If you have an iPhone, you’ve already downloaded a slew of apps and have been rolling dice, playing games, and other gadgetry. But now your iPhone can be put to proper use. iPiper, a new app for the iPhone promises that anyone can become a piper! Although it’s not clear how anyone new to the instrument would be able to do anything except make noise, it is more likely that the app will keep actual pipers and their thumbs busy. But it does include “Scotland the Brave” played by Murray Blair!

I had a chance to give the thing a whirl and after playing with it for awhile and getting used to the split chanter, I still don’t know how anyone who doesn’t know how to play will learn. I now owe my iPhone wielding friend a buck, but I do consider his iPhone more complete. Plus, he now has a tool to annoy fellow commuters to no end!

If anything, iPiper is something for the iPhone bearing piper who needs bagpipes in all aspects of their lives (and who doesn’t?). But some might want to wait for iPiper Pro with built in tuner!

The end of another year is upon us. “The year’s best and worst” lists flood the bandwidth of many a web browser. Our own list of “10 Things Piping & Drumming Things to Plan and Do” done way back at the end of aught-five, covered personal efforts you can do to improve yourself and break out of your habits and expand your musical horizons. They still stand true and are worth doing in whole or in part every year.

This year, however, economic ripples have and will work their way through bagpiping and drumming, for good or ill. The past couple of years have seen a good many games here in the eastern half of North America become simple “festivals” and excise piping and drumming competitions altogether as well as other Highland arts such as dancing and athletics. The games and events that remain struggle and some are on a slippery slope toward extinction. Highland gatherings and festivals are easily overlooked in a tough economic climate. As Highland musicians, we call all do a small part to make sure this aspect of the heritage is not overlooked. This year, take the time to work through the items on this new list of “10 Things to Plan and Do” and insure that good piping and drumming will not fade from the Earth.

1. Support your local games. Play at and make the smaller local events a part of your seasonal calendar. They need you as much as you need them. Make it a family affair and bring friends. Do what you can to make them a regular fixture on your schedule.

2. Expand your horizons. Travel to a distant games you’ve known about but have never attended. Whether you go to play or not, the experience alone will teach you things. Introduce yourself to other competitors or the folks running the event.

3. Share your experience. Attend enough competitions and you will formulate for yourself certain things that you like or dislike, and things that work or don’t work. Share these ideas and make helpful suggestions to games organizers. Write letters or send emails. After all, you are on the receiving end of things and without feedback, games folks won’t ever know whether they’ve done something well. Don’t be negative. Be constructive and give a “pat on the back” where it is warranted.

4. Contribute. Tough economic times or no, piping and drumming events still need the goodwill of others in the form of financial contributions. Pick one (or two) you feel are worth it and write a check. Buy raffle tickets and otherwise do things such as buy programs and patronize the vendors.

5. Volunteer. Sometimes “time” is more valuable than dollars. Make yourself useful and volunteer at an event where playing might not be feasible, or forego playing at an event and volunteer instead. Your help and experience as a competitor will go a long way toward keeping an event running the way it should be run.

6. Perform for free. (Come again?) Yes, volunteer your musical skills at a local Scottish or Irish function or other local affair and put yourself out there as self-promotion for you and the art. Sometimes people don’t know they like something until they encounter it. Tell folks where they might find more.

7. Be an advocate. More than that: Be evangelical. Your enthusiasm for your piping and drumming easily rubs off on others. Share it. Spread it around. Sell the idea of attending a games or festival. Expose as many as you can to piping competitions/performances.

8. Create and run a recital/workshop. Let’s face it, the world at large might have a passing interest in hearing a notable piper perform, but they are few in number against the enthusiast players around you who would jump at the chance. The idea that players can learn a few things in a seminar/workshop makes the experience that much sweeter. Build a team of like-minded folks. Align your event with a local games or relevant business to build awareness and promotion.

9. Be a better musician. Improve yourself. Seek further education and work on perfecting your craft. Being a better player means a more rewarding experience for you and your audience. In the process, the impression and regard folks have about Highland bagpipers and drummers in general just might improve. You do the art no justice if you don’t give it your all.

10. Teach. Teaching is the best way to reach a lot of people in a short time. Much like being an advocate, you get a chance to spread your enthusiasm by imparting your experience and perhaps inspiring others to take up the bagpipe or drum. Do this in a general way in a special class or seminar type session at your local school or community college. Find the right outlet and do your best to pass on the art.

The Voice wishes everyone a Happy Holiday season! May Santa bring everyone a Christmas pudding like he did these boys from Kingston Hill in 1935. That pudding could well be the Worlds “spike” and the scene could be the same…

The College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts of Summerside, Prince Edward Island, Canada has launched its search for a new Executive Director to fill the void left by the recent passing of Scott MacCauly.

“The Executive Director will play a key role in maintaining and enhancing the world class reputation of our College. We are confident that this exciting opportunity will attract an individual who will be a good fit for the College as well as the Celtic performing arts community,” says Ken Gillis, Chair of the College’s Board of Directors.

Interested parties should have a background in educational programming, business and financial planning, and/or communications and public relations. Responsibilities for this very broad position include overall management of all activities and finances for the College as well as implementation of and major planning for the center’s programming, overseeing of staff, and wide ranging experience in general management. Application deadline is January 9, 2009.

The pipemaker’s craftsmanship is to be admired. But when the baker channels the spirit of the pipemaker you get something like this.

Western bagpiper Neil Hubbard from Seattle played his pipes at a birthday party where this cake was on display. My first thought was: “How would I insert a workable sound chip to give the full effect?” Gives new meaning the phrase “sweet pipe.”

Roddy MacLeod’s prize-winning performance of “The Earl of Ross’s March” at this year’s Glenfiddich Solo Piping Championships. Internet media has finally caught up. Video sound is a bit dodgy overall, but Roddy’s smooth performance shines through.

Roddy MacLeod plays “The Earl of Ross’s March.”

Not to be outdone, Gordon Walker’s prize-winning MSR (“The Pap of Glencoe,” “Tulloch Castle,” and “Major David Manson”) from the same event is also here in video glory. More like this please.

Long before Harry Potter had his phoenix-feather wand and sometime after Arthur had Excalibur, MacCrimmon had his Silver Chanter. The recent paperback edition of The Silver Chanter and Other Piper Tales is an anthology of folk tales and modern “true” stories collected from the Celtic regions featuring the bagpipe. Spun from the wool of Celtic tradition, these tales feature all the characters one would find in old Scottish and Irish fairy tales doing all the familiar things in their link with Celtic myth. Clever young men striking bargains with fairies, shape-shifting temptresses, lonely wives filled with sorrow, supernatural beings, and whisky all make their appearance while providing a glimpse into the traditional lives and loves of the Celtic races of old. The only difference here is that the bagpipe is a central part of the tale.

Reading these stories makes you feel as if you are sitting in an old Hebridean cottage being regaled by a leathery old fisherman around the fire. The stories are gathered and collected in somewhat overly academic fashion, but the tales themselves maintain the wit and flowing rhythm of a good piobaireachd. Several tales of the legendary MacCrimmons feature the story of “The Black Chanter” along with the familiar tale of “Squinting Patrick.” These stories indulge a piper’s fancy that many of the great MacCrimmon tunes were divinely inspired, or at least the product of the supernatural, as in “In the Piper’s Cave at Boreraig” when MacCrimmon had trouble composing a tune for an upcoming competition:

…as he sat disconsolate in the cave, he heard the sound of a bagpipe starting. He looked up and there was a piper, not unlike himself.… MacCrimmon realized it was a spirit. It was one of his ancestors, come to help him in his hour of need.

Other stories feature lowland pipers and much merriment, pipers encountering the supernatural as in “The Cave of Gold,” as well as piper antics during competitions. A worthy compendium of entertaining tales that ranks the bagpipe up there with a pot o’gold.

Scottish geniuses are credited with the invention of Golf and Highland bagpipes. Now it seems as if the two converge in a nifty tool that is small enough to be tossed back and forth between the golf bag and the pipy’s toolbox. Dremel cordless tools have been showing up on the band pitch in tuning circles the world over for the better part of a decade or more. Certainly anyone who has been known to liberally carve a chanter hole or three for that perfect tone can find no better tool for the job. But at $40 or more, the tool really just does more than what the average chanter-hacking piper will use if for.

Enter the Dremel Golf Cleaning Kit. In a stripped down version of the traditional cordless Dremel rotary tool, the golf cleaning kit seems to have just enough of the capabilities needed for doing the right job on a flat D. Plus, cleaning a club or two doesn’t hurt. It even comes with a clip-on Dremel carry bag that conveniently attaches to your waist belt or tossed into your pipebox so you can take it anywhere. Purchase the right bit for grinding wood or plastic and you are in business. The compact tool is made from lighter weight materials and weighs just 6 oz. It also runs on 4 AA batteries, eliminating the need for battery chargers. One of the major problems with the full-featured cordless Dremel tool is the limited life of the rechargeable battery as well as remembering to charge the darn thing. There is no bigger frustration for the band “tone master” when he or she runs out of juice in the midst of tuning on games day. With the stripped down version, having a healthy supply of Duracels on hand is the only solution that is needed. Get the Dremel 2 Speed Cordless Golf Cleaning Rotary Tool at Amazon.com.

The always entertaining tabloid The Scotsman posts a “burning issue:” Do Bagpipes Need to be Modernized?

Red Hot Chili Pipers’ Stuart Cassels trades off opposing viewpoints with Roddy MacLeod.

Stuart:

Yes…Competition piping is the only style perhaps in decline, with smaller audiences and less sponsorship. This is perhaps due to the slower evolution of the competition style. Fifty years ago there were many pipers showcasing their new compositions in the competitions. Nowadays pipers just play the safe same old, same old composed by the innovators of that style.To attract a new audience to competitions, the competitions have to become friendly for the audience.

Roddy:

No…From my point of view, all types of music need innovators, but those who do so in the piping world must be grounded in traditional training. Artists like Finlay MacDonald and Fred Morrison have made great careers in contemporary piping, but both received traditional training and are excellent pipers with first-class technique.

What’s more perplexing is that, besides the fact that only two pipers of renown offer answers in a city (Glasgow) that is rife with knowledgeable piping figures, Stuart and Roddy both seem to agree with one another that the modern and the traditional are both good for each other and frankly, inseparable. So the “burning issue” is bogus, no? Perhaps it is the public’s perception of what constitutes “modern” and “traditional” that needs “modernization?”

In a first-of-its-kind arrangement, The Voice, announces a collaboration with the Mpingo Conservation Project to connect Highland pipers with a way to help the tree that has given them so much for so long and help preserve future stands of bagpipes for decades to come.

The mpingo tree has been called the “tree of music” since the heartwood of the mpingo is the source of African blackwood, the wood that has been the traditional staple of bagpipe making for the past one hundred years and the desired material for other woodwinds as well.

Blackwood harvests in Tanzania and Mozambique are experiencing over-exploitation in the form of rampant illegal harvesting, changing land use, and lack of planning that threatens the future commercial viability of blackwood. Pipers can do their small part for this large issue by purchasing a choice from two exclusive T-shirts that proudly show their support for conservation programs designed to preserve this very important timber. Proceeds from the sale of each shirt will be donated to the Mpingo Conservation Project, which promotes sustainable and socially equitable exploitation of mpingo timber.

Blackwood for musical instruments must be harvested from straight, mature trees aged 50 to 70 years or more. Economic changes and illegal activity in miombo woodlands, the areas of mpingo growth, threaten the longevity and overall quality of the timber harvested. Future generations of instrument makers will be thankful for supporting the sustainable growth of the “tree of music.” Order your shirts today by clicking the ad at right.