Peaks and valleys of the learning process

[Garry]

All this talk about sweet G spot and peaks and valleys had my mind wandering along the wrong path. However once you reach a certain age, the greatest reward from your bagpiping comes when you are told at a relevant ceremony (eg a funeral) that your lament brought goosebumps and people you don't know want to have their picture taken with you. Makes all that practice worthwhile! Keep at it.

[Chris C.]

Originally Posted by SquintingPatrick

One thing that guides me, is identifying what it is that I am doing that leads to actual, tangible improvements. Repetitions in themselves do not necessarily do that. The trick is finding out what kind of repetitions - repetitions with a metronome? repetitions while playing along with a recording of a good player slowed down?

I've found that for fingering issues, more time with the PC seems to help, where I can slow down the movements, work on phrases, etc.

It also helps if you like the sound of the PC you're playing...

When on the pipes themselves, I concentrate less on the fingering and more on the overall sound, getting into the tune.