Gerald Ford Memorial - Bagpiper

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!

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!

my pipes and me would sound way better than that .....thats what youd see

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!

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!

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...

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...