Piper Ear Protection

A student recently asked me about wearing ear plugs while piping. My advice: YES!

Pipes are loud. Hearing damage is cumulative. It might be okay to be around loud pipes for a few minutes a day, but if you are practicing for longer sessions or playing in a pipe band, you'll definitely want to reduce the amount of sound hitting your ear drums.

Pipers used to argue that earplugs muffle or distort the sound, making it hard to tune the pipes or hear the playing. This is true with the cheap foam earplugs.

Today, there are a couple of great options that offer hearing protection specifically for musicians. They are based on the concept of flat attenuation, i.e., they reduce the sound equally across the whole spectrum of sound. This means you hear everything, just a bit quieter. Perfect!

Option #1 (less expensive): High Fidelity Hearos

These great earplugs are a great price (~$15 USD) and provide 20 dB sound reduction. You can buy them online and one size fits all.

Buy them online.

Option #2 (more expensive): Custom Fitted Musician's Earplugs

These great earplugs are more expensive (~$150-200 USD) and you can choose you level of sound reduction. These earplugs are custom fitted to your ears. You need to find a place that offers this product, I recommend you call around or search online for places that make hearing aids, etc. The professional takes molds of your ears and then the molds are sent off to a lab where they make your custom earplugs. I have had these type of plugs for several years and I love them. They work great (I use a 15 dB or 25 dB filter). They are comfortable (I wear them several hours a day while playing and teaching).

Visit Etymotic Research for more info.

To sum up: Yes you need hearing protection! Cheap foam earplugs block the sound, but if you are going to be playing pipes for a long time, you'll enjoy the sound much more with some earplugs designed for musicians!

"Can't Even Make a Sound!"

I've received several emails lately that all go basically like this:

I bought some pipes on the internet a couple of days ago and I can't seem to make them work. I can't even make a sound. Is there something wrong with the pipes? Maybe the reeds? Is there some technique to learning to squeeze the bag?

Well the answer to the last question is: definitely YES. There's quite a lot of skill in keeping a steady pressure on the bag. It's one of the big hurdles that pipers overcome. Steady pressure means steady tone. The pressure in the bag is maintained by your arm, and you blow into the bag to keep it inflated. So you've got a constantly changing volume of air in the bag and you are trying to keep the pressure constant. It takes lots of skill which comes from good instruction and lots of practice.

But I think the big problem for many of these internet-purchased bagpipes are the pipes themselves. I previously posted about the ebay bagpipe phenomenon -- very poor Pakistani made bagpipe-like objects that are sold cheap and are non functional. It's not like a cheap guitar that will sound very bad but is still sort of playable. The pipes often come with bags that are not airtight and bad cane reeds that simply don't vibrate. If the bag doesn't hold air you've got no air pressure and hence no sound.



(Photo from Henderson Imports)

I once had a student who arrived to his first lesson with a set of pipes like this and he was determined to make them work. We did eventually get them to make a sound, but we had to buy a new bag ($200+) and new drone reeds ($100+) plus it took a couple of hours to get the whole thing set up.

Buying new pipes

I played for several years and then put my pipes down for about 10 years. Now I'm starting to play again and - wow - has the world of piping changed. I would like to buy a new set, but don't know what is really out there. I like the recent Krons and Naills that I have heard. When I stopped playing a few years back I was playing at Grade I and would like an instrument suitable for competition at that level. What new pipe makers would you recommend looking into?

It's a great to time to get into (or get back into) piping. There are many good makers out there. I play Naills and recommend them to my students of all levels, but there are other makers that are good too.

In addition to the many new makes of pipes these days, there are so many options for drone reeds, chanter reeds, bags, moisture control systems, etc. I think the days of one-size-fits-all are gone. The goal is to get a great sounding bagpipe that is comfortable to play -- and now there are many combinations that will work.

Starting from Scratch

I am seeking help about playing the bagpipe. I want to purchase the right one in a respectable price range but I don't have a clue. I am a complete novice but eager to learn. Any and all help that you can give me will be much appreciated.

I would start looking at a good retailer. Tartantown is a nice place to start. Good brands include Naill, McCallum, Walsh, Kron, and Strathmore. You are looking at spending at least $1,000 and probably around $1,500 when you get all the accessories.

Bought new pipes on eBay

I just bought my first set of bagpipes and dont' want to screw anyhting up. I am not sure how to even put them together, so now i turn to you, hoping you can help, and point me in the direction of how I can learn to play.....there are books and dvds but how do i know what's crap and what's good...

Well, I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news, but you have bought yourself a set of Pakistani-made decorative bagpipes. They are not intended to be played as musical instrument, they are designed for decoration (hanging on a wall, etc.). Real bagpipes are never made of rosewood, never made in Pakistan, and cost around $1000 for a new set.

More info here: http://www.hendersongroupltd.com/bagpipesCost.html