Learning to Play the Bagpipes & Drums

We run beginner/improver tuition classes during our practice at the Methodist Church in Newport on Tuesday evenings.

A tutor provides guidance in conjunction with a popular instruction book and practice instrument.

Bagpipes – It is not practical for a beginner to start practicing using bagpipes: instead, a practice chanter is used to become familiar with fingering and tunes. When a number of tunes have been memorised and can be played reasonably well on the practice chanter, it is then time to move on to learning to play the bagpipes. The practice chanter remains useful as a way of learning new tunes without disturbing the neighbours!

Learning to play the bagpipes as a beginner can take 1 year, though some can achieve this quicker and others will take longer. Becoming an accomplished piper takes years of practice.

Drums – A drum pad and drumsticks provide a convenient way to practice the basics of playing a drum. Once familiar with some basic playing, these can then be practiced with a recording of the pipe music, and afterwards on the drum.

Highland Drumming is a style of percussion accompaniment that is significantly different than most other forms of percussion performance. The most outstanding differences are that the percussion section does not set up a rhythm…… or “lay down a groove” for the other musicians to follow, and the drum corps (as it is often called) is the only source of dynamics in the band. While the drums and the pipes together play out the intricacies of the tunes, the drum corps contributes the dynamics, or the “light and shade” to the performance.

A pipe band drum corps generally consists of one bass drummer, multiple side drummers (snares), and a mid-section composed of tenor drum player(s).

If you are interested in learning the Bagpipes or Drums, please contact us using the ‘Contact Us’ page, providing details of your playing level.