What's the Time Signature? Who cares!
Time signatures are something that many beginning pipers (and musicians of any kind) get pretty hung up on. Simple time, common time, compound time –…
Category: Technique & Theory
Freedom Phase Process: Best Practices, Suggestions and Guidance
1: This is a tool, not a competition. The first thing to understand about the Freedom Phase process here at Dojo U is that it…
Thinking About the Quality of Your Gracenotes
There are two major considerations when we think about gracenote quality: size, and sync. Obviously, there are good and bad gracenotes out there. Angus MacColl?…
Crossing Noises: More Than You Might Want to Know
If you are relatively new to piping, you might be trying hard at this point to eliminate crossing noises as you transition from one note to another. But even for more experienced pipers, a pesky crossing noise may find its way into our piping. Here are some thoughts on how to analyze and get rid of crossing noises.
Chanter Tuning Brain Games
Chanter tuning is a skill that can take a while to develop. At Dojo U, we cover this regularly in live classes, in detail in…
Understanding Harmonics—Part 2
How many pipers have a firm grasp of the physics of sound that causes the unique and rich sound of our bagpipes? We are told that we should maintain a pressure in the pipe bag that is at the chanter reed’s “sweet spot”, that pressure that causes the reed to maximally vibrate and bring out the most “harmonics” and richness of sound of the reed. But what, really, are harmonics?
Is My Chanter Reed the Right Strength for me? The reed-strength litmus test
A litmus test is a chemistry technique that measures something’s acidity, but the term is more commonly used to describe a question that uses a…
Proper Hemping of Drone Reed Seats
Proper hemping of a drone reed seat is just about patience and getting the hemp to conform to the exact shape of the reed seat.…
Recording Devices and Sharing Recordings: Our Up-to-Date Recommendations
A recorder is a vital tool for every piper to have and to use. Now, if you’re like most people, you probably hate the idea…
The Sound of Silence
https://youtu.be/Bk7RVw3I8eg This is such a great performance for so many reasons. Whether you like (very) heavy metal or not, you can't deny David Draiman is…