I have been getting a sore bellows arm shoulder. Other than laying off playing, have any of you experienced this and have any suggestions on how to avoid it?
Its very important that you do some warming up exercises .Every time, before I start playing I do the following warm up routine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_v9f8yBPiQE
RORY
I would like to see that!
Nice!
However, I think this is the official NPU warm up set:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d6wQtWJVi6w
/M
If you have not had this problem up until now, it could just be a simple case of a leak, either in the bellows, or pipes.
Well worth a check. Check each part of the system, in a logical way, i.e start to finish of delivery. Reeds too.
Exercise!..
Where do you find such stuff?
Think about your playing-technique. “Draw out” the bellows. The wider your arm is spread from your body, the better your lever is. Imagine cycling uphill in a sitting psitipon
Another thing: Maybe you play too much “out of the bellows”. It is the bag that controls the pressure - the bellows should just provide a constant air supply. Start doing this consciously. After some time it will become emotionally.
Straping the Bellows further up your arm will increase the leverage you can apply for the same amount of muscle effort… think ‘Nut Cracker’. I am not an advocate of the “strap the Bellows around your waist” brigade and slouch down into the pipes with your elbow pressing on the Bellows and your forearm covering the inlet valve. Strapping the Bellows to your upper arm above the elbow and siting up and back in the chair is much more comfortable.
Hans-Jorg makes the very important point that the Bellows is only there to inflate and replace the air and SHOULD NOT be used to blow the pipes!!!
I notice that with some types of Bagpipes the players use the ‘stretch’ in the bag material to create the force needed to blow the reeds and do this by ‘over inflating the bag’… this one must not do with the UP’s as we need to control the pressure and vary it for the range of pressure needed to play our pipes ‘in tune’ through two ( or more 
) octaves. So it is best to never have the bag more that 80-90% full.
So, look carefully at you positioning of the bellows and how you use it, and the length of your blowpipe.
And in the end the pressure on your Bellows shoulder will be reduced .
You recently posted you had a new set of pipes. How did the change affect your problem? Is it set up properly for you(r body size etc) and positioned comfortably?
And: relax and make yourself comfortable when playing, watch your posture.
Many years ago I had this problem. I began to consciously alter my posture, holding my shoulders back and not sticking my neck out. Take a look at Michael Cooney and David Power. Small changes in posture can have a large effect.
Great advice… Thanks.
Going to do some physical therapy, look for leaks, sit up straighter with shoulders back, raise the bellows on my arm. And practice better bellow/ bag technique.
My shoulder is a bit weak with arthritis anyhow but I think the new set pushed it too far. Most of my playing is with just the chanter where my bellows action is about once every few seconds. with the half set it was about once a second. and I think it was the bass drone that was the problem. It sounds great but makes the bag feel small. i am sure with the struggling with keeping up I was using the bellows occasionally to keep pressure rather than fill.
bag = Volt
bellows = Ampère