don't speed up on the third part, take a little more time to be deliberate with your grips, check your drone reeds before you step on the boards, etc.) from people who have more experience piping than I will have time for in the rest of my life.

And also, being at least grade 3 means you have gotten far enough to no longer be a total newby. That's nice, too.

-Patrick