Above and Beyond for a Client
Earlier this year, a potential client contacted me. She asked if I could play two particular songs that are not usual bagpipe songs. I told her, “If it is on Youtube, I can learn it”. Big mistake.
The first song was Cat Stevens “Morning has Broken”. I actually found bagpipe music for this song and all was good.
The second song was Ed Sheran’s “Perfect”. I checked youtube and yes, there was a person playing the song on the pipes. Well, there was one, and only one video of someone playing the song on the pipes.
I began my search for bagpipes music for this tune. After exhaustive searches, it was not to be found. I retuned to Youtube and under the comment section of the one video I found, I requested the music.
I did get a response and it turns out the man in the video is the administrator at The Sydney School of Piping and Drumming, Barry Gray.
The music arrived and I started to practice, and practice, and practice this piece. Of the hundreds of songs I have played, this one was 100% more difficult than the hardest song I’ve played before. Well, I finally did master it and all was well.
The moral of the story? I can play many songs, but I’ll let you know if I can or cannot play a song.
