Unique Opportunity to acquire pipes

[PJ]

Owning a K&Q full set will not make you a better player

I disagree with this statement. Better pipes do indeed make one a better player. There is so much to say about this but I just had a patient show and gotta run deliver some sound advice in an area where I'm most definitely qualified to do so.

Sorry but I'm going to take issue with this. Better pipes do not make you a better player. In the same way as being the owner of a Mercedes does not make you a better driver. It takes time and lots of practice (or being a protégé).

The fact that you play a chanter that cost $700 or $2000 has nothing to do with the quality of your playing (I draw the line at Pakistani chanters). It may affect the perception of those who listen to you to know that your pipes cost lots of money. However, if you can't keep time, playing a KQ or Gallagher or even a Coyne set will not fix the problem. The problem is the player.

Until someone has fully mastered the instrument, a five figure set of pipes will be wasted on them. I don't object to anyone paying that much money for a set of pipes, provided they're not putting their family on welfare to do so. However, doing so on the pretext that it'll improve your playing is nonsense. Only practice will improve your performance. Ask any teacher (whatever the subject - music, sports, languages, etc) and they'll tell you the same thing. There are no short cuts.

[bensdad]

A responsive, reliable set will, however, make the first years of learning easier and more rewarding. You'd be amazed at the shight some learners bring to their classes. I've spent more time fiddling with bad reeds than I care to remember.
This doesn't quite apply to Lewis' set, as there's no chanter involved.
On the other hand, beginners are quite capable of destroying a well-reeded set within half an hour of unpacking them.

[Davey]

My own 2 cents...for what it's worth.

Maybe we should look at this from a different tack. A lower quality instrument is an obstacle to one's learning and improvement as a musician.

My wife has been a classical cellist since early childhood. Her first "expensive" cello was quite nice and improved her playing. We recently toured a VERY expensive music shop and tried out a variety of cellos until she came to one that was amazing. Now, this cello cost $8,000. And she was floored by how much it improved her playing. Did the cello somehow enhance her abilities? No. BUT it allowed her to apply skills and abilities that she already had. Let me explain...she had been taught certain techniques by her teacher that she had always been frustrated by because her relatively poor cello simply could not physically perform these techniques.
To relate to pipes, some chanters simply cannot play a hard D..as a result of how they were made. Can you imagine how frustrating it would be to practice for hours trying to achieve a hard D when your chanter simply cannot* do what you are trying to get it to do?

Now...switch to a chanter that CAN play a hard D. And lo and behold, you can play a hard D! Does this make you a better piper? The skill was already there right?

Now that being said, she also tried a 12,000 cello and a 20,000 cello and found that there was no palpable difference between the 8,000 cello and the 20,000 cello..that is..to her. Yo-Yo Ma might notice a differnce between them though.

Well. I may be off-base, but it is just my 2 cents.

[John Dally]

I've been following this debate because the subtext is so interesting.

Here's what I've learned (this is all tongue in cheek):

Range Rover, $50K. Sending your daughter to an exclusive school, $15K a year. Cute wife, $2000 garage door. A plastic set of K&Q pipes...priceless.

Glands makes a lot more money than I do.

When I wait an hour to see my doctor it's probably because he's chatting on the internet.


Sorry to poke fun at your expense, Glands, but you have to admit your first pitch had quite a wind-up, and the last couple had chin music.

Par-tay on, dudes.

[totokots]

I suppose without the chanter the pipes would be a lot easier to learn.

Perhaps beginners should learn to use the drones first. Then regulators. And finally introduce the chanter.

No, wait. Better start with the bellows: what was I thinking?

[Wetootwaag]

I would have to argue that a quality instrument will improve your playing.
I went from a very poorly reeded Kwisthout practice set to a half set of Greenwood pipes. In the first week with the Half set i had improved beyond what I had done with the Kwisthout set in a year. This is thanks to a couple of choice comments from Davey, but also the motivation of knowing what the instrument was capable of.
A better example is my transition to a new set of McCallum Highland pipes. My first set of GHBs were junk, and maybe even high end pakistani. A lot of the tying kept on coming undone resulting in gaps between the bag and stocks. I used a leather bag which contributed to many tuning problems and reeds falling into the bag. When I bought a new set of pipes My piping not only sounded better, but also encouraged me to reach a whole new level of piping.
Like Boisvert said, Having an istrument capable of doing what it is supposed to do is key. Not only in a chanters ability to hit the notes, but also just overall construction. No one likes dealing with Leaky valves, joints or keys.
Wetootwaag

[josh perkins]

Got to agree with John D., that original sob story is one Michael Moore would have a field day with.

[John Mulhern]

Niiice one, Dally!

[PJ]

I agree with what the last few replies say. Going from a poor quality instrument to a reasonable quality instrument will certainly help. However, my point is going from a reasonable quality instrument to a very high quality instrument will not magically turn an intermediate player into an advance player, or an advance player in God (or even Paddy Keenan).

Upgrading the instrument does not upgrade the piper, although it may upgrade his image of himself.

[bensdad]

well this particular set won't turn anyone into god. God plays a flat set

[Joseph E. Smith]

well this particular set won't turn anyone into god. God plays a flat set

Nice one!

[Cayden]

well this particular set won't turn anyone into god. God plays a flat set

And it's not very likely it will be a plastic one either

[AlanB]

..

[PJ]

"PRACTICE ! The "art" of playing the pipes is 10% ability, 40% practice, and 50% listening to good players. So get off the Internet and practice an hour each night. The improvement will impress you. " - Geoff Wooff (taken from Uilleannobsession.com)

... and with that, I'll say no more.

[glands]

Some of these comments are very funny.....some are useless dribble.....and others have written very insightful things....many thanks to all for taking an interest to write.

A set that sounds good and plays well provides positive feedback and promotes faster learning and mastery of technique than a set that is less refined or exquisite. Drones and Regs that stay in tune as they are reeded such as these markedly diminish the time spent fooling with pipes and lend more time to practicing and playing.

My pipes are indeed priceless...the price attached is what is referred to as market value. Some think I've got it wrong here. I don't. K&Q pipes are, IMHO, underpriced. That's IMHO....get it???? If you disagree with me here then you must also subscribe to the notion that Froment sets and Woof sets are over priced....and I personally believe that they are about right.

Assumptions, assumptions......Well, in this instance the doctor, namely me, was chatting on the internet as he was waiting for his patient, who was 40 minutes late, to show up for the scheduled visit. Go see your doctors on time folks. And, if you don't take this approach, the don't get irrritated with him or her when they are late coming into the exam room.

Michael Moore? Who is he? Is he a great purveyor of truth or something? I think not. While taking things out of context in order to promote his agenda, he speaks to people who cannot think for themselves....as does our current batch of no-good politicians.