Be a Stronger Bagpiper III: Literally by Vince Janoski

Here’s a story familiar to many. You show up at band rehearsal and the Pipe Major is doling out new chanter reeds. Oh boy! You get yours and pop it in but then the practice session continues for a while and it is finally, mercifully over and you’re drenched in sweat, your sides hurt, and [...]

What’s Happening on the Next Dojo Universe Webcast by Vince Janoski

Wednesday at Noon (EST) is the time to tune in to the Dojo Universe show! Click the image to watch Wednesday’s live show or click here to listen to past webcasts. This week: The “bag” in bagpipes. The seasons are changing and it is a good time to start fresh with a new pipe bag. [...]

The Ebay Bagpiper: Devil Drone Reeds by Vince Janoski

Wherein Pipehacker purchases and test drives assorted bagpipe junk from ebay—so you don’t have to. If you spend any time sorting through the bagpipe offerings on Ebay you’ve seen them. The strange and wonderful variety of “off-brand” drone reeds from just about every continent on Earth. Serious pipers will simply give these goofy entries a [...]

Solo Piping Videos from the Metro Cup by Vince Janoski

May the blessings of G.S. McLennan be upon YouTube user ffmpad for he/she has uploaded video from this past Saturday’s Metro Cup. Alas, I missed it this year but the internet provides… Here are the medley performances of Chris Armstrong and Angus MacColl who were third and first respectively. There could not be two more [...]

Solo Bagpiping Hits the Internet Tipping Point by Vince Janoski

Is it just me or is there an unusual bounty of cool (recent) solo piping to be had over the internet these days? I’m not talking about past things on YouTube and whatnot (though that is good… sometimes). It used to be (way back in the old days, oh, like a year or two ago) [...]

Small Tunes Online Tunebook by Vince Janoski

The “Small Tunes” series on this blog has been a feature for some time. From it’s earliest incarnation as set downloadable bagpipe scores to a podcast with some history and a performance of the tune on the Highland bagpipe, a goodly collection has arisen—and with more still to come. You can access all the posts [...]

Adopt Your Piping Power Pose! by Vince Janoski

Body language can shape who you are. What kind of piper do you want to be? It might just start with how you stand and how you present yourself to your audience. When we walk up to the judge, are you comparing your past performances as an indicator of how you will do now? Chances [...]

5 Ways to Set Better Bagpiping Goals by Vince Janoski

The beginning of the new year is always the perfect time to assess where you are in your bagpiping. Goal setting is a ubiquitous start-of-year activity that benefits lots of folks, and bagpipers are not exempt. Sometimes though, the act of setting the goals themselves can be a daunting task. You know what you need [...]