What is Bagpipe Freedom? The 5 Phases Explained

Sadly, very few pipers are free to transcend their current level of piping because they are trapped by certain bad habits that make it impossible to progress. But what exactly are these bad habits? Do you have one or more of these habits? If so, how do you course-correct to get back on track to achieve your piping dreams? 

At the Dojo, we teach that there are 5 "freedom phases" every piper must take in order to attain “bagpipe freedom.” If you’re a beginner, you’re fortunate because you’ll learn these steps the right way from the get-go. If you’ve already been playing for a while, you'll need to "go back" (or is it actually going forward?) and prove (to yourself most of all) that have these steps covered before we can expect to push forward with our bagpiping goals. 

The Five Freedom Phases are:

1. Rhythmic Control
   Display great rhythmic precision by clapping the rhythm of an unfamiliar piece of music. We use our ever-changing tune of the week for this.
2. Melodic Control
   Add in great scale navigation and gracenote quality by playing simplified versions unfamiliar material. We use our ever-changing tune of the week for this.
3. Basic Instrument Control.
   Display great bagpipe posture, excellent physical blowing mechanics, and good drone tuning by playing two drones with a manometer for 30-60 seconds.
4. Melodic Control on the Full Instrument
   Put all of the fundamentals we've learned so far together, by attempting the simplified version of the (unfamiliar) tune of the week on the pipes. We'll also learn to tune our drones to the chanter, identify and maintain the sweet spot, and eliminate "mental blowing anomalies." (Don't worry, it'll all make sense when you get there).
5. Embellishment Control
   Add accurate and even embellishment steps and some basic expression to the mix by playing the (unfamiliar) tune of the week on full pipes.