Ian offers a range of packages for smallpipes tuition. He runs an established weekend course annually in September/October located in the Angus Glens.
As well as this course, Ian is happy to come to your venue to provide tuition from one day workshops to week long courses, which can be tailored to your specific requirements.
Ian is well-placed to offer a full teaching programme as he has been playing pipes for over 25 years and making pipes for 12 years. He has played in pipe bands, with smallpipe ensembles and a folk band. As a pipe maker he has all the knowledge required of pipe maintenance and the all important reed making and maintenance. Prior to making pipes Ian tutored at both Edinburgh University Bagpipe Society and the innovative ALP Project in Edinburgh. In more recent years he has given workshops on reed making in North America, and has tutored piping in Ireland and France. He has judged highland piping in Brittany.
When Ian teaches, he puts the emphasis on SOUND, as well as tuning - playing in tune with other players and staying in tune, harmony playing and playing with other instruments.
He has found that even those who are relative beginners can, with attention to detailed tuning, go from blowing an unsteady tone to playing some simple tunes with 2 & 3 part harmonies in groups of 3 or 4 within a weekend. This gives a great sense of achievement, and is a confidence booster.
As with all bagpipes, a steady tone and accurately tuned instrument is an essential. Spending 2 or 3 days concentrating mainly on sound is a great exercise for beginners, and more experienced players – as well as tutors!
In order to maintain a good sounding set of smallpipes it is essential to understand how to adjust your reeds. To this end it useful to understand how the reeds are constructed. Included in Ian’s courses are reed-making demonstrations. These are useful whether or not you fancy having a go at making reeds yourself or just want to better understand how they work.
“The reed making demo you gave was first class and understanding how the reed is made certainly helps with knowing what to do if things go wrong. It took me an hour on the Saturday night but I eventually got my bass drone reed going, a bit of my own experience but mainly down to what was learned about the reeds that day.
I have attached the tune I wrote which has now been named "Glen Clova Weekend". Have fun with it and we will play it next year, (what do you mean "next year, aye maybe?"), start planning now Ian. If I knew when the sessions were held up there I could even see you sooner!!!
"A worthwhile workshop for both the beginner and experienced player in beautiful surroundings."
Great stuff Ian, thoroughly enjoyed myself.” |
