To March or Not to March

This is my first summer of marching in parades with my bagpipe band. We only do 1-2 parades a month plus a few other performances throughout the summer.

I've never played an instrument that required me to march before, and guess what, I can't really march. If the tune is a 4/4 it's obviously a lot easier, but even then I often have to do a bit of a hop and a skip to get back into step.

This is all compounded by the fact that I also have to focus on blowing and remembering memorized tunes. Plus I have to make sure I'm not going to run into the rank in front of me, that there's enough space between me and the guys on either side of me, ignore the shouts of "What's under the kilt!" from parade watchers, and dodge the occasional horse nugget or child making a mad dash into the street for candy.

I will confess that I have been cheating a bit on this by putting corks into my 3 drones, avoiding the additional challenge of marching and striking in.

I have a parade this weekend and a lot of guys in the band can't come so I think I'll have to go sans corks.

Wish me luck and pipe on!