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Showing posts from June, 2010

... All Old Pipers Should Be Put Out To the Doubling Pasture

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I received a very interesting email this week. The gist of the story centres around a 70 year old piper who wishes to compete - passionately rejects the aging process and wants to improve, which conflicts with his Pipe Major and instructor. Let the letter speak for itself! . " You all heard him play and each of you encouraged him to insert embellishments into the music. To be fair, his piping judge at the last contest said the same thing. I need your wisdom here. He is 70 years old. He started when he was 65. He's also got pretty severe arthritis in both hands. I am afraid that moving his focus and energies to embellishments will hurt the good things he's currently doing with his music as well as his personal enjoyment. He's now come back wanting to relearn the tune with all the embellishments. I'm heartbroken. So here you have it. Is this "hobby" as it is in the hands of adult (and senior) learners, not valid without full embellishments? Do emb