Piper's Dojo Audio Experience

An airtight bag is step 1 for a bagpipe that's easy to play. But do you know how to check if your bag is airtight? Does it matter that much whether you play hide or synthetic? Does duct tape work as a stopgap solution? And what should you do when you think you've done "everything right" and STILL can't get it to hold air properly? Andrew and Jim delve into all of these, plus 3D printed bagpipes, hemp compressors, and much more in this week's episode of Dojo Conversations. ____ The Dojo engages thousands of bagpipers around the globe, by harnessing the power of the internet to help connect those in the world who share a specific passion; enriching one's life through bagpipes. This channel is our way of providing as much value as possible to the bagpipe world by sharing knowledge, taking your questions, interviewing pipers at all stages of development, and just generally talking bagpipes with the e-world. We hope you'll subscribe and join us on our mission to help the world play this great instrument as a tr

Do you record yourself when you practice and perform? So many of us are daunted just by the idea of it, but recording is a must if you want to improve at anything. In this week's episode of Dojo Conversations, Andrew and Jim discuss the many, many benefits of recording yourself, as well as a few practical tips about what gear works best, and how to use it for optimal sound on your recordings. ____ The Dojo engages thousands of bagpipers around the globe, by harnessing the power of the internet to help connect those in the world who share a specific passion; enriching one's life through bagpipes. This channel is our way of providing as much value as possible to the bagpipe world by sharing knowledge, taking your questions, interviewing pipers at all stages of development, and just generally talking bagpipes with the e-world. We hope you'll subscribe and join us on our mission to help the world play this great instrument as a true extension of their Selves. Andrew is also a prolific "real world" teacher and

What kind of birl do you play? Do you know all the ways you can execute one? Is there a "best" way? On this week's episode of Dojo Conversations, Andrew and Jim delve into everything you want to know about birls – including how pipers in the distant future will play, and the rare and mysterious "birl on B"... ____ The Dojo engages thousands of bagpipers around the globe, by harnessing the power of the internet to help connect those in the world who share a specific passion; enriching one's life through bagpipes. This channel is our way of providing as much value as possible to the bagpipe world by sharing knowledge, taking your questions, interviewing pipers at all stages of development, and just generally talking bagpipes with the e-world. We hope you'll subscribe and join us on our mission to help the world play this great instrument as a true extension of their Selves. Andrew is also a prolific "real world" teacher and bagpipe performer. You can watch several of his performances and workshops on this c

Should you ever lick your reed? Why do pipers lick (or shave, or poke, or manipulate in any way whatsover) their reeds in the first place? Andrew and Jim (Heritage Bagpipes / Droning On Podcast) delve into the dos and don'ts of reed manipulation on this week's episode of Dojo Conversations. ____ The Dojo engages thousands of bagpipers around the globe, by harnessing the power of the internet to help connect those in the world who share a specific passion; enriching one's life through bagpipes. This channel is our way of providing as much value as possible to the bagpipe world by sharing knowledge, taking your questions, interviewing pipers at all stages of development, and just generally talking bagpipes with the e-world. We hope you'll subscribe and join us on our mission to help the world play this great instrument as a true extension of their Selves. Andrew is also a prolific "real world" teacher and bagpipe performer. You can watch several of his performances and workshops on this channel. Find An

Is there a "right" or "wrong" way to hold your chanter? Why do some of the world's best pipers seem to hold their chanters the "wrong" way to how most of us are taught? Andrew and Jim (Heritage Bagpipes, Droning On Podcast) do a deep dive on finger position, posture, and much more in this week's episode of Dojo Conversations. Note: A few of the descriptions in this episode relate to visuals in the video version of this interview – visit our Facebook page or YouTube channel to see the on-screen prompts as well. ____ While we've got you – do you ever get frustrated, dizzy or out of breath when you play your pipes? Far too many pipers struggle in "bagpipe hell" with an instrument that's way too hard to play, and no idea how to fix it. So join us in March 2023 for "make your bagpipes easy" month at Dojo U. We're taking over our entire online bagpipe school for the whole month of March this year to focus on making your bagpipes easy to play. Join us for: – 3 months of premium membership for the price of 1 – L

Where do embellishments come from? What can go wrong with a grace note? Do you need to play tunes exactly as they're written? Does the way we write embellishments negatively impact our playing? Andrew and Jim (Heritage Bagpipes, Droning On Podcast) dive into these questions and much more in this week's show as they discuss the best ways you can diagnose and then "clean up" your embellishments. ____ The Dojo engages thousands of bagpipers around the globe, by harnessing the power of the internet to help connect those in the world who share a specific passion; enriching one's life through bagpipes. This channel is our way of providing as much value as possible to the bagpipe world by sharing knowledge, taking your questions, interviewing pipers at all stages of development, and just generally talking bagpipes with the e-world. We hope you'll subscribe and join us on our mission to help the world play this great instrument as a true extension of their Selves. Andrew is also a prolific "real world" teacher an

Can anyone actually tell if you play the wrong grace note? And does it really matter which grace note you play on different notes and embellishments? Andrew and James Moyar (Heritage Bagpipes, Droning On Podcast) delve into the grace note system, how experienced players can 'compress' tunes and embellishments into their memory, and how grace notes likely evolved in the first place.

The piping world has an epidemic of bagpipes that are hard to play. But can playing a hard reed ever be good for you? In this week's episode of Dojo Conversations, Andrew and James get to the bottom of 'piper's snot' and whether 'majoring in the minors' with a hard reed is a good idea for most players... ____ The Dojo engages thousands of bagpipers around the globe, by harnessing the power of the internet to help connect those in the world who share a specific passion; enriching one's life through bagpipes. This channel is our way of providing as much value as possible to the bagpipe world by sharing knowledge, taking your questions, interviewing pipers at all stages of development, and just generally talking bagpipes with the e-world. We hope you'll subscribe and join us on our mission to help the world play this great instrument as a true extension of their Selves. Find Andrew and the Piper's Dojo Team here: Dojo University Online Bagpipe School: pipersdojo.com Facebook: facebook.com/pipersdojo Twitter:

Can a judge actually tell if you aren't playing all your drones? Should you use all of the tuning time you're allowed? How much does tune selection REALLY matter? James Moyar(Droning On Podcast, BagpipeSwag.com, Heritage Bagpipes)quizzes Andrew for a judge's perspective on what they look for when you're competing. ____ The Dojo engages thousands of bagpipers around the globe, by harnessing the power of the internet to help connect those in the world who share a specific passion; enriching one's life through bagpipes. This channel is our way of providing as much value as possible to the bagpipe world by sharing knowledge, taking your questions, interviewing pipers at all stages of development, and just generally talking bagpipes with the e-world. We hope you'll subscribe and join us on our mission to help the world play this great instrument as a true extension of their Selves. Andrew is also a prolific "real world" teacher and bagpipe performer. You can watch several of his performances and workshops on th

Pipers at all levels of ability and experience can find pesky crossing noises creeping into our playing. Do you know the different kinds, how to eliminate them, and what causes them? The answer, especially to the last one, may surprise you... __________________ The Piper’s Dojo Weekly Show, Dojo Conversations, brings you weekly advice about how to be a better bagpiper. This episode was first livestreamed on Facebook – so like our Facebook page (The Piper's Dojo, linked below) to tune in live to our weekly streams, subscribe to our YouTube channel, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts! The Dojo engages thousands of bagpipers around the globe, by harnessing the power of the internet to help connect those in the world who share a specific passion; enriching one's life through bagpipes. This channel is our way of providing as much value as possible to the bagpipe world by sharing knowledge, taking your questions, interviewing pipers at all stages of development, and just generally talking bagpip

Did you know that embellishments aren't just a collection of grace notes mashed together? They may look that way when they're written out in sheet music, but there's a bit more to them than that. They're actually rapid-fire combinations of melody notes and grace notes used to embellish a bagpipe tune. And to get anywhere near close to playing them well, there are three key things you're going to want to master... __________________ The Piper’s Dojo Weekly Show, Dojo Conversations, brings you weekly advice about how to be a better bagpiper. This episode was first livestreamed on Facebook – so like our Facebook page (The Piper's Dojo, linked below) to tune in live to our weekly streams, subscribe to our YouTube channel, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts! The Dojo engages thousands of bagpipers around the globe, by harnessing the power of the internet to help connect those in the world who share a specific passion; enriching one's life through bagpipes. This channel is our way of providing

Sight-reading is something a lot of pipers struggle with, especially if you didn't learn how to read music before you started learning to play bagpipes. But it doesn't have to be hard. This is my simple, straightforward approach to sight-reading. It's a bit like juggling – you can quickly master it, if you just tackle it one ball at a time. ____ The Piper’s Dojo Weekly Show, Dojo Conversations, brings you weekly advice about how to be a better bagpiper. This episode was first livestreamed on Facebook, so like our Facebook page to receive notifications when our weekly streams go live; subscribe to our YouTube channel; or follow, rate and review wherever you tune in to your favorite podcasts!

Hemp is finicky. Day to day, your joints' tightness can change quite a bit, so when it comes to technique, my golden rule: it has to be fast. Watch as I demonstrate how to wrap hemp on your drone or reed seats for a ‘hemp edit’ – when your pipes are already hemped, but just need a little tune up to get them nice and tight to play again. ____ The Piper’s Dojo Weekly Show, Dojo Conversations, brings you weekly advice about how to be a better bagpiper. This episode was first livestreamed on Facebook, so like our Facebook page to receive notifications when our weekly streams go live; subscribe to our YouTube channel; or follow, rate and review wherever you tune in to your favorite podcasts!

Licking, poking, pinching... what's the best way to sound absolutely incredible every time you choose a new reed? In this video, Andrew steps you through how to deal with challenging reeds, and the best way to manipulate them to sound incredible... The Piper's Dojo brings you weekly advice about how to be a better bagpiper. Like our Facebook page to receive notifications when our weekly streams go live; subscribe to our YouTube channel; or follow, rate and review wherever you tune in to your favorite podcasts!

We had some great questions submitted about our last two podcasts in the Dojo Conversations series, a new weekly show where we do a quick dive into some tips on a different piping topic each week. Andrew held a quick follow up Q&A session to answer these, as the submitters probably aren't the only ones curious about these... Got a question for us? Want us to cover a specific topic in future? Add a comment to this podcast, or send it to us on any of our social channels! __________________________________ The Piper's Dojo brings you weekly advice about how to be a better bagpiper. Like our Facebook page to receive notifications when our weekly streams go live; subscribe to our YouTube channel; or follow, rate and review wherever you tune in to your favorite podcasts!

We need a certain amount of moisture in our bagpipes. But too much can be a major problem. Too many players reach straight for moisture control systems and fancy gadgets to manage it, but that's treating the symptom, and not the cause. Let's delve into the real causes of moisture issues, including the stuff we need to do when we’re NOT playing... The Piper's Dojo brings you weekly advice about how to be a better bagpiper. Like our Facebook page to receive notifications when our weekly streams go live; subscribe to our YouTube channel; or follow, rate and review wherever you tune in to your favorite podcasts!

How do you know if your bagpipe chanter reed is the right strength for you? This simple test is a pretty foolproof way to find out... listen as we step you through how to do it, some of the factors that contribute to the the reed strength you need, and some of the pros and cons of easy vs hard chanter reeds. _________________________________ The Piper's Dojo brings you weekly advice about how to be a better bagpiper. Like our Facebook page to receive notifications when our weekly streams go live; subscribe to our YouTube channel; or follow, rate and review wherever you tune in to your favorite podcasts!

Real bagpipers play with all the embellishments in. And they sure as heck never use metronomes, that's just ridiculous. Ok... but what about real MUSICIANS?

In case you weren't aware, I've been putting together some free workshops for anyone who'd like to attend over the long, cold winter here in New York. I ran the first of these in November last year and had huge interest – around 400 pipers from across the US and Canada (plus a few from the UK as well!) tuned in to learn more about the "11 Reasons Pipers Fail." Given how much great feedback we had about the content, I wanted to make it more accessible to pipers in other parts of the world. To that end, I've scheduled a second session, still entirely free, that I'll be hosting at: USA: Saturday, January 29 @ 7PM (New York / EST) New Zealand: Sunday, January 30 @ 1pm Australia: Sunday, January 30 @ 11am (Syd / Melb),10am (Bris), 8am (Perth) In the workshop, I'll take you through a number of core concepts that illustrate how most pipers are already on a collision course with bagpiping disappointment and failure. But, it's not all doom and gloom – understanding the 11 deadly pitfalls in attempting to master a

01:20 - Why is a tube-style manometer better than a gauge? 24:25 - Will I ever "get" rhythm "down"? 33:53 - Is Piobaireachd required to become a "real" piper? --> What IS a real piper? If you enjoyed this, you should try a Dojo University Premium Membership. Our premium membership features over 50 courses, 17+ live classes each week, social interaction channels, feedback on your playing, weekly challenges, and more! Try one month for just $1 by visiting DojoUniversity.com/testdrive today!