I have been playing pipes for over 30 years. I have had many musical hurdles during those years. Before reading “Practice Strategies that Cause Musical Improvement” I had already engaged in practice of this nature. Playing slowly enough where I can mentally say “down up” for each movement in something like a birl. This has worked great for me and many of my students; however, getting it to stick or work in a tune is the difficult thing. I have also taught that playing tunes at a very slow pace will help to integrate it into a tune, but I really like Stephanie’s suggestion of finding the difficult passage and then slowly working back from it. One thing I have recently started doing, which is very uncomfortable, is playing in a corner. You can still march if you want, but it’s almost like hearing a recording of yourself instantly, or it’s like listening to a performance from someone else. The precision in your playing can’t escape you or get lost in a big open room. It is very demanding on the brain, and I have a tendency to turn away so I don’t have to listen to how bad it sounds. I then force myself back into the corner and slow it down.
Menu