On day 22 of the February Piping Challenge Dan Nevans spoke about the myelination process that goes on in your brain while practicing deliberately. Dan demonstrated a slow deliberate technique to practice doublings going up and down the scale on the chanter. He suggests this consistency is what is needed […]
Tag: February Piping Challenge
Power move practice with Willie McCallum
On day 21 of the February Piping Challenge Willie McCallum taught practice techniques for the grip, taorluath and rodin. Willie emphasised the need to play them slowly, rhythmically and accurately before building speed, and played though demonstrations of each movement on his chanter. Willie’s video can be viewed again here on […]
Extended workshop on steady blowing
Dan Nevans shared a wealth of information on day 15 of the February Piping Challenge. Dan’s 25 minute presentation was on the topic of Steady Blowing. He also detailed how to adjust drone reeds to, “only take enough air to sound consistently”, and how to tune your drones to allow […]
The fundamentals of strikes
On day 10 of the February Piping Challenge Finlay MacDonald, Director of Piping at TNPC, discussed the technique of playing strikes, and explained how strikes are one of the three fundamentals when initially learning to play. Finlay’s video can be viewed again here on The National Piping Centre’s Facebook page. Dan […]
Building stamina in your playing
On day eight of the February Piping Challenge Dan Nevans presented a 30 minute Facebook live stream on the topic of developing the stamina to play your pipes for up to an hour. It’s a very informative and entertaining talk from Dan (with added bagpipe faeries), and is essential listening […]
D throw techniques with John Mulhearn
John Mulhearn explained the technical aspects of learning the light and the heavy D throw on day six of the February Piping Challenge. The video can be found on The National Piping Centre’s Facebook page here. On day seven Wilson Brown spoke all about 2/4 March playing, and stressed the […]
Goal setting and the rule of three tune memory tip
Days four and five of the February Piping Challenge were presented by Dan Nevans. Day four focused on dreaming big when setting your short and long term piping goals, and can be watched here on The National Piping Centre’s Facebook page. Day five was all about learning tunes, and using […]
February Piping Challenge starts with the Nevans’ shoogle test and air tight seals
Last night at 6pm on The National Piping Centre Facebook live stream, Dan Nevans guided the viewers through the process of hemping up a set of pipes and ‘getting them going’. His informative and entertaining demonstration shared a lot of professional tips and tricks for getting your instrument air tight […]
February Piping Challenge starts today
The National Piping Centre is asking pipers to take part in the February Piping Challenge in preparation for the 2022 piping season. The month-long Challenge will encourage players of all levels to get the pipes out the box. After a long period where pipers haven’t had many reasons to practice, […]