Happy New Year Goodbye 2007, Hello 2008

2007 was a good year for piping. I purchased a new set of pipes: David Naill DN4. I can't say enough about these pipes. Their tone and quality of sound are miles beyond most of the other pipes out there. As I've stated elsewhere, and I've heard other people say it too, the sound of pipes goes right through you. These pipes go through you and reverberate in ways that sets your soul to singing. After playing them you feel changed, realigned, expanded, invigorated and calm. I'm keeping the pipes my father gave me, but I can't see going back to them.

Bagpipes Hartford New Years Party

Busking is not common in Hartford. It may be due to a lack of impoverished musicians. It may be due to municipal hostility. It may be due to lack of tradition. It may be due to lack of generous, willing, giving and knowledgeable audience. It may be due to lack of readership and information. I once saw an elderly man sitting on an amp, playing guitar on the street corner between Max Downtown and the Goodwin. He also had a voice microphone. He played blues. I was surprised he was there. Then I was disappointed by the number of people making a show of ignoring him. Most walked past looking at the sky or something far ahead. The thousand mile stare. Meanwhile, all these songs about bad luck, bad habits, crummy insights, hollow wishes, fractured embraces, decaying remembrances and bad relationships poured out over the streets. I gave him all the cash I had in my wallet: fourteen bucks. He looked at me like I was a dead man.

If you enjoyed the movie Bedknobs and Broomsticks, you probably have a soft spot in your heart for buskers. I plan on attending the 6pm fireworks in Bushnell Park. Wouldn't it be wonderful if the park were covered with buskers. Or a crowd of them in front of the statue of the guy who invented anesthesia.

Connecticut Bagpiper Glastonbury Bagpipes

Connecticut has its own Poet Laureate. It has a State flower and a State insect. Should the subject ever come up at the Legislative Office Building, I'd like to put my name in the hopper for State Piper. I've written several tunes commemorating the State: The Witch Hazel Jig, I-84 Lament, and Twain's Reel.

If not me, then someone. Please! The State needs a Piper!

Should someone else occupy the State position, I'll attempt a town appointment in Glastonbury, which sorely needs good piping and cheaper coffee.

Gordon Duncan, RIP (1964-2005)

Gordon Duncan committed suicide on the 14th December, 2005 at his home in Edradour, Pitlochry, Perthshire.

I can still remember exactly where I was when I learned of the death of the piping genius virtuoso Gordon Duncan. I was sitting, chanter in hand, ready to get going on a new tune across the table from John Menzies of Edinburgh, when he suddenly said, "By the way, did you hear Gordon Duncan died?"

What a loss. A loss of music, teaching and innovation. Please buy and listen to his music as a tribute to his greatness.

Birthday Bagpipes

I recently played the bagpipes at a birthday. It was a surprise. The wife of the birthday boy had me begin playing outside and slowly approach the house, so the music began as barely preceptible inside the house. As I got nearer, it became clearer, and then she saw the realization dawn on her husband's face. A bagpiper!

There's nothing like being surprised by a piper, unless you're the opposing army.

Earth Resonance Frequency

There is a very low tone that surrounds everything we do. It is created by friction produced by magnetic fields surrounding the earth. There is a theory that the soundwaves from the bagpipes can lock into the earth resonance frequency, thereby plugging the listener into that massive and ancient power turbine. The power to heal. The power to change one's life. The power to touch the departed. All of these are within reach of the music.

Christmas Tunes

I love playing Christmas music on the pipes. Many tunes, however, do not translate well to the limited range of the piping scale. The ones that fit, though, sound beautiful, especially in the snowy woods from far away in the shadowy moonlight. They sound great on a street corner too, but the opportunities for busking are limited these days with rigidly enforced State and Municipal ordinances. If you do happen to trot past a busker, please throw in an extra shilling. It's a silent way of saying, "Music is good and pure and worth something. A pox on Toys R Them, Bergdork Goodman and Slacks Fifth Ave!"

Towns I've Piped In

My goal is to pipe in every town in Connecticut, but I've got a long way to go. So far I've played bagpipes in every County: Litchfield, Hartford, Tolland, Windham, New London, Middlesex, New Haven and Fairfield. The towns where I pipe most frequently are: Hartford, Manchester, Glastonbury, Middletown, Portland, New London, Norwich, East Hampton, East Haddam, East Hartford, Farmington, Avon, Simsbury, Chester, Old Lyme, Old Saybrook, Southport, Bridgeport and Whigville. Now that gas prices are soaring, I'm trying to stay within Hartford and Middlesex counties.

Being Scottish

There is no need to be of Scottish descent. You can have a piper at your event no matter what your background.