Playing the pipes and learning is truly a lifelong journey. I cannot remember a day since I was a very young boy that I didn't either have a chanter in my hands or was listening to a pipe tune to learn something.

When I was young, I can clearly recall one night being at my teacher's home with a few other people from the senior band and a pad of paper, and he went through all of the basic Piobaireachd construction, explaining the phrase patterns of each and some tune examples.

He didn't just give us a file like we tend to get nowadays, he made us all take dictation on paper. This felt like homework at the time, but I'm glad I was there to take those notes on that evening.

Knowing some of the Piobaireachd theory and using the guide to figure out my "new" tune has always made it easier to memorize. We learned most of the basic technical embellishments used in Piobaireachd, which was just the "way it was done back then."

However, when we got onto a new tune, it was generally easier to play, and with the theory knowledge we had gained, we could memorize tunes quicker. It is only only when you are at the point of practice, where you know the notes and the embellishments are manageable, can you move into the real rehearsal stage and start to work on all the nuances that make this music so special and emotional.

I have always enjoyed the times when I have to dig into a tune to find more to the musical interpretation.

In 1989 I fell down the stairs at home. I was a carpenter at the time and quite strong, sturdy, but lacking knowledge of how the body works. I felt like I badly bruised my leg but could walk on it, so I knew it wasn't broken. I had no idea I had seriously damaged my back, and I have now suffered from "bulging disc syndrome" since that very day.

With three vertebrae injured down low and two higher up in the neck area, I began to experience a lot of pain in my hands and numbness at times. That summer at The Glengarry Highland Games at Maxville Ontario, I broke down competing twice in one day because I couldn't feel my hand or my fingers on the holes. This was a scary time in my life, and at that point, I had to give up solo piping for 4-5 years.

The great benefit or positive that came out of this time was that I started to work on my hands, playing rhythmic, technical exercises, and practically rebuilt my playing using all of the "playing with control" exercises I was taught as a young boy.

I developed a mental system in my head that I still use today where I do not necessarily think of lifting this or that finger to make an embellishment, but now, I have trained myself to hear all of the work percussively. This allows me to control the size of my movements and how "open or tight" I want to play them. This method has worked incredibly well for years now and saved my piping career.

Nowadays, I like to make sure that the student, no matter what level they are at, is well versed in all the technical work required to play the tune first. Then I want them to understand the basic phrasing style so the mind is at ease when playing the tune. At this point, we can put all our concentrated effort into delivering a piece of music that pulls out all the required emotion and gives the listener a truly wonderful experience.

This took far too many years to really believe, understand, and follow for real!

I never teach my students how to "win" a contest, I reverse the mindset, and we work on how to "not lose." It sounds like the same thing to some but is fundamentally different. One of the biggest personal milestones in my piping came from the realization that I just had to respect all the players out there and not think I should win because I played well without any errors. When you try to win an event, you often set yourself up with far too much pressure, but if you can put in the work and do everything possible to play as well as you would at home, you now put the other players in a position where they must be better than you.

Many years of great personal coaching finally allowed me to realize that I can only control what I do. I cannot control how the others play and certainly cannot control how the judges or the audience feel.

I am incredibly fortunate to have had, and still enjoy an incredibly long career as both a performer and a teacher.

50+ years competing and 45+ years teaching all over several parts of the world have given me a wide range of experience to help guide learners of all ages and levels.

It is my hope that both my teaching and performing have inspired people to try to elevate their own playing to a higher level. If I can do this going forward, I would feel I have made a positive contribution to our art form.