As I put my pipes away from this morning’s practice, feeling wrung-out and self-critical, I panted, “Well, if I didn’t suck I’d be pretty good!” I thought about all the evenings when the Badb had been skimming through her viola practice, not really paying attention to her playing just in a rush to get itContinue reading “If I Were Better, I’d Be Good”
Tag Archives: piping
Lesson Learned
This morning I competed at the Santa Cruz Scottish Festival and placed quite well. This despite what I felt to be grave problems with my performances, which goes a long way in support of the advice, “No matter what happens, keep playing!” My mind and fingers went completely blank midway into my first tune butContinue reading “Lesson Learned”
Practice Makes Better
I’ve just spent the past hour and a half practicing on my Deger pipes. I’m tired but feel like I’ve just made significant progress on several pieces of light music. I’m also now completely in love with the crunluath a mach.
Miscellany
A lot of things have been going on, but I don’t have a lot to say about any one of them. On Saturday I played at the Dixon highland games. Dixon is about two hours away from Boulder Creek, so rather than driving out the night before and getting a hotel room, I figured I’dContinue reading “Miscellany”
Get Excited!
Back in October, I wrote this: So right now, what do I want? I want to be a good piper, I want to be a good husband, I want to be a good father, and I want to put good into the world. I’m still working on the actual implementation. I guess I need toContinue reading “Get Excited!”
Piping Practice
Today I made some really beautiful noise on the pipes. “Too Long in This Condition” was, I think, the high point. The taorluaths were happening, my hands were relaxed, and the drones were well-tuned. I’m making progress with “The Sleeping Tune” and getting speed with “Cullen Bay”. Today I felt like I could play forContinue reading “Piping Practice”
What do I really want?
I’m now in what most people would consider an enviable position. Materially, my family has everything we need, and I’ve accomplished my big dreams. We’ve achieved comfort and a measure of security. So, what do I do now? It’s not like I haven’t been here before. When I was 25, I was getting paid toContinue reading “What do I really want?”