Birth of a Pipe Band

[conner395]

Wishing the band all the very best.

We started from scratch 8 years ago, and it's been a roller-coaster ride ever since.

As I found out, there's so much more to the administration and running of a (police) pipe band than just getting some pipers and drummers together!

If I can be of any assistance with advice, etc, please do not hesitate to get in touch

Best regards

Dave Conner
Band Secretary
Northern Constabulary Pipe Band
Inverness, Scotland
http://www.norconpipeband.co.uk

[Oldhiker]

good luck Kyle!

[OC Richard]

Best of luck!

It's an immense project which will take a tremendous amount of time, money, and dedication.

About teaching adult beginners to play the pipes, I have 30 years experience of doing that, and sad to say the "learning curve" is incredibly steep and the dropout rate very high.

One old teacher I talked to reckoned that he was lucky if one in 100 people who began piping lessons ever learned to play reasonably well.

The older a beginner is, the longer it takes them to develop the necessary "muscle memory" to finger the pipes reliably and produce the ornaments with sufficient speed and clarity.

On the bright side, I know a few people around here who began as adults and became good players in a fairly short time (three to five years).

They shared these things in common:
1) strong previous musical experience. Most were Music Majors (or Minors) in college.
2) fanatical dedication to practice. Most practiced one to six hours a day, every day.
3) good instruction.

Vast amounts of practice time are especially necessary for older beginners, because it takes more time to get the fingers to do what's needed the older one gets.

Examples: One guy, a professional pianist, rose quickly through the solo competition ranks and ended up an "open" solo piper.

Another guy, a drummer before taking up the pipes, has had a steady rise through the solo ranks, is now competing in Grade One solos, and was the Pipe Major of a successful Grade Three pipe band.

A woman who likewise has had a successful solo carreer and is the Pipe Major of a good Grade Three band. I think she was a Music major or minor in college.

Another woman who doesn't compete solo but has become a very solid piper. I believe she was a Music minor in college, on trumpet.

[FreddyBeachPete]

Best of luck to you! I am a beginner adult piper and can attest to both the drop out rate (I am last man standing from a group of 6 that started in October) and the steep learning curve. That said, my Saturday morning lesson is the best 1 hour of my entire week!