I "volunteered" to play my pipes at a wedding this last Friday, as a surprise to the groom, and so - all suited up in my new Prince Charlie jacket & plaid - I set out to play...

...only to discover that my chanter reed had vanished into thin air! At first, I thought it had fallen into the bag, and I tried to shake it out, but nothing fell out. Then I thought it might have fallen onto the ground when I pulled the chanter out of the stock, but it was nowhere to be found. Then I felt every square inch of the bag, and it was still not there. Then I searched the ground again (with several people helping), then the bag again. Still missing. I had left my band chanter at home, trying to save a little space in my bag for my dirk and sgian dubh.

I played the pipes Thursday night, and did not take out the chanter between the last time I played it and when I packed up my pipes to fly out to the wedding. And though I was mortified that I had to cancel my surprise gift because of a stupid technical issue (something that wouldn't reflect well on me as a piper, had this been a real gig), but I'm even more frustrated and confused, because I have no explanation as to where it went.

That evening, the parents of the friend with whom I was staying thought of a local piper, who generously gave me a box of six reeds, so at least I was able to play for friends that night. But I am still flabbergasted by the incident. On the other hand, In addition to the two reeds my instructor has subsequently set me up with, I now have 5 spares (one of the reeds in the box was an Uilleann pipe reed, now in a happy home in my Uilleann practice chanter), though I still should run through them and determine their suitability in my chanter.

A big lesson learned, all in all. Always have a spare reed, and it doesn't hurt to have a spare chanter with a spare broken-in reed already in it.