Take It Public!

This weekend I had the pleasure of piping in a small Irish-y pub in Lancaster. They were celebrating "Halfway to St. Patrick's Day!" and asked me to come down and provide some mood music. I happily agreed -- I've played there for "real" St. Pat's day for the past 3 years, and it's always been a ton of fun. The proprietors are great to work with, I've become halfway decent friends with DJ Celtic Flavor, who's always been there too (in fact, I'm piping for his wedding next week), and the patrons are very appreciative. Free beer, some tip money, and fun -- made for a great Saturday night!

I enjoy piping in a variety of settings, and over the years, I've had a lot of different types of gigs. Weddings and funerals are nice -- it's wonderful to be able to provide a service to a family that adds just a little extra "touch" to the event. Golf tournaments and parades are pretty cool, too, although I'm really just providing background music in those cases. School programs and church services I enjoy, because it gives me a chance to talk about piping and educate the people who are listening (and churches generally have GREAT acoustics). But I think that the gig I had this weekend is the best one I've done in a while, from a personal-satisfaction standpoint, for several reasons:

1) Wear what I want! It's a laid-back Irish party, so I went with my kilt, a t-shirt that said "Sham Rockin'" on it, and my combat boots. None of this formal tie-and-ghille-brogues stuff. Comfy!

2) Play what I want! As long as I was mixing in some old Irish standbys from time to time, I had free rein to play whatever came into my head. (Unlike funerals or weddings, where the family only wants 2-3 songs and tells me what they are.)

3) Play what the people want! I LOVE taking requests, and BOY did I have a lot on Saturday. I was playing Star Wars, Beethoven's Ode to Joy, Christmas carols, ABBA, and the Beatles. Someone even requested that I play MY favorite song, whatever that was. FUN!

4) True fans! There were several people who were visibly happy to hear me. I was recorded on iPhones, I had my picture taken, I was hugged and had my hand shaken, and I was accompanied by tabletop drumming and foot-stomping on several occasions.

5) New ideas! I was not able to honor all of the musical requests that came my way, but I wrote many of them down and promised to try to learn them by St. Patrick's day 2010, if the requestors could commit to coming back then. Seemed like a win-win. And now I get to research and arrange Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones, Metallica, and AC/DC for pipes, as well as some tune called "Whiskey Before Breakfast." (I'll let you know how that turns out.)


All you pipers reading this -- I hope that you are able to line up gigs like this from time to time. Weddings and funerals can be our personal bread and butter, and parades keep the band's bills paid... but occasionally, try to line up a job where you can be the center of attention, and just cut loose and have fun. It'll help put some zing back in your brogues. :)

Slainte --