I must address this inference you seem to be making that I in any way even implied that learing left-handed in a left-handed setup is any sort of a disadvantage. I mean, you have this tone of rebuttal in the above quote when you seem to be rebutting an argument I not only didn’t make, but went to some lengths to argue against.
You name in rebuttal one left-handed piper playing with one grade one world-class band. Did you do a count of how many other left-handed pipers showed up in the circles at the World’s this year? I imagine you were there. So, there was Willie, and…? Uh, Willie Morrison, and then there was, er…
And of course the other 20 or so pipers in Scottish Power played, uh right-handed? And how many other left handed pipers are they playing in the conventional “right handed” positions eh? I think statistically one in about four or five are left handed, so in every band in the world at every level, we should expect two or more left-handed players to be playing in the conventional “right-hand” position, unfettered by this arrangement, and taking all the same prizes in solo contests as Willie. (This you may recall, was actually my argument.)
So, of all the Gold-Medalists in the history of the contest, how many played in left-handed configuration? And how many can you say were left handed and played in conventional layout? I don’t think you or anyone else has made that sort of investigation, because, as I say, conceptually, the notion of playing Highland pipes in a special “left handed” layout, has not only died, but is considered rather suspect in most reputable schools and so forth. It’s pointless. If you insist on learning that way, well, you’re stuck with it and fine, but nobody will give you any encouragement on that score. Nobody is going to sit you down and say, “are you left-handed?” they’re just going to show you how to hold the chanter like everyone else, you’ll never know the difference and the subject will never come up unless you personally make it your own crusade as a student.
Generations and generations of highly regimented, intense, thoroughly tested, judged, and evaluated Highland performance has without any doubt established that handedness simply makes no difference at all.
Now, I can’t account for every sheep-worrying Highlander or Islander out in the Hinterlands playing left-handing, sitting down, in the “authentic Gaelic style” or otherwise. But being blessed with such knowledgeable debaters here, like yourself, I’m sure you can provide us with a list of history’s notable left-handed, left-hand configuration Highland pipers in a few days or so. You can start with winners of the major prizes, and members or pipe majors/officers of grade one bands, and you only have to go back over the last 50 years, because that’s the context in which I phrased my generalized statements.
What I suggest, is that you are going to come up with a list of a handful, five, six, eight, whatever, who played pipes in left handed configuration and held a notable position in a band or solo contests. I used these institutions particularly because they have indisputably cultivated over the decades, incredibly high levels of technical proficiency in the instrument and music. The debate is framed in terms of technical proficiency mind you. If you want to argue that the non-standardized “Gaelic” players are more “soulful” or “authentic” that’s another argument. Others might argue that they’re undisciplined, sloppy hacks so they might as well swap hands back and forth because they’re not required to be all that specialized and thus shouldn’t figure into the debate.
What you will come up with, if such statistics are kept, is hundreds of left-handed players in the most visible, institutionalized and public schools of the instrument, who simply learned in the standard configuration, achieved all these high standards of proficiency, and never gave it a moment’s thought or pause.
And more importantly, as I pointed out, you’re going to find thousands of pipers playing in conventional setups, left or right handed, for every one or your left-handed, left-handed setup players you can dig out of the history books or the obscure little bands playing down in the basement of grade one in the wilds of remote Scotland or elsewhere.
Contrary to your suggestion, naming one left-handed Highland player you can think of after obviously some motivated pondering, does little to refute my basic contention. I know you’ve written as if you think it’s a resounding condemnation of my unfamiliarity with the matter, but truly, it’s a pretty feeble, obtuse swipe that misses the mark entirely.
(By the way, does he simply swap hands, or has he set up his pipes backwards to play on the right arm? I don’t recall seeing this in Scottish Power photos/videos.)
What you need to research is left-handed players who play right-handed pipes and do just fine. You’re going to find scores and scores of them playing right now. And you’re going to find that neither they or their instructors ever gave any serious thought to learning or teaching them to hold the pipes backwards because of “handedness.” I don’t think I can make it any clearer.
In uilleann piping the proportion of left-handed setups to left-handed players is extremely high, extremely high compared to Highland pipers, because, for whatever reason, including a far less structured tutorial tradition, uilleann students get the notion into their heads that if they are left-handed they need to get a set of pipes made backward for them or they won’t be able to play.
This latter, as I have already stated, is fundamentally untrue.
Royce
Who knows, maybe the world will be a safer place to live as a result 
:roll: