Why can't the USA get a good Police or Fire Department Pipe Band, Like Toronto, Victoria, Strathclyde, etc.? Even with the chokes of the reed not taken into account, you can still tell the proper embellishments and gracenotes are not being attempted on this basic tune. I don't mean anyone any disrespect, but my God, you are playing for the President's funeral. You need to be prepared for this.
@naartjie99 no kidding here! I'm a MacGregor the great highland clan Gregor. No magic, just plain truth. Go play a set of pipes, that have been out side in the cold with no warm up, news flash the chanter has a reed too, so the chanter will mess up aswell.
@naartjie99 Oh, wait, you must have been talking about that know nothing colleenybean1, sorry about that. No offence intended, and feel free to bash her some more!
Yes, provided the people in charge allow you to hold anything other than your pipes... which, by the way, was not allowed to happen...... He was to stand in the "ready" until the arrival of the casket and then begin to play..... well, his standing was far longer than even he expected, and in temps. far chillier then Michigan expected..... He played the very best he could, given the situation. To stop playing was NOT an option for him in that moment.... he felt it best to go forward.
@colleenybean1 Two way radios are a great tool, wouldn't you agree? And it only takes one arm to stand ready. At the one minute mark, it only takes a second to slap the reeds in and stand ready. But, what happend, happend.
@colleenybean1 Over all, when he is the only piper there, he is the pipe major. He is in charge of his pipes. He makes the decisions, based on what he needs to do, to keep his pipes ready. Sometimes you need to color outside the lines, in order to accomplish your mission. I would have played a lament or something just to keep them warm or, do what I stated earlier. But, then again I'm just a Scott, what do I know about Bagpipes?
yeah reeds do get cold, and it makes them sound bad, but if you can tell your reed is going, and you can't feel your finger, you should stop playing after your first time playing it. not repeat it 3 more times.
All of us pipers have had our share of performances like this. Sometimes the cold just does that to the reeds. Any reeds sound bad after sitting in the cold without warm breath. Let's hope we have some breakthroughs in plastic chanter reeds soon!
i am a army pipe major from glasgow scotland and that was a fucking joke someone should have kicked his fucking arse stupid old cunt no stamana in his breathing what a i could have got a trainee to do better
My band director was in the band that played with him and he told us the story. They had to wait upwards of an hour in the cold before they could play one note. If you've never played a wind instrument, you wouldn't know how hard it is to play a cold horn; let alone in front of a giant broadcasted audience.
Thank you for trying - the other idiots just don't get it. He played that beautifully in every practice, and he was SOOO disappointed he couldn't pull it off after being out in the cold for so long. He just knew, once he started, he simply could not stop... either way, he wouldn't be liked...
Yes, It was bad, BUT! there are times you can have everything fine and ready and then they pipe just give up. He might have tuned up and ready then they delayed and delayed. He could have been in the cold for hours after the tune up. I'm sure they picked thier best for this. Plus the fact playing for a presidents funeral would rattle anybody.
wow, that was not the cold OMG that was so horrible. He stopped playing completely at 1:30. This is so sad I mean come on. Get a real piper. This is a disgrace!!!! I have been playing for 5 years and I have never heard anything worse. He probably tuned up inside and then went out into the freezing cold changing the reed dramatically. But telling by the way he is breathing he has not stamina
Yes, it was TOTALLY the cold. Below 0 wind chill, and over an hour in the cold waiting on the motorcade..... The gov't officials wouldn't let him wait in the building to maintain the reed..... He plays that song BEAUTIFULLY, every time, because he plays it from the heart...
Okay - you go warm your reed up on your pipes, get them ready, then go stand out in sub-zero temps for over an hour, and then "go"! Because that's the protocol, and tell me whether you'd continue, or just QUIT! Well, he had balls enough to continue to do as he was called to do, even though knowing the performance was screwed from the moment he began to play!
Aye great stuff. I am not sure why some pipers don't refer the big gigs to a real piper? Cold weather or not, that is pretty bad, but they did say beautiful playing. lol
im just a piper from california iv been playing for 3 years i can pin a grace on my hardies this guy sounds like a dunk arab playing pakistani pipes at a AMERICAN PRESIDENTS funeral????????? that sucks!!!!!!
Look unless there, nobody knows the conditions and the wind chill. I HAD A BLANKET AND TWO OTHER PEOPLE WITH ME and I was froze! The HUGE flag on the flagpole was straight out for windchill! Anyone who THINKS they know how cold & THINK they know the piper really do NOT. YES he CAN play it like no other. You cannot know how he feels he let the Ford family down in that moment. No piper could do any more in that moment...I doubt what you say....
ya its a good thing ireland and scotland are super warm countries all year long or else the world pipe band championship in scotland would sound like crap lol michigan is a tropical heat compared to scotland so i wouldnt blame it on the cold or the performance of the reeds ok
When left in the cold over an hour, unable to maintain the reed and keep the pipes properly "ready" for the task at hand, and with a VERY cold windchill, I wager there's going to be a few that sound like crap....no matter where they are. Thank goodness the BAND championship has plenty of pipers playing at one time the ones that do have issues can't be heard as easily! I defer to your "genius" and let this go... You've never heard him play it before or since, and it's obvious you know it all!
@colleenybean1 Of course the wind chill affects the reeds, thats why you tune with warm reeds, put a marking (tape or some thing) on your drone slides for quick tune, and put your reeds in a pouch with a hand warmer in it. Once you hit the one minute mark for your performance, you slap them in real quick. Scottish tricks, for Scottish pipes.
You said that the pipes don't work well if it is cold , yea right , so all the bagpipes in Scotland sound bad in the cold weather? I don't think so!If you know it is going to be cold or hot you have to make allowances in your setup of pipes for that,that is what pipers do, as one other person said that tune is one of the easiest to play , sorry to say but that guy butchered it, A poor tradesman blames his tools.
You are right! That makes me sad, too, when I hear Amacing Grace played like this!
I also know about the bad sound of my Pipe when the weather is not good, but before I play I tune my pipes and just for one Amacing Grace it normaly works!
Just so you know, it was very cold that day! I was there! I also waited in line for 4 hrs. to see Pres. Ford's casket. A lot of that time was waiting outside. The playing of "Amazing Grace" was a bit off, but it's true that instruments do NOT work well in cold weather!
this guy must be a beginner, I may be wrong and you experts correct me if I'm wrong but a friend of mine who plays bagpipes says that Amazing Grace is one of the first pieces you learn on bagpipes, if this guy can't play that, what can he play?
The reason why it sounded bad was: 1) it was cold. The pipes don't really work well when they are cold. 2) cold weather affects your breathing ability. You breath less than you can on an average 50-60 degree day.
WZZM 13, a local TV station, interviewed him about this and he stated he has played the pipes for years for the Police Department; he knows how to play. The cold weather got the best of him.
Hey hich, back off about Jerry, He was probably one of the greatest president ever to live man. He totally kicked ass when he pardoned richard nixon, and he did it not becuase Nixon was he buddy but also becasue it was in the best interested of the country.
My God,that was jut awful.If I were going to play a gig I would check my reed and pipes several times before and if I was that bad I would just stop.We all have bad days but we should know our limitations too.Bit of everything going on here I think.And we all know to keep ourselves warm until we play anyway.I do feel for the guy though.
I am a bagpiper for the Springfield Melha Highlanders, sometimes due to bad equiptment bagpipes fail, however this guy disgusted or not should have done a lot better job especially at a Presidents funeral despite his own agendas. this is why a lot of people do not like bagpipes because of ill prepared pipers
This guy should never have played for this event. My god.... that was terrible. No amount of cold could cause a bagpipe to sound that horrible. He simply didn't have a clue. I've got no sympathy for this guy at all. This is the kind of piping that gives us all a bad name.
Yeah, leave the piping to a Fire Dept. Band, real smart!
Would it help you to know the piper himself was disgusted? He plays Amazing Grace so beautifully... His practices were all on mark. He was left to stand out in the cold for over an hour, waiting on the casket. Not only was the reed cold, but his fingers were frozen as well. He deserves a lot more for being able to get any sound out of those pipes. Rather than quit, he persevered through a difficult situation! Kudos to the bagpiper!!
Well, that's too bad. He is a talented piper and deserves a bit more respect than "no sympathy", or "I'm disgusted". The fact that he wasn't allowed to go inside the building to get, or stay warm, is the real sad part of this. Yes, he had a clue, it was the stinking organisers that didn't have a clue.
Almost all pipers can play Amazing Grace in their sleep so it's not a question of his abilties to play the tune. I had this happen at my Grandmother's funeral it was too cold and the reed locked up. I'm glad I'm not the only one it happens to.
wow, he really should have stopped after the first time through, his reed is freezing up from the cold, you can hear it geting worse and worse! I feel bad for him, but he should have stopped!
I don't think the problem was with him, I think it was his pipes. It sounds like he knew what he was doing but the pipes reed was not broken in. Shit happens.
Where to begin? Pipes out of tune. Crushed a bunch of stuff. Tons of chokes. Pipes set up horribly. Tune play poorly. Really this piper should have clearly handed the gig off to a qualified piper. The weather wasn't that cold. You can't come up with excuses when there are that many mistakes. This piper that got asked and his ego got in the way of his brain. Don't take the gig if you can't handle it. If you can't handle playing Amazing Grace, you really should only play in private.
A great instructer(Joe Stearne) once asked me,Do you know what you have in common with the best piper in the world?You both suck in cold weather.A mans gotta know his limitations!
I'd also just like to say that every piper knows Amazing Grace almost perfectly, so that wasn't the issue; but when the read isn't sounding, your only focus is getting it to sound at all. The notes were ok, 80% of the time.
Poor guy. I'm a piper myself, and the problem is really just that his reed wasn't broken in. He wasn't the best, but you have to pity the poor guy this is any musician's nightmare
What a pity one of the Marine corps rifle squad didn't put him out of his misery before he totally embarassed himself. I wonder if a defence of "esthetic necessity" would be accepted by the courts in such a case. I notice that the commentator referred to his "beautiful playing". I assume she was reading from a script prepared before the event. The really sad thing is that most members of the public probably thought the pipes were supposed to sound like that.
The same thing happened to me today at a Fire Chief's funeral. A firing squad would have been a welcome sight to put me out of my misery. The only remedy that I can think of for this sort of problem, is to put your back up reed in if the temperature has changed while waiting to play. The Marines should have been instructed to fire back when bagpipes attack!
Oh my good God, with all due respect unless you KNOW that you can play the tune requested at a funeral then don't volunteer or agree to play! A funeral will be the last public occasion I would pipe at, only when I am totally ready for it and have the emotion in the tune that it deserves!
I wonder whether he will be getting rid of his pipes on ebay??
I saw this when it first aired and felt so bad for the guy. His big chance, something he would talk about having done for the rest of his life and...if you'll PARDON the pun,...he blew it. Plus, I wonder what the Fords thought.
I did feel sorry for the family, too. I can just imagine that they were thinking that he should just give it up and let it end in as dignified way as possible.
Why can't the USA get a good Police or Fire Department Pipe Band, Like Toronto, Victoria, Strathclyde, etc.? Even with the chokes of the reed not taken into account, you can still tell the proper embellishments and gracenotes are not being attempted on this basic tune. I don't mean anyone any disrespect, but my God, you are playing for the President's funeral. You need to be prepared for this.
4dbandit 9 months ago
And who is the person kidding about the weather?? Please. Your playing doesn't get magically that bad because of the weather.
naartjie99 1 year ago
@naartjie99 no kidding here! I'm a MacGregor the great highland clan Gregor. No magic, just plain truth. Go play a set of pipes, that have been out side in the cold with no warm up, news flash the chanter has a reed too, so the chanter will mess up aswell.
TheClanMacGregor 1 year ago
@naartjie99 Oh, wait, you must have been talking about that know nothing colleenybean1, sorry about that. No offence intended, and feel free to bash her some more!
TheClanMacGregor 1 year ago
That stupid jerk is an insult to that president and the bagpipes. He sould've declined when offered the job. Useless.
naartjie99 1 year ago
Yes, provided the people in charge allow you to hold anything other than your pipes... which, by the way, was not allowed to happen...... He was to stand in the "ready" until the arrival of the casket and then begin to play..... well, his standing was far longer than even he expected, and in temps. far chillier then Michigan expected..... He played the very best he could, given the situation. To stop playing was NOT an option for him in that moment.... he felt it best to go forward.
colleenybean1 1 year ago 2
@colleenybean1 Two way radios are a great tool, wouldn't you agree? And it only takes one arm to stand ready. At the one minute mark, it only takes a second to slap the reeds in and stand ready. But, what happend, happend.
TheClanMacGregor 1 year ago
@colleenybean1 Over all, when he is the only piper there, he is the pipe major. He is in charge of his pipes. He makes the decisions, based on what he needs to do, to keep his pipes ready. Sometimes you need to color outside the lines, in order to accomplish your mission. I would have played a lament or something just to keep them warm or, do what I stated earlier. But, then again I'm just a Scott, what do I know about Bagpipes?
TheClanMacGregor 1 year ago
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Fuck you
USNAQ3 2 years ago
yeah reeds do get cold, and it makes them sound bad, but if you can tell your reed is going, and you can't feel your finger, you should stop playing after your first time playing it. not repeat it 3 more times.
BXW610 2 years ago
All of us pipers have had our share of performances like this. Sometimes the cold just does that to the reeds. Any reeds sound bad after sitting in the cold without warm breath. Let's hope we have some breakthroughs in plastic chanter reeds soon!
askmrlizard 2 years ago
This is why "air and simple gifts" was prerecorded for Obama's innauguration.
corgizx 3 years ago
lol at the end "and we just heard that beautitul playing of amazing grace"
retardidraydeo 3 years ago
oh god i feel so bad for this guy
bamafighter 3 years ago
i am a army pipe major from glasgow scotland and that was a fucking joke someone should have kicked his fucking arse stupid old cunt no stamana in his breathing what a i could have got a trainee to do better
machargs123 3 years ago
My band director was in the band that played with him and he told us the story. They had to wait upwards of an hour in the cold before they could play one note. If you've never played a wind instrument, you wouldn't know how hard it is to play a cold horn; let alone in front of a giant broadcasted audience.
eliotschreiner 3 years ago
Thank you for trying - the other idiots just don't get it. He played that beautifully in every practice, and he was SOOO disappointed he couldn't pull it off after being out in the cold for so long. He just knew, once he started, he simply could not stop... either way, he wouldn't be liked...
colleenybean1 3 years ago
Yes, It was bad, BUT! there are times you can have everything fine and ready and then they pipe just give up. He might have tuned up and ready then they delayed and delayed. He could have been in the cold for hours after the tune up. I'm sure they picked thier best for this. Plus the fact playing for a presidents funeral would rattle anybody.
fireraine 3 years ago
wow, that was not the cold OMG that was so horrible. He stopped playing completely at 1:30. This is so sad I mean come on. Get a real piper. This is a disgrace!!!! I have been playing for 5 years and I have never heard anything worse. He probably tuned up inside and then went out into the freezing cold changing the reed dramatically. But telling by the way he is breathing he has not stamina
Brizbags 3 years ago
Yes, it was TOTALLY the cold. Below 0 wind chill, and over an hour in the cold waiting on the motorcade..... The gov't officials wouldn't let him wait in the building to maintain the reed..... He plays that song BEAUTIFULLY, every time, because he plays it from the heart...
colleenybean1 3 years ago
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sup ppl! N6
KATMTAM 3 years ago
Some was good.
RLewisH 3 years ago
as a bagpiper that truly was the worst performance ever crter crroll
dwade33360 3 years ago
Okay - you go warm your reed up on your pipes, get them ready, then go stand out in sub-zero temps for over an hour, and then "go"! Because that's the protocol, and tell me whether you'd continue, or just QUIT! Well, he had balls enough to continue to do as he was called to do, even though knowing the performance was screwed from the moment he began to play!
colleenybean1 3 years ago
see this piper gives a bad name to pipers all around the worl. what a terrible piper
hockeyplaya49 3 years ago
Aye great stuff. I am not sure why some pipers don't refer the big gigs to a real piper? Cold weather or not, that is pretty bad, but they did say beautiful playing. lol
hcurtis77 3 years ago 2
They should have had at least 3 pipers backing him up.
Redrum200proof 3 years ago
im just a piper from california iv been playing for 3 years i can pin a grace on my hardies this guy sounds like a dunk arab playing pakistani pipes at a AMERICAN PRESIDENTS funeral????????? that sucks!!!!!!
manofmusicx 3 years ago
Come to Michigan in January and stand out in the cold for over an hour, then we'll see what you and your pipes can do!
colleenybean1 3 years ago
my pipes and me would sound way better than that .....thats what youd see
manofmusicx 3 years ago
Look unless there, nobody knows the conditions and the wind chill. I HAD A BLANKET AND TWO OTHER PEOPLE WITH ME and I was froze! The HUGE flag on the flagpole was straight out for windchill! Anyone who THINKS they know how cold & THINK they know the piper really do NOT. YES he CAN play it like no other. You cannot know how he feels he let the Ford family down in that moment. No piper could do any more in that moment...I doubt what you say....
colleenybean1 3 years ago
ya its a good thing ireland and scotland are super warm countries all year long or else the world pipe band championship in scotland would sound like crap lol michigan is a tropical heat compared to scotland so i wouldnt blame it on the cold or the performance of the reeds ok
manofmusicx 3 years ago
When left in the cold over an hour, unable to maintain the reed and keep the pipes properly "ready" for the task at hand, and with a VERY cold windchill, I wager there's going to be a few that sound like crap....no matter where they are. Thank goodness the BAND championship has plenty of pipers playing at one time the ones that do have issues can't be heard as easily! I defer to your "genius" and let this go... You've never heard him play it before or since, and it's obvious you know it all!
colleenybean1 3 years ago
@colleenybean1 Of course the wind chill affects the reeds, thats why you tune with warm reeds, put a marking (tape or some thing) on your drone slides for quick tune, and put your reeds in a pouch with a hand warmer in it. Once you hit the one minute mark for your performance, you slap them in real quick. Scottish tricks, for Scottish pipes.
TheClanMacGregor 1 year ago
OK , I do feel sorry for this guy, but has anyone asked the piper what happened? Just a thought?
piper60 4 years ago
You are right!!!
That is not a good thing for all of us Pipers!
TheHighlandPiper 4 years ago
Very sweet gesture of the Ford family to give this honor to the Grand Rapids police.
If you can't deliver the goods at a presidential funeral -- leave it to the military!
ancestralyuba 4 years ago
You said that the pipes don't work well if it is cold , yea right , so all the bagpipes in Scotland sound bad in the cold weather? I don't think so!If you know it is going to be cold or hot you have to make allowances in your setup of pipes for that,that is what pipers do, as one other person said that tune is one of the easiest to play , sorry to say but that guy butchered it, A poor tradesman blames his tools.
piper60 4 years ago 2
You are right! That makes me sad, too, when I hear Amacing Grace played like this!
I also know about the bad sound of my Pipe when the weather is not good, but before I play I tune my pipes and just for one Amacing Grace it normaly works!
TheHighlandPiper 4 years ago
Do you know what its simple...don't play at big jobs if your not good enough and ready for it!!!
piper7273 4 years ago 2
Just so you know, it was very cold that day! I was there! I also waited in line for 4 hrs. to see Pres. Ford's casket. A lot of that time was waiting outside. The playing of "Amazing Grace" was a bit off, but it's true that instruments do NOT work well in cold weather!
tjk200081 4 years ago
Apparently you're the idiot for making a stupid assumption that you don't even dare to give supporting answers or facts for.
tinytimton 4 years ago
this guy must be a beginner, I may be wrong and you experts correct me if I'm wrong but a friend of mine who plays bagpipes says that Amazing Grace is one of the first pieces you learn on bagpipes, if this guy can't play that, what can he play?
SUNSNARE06 4 years ago
The reason why it sounded bad was: 1) it was cold. The pipes don't really work well when they are cold. 2) cold weather affects your breathing ability. You breath less than you can on an average 50-60 degree day.
WZZM 13, a local TV station, interviewed him about this and he stated he has played the pipes for years for the Police Department; he knows how to play. The cold weather got the best of him.
tinytimton 4 years ago
Hey hich, back off about Jerry, He was probably one of the greatest president ever to live man. He totally kicked ass when he pardoned richard nixon, and he did it not becuase Nixon was he buddy but also becasue it was in the best interested of the country.
You Rock Jerry and welcome home
Mary4579 4 years ago
Where is the Secret Service when you need them??
kiwipipinghot 4 years ago
fuckin yanks
WarrenandJason 4 years ago
Sympathy. That's all I feel. Terribly.
PLF1977 4 years ago
My God,that was jut awful.If I were going to play a gig I would check my reed and pipes several times before and if I was that bad I would just stop.We all have bad days but we should know our limitations too.Bit of everything going on here I think.And we all know to keep ourselves warm until we play anyway.I do feel for the guy though.
irishpiper1971 5 years ago
I am a bagpiper for the Springfield Melha Highlanders, sometimes due to bad equiptment bagpipes fail, however this guy disgusted or not should have done a lot better job especially at a Presidents funeral despite his own agendas. this is why a lot of people do not like bagpipes because of ill prepared pipers
Dlma8 5 years ago
Terrible, just terrible. How the fuck could you play like that at a presidents funeral...
berlinermann 5 years ago
If I were the bagpiper, I would've just stopped playing
ArtyMac 5 years ago
god bless the ford falmily he was one of the best us president that we had.
ericsoohoo 5 years ago
bad read?
ContagisBlondnes 5 years ago
This guy should never have played for this event. My god.... that was terrible. No amount of cold could cause a bagpipe to sound that horrible. He simply didn't have a clue. I've got no sympathy for this guy at all. This is the kind of piping that gives us all a bad name.
Yeah, leave the piping to a Fire Dept. Band, real smart!
I'm disgusted....
pipesergeant 5 years ago
Would it help you to know the piper himself was disgusted? He plays Amazing Grace so beautifully... His practices were all on mark. He was left to stand out in the cold for over an hour, waiting on the casket. Not only was the reed cold, but his fingers were frozen as well. He deserves a lot more for being able to get any sound out of those pipes. Rather than quit, he persevered through a difficult situation! Kudos to the bagpiper!!
coz1130 5 years ago
Well, that's too bad. He is a talented piper and deserves a bit more respect than "no sympathy", or "I'm disgusted". The fact that he wasn't allowed to go inside the building to get, or stay warm, is the real sad part of this. Yes, he had a clue, it was the stinking organisers that didn't have a clue.
Postie1 5 years ago
Almost all pipers can play Amazing Grace in their sleep so it's not a question of his abilties to play the tune. I had this happen at my Grandmother's funeral it was too cold and the reed locked up. I'm glad I'm not the only one it happens to.
defaoite62 5 years ago
that guy is jsut a fukcing discrace, lol
pickletheskater 5 years ago
wow, he really should have stopped after the first time through, his reed is freezing up from the cold, you can hear it geting worse and worse! I feel bad for him, but he should have stopped!
Adidas5136 5 years ago
That kind of stuff happens, sadly. When the reed won't cooperate it's never pretty. My sympathy goes out to the guy.
bagpiper2005 5 years ago
I don't think the problem was with him, I think it was his pipes. It sounds like he knew what he was doing but the pipes reed was not broken in. Shit happens.
2kwolfgang 5 years ago
Where to begin? Pipes out of tune. Crushed a bunch of stuff. Tons of chokes. Pipes set up horribly. Tune play poorly. Really this piper should have clearly handed the gig off to a qualified piper. The weather wasn't that cold. You can't come up with excuses when there are that many mistakes. This piper that got asked and his ego got in the way of his brain. Don't take the gig if you can't handle it. If you can't handle playing Amazing Grace, you really should only play in private.
hcurtis77 5 years ago
A great instructer(Joe Stearne) once asked me,Do you know what you have in common with the best piper in the world?You both suck in cold weather.A mans gotta know his limitations!
caitln165 5 years ago
Not nearly as bad sounding as some of the other videos I have seen/heard. Still pretty poor... "beautiful playing" the announcer said... hahahahaha!
fprintf 5 years ago
I'd also just like to say that every piper knows Amazing Grace almost perfectly, so that wasn't the issue; but when the read isn't sounding, your only focus is getting it to sound at all. The notes were ok, 80% of the time.
orlia1234 5 years ago
Poor guy. I'm a piper myself, and the problem is really just that his reed wasn't broken in. He wasn't the best, but you have to pity the poor guy this is any musician's nightmare
orlia1234 5 years ago
I was there listening to this guy play, I assumed his bagpipe was acting up on him from the cool weather?
kazman442 5 years ago
Kill the bagpiper!
italiantarma 5 years ago
What a disgrace to police bagpipers. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE
cop2133 5 years ago
That was ear delicious.
BillMcE 5 years ago
That was awesome. I am making a CD of it to play in my car while I cruise for honeys.
DoctorMacenstein 5 years ago
Try to play the guitar...
Robbertje 5 years ago
What a pity one of the Marine corps rifle squad didn't put him out of his misery before he totally embarassed himself. I wonder if a defence of "esthetic necessity" would be accepted by the courts in such a case. I notice that the commentator referred to his "beautiful playing". I assume she was reading from a script prepared before the event. The really sad thing is that most members of the public probably thought the pipes were supposed to sound like that.
imrichmond 5 years ago
The same thing happened to me today at a Fire Chief's funeral. A firing squad would have been a welcome sight to put me out of my misery. The only remedy that I can think of for this sort of problem, is to put your back up reed in if the temperature has changed while waiting to play. The Marines should have been instructed to fire back when bagpipes attack!
terriertooth 5 years ago
Poor guy...I'm sure he felt terrible. Why didn't they get one of the military bagpipers to play it???
LingLing52593 5 years ago
Oh my good God, with all due respect unless you KNOW that you can play the tune requested at a funeral then don't volunteer or agree to play! A funeral will be the last public occasion I would pipe at, only when I am totally ready for it and have the emotion in the tune that it deserves!
I wonder whether he will be getting rid of his pipes on ebay??
pipingmonkey 5 years ago
I saw this when it first aired and felt so bad for the guy. His big chance, something he would talk about having done for the rest of his life and...if you'll PARDON the pun,...he blew it. Plus, I wonder what the Fords thought.
sweatsox101 5 years ago
I did feel sorry for the family, too. I can just imagine that they were thinking that he should just give it up and let it end in as dignified way as possible.
chartsfo 5 years ago
Occasion too big for him perhaps
RichardFairnie 5 years ago