Jim Buchanan airs some thoughts on making piping practice perfect... with all due credit to trumpeter Wynton Marsalis

ON the subject of technique, it is only by focusing on technique that we can play better music, the music will not improve without better technique and to practise slowly correctly is the only way to improvement. “Practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes perfect” (from The Piper's Helper by J.R.Recknagel, Georgia 1990). We are fortunate in playing Lowland and Border pipes that we can borrow various techniques from pipers everywhere and are not held down to any particular style. Listening to recordings of bellows pipers, it is clear to me that the best performers combine various techniques to produce their own individual style. I came across a TV film by Wynton Marsalis on the subject of “how to practice a musical instrument”, which I've found very helpful in my struggle to improve. Of course, Wynton is a world famous trumpeter and, as with any wind instrument, he is much concerned with blowing tone and dynamics and the pitch of the sound produced. Obviously bellows pipers cannot do much about blowing tone or dynamics or pitch (apart from bending a note or two). However, there are 12 points from Wynton's film which I think are worth setting down.

• Seek out private
• Write out a schedule for daily
• Set goals to chart your
• Concentrate and put your feelings into whatever you are Focus and try not

to make a sound without first hearing it in your own head.

• Relax - practice slowly, take your time and increase slowly. Practice longer on the things you can't
• Make everything sound musical with maximum expression, even when warming up. Give yourself to what you are
• Don't be too hard on yourself - learn from your mistakes. If you make a mistake, stop and repeat until it is right otherwise you will find yourself just perfecting your
• Group playing requires careful listening to each other. In sessions, hold back and don't speed up and don't let others speed up. Session etiquette is very important and is a subject worthy of a separate
• Think for yourself - don't become a
• Don't show . Wynton says : “Those that play for applause - that's all they get.”
• Be optimistic ... “Music washes away the dust of every day life from your feet.” Nothing is worse than pessimistic
• Look for connections to other