Introduction to Bagpipes and My Life as a Piper

When I was a young lad enrolled in 8th grade at St. Elizabeth Elementary School in the South Hills of Pittsburgh, we used to get out of class to serve funeral Masses. If we were lucky we sometimes even earned $5 or $10 for our service at the altar. One date, as fate would have it, there was a bagpiper for one of the funerals I served. I don't expect I will ever know who that piper was, but I owe him a great debt. So struck was I at the sound of the pipes that I went home that very day to ask my mother if she could sign me up for lessons. So she did and the rest is history. 

I played on and off throughout the remainder of my education but started playing competitively once I was settled professionally. Check out the bagpipe competition blog for some posts about what goes right and wrong about piping in competition, how I practice, and deal with success and failure and hopefully grow as a piper.