The Sound of the Pipes for All Occasions

IIntro page I How the bagpipe sounds I What to look for I When to use a piper I Weddings & Funerals I Learning the pipes I Where to find a piperI

What to look for in a bagpiper for hire

The three concerns

one should have with hiring a

piper are:

1. Playing ability = How does the piper sound?
At your wedding or other event you deserve to have top quality music played in tune. There are a range of skill levels that do not always match up with the number of years playing. What you need to do is ask a piper:

1. How often he practices and performs (the more the better)
2. Where can you hear him play (locally or via a recording)
3. What playing level or grade (with #1 the highest and #5 the lowest) does he perform

A good way to get yourself familiar with the sound of well played bagpipes is to listen to some top notch solo pipers on CD. If you like the bagpipes and do not own a bagpipe CD then try these titles:

Worlds Greatest Pipers, Volume 10, James McGillivray (Lismor)
Master Pipers (MGC Entertainment)
The Broken Chanter, Fred Morrison (Lismor)
Thunderstruck, Gordon Duncan (Greentrax)

You can order these CD's and other recorded bagpipe music from many of these online retailers.

For some great comtemporary piping music try Rob Crabtree's recordings:

2. Performance experience = Has he played before at your type of event?

Ask the to provide examples of the activities that he has performed in and some references to call for opinions

The best alternative is to see the piper perform at another person's event that matches what you want done. You may need to get the okay from the hiring party, but it is worth the effort, especially for a large affair like a wedding.

If you have a unique situation that you want a piper to perform at then just describe the activity and ask him what he recommends. Experience pipers can relate the request with past performances and create a performance to meet your needs.

The piper that you plan to hire should be able to explain his playing recommendations clearly and to customize them to your needs. His repertoire needs to be large enough to give you several choices or to be able to play for the length of time that is requested without repeating the same tune over and over.

As a starting point I have provided a tune selection for four different types of events that a piper may play at. The tunes are just a small selection of the hundreds available to choose from so use them to give the piper an idea of what you may want to hear him play. You can hear electronic MP3 files of these and other tunes at PIPE TUNES.

 

Wedding	Birthday	Outdoor Party	Funeral
Murdos Wedding	The Boys of Blue Hill	Boys of Brittany	Land of My Youth
Siege of Dehli	Caber Feidh	Flower of the Hills	Ass in the Graveyard
The Cock of the North	Bonnet Trimmed in Blue	The Glen is Mine	Battle of the Somme
Uphold the Right	Londonderry Hornpipe	Pibroch of Donald Dubh	Kilworth Hills
Barren Rocks of Aden	Pipers Bonnet	MacCrimmon's Sweetheart	Amazing Grace

3. Appearance and style=Does he dress the part?

A bagpiper should perform at a public event in the proper highland attire.

This consists of a kilt, sporran (the pouch or purse in front of the kilt), hose (socks), leather shoes like Gillie Brogues, a dress shirt and tie, and a bonnet. Some pipers own the full military regalia (same items as above but with the addition of a military doublet jacket, cross belt and cape) which offers an impressive sight. With either outfit the main thing to look for is a piper's neat and polished appearance.

All rights reserved by Thomson Chew 2008
Please contact me via email at
Thomson C. Chew
Rochester, New York

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