These are my first set of pipes, they were a historical set from the regiment that my first pipe band was from. They were at the Battle of the Somme, a very famous battle in WW 1 for us Canadians.
The silver and ivory are real on these pipes, so moving them from place to place across borders is a huge PITA, due to customs loving elephants or something or other...
Anyone interested in learning to play, I'd say just buy a practice chanter and follow some of the free uTube videos for learning the basics, or contact one of your local bands and see if you can arrange some beginners lessons to see if you like playing the pipes, and if the pipes like you playing them.
I originally started playing in a large drill band, and we toured the world, the Soviet Union, South America, Europe, Worlds Fair Expo's 86, 88 (Australia), and 92 (Spain) as Canada's guest performing band. We also had a lot of good solo pipers, I competed in Grade 2 mainly, and won a lot of medals when I was a kid from age 12-17, but a lot of my compatriots won world titles in Grade 1 (the highest level of competition), and many of us went on to play with Simon Fraser University Pipe Band, which has won the World Pipe Band competition a number of times in Scotland now. My local band, Alberta Caledonia has competed numerous times at the world's and other highest level events, and while it doesn't have Simon Fraser's record, it has
Panache.
The technology now is incredible compared to when I started playing in 1985, pipes manufactured with very advanced techniques and materials that sound as good or better than the best set of "old" Henderson pipes, yet at a fraction of the cost (mine are insured for 15 thousand dollars). The reeds are now plastic/synthetic instead of cane which always broke and was susceptible to all kinds of weather/temperature issues. Also, there are electronic practice chanters made by numerous companies that make the learning and practicing process MUCH faster, easier, and more accurate.
To the OP, what set of pipes are you running now, and do you play with a band at all?
Also to answer the OP's question, I'd have to say playing in a mass Pipes and Drums corps of thousands is a feeling of ancient power that you can't put into words. In 1988 our band ended up leading the July 4th parade in Waikiki in Hawaii, and that was a close second, as the response we got from our American allies and the civilians lining the route was an absolutely crazy mix of adrenaline and pride.
