I've finally (with a few hiccups) got back into my full practice schedule, and I see how I've suffered. Never minding that the neighbors (who like the pipes) have commented that they don't hear me practice as much. Part of that was me playing in the park rather than at home, but part of that was indeed a decrease in my practice time over the last nine months, and the effects are striking. Other than my competition tunes, my "expression" has outstripped my "execution", and a lot of that is because my execution has suffered. In playing Tulloch Castle, I can't even execute the last triplet in every line, ABC-noted as (3f/d/b, with any accuracy. Sure, there's some hesitation because my brain wants to play something else, but still... So for the next year, while I resign myself to spend a second season in Grade IV (a no-brainer), I plan to do two things on pipes: steady my blowing, and master competition-style Strathspeys and Reels. On the first front, I find that I have it in me to do much better. While practicing with the manometer, I can blow steady to the tune of + - 1.6" of water (at an operating pressure of 29.5" or so), with only the occasional hiccup out of that range. But when I turn away for a moment, it goes to pot. So for the six months, every practice I do on the big pipes must be while attached to the manometer. The Strathspeys are improving steadily, and I hope that by April, I'll have a repertoire of 80 parts each worth of Strathspeys and Reels (up from 24/18 now).

I've also decided to go ahead and buy a set of pipes just for my A-chanter. Since these will mostly get played at bar gigs, when I need to play nice with fiddlers and wind players and the like, or in my own band, I want something sturdy, low-maintenance, and inexpensive. I've decided to go with the Dunbar Poly P1s (a mere $425 for just the sticks), make my own custom cane drone reeds, and use my Hamish Moore A=440Hz chanter. I don't know what kind of bag I'll use, but I'm considering the Bannatyne hybrid Hide/Synthetic (for $180), since that never needs to be seasoned and my instructor is very impressed with it. At the same time, until I can afford Julian Goodacre's reproduction of the 18th-century Piob Mhor (priced at around $4500), the Dunbars can stand in at reenactments. And once my Dunbars arrive and I've got them set up, I'll probably send my Krons back to the maker to have the drones rebored, and to repair some chips I've managed to put in the artificial ivory mounts, and possibly to replace the bass drone top, which has two unsightly chips in the wood. And once I'm in CAPD, I'll use their green bag cover and cords on my Krons, and will have my blue ones for my Dunbars.

On fiddle, I'm all about repertoire, and playing in the sessions at the Royal Mile on a regular basis. Since I'm going to have to spend another season seriously competing on pipes, I'll just plan to do the same on fiddle. I'm getting much more comfortable on the Highland- and Cape Breton-style reel accent patterns, and it's sounding a lot better and more effortless. A few more weeks looking at repertoire reels, and I think it'll be time to look at Strathspeys and slow airs again.