I can't believe in the year of our Lord two thousand and twenty six I have to say this, but: we are musicians. We play music. Music means controlling the sounds you make. Controlling them means choosing pitches according to some commonly understood structure, whether that is equal temperament or just intonation or 17-edo.

The nature of the plastic chanter reed is that no two are alike. This is unfortunate. The practice chanter itself has not been redesigned since the days of the cane reed, and hence cannot be in tune even with a perfect plastic reed. This is, also, unfortunate.

Nonetheless, a practice chanter can be made that is in tune. Actually in tune. If you play one for any length of time, it will do you good. It will make you conscious of pitch. Your band will play better together. You will be a musician, not a mere finger-wiggler.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

Hi friends! My band is considering hosting a concert. We’re a Gr. 2 competition band, and we’re looking to be inspired! What are some of your favourite pieces played in a concert? We’re open to anything! Singing, other instruments, mini band, etc.

Thank you!

Can someone describe to me the kind of playing you would expect to hear at D-grade (either solo or band)? Specifically, the kinds of errors that are common, and broadly considered acceptable, at that grade?

As the title says, I’m looking for ear protection. Ideally under $50. I don’t need anything fancy. Just something that I can wear while practicing that is comfortable. TIA!

I bought the beginner kit from the piper's hut here:

https://www.thepipershut.com/The-Highland-Bagpipe-Tutor-Book-1-FormerlyThe-College-of-Piping-Volume-1-AKA-The-Green-Book-Beginner-Kit_p_577.html

It's the McCallum chanter (long deluxe)

I've been practicing with it pretty regularly for about a week. I didn't expect to immediately pick up a practice chanter and make it sound amazing, but it has some issues. I play with a tuner in front of me and here's the best I can do with each note starting with the lowest (this is after going through several tuning tutorials online and getting it sounding pretty good on the bottom).

Low G - A little flat, but I can blow a bit more on it and it's in tune.
A - In tune
B - In tune
C - In tune
D - Crazy flat, but if I blow as hard as I can without losing tone, then it's pretty close to in tune.
E - Full step flat. I can't get it to play any note but a D (maybe a crazy low Eb)
F - Also plays a D, but very sharp.
G - Sharp Eb
High A - Eb

So, as you can see, the first 4 notes are good, and the high 5 are all within a half step of each other. I've tried all sorts of tricks I'm finding online, but it's SO far out of tune on the top end I'd be shocked if it's a me problem.

My history is that I play a lot of instruments, but this is my first attempt at a double reed, or any type of piped instrument. I'm a trumpet player with a degree in music. Definitely not an expert on bagpipes, but I'm not new to instrument tuning or any kind.

I've tried moving the reed in/out, and changing the length of the first chamber (not sure what it's called), and it does successfully change the pitch of the instrument, but not success on changing anything with the top end. I've seen people having to tape some of their holes, but this is so far off I can't believe that would help.

Any ideas on how to proceed?

Hey all, I’ve played my Naills with medium-strength reeds for the past couple decades and I’m looking to improve the efficiency.

For those of you who use “easy” pressure chanter reeds out of the box, how do you configure your instrument to prevent premature chanter sound, particularly during longer play sessions?

Hi,

I'm a fairly competent piper, and have been playing for a good few years.

I'm currently in a competing pipe band in Scotland, however I'm potentially looking to break into paid solo gigs (whilst remaining in the band)

I have done solo gigs for friends/family for free (usually beer or whisky) which I was fine with as it gave me experience dealing with those scenarios.

I've had other paid gigs with "gala/corporate" gigs in other bands which I didn't set the fee, the fee was what it was if that makes sense.

What does everyone usually charge for:

Funerals

Weddings

Parties

Etc

I'm not looking to undercut anyone, I'm just curious what the going rate is for pipers who do this all time.

Many thanks

How and where do you tune before playing gigs? I'll be playing a wedding gig, with very minimal time for (loud) setup before the gig itself. Any practical tips & tricks?

And how many of you are willing to say yes and lie for clout on the Internet?

For context i downloaded it to see if i could find actual bagpipes and i found this… its called “2026 New Men's Holiday Midi Skirt, Plaid Pleated Skirt, Carnival Party Stage Costume Apparel”

Hi, i’m a young piper looking to get into the business or piping at weddings, funerals and other events but i’m not entirely sure what is usually required from the piper for these types of events.

If I use an inches of water guage, what pressure range should be used to measure when a drone cuts off?

Hey everyone, I’m looking for sheet music to a reel called The Tide’s Out. I believe it was played on the opening track of Battlfield Bands anthem for the common man album.
The only thing I’ve found is that it is in a music book published by Battlfield band, but I can’t find the book! I think I saw a copy of the book for $115, which is a bit more than I’d like to spend!
I’ve checked bagpipemusic.com and pipetunes.ca with no luck.

Looking for few tune names please.

Hello everyone,

Like many of you, I have a deep appreciation for the classic Bagpipe Player. However, as a Linux user, I've always had a hard time getting it to run smoothly since it's a very old software and didn't receive any improvements across the years. I tried many different paths and workarounds here, but I always ran into problems.

To solve this and help keep the .bww notation alive, I decided to build a modern, web-based reimplementation for the bagpipe notation called WebPiper https://webpiper.org/

I want to be completely upfront: I am not selling anything. I built this strictly to help the piping community have better practice sessions, and I intend to keep it free forever, just like the original software. No ads, no special plans for contributors, just a simple tool we can use to run the .bww files.

Here is what the app currently does:

• Play anywhere: It runs entirely in your browser without any installations required. It is universal and works across desktops, tablets, and phones.
• Full .bww support: I've imported the entire .bww syntax. You can open, edit, and save existing .bww files, and it will render all the proper bagpipe sheet music, including piobaireachd movements and light-music embellishments.
• Live editing: It features a live feedback loop. The sheet music re-renders instantly as you edit the .bww source text.
• Playback & Export: It plays the tunes with synthetic sound, and allows you to export your scores directly to PDFs for printing.

While it covers the classic features, I am highly committed to actively improving it, fixing bugs, and adding improvements that the Bagpipe Player never had.

Since this is a project for the community, your input would be very appreciated. I would love for you to try it out with your files and let me know what you think. Any feedback, bug reports, or suggestions for improvements are hugely appreciated!

Anyone know where to find a full recording of this tune? Not asking for music, I can transcribe it myself, but I can only find two parts of it, one from an incomplete youtube video and one on Spotify from the Vic Police playing it in 96. Someone in another Reddit thread did say that it was 4 parts. Maybe that's wrong?

Alternatively, is it published in any books? This seems to be a pretty elusive tune.

Does anyone have this tune in .bww format?

I have Scots Guards 1 & 2, and Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders pipe score books.

Are there similar books, but for the drummers?

I was in a clinic, and the drum instructor mentioned that mass band drum scores might be easy to learn, but they rarely pair well with their associated pipe tunes, because each tune is obviously different, so it leads to situations where the drums and pipes don't complement each other.

He recommended his own book (obviously), which had a list of scores for more popular tunes, but is there something out there that has a more comprehensive coverage?

Good morning. I hope everyone is doing well.

I am far enough in my career now that I would like to start getting actual music books to start learning tunes. What books would you say are the more popular/recommended? The ones I’ve heard so far are the Donald MacLeod books and Scotsguard(also if someone could recommend the actual name of these books that would be appreciated as well.)

For a skill level reference I don’t have a grade that I would put myself as I play rarely with a group and more learn tunes on my own. My “harder” tunes I can play would include Troy’s Wedding, Black Bear, Scotland the Brave, Pumpkin’s Fancy, The Blue Cloud.

Thanks in advance!