I am seeking advice from the senior pipers on the forum.
I have been struggling with my new 1/2 set – not on tone or tuning, but posture. If the bellows and bag are comfortable under my arms, my left hand feels cramped towards the chest. If I adjust the chanter position, the bag and bellows are uncomfortable. The bellows also rubs against the lower end of the mainstock. Nothing is comfortable? In most positions, my right wrist rests on the drones – which will be a problem when the regulators arrive.
What can you recommend on:
Bag and bellows placement
Angle of the chanter
This is similar to the erganomics discussion we had a while back – Uilliam, you had some good ideas.
Not too expert, but if you don’t mind, I’ve had the same problems. For the hand positions, try holding the chanter more upright and further away from you. When you close the chanter, put it down closer to your knee than you are currently. The easy habit to get into is to hold and play the chanter at too much of a slant into the inner thigh.
For the bellows hitting the pipes, try tying it higher on your chest. It doesn’t have to be around your waist. Also, try tilting the hinge of the bellows upward. It doesn’t have to be pointing right at the pipes.
Have a look at the length of the tube that connects bag and bellows.
If it’s not the right size you will have problems with your posture.
Apart from that, keep on playing and adjusting your posture untill it gets comfortable.
It will at some time! honest!
I remember being quite depressed when I got my drones. I had seemed to be making reasonable progress on the chanter and then it all went to pieces.
Firstly, the weight of the stock dragged the bag down, the bellows rubbed against the stock and everything went to pot. I eventually got around this just through time and practice.
The other problem was a little more subtle - I had been using the bellows to control the notes, rather than the bag, despite being aware that it was a trap to fall into. It took me a while to realise, and it’s been murder since, trying to use the left arm and build up some strength in it.
Good luck, (and thanks again for your practice sheet you sent me some time ago).
Vcolby don’t fret too much over the wrist positon,if its over the drones now it will sit well over the regs.
I have to disagree with DJM though on chanter position.Keep the neck o the bag straight(away from ye) and the chanter should sit at a comfortable angle towards you with the bell o the chanter nearer your crotch on the inner thigh than toward the knee,again this is to aid ye when ye go on to the regs.Everyone else is spot on
Slan go foil
Liam
Uilliam, agree that the neck of the bag should be straight, but I found that when I just had a practice set I had gotten into the habit of bringing the chanter too far into the inner thigh. When I got drones they were always in my way (or I was always in the drones’ way). When I got regs I was totally out of position for them because they were that much higher than just having the drones. The only cure was to relearn to bring the chanter down closer to the knee than I had been before - not ON the knee - but further out, until I had good clearance of the regs and drones. Re-learning to play in a new position is a female canine.
Yes, in a socio-cultural sort of way… I spent many happy years playing soldiers in the Irish equivalent of the TAVR, while remaining deeply pacifist at heart. People are quite complex.
Incidentally, the timing of summer annual training always prevented me from making it to the Willie Week. Difficult choice.
Kevin, are you using a shoestring strap? why not something wider? I’m suprised your pipes stay in the stock… what do you have there? 35-40 pounds of drones and regs?
