Hi All:Bagpipe problem

[mtippo]

Can anyone advise as to what is wrong here please.
My pipe chanter will only play when the bag is fully inflated and even then only whilst i am stll blowing into the blowpipe as soon as i stop blowing the chanter stops playing although the drones are still playing could this be down to the reed. also can anyone please tell me the difference between easy - medium - hard reeds please apart from the obvious that is.
Thanks all and enjoy your day.
Mick.

[piper mc]

check for a hole in your bag or if losing air from bag, if hide or sheepskin the bag could be poreous,,, or the reed could be hard, shave evenly on both flat faces(at bottom of reed). avoiding the staple A chanter reed should not be harder than the drone reeds. also check how much air is going out of your drone reeds. A hard reed will take some time to play in and can be adapted to suite player and can last years if you know what you are doing, most easy reeds are choice for weak blowers and dont have the volume and pitch of the harder ones. Many good grade 1 bands will give out hard reeds, I remember the times when I thought my head was going to blow up and the serious headaches trying to blow a reed into a nice condition. If you want results sometimes this is the only way,even though I would prefer an easier reed and not put in the effort these days. An easy reed may become very weak and not last a long time