What will a session, or lessons, with a more experienced piper tell me that I couldn’t figure out or do on my own? I ask not out of arrogance, I truly want to know. Thank you.
Sverre, see the FAQs for this. Basically, even one or two lessons can set you on the correct path for posture and grip. These are not adequately covered in any of the tutors. If you develop bad habits at the start you will have to start all over again later when you do finally get in front of a teacher. Better to get it right from the beginning to ensure continuous progress.
djm
This is a windup, right?
Yeees, The Canadian gentleman speaks with sound mind 
just a few lessons will benefit you greatly. Just to get you started on the right path.Things like fundamental techniques etc.
You have no idea! Assuming that your teacher is advanced enough to know the intricacies of the music, they will tell you up front what to do immediatly rather then you spending months or even years trying to figure out what’s going on.
There is SO much going on in an Irish traditional tune. It is a HUGE advantage to have someone tell you what they hear or are getting from the tune. Things that you might never hear if they don’t tell you about them.
Pipers often speak of going back and lisening to old recordings of Seamus Ennis, Willie Clancy, Patsy Touhey, Tommy Reck etc. and are still able to get more out of their playing years down the road. This is because their ear and technical abilities weren’t developed enough to absorb everything that was going on in the tune. A teacher will be able to show you this stuff years before you figure it out on your own… if you ever do.
I am available to give lessons Monday nights
Patrick.
Pat, do you make housecalls? 
djm
Absolutely… airfare and board included of course
PD.
Hmm, the air here is actually pretty foul at the moment - hot, hazy and humid. I’m not sure about the board. I’ve got a plank …
djm
i may add that it does not have to be alot of lessons. if you are a good self critic, one every couple of months is better than none at all. they will open your eyes to stuff you had not idea is going on. they will share secrets with you. while the basic tutors are ok, sooooo much important stuff is left out.
i have had, i think, 2 lessons with patrick, 1 with ian lawther, and 4 with david power. each lesson gave me stuff to work on that kept me going for months.
another advantage- they will play your chanter for you so you can here what it is capable of. you will hopefully have even more respect for your chanter after that.
meir
Well said.
Probably nothing…if you have 9 lives, an IQ of 180, and lots of money. Best to answer your own question by going to a tionol, or a “good” teacher, and seeing for yourself.
Have your teacher let us know how it went!
I think that you will find that just being in the same room with a good piper, and watching/listening to them play will make load a of difference in your own playing. It’s amazing…the clouds part, shafts of intense sunlight stabbing downwards, angelic voices singing the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel’s Messiah…uh…er… did I just imagine that last part?
Whoa, J-man! How many tabs of that stuff did you do? Pipers are only supposed to drop purple acid for Lent. 
djm
Must’ve been the brown acid. Everybody…don’t…take…the brown…acid! Stay away…from the…brown acid!..
Whoa! Flashback, man. I can still remember that (other things seem to slip past me). Has it really been 35 years? Thankfully, tie-dye keeps coming back into fashion.
djm
35 years, yes, I am told it has been that long…but living in a pyschedelic haze, as I have been for 40+ years, it seems just like yesterday. Oh hey, is that a 'shroom over there?..uh… I gotta go…
Keep on truckin’, dude!
Naturally…
One of the things a good and experienced piper can make you aware of is posture…When learning to play the pipes, you have to be concentrated on so many things (keeping all wholes closed, keeping the bagpressure constant, pumping independently from the tune rythm…) that it is easy to forget that you must not build up unnecesary tension in your body, which can be harmfull after a while.