Starting to see progress

With the competition season starting in just two weeks, I am finally starting to feel a bit more comfortable with my state of readiness both for solo and for band activities. On the solo front, my March tune, The Atholl and Breadalbane Gathering, is coming along. I have a couple of key focus points - calm steady tempo on the dot/cut runs and nice strong off-beat notes to give good lift to the tune. Insofar as my Jig tune is concerned, The Fittie Boatman, it is still very much a work in progress. I feel reasonably comfortable with parts 1,2 and 4 but part 3 is a challenge. My big focus is to play at a calm pace and focus on being even with each the of G-D-E triplets. For the band performances, I feel good about my playing in the 4-tune March Medley. The 5-tune open Medley is not yet at the same standard but its improving day by day. The focus for the next 2 weeks will be on the Jig and the Reel plus to a lesser degree the Strathspey. Had a busy weekend playing for two events. The Brain Tumour Spring Sprint on Saturday was particularly fun because I piped for a group of young girls who danced the 2.5k course to show support for one of their dance friends who was diagnosed last year. Then on Sunday I played for the Arthritis Society Walk held down on the riverfront trail. It was a gorgeous day and I saw many friends out running. On my way back to the car I passed by the Royal New brunswick Regiment monument and felt moved to stop and play a lament, Mist Covered Mountains, in remembrance of the events in Normandy 70 years ago and in Moncton last week.

June Already

Yikes - the month of May has flown by and with the turning of the calendar to a new month it means that Highland Games season is upon us! This month we play in both the Moncton and Summerside games. I'll be playing in two solo divisions (Grade 5 March and Grade 3/4/5 Amateur Jig) plus our band will play in both Grade 5 categories - March Medley and Medley. This weekend we had a special guest instructor with us for our practise on Saturday. Bob Worrall is a true living legend in the world of piping. He is a top-flight adjudicator, an instructor, a champion solo piper and the voice of the World Piping Championships on BBC TV (and around the world via live streaming). This is the second time that he has spent a day with our band and he is a remarkable teacher and wonderfully nice man. Practise went very well and then yesterday I had a very productive session on my own. I've been struggling with my pipe set-up but I've made two changes and they seem to be helping. First, I shortened the drone cords because my drones felt like they were going to slip off my shoulder. I have also reverted to a round mouthpiece from the oval shaped one I've been using. It's probably just psychological but I felt like I was able to sustain the air pressure much better. It allowed me to play all teh way through my 4-parted (with repeats) march tune plus all the way through the band's 5-tune Medley.