Bagpipe craft, argued until useful.
Piper's Dojo Audio Experience turns bagpipe craft into lively, practical teaching sessions. Recent episodes move from reed behavior and chanter materials to rhythm, posture, beginner bands, and the mental side of competing.
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Piper's Dojo Audio Experience is a bagpiping education show shaped like a fast, talkative practice room. It works through real player questions about setup, sound, technique, and performance, then turns each answer into something a piper can test the next time the instrument comes out of the case. The show is especially strong on reeds. Recent episodes push back on the habit of blaming the reed first, asking instead about humidity, storage, playing time, weather, handling, and the small routines that make a pipe stable or unstable. That practical streak runs through the rest of the show too. Poly chanters versus Blackwood, cane versus synthetic reeds, reed shaving, chanter reed strength, and drone reed replacement all get treated as choices with tradeoffs, not magic fixes. The teaching style is conversational and quick. A question gets answered, challenged, restated, and widened until the principle is clearer than the gear recommendation. Rhythm receives the same treatment. Beat, tempo, frequency, groove, and the nature of musical time become tools for better playing rather than abstract theory. Performance is never reduced to memorization. The repeated argument is that knowing the tunes is not enough, because musicianship, nerves, decision-making, and preparation all show up when a player stands in front of a judge or an audience. The show also cares about teaching culture. Discussions of Grade 5 bands and beginner programs frame leadership as patient development: choose appropriate reed strength, nurture progress, and avoid forcing players into a tone standard they cannot yet support. It can be funny. Coffee mistakes, hockey, chess, skateboarding, and stray banter keep the room loose. Then the conversation snaps back to the point. The result is a specialist show for people who take piping seriously but do not want sterile instruction. It is about better sound, better habits, and better musical judgment.
Made for: Best for bagpipers, pipe band players, instructors, and competition-minded musicians who want practical answers about sound, setup, rhythm, and preparation. It also suits serious learners who like technical detail delivered through conversation.
What sets it apart: The show turns bagpiping problems into behavioral diagnostics: what changed, what can be tested, and what habit needs fixing. Its workshop rhythm makes specialized piping technique feel teachable without sanding off the personality.
The Dojo engages thousands of bagpipers around the globe, by harnessing the power of the internet to help connect those in the world who share a specific passion; enriching one's life through bagpipes.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Detailed piping conversations connect instrument care, practice habits and competition choices to the larger work of becoming a better musician.
Piper's Dojo Audio Experience treats bagpiping as a musical practice shaped by small, consequential decisions. Andrew Douglas and his conversation partners move between open discussion and question-led sessions, examining how reeds, instrument setup, posture and practice…
A bagpipe problem enters the Dojo; your setup is usually the prime suspect.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A practical bagpipe setup discussion that turns reed frustration into a lesson on humidity, routine, and musicianship.
The episode starts with bagpipe setup as a matter of habit, then lets that idea open into a broader point about musicianship. A question about modern poly chanters and Blackwood moves through bands leaning toward plastic, the Shepard Mark II, and the tricky reality that tone…
A grounded reed discussion about fit, patience, and the cost of over-adjusting.
Andrew Douglas and Jim treat reed shaving as a practical problem rather than a neat trick: when a reed is flattened, pinched, or shaved into shape, how long does that fix actually last?
A grounded Q&A on posture, performance choices, and drone-reed upkeep.
Bag size starts as the practical question, but the episode is really about setup, judgment, and the choices a player still owns. Posture gets the clearest priority, even when a larger bag seems tempting because it might mean less blowing and squeezing.
A thoughtful reminder that beginner bands need the right growing conditions before they can be asked for a finished sound.
Beginner bands are treated here as the first living layer of a musical ecosystem, where the point is not instant polish but the conditions that let players grow.
A coffee mistake leads into a flexible off-season planning framework for a stronger piping season.
A botched pour-over becomes a useful way into off-season planning, turning missed blooms, sloppy pours, and an unset timer into a practical reminder for pipers and competition drummers.
Solo competition feels more sustainable when preparation protects the pleasure of playing the tune.
Solo competition sits at the center of this episode, framed less as a proving ground than as a ritual that can either sharpen playing or drain the joy from it.
Peter Boghossian applies street epistemology to guests debating free speech, immigration, and belief.
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Andrew Douglas and Jim discuss the 'Next Level Blueprint,' a six-month course designed to help bagpipers prepare for competition season.
Andrew Douglas and Jim discuss the psychological and practical aspects of solo bagpipe competing.
A conversation exploring the confusion between subjective and objective feedback, using everyday examples to discuss how perception shapes our understanding of reality.
Piper's Dojo episode 527 gives bagpipers practical advice on chanter tape, hide bags, reeds, and finding gigs.
Piper's Dojo Audio Experience 503, Stop Blaming the Reed: Fix Your Setup Instead, answers listener questions about poly chanters, foot tapping, reeds, beginner teaching, and flying with bagpipes.
Andrew Douglas and Jim spend Piper's Dojo Audio Experience episode 502 on one question: when do reed tweaks help, and when do they just create a data problem?
Andrew answers Dojo U questions about solo playing, tenor and cane drone reeds, practice spaces, pitch, pipe bands, and instruction.
Andrew and Jim discuss performance nerves and the mantra 'knowing the tunes is not enough,' then digress into hockey and the Utah Hockey Club.
A bagpipe instructor answers a question about using old cane reeds versus buying new ones, recommending ordering a batch of tenors and bases for best results.
Two pipers discuss the fundamentals of rhythm, tempo, and groove in music, aiming to clarify these concepts for struggling pipers.
Posture is "the most important by a factor of a thousand" when choosing bag size.
Andrew says a beginner or grade 5 band should use "the correct strength" reed so players can develop steady blowing and avoid mental blowing anomalies.
Jim and the host discuss using the off-season to plan and level up bagpiping skills over six months.
Andrew and special guest Micah Babinski discuss his new pipe music collection, the Green Monster Collection, and his background in competitive piping.
Carl Donley discusses his behind-the-scenes role in the Dojo, from technical maintenance to teaching, and how the dynamic has evolved over time.