Bagpipes

[Grampa Don]

My wife has been going through our old collection of records. Yes, we still have a record player. I had to replace its old rotten belt though, $5 on E-bay. She came across one called the Royal Caledonian Pipe Band, a mass of pipers. My hearing has deteriorated badly, and to me it sounds like a lot of screeching. But, it brought back a nice memory.

I was in a college math class on the second floor of an old two story building. The windows were open because there was no air conditioning. Off in the distance, I could hear a bagpipe. It got louder and louder. The class came to a stop and we all went to the windows. A lone piper, I believe he even wore a kilt, was walking through the campus playing, and he passed right beneath us. It was beautiful. The sound was haunting.

I never learned who the guy was or why he did it, but nobody complained, even the instructor. In my opinion, bagpipes sound best one at a time.

Don

 

[Keesha]

I happen to love the bagpipes. Every summer near where my parents live they have a marching band of bag pipers and they sound amazing. They are a happy bunch too. There’s something enchanting about bagpipes.

 

[Grampa Don]

My sons have some Scottish heritage from my wife's side. She gave my oldest son his middle name of Scot, and I think he feels a bit Scottish. He bought a bagpipe once, but it was a cheap Chinese copy that he could never get to sound right. Every year he attends a local Scottish festival and eats haggis.

Don

 

[hollydolly]

I'm 100 % Scottish born and Bred and I cannot stand the sound of the bagpipes, having heard them all of my life since a child...

However the Queen apparently loves them, and her alarm clock is a lone piper who plays under her window every morning at 9 am when she's at Balmoral Castle .
Every weekday since she came to the throne in 1952, the Queen has started her day to the sound of a lone piper playing beneath her bedroom window.

Members of the Royal Household can practically set their watches by the pipes, which start at precisely 9am and last for exactly 15 minutes.

 

[gennie]

I'm 100 % Scottish born and Bred and I cannot stand the sound of the bagpipes, having heard them all of my life since a child...

However the Queen apparently loves them, and her alarm clock is a lone piper who plays under her window every morning at 9 am when she's at Balmoral Castle .
Every weekday since she came to the throne in 1952, the Queen has started her day to the sound of a lone piper playing beneath her bedroom window.

Members of the Royal Household can practically set their watches by the pipes, which start at precisely 9am and last for exactly 15 minutes.

Amazing the privileges that come with the crown.

 

[AnnieA]

I'm 100 % Scottish born and Bred and I cannot stand the sound of the bagpipes, having heard them all of my life since a child...

However the Queen apparently loves them, and her alarm clock is a lone piper who plays under her window every morning at 9 am when she's at Balmoral Castle .
Every weekday since she came to the throne in 1952, the Queen has started her day to the sound of a lone piper playing beneath her bedroom window.

Members of the Royal Household can practically set their watches by the pipes, which start at precisely 9am and last for exactly 15 minutes.

Omgosh. On first reading, I thought you meant she had an alarm clock that sounded like a bagpipe, but then realized it's an actual person!

 

[Lc jones]

I love the tradition that is associated with the bagpipes but I’ve never really liked the sound of them, to me they sound like screeching as well. I do associate them with William Wallace so that is a big positive.

 

[RadishRose]

I love the bagpipes myself. Like the Queen tho', 15 minutes is enough.

 

[hollydolly]

I love the bagpipes myself. Like the Queen tho', 15 minutes is enough.

15 seconds and I'm screeching....

 

[Pecos]

I especially like the sound of bagpipes when it is associated with "parading the beef" at formal military "dining in" and "dining out (with spouses)" ceremonies because I am seriously hungry by the time the evening gets to that point.

 

[treeguy64]

OK, the following is a repost of something I put up in another thread concerning bagpipes. I apologize if everyone on this thread has already read the following. If not, enjoy!

This certainly calls for an appropriate bagpiper tale :

This bagpiper was called on to play for an indigent veteran who died with no known relatives. He took the gig, and proceeded to drive to the burial location on the appointed day. He got lost, but persevered. Finally, a clearing appeared, with an obvious excavation. Since he was late, everyone was gone, except for the digging crew. He walked up to the gravesite and began to play. He mourned this old soldier who died so alone. He played as a man possessed. As he played, he wept, and the digging crew gathered around him. They, too, wept. When he was done, he began packing up, and then headed to his car. One of the crew members approached him, tears still in his eyes. "I have to tell you, man, I have been in this business for twenty years, now, and never before in my life, have I ever experienced such a beautiful service for the completion of a septic tank installation!" On the way home, the bagpiper stopped to pick up a map!

 

[Grampa Don]

Bagpipes have kind of become a cliche at public funerals like when a police officer has been killed, usually playing amazing grace. Why that is, I can't figure out. For mine, I'd rather have a nice reel played on a tin whistle.

Don