The Piper’s DoJo

12 Week Training Program

The Piper’s DoJo 12 Week Program is meant to give you a plan for competitive success. At the DoJo, we are of the belief that focused, consistent practice will produce great results! If your goals are something other than competition (perhaps a performance or a band goal), this program is also ideal for you.

Here is your training calendar. Details and key below.

	Day 1 ________	Day 2________	Day 3________	Day 4______	Day 5________	Day 6________	Day 7_____
Week 1	45 min Singing/Playing	30 Min XTrain	45 min Singing/Playing	30 Min XTrain	60 min Singing/Playing	Full Cycle (with music)	Rest.
Week 2	45 min Singing/Playing	30 Min XTrain	45 min Singing/Playing	30 Min XTrain	60 min Singing/Playing	Full Cycle (less music)	Rest.
Week 3	Sing/Play: 30 Min Unmemorized 15 Min Memorized.	45 Min XTrain	Sing/Play: (same as Day 1)	45 Min XTrain	Sing/Play 40min Unmemorized 20min Memorized	Full Cycle (no music)	Rest.
Week 4	Sing/Play: 30 Min Unmemorized 15 Min Memorized.	45 Min XTrain	Full Cycle (no music)	Sing/Play: (Same as Day1)	Full Cycle (no music from here on out.)	SIMULATION	Rest.
Week 5	45 Min XTrain	60 Min Xtrain	Full Cycle	45 Min XTrain	60 Min Xtrain	Full Cycle	Rest.
Week 6	45 Min XTrain	60 Min Xtrain	Full Cycle	45 Min XTrain	60 Min Xtrain	Full Cycle	Rest.
Week 7	45 Min XTrain	60 Min Xtrain	Full Cycle	45 Min XTrain	60 Min Xtrain	Full Cycle	Rest.
Week 8	45 Min XTrain	Full Cycle	45 Min XTrain	Full Cycle	20 Min XTrain + Half Cycle	SIMULATION	Rest.
Week 9	45 Min XTrain	60 Min Xtrain	Full Cycle	45 Min XTrain	60 Min Xtrain	Full Cycle	Rest.
Week 10	45 Min XTrain	Full Cycle	45 Min XTrain	Full Cycle	20 Min XTrain + Half Cycle	SIMULATION	Rest.
Week 11	Full Cycle	45 Min XTrain	Full Cycle	45 Min XTrain	Full Cycle	SIMULATION	Rest.
Week 12	Full Cycle	Full Cycle	Full Cycle	Full Cycle	Half Cycle	COMPETITION!	CELEBRATE!

Table Key:

·  Singing/Playing

o   Spend this time Singing and Playing (even some listening would be great!) through your music. Get to know how the music goes. Identify passages that don’t make sense to you, or passages that are technically demanding. Don’t worry about getting them to sound perfect yet. These Singing/Playing sessions are strictly to help you develop UNDERSTANDING of your music.

·  “XTrain,” or Cross-training

o   These sessions are used to develop your fundamental technique. We call it “cross-training” because work on fundamentals will positively contribute to ALL of your piping. Examples of things you may work on during XTrain sessions: Doublings and Execution, Bagpipe Tuning, Posture, Steady Blowing, Expression concepts, etc.

o   Use our “Practice Sheet” at pipersdojo.com to help you lay out your XTrain sessions!

·  Cycles – Full and Half, with and without music

o   Cycles are sessions where you run-through (or cycle through) all of your music, on the pipes.

o   Full Sessions should cover all of your repertoire.

·  Get warmed up with some problem-bits your repertoire

·  Once warmed up, play the rest of your repertoire start to finish.

§  “With Music” means you should play with the music in front of you (use a music stand!)

§  “Less Music” means you should play with just the music you don’t have memorized yet.

§  “No Music” means you should play with no music (ie, it should be memorized, or as close to memorized as possible!)

o   Half-Sessions should cover roughly half of your repertoire.

§  Suggestion – when it’s time for a half-session, don’t play your strongest material, play your weakest!

·  Simulations

o   These sessions should be used to simulate the competition environment.

§  Set times when you are going to need to play

§  Simulate a “draw” if necessary

§  Simulate a judge/audience

·  Get a coach or peer, or use a tape recorder.

§  Possibly, wear your uniform, or parts of your uniform.

·  Rest:

o   Take a day off!!!

Week Summaries:

 

·  Week 1

o   This week is going to be spent getting familiar with your repertoire. We’re going to spend a lot of time just singing/playing through the music, and a lot of time building some fundamentals to play this music successfully

·  Week 2

o   Some more in-depth familiarization with your repertoire. By the end of the week, some of your music should be memorized!

·  Week 3

o   More familiarization. By the end of the week, you should be able to do your first full cycle, with no sheet music

·  Week 4

o   This week, we’ll tidy up any last memorization spots, while we continue to work on our fundamentals. The end of the week is a preliminary Competition Simulation.

·  Weeks 5 – 8

o   In the next month, we get into a routine heavily focused on fundamentals development. Now that we know our music, we’re going to ATTACK all of the weaknesses in our fundamentals that are hindering us. At the end of week 8, we’ll have a second competition simulation.

·  Week 9

o   This week is your last week of heavy-duty fundamental development. Use this week as one last push to really hammer your biggest fundamental weaknesses.

·  Week 10

o   This week focuses heavily on repetition, with some space for further technique development. Lots of Full Cycles, and the week finishes with a Simulation.

·  Week 11

o   This week is largely Full Cycles. This will be your LAST CHANCE to work on any fundamentals.

·  Week 12

o   This week, we’re just going to cruise. All Cycles this week. Focus on playing great music. Don’t dwell on imperfections.

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