Someone buy this guy a pint!

Bagpipes, Music, pints!, Piper, Wedding, Wedding music

If you’ve not seen it yet there’s a story that popped up over the weekend of an angry bride demanding a refund after calling him unprofessional for drinking a pint. That was bought for him by the best man. That was blackcurrant and lemonade.

It’s pretty crazy and understandably the piper, Craig Lawrie, a Scottish wedding piper that’s been doing this for a while was having none of it. I know if I see a piper at a wedding I’ve no problem with him having a cheeky pint of juice to cool down. For Craig it’s probably a happy ending, he’s ended up getting a fair bit of free publicity out of the argument, you can find the story from the Daily Record here. To be fair it’s a wee overreaction by the bride and I’m sure when she thinks about it in the future the event will have in no way had a negative impact on her big day, she even went out of her way to praise the piper initially before requesting a refund!

My question to you reader is simple, would you by a Scottish piper a pint whilst he was playing bagpipes at your pals wedding? Let us know in the comments below! Maybe buy Stuart a pint too if you see him!

The Highland Heavy Games in Belfast

Bagpipes, Festival, Music, Piper

Yesterday in Belfast the last day of the 2015 Maine Celtic Celebration took place with several athletes competing in the Highland Heavy Games. There included games involving having to throw large stones and throwing heavy weights attached to chains. Not to mention tossing cabers and Scottish hammers. Big lads eh?

There was pipe band music to be found throughout the day which is always appreciated as you can find here. Pipers taken the day off playing wedding music to share their talents with an new audience is always a cool thing.

Whilst I didn’t make it myself I read that something called the New World Cheese Roll Championships took place which sounds crazy and interesting. Apparently different age groups chase rolls of cheese down a big hill, assuming the first to get to it is the winner. Are there videos of this event I hear you cry, to which I say of course there are, albeit I couldn’t find any from specifically yesterday there are tons of cheese rolling videos to be found on youtube.

It looks mental.

Anyhow it looked like a fun day out for families in Belfast and I really loved that bagpipers were doing there thing. More information about the event can be found here!

Did you catch any Scottish pipers (or any pipers really) this week? Let us know in the comments below! Did you have anyone play at your wedding? Any Scottish wedding piper stories are always appriciated!

Happy wee dog singing along with bagpipes.

Bagpipes, dog, Music, Piper, viral video

This video is so cute! Watch this adorable wee dog sings along with the bagpipes in a video that will but a smile on your face. The pooch can’t resit joining in with the bagpiper, wagging his wee tail as he goes.

I’m a sucker for a sweet dog video, what can I say? If it doesn’t put a smile on your face then I can only guess you have a heart of stone. PURE STONE!

Any fun viral bagpipe or Scottish Wedding Piper videos you’d like to show us? Feel free to put them in the comments below. Until then make sure to visit here if you’re looking for a piper for a wedding or function.

Bagpipes news and links

Bagpipes, Music, Piper, Wedding, Wedding music

Rather than regurgitate a bunch of stories I thought I could instead just post a handful of links to Scottish pipers (and for the matter American pipers) news stories I’ve found interesting the last few days.

Here’s one about James Rivers, a fantastic musician with both jazz and the bagpipes making for a unique combination of instruments. http://wgno.com/2015/06/22/rivers-master-of-jazz-and-bagpipes/

Here’s a story about the College of Piping offering some new courses and credits that some of you may find interesting. http://www.theguardian.pe.ca/News/Local/2015-06-22/article-4190971/Bagpipes,-highland-dancing-now-high-school-credits/1

if you are looking for a Scottish Wedding Piper look no further than big Stuart on the bagpipes. http://elitebands.co.uk/scottish-piper

Some more about the Swords and Bagpipes tabletop game I was just talking about, including a discussion with the creator. http://geekdad.com/2015/07/swords-and-bagpipes/

I’ll leave you this time with a picture of Scotland’s greatest hero. Groundskeeper Willie!

Something I love about Glasgow….

Bagpipes, Music, Musical Covers, Piper

So it was a couple of weeks ago now but one of the things I absolutely love every year in Glasgow is the Mela festival. 40,000 people (according to their website) headed to Kelvingrove park for a festival that has a combination of different cultures and some really interesting performers. One of my favourite things about the day is that you’ll sometimes see performances combining two or three different types of music you wouldn’t usually see, for instance this video from 2009 featuring the bagpipes:

The Mela has a great variety of food, a nice wee part of the park to go hide in and have a beer and a stage featuring a lot of interesting performers you wouldn’t usually get the chance to see. It’s always a decent day out.

On the subject of Scottish wedding pipers I didn’t see any bagpipers this year but that’s not to say they weren’t there. Will have to keep an eye out next year.

If you were at the Mela and got any decent photos or videos why not post them or a link to them in the comments below! Also check this out!

Lidl £12.99 Bagpipes

Bagpipes, Music, Piper

These have apparently been a thing since at least the start of the year! The supermarket Lidl has been selling inexpensive bagpipes for over half a year and in the Daily Record article I’m shamelessly taking a lot of my information from (an article that can be found here.) the director of the National Piping Centre, Alisdair McLaren, had positive things to say about them! He said;

“A basic set of pipes costs around £700 so at £12.99 they are definitely worth the money, even though the sound is more like what you would get from a practice chanter.

“They are a bit of fun and if a young person then wants to learn the pipes properly that can only be a positive thing.”

Can’t argue with that, the price of a basic set could scare off a lot of people before they’ve even begun to take up the pastime. Hopefully the introduction of a cheaper alternative will help a few people to pick the bagpipes up, keep piping alive and well and maybe introduce us to some new Scottish wedding pipers down the road.

The video below see’s the Scottish National Youth Pipe Band try them out and have fun in the process:

What do you think about the Lidl pipes? Have you had an opportunity to play them yourselves? Are they any good or a bit rubbish? As ever feel free to let us know in the comments below.

Wedding entertainment: Some statistics.

Bagpipes, Music, Piper, Wedding, Wedding music

I was looking at wedding music statistics today (as you do) and found these one’s to be pretty shocking. Statistics I found on the St. Louis Bride and Groom website, taken from sources such as USA Today and The Knot suggest that almost 100% of brides they spoke to would, if they could do things again, spend more money when it came to choosing the entertainment for their wedding. 72% of those brides said they would spend a significantly larger amount of time choosing their musical performers. Finally 81% said that the main thing they remembered about their reception was the entertainment they chose.

Choosing a Scottish wedding piper for your wedding can be a time consuming business but these statistics definitely show that it will be time well spent. Don;t leave it until the last minute and don’t underestimate the importance of getting a really good piper to play. We can recommend Stuart (who can be found here: http://elitebands.co.uk/scottish-piper ) however if you have anyone you’d like to recommend make sure to do so below in the comments!

More famous songs covered on bagpipes.

Bagpipes, Music, Musical Covers, Piper, the Flinstones, Wedding, Wedding music

Here’s another collection of songs you are probably familiar with that you wouldn’t expect to see covered on bagpipes and certainly wouldn’t expect to see on a blog about Scottish wedding pipers!

The Flintstones theme song

Do they still show the Flintstones on TV? I have vivid memories of watching it as a kid along with about fifty other Hanna-Barbera shows that used to cheaply fill up kids television.

I’m also old enough to have begged my dad to take me to see the 1994 movie complete with Agent Dale Cooper as the villian and the terrible B-52s cover of the theme. It doesn’t take much but the video below is certainly a more enjoyable cover than that one ever was:

(And for comparisons sake here’s the B-52s version. I’m very sorry.)

If I can make some requests I’d like to hear some more kids TV show themes covered, in particular Thundercats, The Pink Panther and Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. MAKE IT HAPPEN INTERNET!

Game of Thrones theme

I’d like to do some research and see if any Scottish pipers actually show up in the show. Living in Glasgow I’ve seen half the cast out drinking over the years, I’ve seen the actor that plays Sandor Clegane on a few occasions, he’s intimidating looking man!

Game of Thrones is a good show to do a bagpipe video for, the theme fits and the success of the show means that you can rack up the youtube hit count. This is a pretty cool video in my opinion so be sure to check it out!

Leonard Cohen – Hallelujah

We’ll finish with one I never thought I would see, a cover of a song that depending on your vintage you may know from Leonard Cohen (the writer of the song,) Jeff Buckley or Alexandra Burke. Or from 5 years of terrible X-Factor auditions.

Hopefully Leonard got a nice retirement check out of it all.

Personally I’m a big fan of the original Cohen version without all the historic of the X-Factor cover but your mileage may vary. I think the band covering it are from Russia but I’m not 100% sure but, well, it’s something different right?

Have you seen any cool cover versions done on bagpipes? Let me know in the comments below! Also check out the Elite Bands pipe major here: http://elitebands.co.uk/scottish-piper

20 First Dance songs worth considering for your wedding

Music, Wedding, Wedding music

Ok so we’re moving away from the M.O. of talking about pipers for this one to name a number of songs that might be worth considering if you’re getting married anytime soon. We’ve split them into a couple of categories, current and classic. What songs would you consider for a first dance? Or what song did you have for your first dance? Let us know in the comments below! Bonus points for any videos of pipers performing these songs. 😀 (don’t worry we will return to the subject of Scottish wedding pipers soon enough)

Current:

1. Bruno Mars -Marry You
2. Beyonce- Love on top
3. Paulo Nutini – Candy
4. Ellie Goulding – Your Song
5. Ed Sheeran – Thinking Out Loud
6. John Legend- All of me
7. Pharrell Williams – Happy
8. Florence and the Machine – You’ve got the love
9. Ben Howard – Only Love
10. Adele – Chasing Pavements

Classic

1. Foo Fighters – Everlong
2. Barry White- Just the way you are
3. Nat King Cole – Let There Be Love
4. Jackie Wilson – I get the Sweetest Feeling
5. Etta James – At Last
6. Madness – It Must Be Love
7. Ben E King – Stand By Me
8. Louis Armstrong – What A Wonderful World
9. The Goo Goo Dolls – Iris
10. Elvis Costello – She

As we said if you have any recommendations make sure to tell us in the comments below! We’ll leave you with some Jackie Wilson!

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