p|d exclusive: New Bruce Gandy book coaches readers to better success

Now in his fifth decade as a competitor and performer on the world’s greatest piping stages, Bruce Gandy has learned how to increase the chances of playing to his magnificent musical and technical potential.

And now he is sharing his knowledge with Performance: Delivering Your Own Awesome, a new 144-page book published by Friesen Press and available in both digital and paper formats from dealers and his own Bruce Gandy Music, priced at $28.

The book comes from his many years of teaching as a full-time professional piper. As much as helping students with the technical and musical aspects of the art, Gandy has held sessions and entire workshops on his techniques to convert nerves, distractions, and negative thoughts into positive energy.

He has even been able to take physical ailments like overuse syndrome and trapped nerves and continue successfully competing and performing in the world’s most high-profile events.

“The book is for everyone. It’s not just a bagpipe book. It’s 100% a coaching book for delivering your best performance.”

“Practice With Commitment,” “Love What You Do,” “Calming Your Nerves” and “Avoid Mediocrity” are just a four of the 18 chapters in four different sections in Performance: Delivering Your Own Awesome.

“I knew I could write a music collection, but what about a non-fiction book?” Gandy says. “This is really what I’ve done with helping people moving forward. The mental and psychological side is more important than it ever was in competitive piping and drumming because of the seriousness and the size of the group. I’m a firm believer that my ability to understand and cope with whatever’s going on mentally still keeps me competing.”

Now in his later fifties, Bruce Gandy has won pretty much everything there is in top-level solo piping and pipe bands, some several times over. He’s known worldwide as a straight-shooting teacher and judge, who takes a matter of fact and honest approach to everything he does – in the nicest possible ways.

Performance: Delivering Your Own Awesome is the first self-help book for pipers and drummers written entirely by a top-flight player. The well received Practice Strategies That Cause Musical Improvements by  Stephanie Burns aggregated comments from several of the world’s top pipers and drummers.

Gandy stresses that his new book is not only for pipers and drummers but is applicable to public performance of any kind.

“The book is for everyone,” he adds. “It’s not just a bagpipe book. It’s 100% a coaching book for delivering your best performance.”

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