What do you think?

Your feedback is so essential to the design and implementation of new programs. In addition, feedback from you will assist all pipers. The constant sharing of new and old ideas, ways of teaching and the different levels of understanding will make us all better players. So please share your thoughts.

Hello Ken,

 

It was such a pleasure to meet you at the instructor's recital at St. Andrew's last week. Colleen is spending another week at the school and enjoying it! We spent last weekend with her and she couldn't stop talking about how much she enjoyed your classes. She showed us the words of encouragement you wrote on some sheet music and I can tell you have done wonders for her confidence.

 

The weekly phone sessions with Sue Gagnon have been great but nothing beats a personal lesson from time to time. She wants to go back to the school next year and has her fingers crossed for getting you as an instructor again. And, she 'gets' pulsing now, something that she found hard to grasp when first coming across it on your site. Learning tunes, she said, will be much easier now. (We heard about everything last weekend)!

So, as parents we thank you for everything you have done for her. If all she walks away with is more confidence and a renewed sense of enthusiasm, it was money well spent. However, we know she has come away with a lot more. If only you lived near Timmins!

 

Cheers,

 

Liz and Bruce Cowan

 

 Happy Wednesday!
 
Imagine my pleasant surprise to see my name in your blog!  I hadn't checked
it in a couple of days, life just gets in the way sometimes, so I was doing a
bit of catch-up reading before getting dressed for work this morning.
 
I am absolutely thrilled with your new classroom!  And I have to admit, a
bit pleased that I was your "inspiration"!  ;-)  I have worked through the
exercises a time or two, and plan to do more as the week goes on.  Do you
remember our first session at Shreveport?  I thought "G-grace on the scale?
Of course I can do that!  I've been doing it for months!".  So what a
terrible realization it was to learn I couldn't do it with the metronome!  I
was appalled!!  So now I never assume I can do anything.  I still struggle
with the metronome, we are not friends.  But I am determined we will be...
some relationships just take more work than others!
 
Thank you so much for creating the new room, I know you've helped so many
others by helping me.  I already can't wait til next lesson!!
 
katie

 Hi Ken,

Glad to give you some feed back. Your combination of pdf's and mp3's are working well for me.
If you are looking for a specific issue, I could use some help in breaking down reels. I have changed .... to John Cairns by conference telephone.  He is helping me on timing specifically to 2/4's and 6/8's and we just started on Piobaireachd. However, the reel is coming slow, and if you have any thoughts on attacking reels that would be quite helpful.

Thanks,  Keep up the great site, I find it very helpful and have recommended it to several others.

By the way, will you be back up in Aurora this summer.

Sheldon Hamblin

Hi, Captain!

It's me, Katie.... your most favorite student from the RRPD workshop!  :-)

I cannot begin to tell you how much you did for me last weekend.  Tommy was
right, I was scared when I got there.  I am fairly shy and have zero
confidence, especially when it comes to piping.  But he had assured me when
I first met him on Friday night that you were a good friend of his and I
would be well taken care of.  Little did I know that by saying I would be
"taken care of", that he meant "become class guinea pig" !!  hahaahaaa  But
you knew best, your gentle disposition and easy-to-understand teaching
methods calmed my fears and soothed my shaky nerves.  Even when I couldn't
play a stinkin' G-grace on the scale with the metronome!  How embarrassing
was that?!  But I quickly learned that I was not totally alone.

You will be glad to know that my little metronome and I have been working
together daily this week.  We still don't like each other very much, but I
am determined to make this relationship work! ;-)

I've only just visited your website today, and can't wait to explore it
further.  I see there is a fee for access to the whole site, I think I may
do that.  If the rest of your site is as valuable as the one article you
gave us in class, it will be well worth it!!  I also see that you do lessons
by phone.  I'm not sure I'm ready for that quite yet.... would you recommend
that sort of thing to a rank beginner like me?  I would still like to have
information on that, even if I can't do it right now.  Would you mind
sending me your rate information?

Thank you so much for making my first workshop experience such an
educational and unforgettable one.  I already can't wait for next year....
ooh, do you think you could move up to the D Class so you can still be my
primary teacher??  If not, I may have to repeat E again!

Katie

From Bruce "Wrangler" McQueen:

Captain, The lesson was great.  I think it will keep me on track in my remote portion of the world.  Monday, Feb 27 at 3pm my time will work well….I penciled it in but we can change if your schedule requires.  That gives me a good target for Mrs MacD and George C PC review, and the MSR.  I’ll take a look at the new 6/8 tonight.  I’ve been trying to sight my way through music books from time to time to improve sight reading skills, so if it gets rainy again I will try to look for something too.

From Dave Pijan:

Thanks a million for the Strathspey lesson ... a really great practice tool  and no problems at all with your website.

From Scott MacLean, a new subscriber:

I've applied what you wanted me to do by decreasing the distance I lift my fingers on grace notes and particularly the G grace note. Found that I can keep time better as you said it would and I also like the way it blends in with the music on the pipes.

 Ken ,

It was great to see you at Winter Storm, excellent job of emceeing the competitions and concert, and I have to say it was great to see someone who has been around piping a long time still get excited by a great performance. When Stuart was playing there at the end, you had this huge smile on your face and were the first person out of their seat to give him applause.

Kevin Arnold, Omaha, Nebraska

Good Morning, Captain!

We're all a bit bleary this morning (Diana says you're a bad influence!).
As always, we enjoyed your company immensely.  Thanks for helping Carraig
with his G gracenote technique - the idea of using the G finger to lift or
lower the theme note is brilliant.

Dr. Michael New, DVM, Juneau, Alaska

Hi Ken , Thanks so much for the passwords into your site what a useful tool. I'm using it to learn the new hornpipe. Its like sitting down at a chanter lesson with you. If its not to much trouble could I ask you to send (at your leisure I know your busy) an mp3 file of you playing Ewe with the Crooked Horn like you did for the Blackberry Bush?  It doesn't have to be more than one time through at maybe 80 bpm so I can clearly hear the rhythms. After working with the hornpipe I'm amazed at how useful this system is in learning a tune. Thanks again for everything.

Dave Pijan, Juneau, Alaska

 Randy Dear, from Austin, Texas writes:

 Ken,

I love your website, on my days off I spend hours reading and playing the
chanter. As I told you at Winter Storm, we .... rushed to learn
quickly . The downside to that is I never got to "learn" about pipe music, building tunes,
arpeggios and most of importance of the chanter work. I would love to learn all
these things you speak of, please show me how. Keep up the great teaching.

The Sponge,
Randy

..........I realized what was bugging me ...... the problem is your voice tone. The Ken Eller I know doesn't express himself that seriously. I always hear you expressing yourself with a smile in your voice and with passion. This is the only thing I can suggest that you to improve.
 
And this shall be attended to immediately....Voice lessons for the Captain !

The following is an email I received recently as we strive to perfect our system on line. It came from Roberta, one of the early subscribers, who has diligently responded to the early downloading concerns that exist with all websites. Thank you Roberta for all your efforts:

The following comments were received recently from Jim Clough, Pipe Major of the Mohawk Valley Frasers of Rome, New York. This fine organization consists of three competitive bands in Grades 5,4,and 3. I had the pleasure of doing a weekend workshop with them in March of this year. Here is what Jim had to say a week after my visit.

Ken,

Sometimes the simplest ideas turn out to be so very powerful. 

I've got to tell you how what a powerful teaching tool I am finding your explanation of doublings as being a G gracenote (coinciding with the beat) on the theme note and then thinking of the theme note as running through the note's duration --  with the doubling's second active gracenote being merely superimposed over the theme and momentarily masking the theme.  The idea is universally applicable;  it works for every doubling and is helpful for veterans as well as beginners, fast fingers as well as slow.  It prevents pipers with slow doublings starting the doubling early to "allow room for their slow fingers,"  and when combined with the idea that G is our "power" gracenote, it allows band pipers to feel comfortable just making a G rather than the whole doubling:  like a drummer with his "unison chips" a "G-only" piper can take pride in the idea that he's adding to the "power"  (and the band is a lot better off than if he were making big clumsy doublings).  For solo players, too, 

the idea is invaluable:  I've found it useful in getting Nick Lundberg to open and strengthen the G of his doublings.  

Also liked your reminder to the Grade 5 that it's the lightness of your right thumb (which doesn't even have a hole to cover) that frees up your fingers on the other side of the chanter.

Thanks for a great job.

Jim

Now isn't this a great bit of knowledge that is being shared with all of us.

Write me with your feedback...it is eagerly sought.

The Captain

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