Dumb things pipers do (or say)

[Mike Lynch]

Packed my car for a very large high-profile wedding and arrived at the church 45 minutes prior to piping as guests arrived. Picked up my pipe case which was surprisingly light. Uh-oh! High-tailed it the 20 miles back to my house to get my pipes out of chair I left them in. Fortunately, I still made it back in time and everything went well. Always double-check equipment and arrive at gigs with lots of time to spare!!!

[Bushido]

One dumb thing I've done once is to buy a set of pipes over ebay and assume that they were well kept and regularly played. took the pipes with me to competition, they played like a dream and the sound was to die for. Got in front of the judges, struck up, proceeded to fine tune and started playing my tune. Then, "Crack!". Blowpipe split in two, I got freaked out and played miserably Always oil your pipes properly before you use them heavily!

I've also managed to put my chanter in the blowpipe stock, thus ruining the reed by crushing it against the beck valve I have installed...

[Airborne92]

Originally Posted by Mike Lynch

Always double-check equipment...

I made up a checklist. As I get older, the synapses don't close like they used to, and I need all the reminders I can get. So far, I haven't forgotten the checklist

SCK

[Ray Main]

Got all my stuff together and drove 100 miles from Garden Grove, to Ventura California, got my hotel, and discovered no Kilt.

Drove 100 miles from Ventura to Garden Grove, to find kilt hanging nice and neat in the closet.

Drove 100 miles back to Ventura just in time to go straight to bed.

300 miles of driving on a friday evening through Los Angeles traffic, just to compete in a 2/4 march and a slow air... in grade IV.. to boot.

Lesson learned well...

[David]

Originally Posted by Ray Main

Got all my stuff together and drove 100 miles from Garden Grove, to Ventura California, got my hotel, and discovered no Kilt.

Drove 100 miles from Ventura to Garden Grove, to find kilt hanging nice and neat in the closet.

Drove 100 miles back to Ventura just in time to go straight to bed.

300 miles of driving on a friday evening through Los Angeles traffic, just to compete in a 2/4 march and a slow air... in grade IV.. to boot.

Lesson learned well...

I drove off to a Scottish festival an hour away to play for the evening's events, and also realised that I had forgotten my kilt. I had arrived several hours early, but did not check my gear until the last minute when there was no time left for the 2-hour round trip.

The show was for very good pay, and my absence would have messed up a lot of people. A drummer in a sort-of Irish group wore a kilt, and he gave it to me to use. He was skinny as a rail, a crime of which I am not guilty, and the kilt only closed with no overlap on the apron, and several large safety pins. We hung the sporran low and prayed for darkness. Fortunately, the outdoor lighting was very dim, and I aquitted myself with acute embarassment instead of utter catastrophe. New rule: when you get past 55, make lists and set reminders with alarms.

To my surprise, I was paid in full, though I offered to take nothing. Even got hired again by the same fellow.

[Pip01]

Greetings to All,

This may turn into a very long Thread....
mere mortals... as we are...

We... or most... have all done it, time to time...
and shall... mayhaps... yet again...

I am most fortunate to be in such fine company!!

As well as having committed the several of the more
usual mishaps already cited (banged drones, chipped
chanter reeds, etc., et al), and during regular, band-
playing hours, a major lapse of mind befell me a while
back, and... at about three o'clock in the morning...

We had played several venues (taverns, actually, would
be a more precise word)... and on into the wee of the
hours....

Some had ridden with others, some had driven themselves
to our several "venues."

At the end of it, at the last place, one of my mates was in
NO condition to drive himself home, so I gathered up himself,
our instruments, all our kit and gear, and maneuvered all into
my car, and himself and kit and gear safely to his front door.

A bit later, at MY front door, unloading the car, I discover that
I had, indeed, put a pipe case in the car... but only HIS!!.. and
mine was, apparently, and still, at our last spot!

Like a shot... back to the tavern.. a lump in my throat... and
a knot in my stomach...and through the door (they had a really
late license), and the bartender looked up smilingly and said;
"Thought I'd be seein' you again this morning."

He poured (yet another) Guinness, and put it, and my pipe case,
back up on the bar... (And the Bells of Heaven did ring!)

This has happened exactly ONCE!... and is more than sufficient,
at least... for my lifetime.

Regards to All,

Pip01

[ferraribagpiper]

The dumbest thing I've done so far is to get my finger stuck in the top of my practice chanter. I take it apart and dry it after I play, and I stick my finger in it to check that it's dry; one day I stuck my finger in too far and voila! All I could think was that I had to get my finger out before I had to go find Hubby in the garage and ask his help to remove the unstuck finger (he likes to use his hacksaw a little too much for my taste..). A couple of drops of olive oil and the finger came unstuck. Somehow I don't think this will be the last dumb thing I'll be doing in my piping career..

[Zach]

One time a few years back I was tuning drones and one of the piper's tenors was stuck so i started pulling on it. It popped off hit me in the eye and gave me a black eye. Now when I tune drones if they are stuck I just shut them off and tell the pipers to fix it. Lesson learned haha

[David Perkins]

something often said in my band:

Piper A, "Hows it go?"

Piper B, "It starts on E"

[S.A.P.C. P/M]

"Which SONG are we playing now." Instant letter-grade deduction for any of my student players on the spot!