Bagpiping and the Search for Meaning by Vince Janoski

The poet John Keats once described the ideal state of the psyche as negative capability—the ability “of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts without any irritable reaching after fact and reason.” Which brings to mind another quote by Gilbert Chesterton: “If a thing is worth doing it is worth doing badly.” Chesterton was a staunch advocate [...]

No-Nonsense Bagpiping by Vince Janoski

It is a month past, but the SFU Highland Arts Festival held the weekend after the band’s terrific performance at New York’s Lincoln Center is still fresh in my mind. I had several fits and starts for a post about the workshop but nothing I wrote captured the right tone. I could talk about the [...]

On Being an Authentic Bagpiper by Vince Janoski

We all live in our own reality bubbles. We become accustomed to thinking that the way we see things is how they are or how they must be. As active, competing bagpipers, I think we collectively form our own piping reality bubble that influences what we play, what we learn, how we play, and who [...]

Pipe Bands: From Good to Great by Vince Janoski

What is the missing link that keeps good and very good eastern U.S. bands from becoming very very good to excellent? While there are singular examples who come close, in general there have been few who even show signs of cracking this “glass piping ceiling.” It is easy to pin this missing element on people-oriented [...]

Assessing Your Intangible Bagpiping Assets by Vince Janoski

In the world of finance, assets are any resource, tangible and intangible, in your control, that can produce value. In the world of bagpiping, your assets would be anything you can access and use to produce music. The ultimate return or gain in this sense is playing good music on the bagpipe and anything that [...]

The Bagpipe Happiness Principle by Vince Janoski

Time is money, they say. If that is true, then what are you spending your money (time) on? “They” also say money can’t buy happiness. But I disagree. If you spend smartly, you can use your hard-earned cash on things that will improve and/or add value to, your life—the things that will bring you closer [...]

Hack Your Practice: Being a Better Bagpiper with E’s by Vince Janoski

All of us want to be better bagpipers, right? Bagpiping is one of those art forms that never stops giving and compels people to never stop working. That is essentially what is at the heart of previous posts such as “5 Ways to Become a Better Bagpiper” and “5 Ways to Build Good Practice Habits.” [...]

Hack Your Practice: Become an Awesome Bagpiper With Your Piping Z-Score by Vince Janoski

Setting focussed music goals and working to achieve them is the quickest path to improvement as a bagpiper. But setting proper goals can sometimes be daunting and it can be hard to set the right direction for yourself. In the end, poor goal setting can be counterproductive. But you can stop worrying and perform a [...]