Just a misunderstanding

[Lallans]

Text is required so I'll just say this is another thing that would never happen in Canada.

[imrichmond]

Text is required so I'll just say this is another thing that would never happen in Canada.

Well... Actually, a good piper friend of mine who recently moved to a condo thought that the green space in front of her unit would be a nice spot to play a few tunes on her pipes. She had barely started playing when a man came running up to her shouting, "Stop, stop, I can't stand it!" Happened in Canada.

A good many years ago, when I was 17 or 18, I and a drummer friend were playing at a fellow piper's summer cottage in a nearby lakeside resort town. It was about seven in the evening. My playing was interrupted by someone yelling "Stop!" in my right ear. When I turned towards the person, I discovered that it was a burly police sergeant. Apparently, someone had complained that we were keeping their baby awake. Alas, not everyone in Canada is friendly towards those of us who practice the piper's art.

[Steve Ashton]

In recent years the pitch of pipes has been getting higher and higher. There are some of us who simply find that the high pitch used hurts our ears.

That's OK as I also cannot listen to mezzo-sopranos.

[imrichmond]

In recent years the pitch of pipes has been getting higher and higher. There are some of us who simply find that the high pitch used hurts our ears.

That's OK as I also cannot listen to mezzo-sopranos.

Yes, indeed. According to published reports, the majority of the grade 1 bands competing at the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow a week ago were tuning above 490 Hz as the unusually hot weather (29C) pushed the already high pitch even higher. When I began piping some 60+ years ago, the usual pitch was 466 Hz. In the late 1970s, the band I played with and most other grade 1 bands in Ontario aimed for a pitch of 470 Hz. By the early years of this century, most bands were pitching at 476 Hz. Over the past decade or so, this has increased to 482-485 Hz, which rises, of course, with summer temperatures.

[Grump]

466 is where they belong ...It enables you to be accompanied and in that it allows you to share the blame ! I pipe regularly in the lane at our cottage and the crowd gathers in front of the hedge and on the road from up and down the lakeside street. I have had cars stop and take pictures and have had many videos made of me piping at sundown. There is no better way to end the day but I do wish they would share the pictures and the video.