Wedding music

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.
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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 Unipiper returns!

Bagpipes, Musical Covers, Piper, USA, Wedding music

The Unipiper, Portland’s favourite bagpipe playing unicyclist, apparently had a moment in the sun last month on American TV. The piper featured on the massively popular America’s Got Talent, auditioning in front of judges including shock jock DJ Howard Stern, model Heidi Klum and Howie Mandel (I’m not sure who that is.) No idea how he did, although if this picture is any reflection he at the very least looked awesome, dressed as Uncle Sam this time.

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Obviously he left the Darth Vader mask at home but hopefully he’ll get the chance to perform the Star Wars theme on national TV again, possibly by the time The Force Awakens is released! I can’t find the video online but I imagine it’s awesome, hopefully this guy keeps getting exposure, maybe one day we’ll be able to book him as a piper for our wedding. Maybe a Scottish wedding piper will steal his gimmick! Who knows!?

You can like the Unipiper on Facebook here. If you haven’t watched his videos already then you’re missing out and we recommend them wholeheartedly!

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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!

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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!

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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.

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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!

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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

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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!