We're in Scotland! How to play the bagpipes? Piper Ben Mortimer explains the Bagpipes to me on my trip to Scotland. Once I have his secret I give playing try. Wait for it! We are at the ruins of the beautiful Elgin Cathedral in Scotland where Ben plays us "The Highland Cathedral". Ben and I met via social media and he was so nice enough to come play for us as we filmed the opening of "Pat Pattison's Best of California". Watch for the full episode about me finding my family roots in Scotland. We had incredible help from the Elgin Library .
For more information or to hire Ben look him up on Facebook @Miltoduff Piper
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Hi, welcome to the Best of California.
It goes to the best of Scotland.
I'm your host, Pat Patterson.
I'm listening to Ben Mortimer play the Highland Cathedral.
And we're in front of the Highland Cathedral
in Elgin, Scotland.
So I'm here with Ben Mortimer,
and it's Milton Duff Piper.
Yes, I am.
And we'll show you his information.
You were so nice to do this.
And so what do you normally pipe for?
What's a normal occasion?
Normal occasion for me would be a wedding
or a function for solo gigs.
And also I play with the Queen's Own Highlanders Association
pipes and drums up in Inverness.
Oh, wow, that's great.
And there's a funny story that your aunt and I
connected on Facebook, Elizabeth Lovey.
Thank you, Elizabeth.
This was incredible.
And she connected us.
What are the odds that somebody on Facebook
would live in my grandfather's hometown?
I'd say, pretty crazy.
Yeah, a million to one.
Pretty crazy.
And how long have you been here in Elgin?
I was born and raised in Milton Duff,
just outside of Elgin,
but moved into Elgin about four or five years ago.
Okay, okay.
And you have exciting news.
Are you going to play at your own wedding?
No.
Well, I don't know.
It depends how many beers I've had.
Oh, that's great.
But you're engaged.
Yes, I am.
My uncle and my nephew will be playing at our wedding.
Say hello to your fiancee.
All right, Claire.
So, and you were nice enough to come over.
Tell me a little bit about the song you played us.
Well, the first one I played for you was Highland Cathedral.
It's definitely a family favorite.
Usually it's the most requested tune from a paper
that everybody asks.
And then the second tune was a jig called The Duck.
And that's one of my favorite tunes to play as well.
So how long does it take to learn to play the pipes?
Depending.
Depending how much effort you put in.
With me, I started off on the practice chanter
and that took me about a year.
And then I was on the pipes
and I've been playing the pipes now for 19 years.
Wow, that's incredible.
And it's such a pretty sound.
What's the origin of bagpipes?
Well, the origin, no,
it comes from many, many years ago
with clans playing pipes, even going into battle as well.
That's what I understand.
I mean, the pipers would lead the troops, right?
Yeah, absolutely.
They were the bravest of the lot.
Yep, yep.
The enemy would hear the pipes
and what we say, that we got a right flag.
Supposedly my grandfather played the pipes.
I believe he did.
So show me what to do here.
So this arm, go underneath the drones here.
Oh, the drones.
Yeah, back in noise.
Right.
Blow stick is in the mouth.
So you'll have to give it a good bite.
Okay, right.
And I just hang on like this?
Yeah, just for just a minute.
And I can blow?
The bag will fill up
and it'll be easier to hold on to the chanter.
Keep it going, there you go.
There you go.
That's it, now go right under your arm.
Keep it going.
It's going to end up passing out soon.
And then I do.
Oh my gosh.
Not as easy as it looks.
Oh my gosh.
When does the music start?
Where, there was no music.
Oh, oh my gosh.
We need a wee drum now.
So there we go.
That's me.
I come by it naturally.
The whole Scottish thing.
It's just in my DNA.
As you can see, he said it was hard to play.
I just didn't feel that hard.
Here we go.
So Ben Mortimer, thank you.
The name of your company again?
Milton Duff Piper.
So in Scotland, check out.
And do you have YouTube or media?
No, not YouTube, but just Facebook.
Facebook, Milton Duff Piper.
There we go, we'll show it.
Thanks again.
No problem at all.
Thank you.
