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.