6th May 2014

Tuesday morning and I left the house full of enthusiasm for a good days busking. My first stop was the Forth Bridge Car Park to catch the buses coming up on their way to take tourists further North. Although I was earlier than last week I could still have done with another 5 minutes just to get organised. I chickened out of going to near the main photography bit yet and as a result I only interested a few passers_by, none of whom took the slightest notice of me until an older couple put a couple of quid in my bag (out of sympathy, I think!)
I didn't play very well at all. I've made up a wee set-list of 5 groups of tunes so I'll just need to keep practising them now.
I got back to work and took my next BB (busking break) at Linlithgow Palace. Again a lack of confidence led me from the main entrance car-park, where there was plenty of room, to the middle of the grass area. I earned nothing here but was watched by a load of people who decided to stop for lunch. still didn't play very well. After I'd finished my set I headed back to the van as there was a time limit on my parking and decided to have a go on the Main Street where the Farmers Market is held. I received a bit of attention and a wee bit of cash and played a lot better too.
Next stop was the Falkirk Wheel. there is a long walk into the Visitors Centre from the Car-park and I based myself on the path straight across from the Wheel itself.

A passing couple took the pic for me. I definitely need to let that kilt down a bit - it looks like a mini-skirt.
Played my set and found that i picked up cash from more than half the people that went by. Somebody even said ' You're great', which was certainly good to hear but I'm not sure anyone that knew anything about piping would have agreed. Anyway, sum total for the day came to £11.13 so everything is heading in the right direction. The practise cant do too much harm, can it?

1st May 2014

17oC on Tuesday, 8oC and wet yesterday, 4oC with a biting wind dropping it even more today. Whats happening to the weather? It rained all morning but just started to dry up as I got to Portabello beach. So, I decided to give it a bash anyway. I got the kilt on and the pipes out and headed onto the Promenade. Deserted! One dog-walker on the beach, with waves crashing in, whipped up by the gusty wind and hardly another soul in sight. I was quite happy to be able to get the drones warmed up and I started playing reasonably well (for me anyway). In the next fifteen minutes, before my fingers got so cold they felt like they'd fallen off, a handful of people went by along with 3 groups of Primary School children who seemed to think I was specifically there for their entertainment. Not that that's a bad thing for them to think. one of the teachers or assistants dropped a pound in my bag and a passing dog-walker took pity on me and gave 30p. So £1.30 was the total takings today. Doesn't sound a lot but it's over 300% better than last week. I'm feeling much more confident about the whole thing now and cant wait to get out again. Just give me some decent weather!

29th April 2014

Tuesdays delivery runs take me through a few areas where a busker might ply his trade. Today I decided to launch my pipes at the Forth Bridge. I aimed to get there for 09.45am thinking I'd catch the tourist buses as they stopped for photos at the Bridges. My thinking was that a photo of the bridges would be far more authentic with a kilted piper in the foreground. Quality of the piping doesn't need to be so much of an issue for a photo opportunity. Next week I'll get there for 09.15 as the buses were all just re-loading their passengers as I got there. I blew up anyway and rustled up a bit of interest and £4.80 in 10 minutes. I played a lot worse than I had at Portabello the Thursday before but I got decent feedback about the potential of the spot so I'll give it another go. A chap was down from one of the boat companys taking tourists out to Inchcombe Island and he took this snap of me. He also took another couple for himself for advertising purposes for the boat. I might be famous. My family will be mortified. I wore the hat so that no-one would recognise me, but its going to have to go. The kilt looks a bit short too and those legs look a bit white, but these are all things that can be improved over the next few weeks.

Genesis

At the age of 44, a few external factors in my life collided, and fortune at last favoured my long-standing desire to learn a musical instrument. The instrument in question? The Bagpipes.
With excellent tutors I found I learned to read music from zero to a working understanding in a few weeks and had the scale and several rudiments off in no time. I then went on a frenzy of tune learning. This basically required me to learn the tunes to a point where I could recognise what I played and tried to memorise it. I think I reached about 40 tunes in 8 months. I bought my first set of bagpipes.
It took me a surprisingly long time to realise that memorising tunes - although important - was actually a very small part in what it takes to make a decent piper. In November 2013 I met a new tutor, who very quickly showed me the failings in the phrasing and performance of the embellishments that I was attempting. Taking a step back I could see what was required and with a lot more concentration and less speed, over the last 6 months I have improved much faster than I did over the first 18 months.

In September 2013 I took it into my head to have a go at busking. I knew I was nowhere near ready for it but thought it might be good practice just to get out there in front of the public. On a chilly Sunday afternoon,
I ventured into the Grassmarket in Edinburgh, opened my pipebag, warmed up and began playing my first ever pipe tune in public. I was shaking like a leaf, the drones were squeaky and completely out of tune and the reed was a bit on the hard side. The tune was Amazing Grace, and within 2 bars of the tune a young lady dropped £1.02 into my pipebag. God! how good that felt. I had a rush of confidence and played about three sets of 3 tunes - pretty badly - and didn't get another penny, nobody stopping to watch or anything. It seemed like I'd scared everyone away. I packed up my pipes and slinked away.

It took until April 2014, a year after I'd got my pipes and 18 months from starting to learn the chanter, for me to try busking again. I took my pipes to work with me and when i reached Portabello Beach I decided the time had come to try again. This was just a confidence building exercise, as I expected the beach to be deserted. It wasn't quite as quiet as I expected, but I felt I played far better and got a couple of thumbs-up from passers by before an elderly couple went past and dropped 0.40 in to the bag. That turned out to be the total earnings for that stint, I only played for 15 mins, but I had done what I intended. Made myself feel I could play as best as i could with strangers watching me. So the busking will now really begin.

Lets see where it takes us!