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!