Teacher & Workshop Leader

"I learned Northumbrian smallpipes mostly in isolation, and because of that, I relied heavily on ergonomic principles that I had learned in music school, and this really influenced my approach to teaching. I also realized more recently that while musicianship can be taught anywhere, and from a variety of influences, teaching musicianship on Northumbrian smallpipes needs to be very specific, so I focus much more than I used to on teaching musicianship to pipers.  Although I am not a “traditional player” per se, I have had enough exposure to the Northumbrian pipe tradition to teach it along with my otherwise very eclectic approach to the instrument (for a detailed explanation of my playing style and it’s relationship to traditional Northumbrian smallpiping, please see here).  I also have a particular interest in the most effective techniques for learning among older adults.  

I have taught in a number of different situations over the past 25 years.  Since 1997, I have taught at many weekend workshops, including the Piper’s Gathering in Vermont and Connecticut, Squeeze the Bag in West Virginia and Maryland, the Tacoma workshops, and many others (For a more complete record of my workshop experience, please see the teaching paragraph on my long autobiography).   

I also have taught at many more informal weekend workshops held at sponsors’ houses for small groups of local pipers, and currently teach students online.   

I will soon start a program of residential workshops that will only be open to my online students, with very small class sizes and topics that are agreed on in advance.  I’m optimistic this new format will be the most productive to date.  

For info on online lessons, please email me via my contact page.  

For downloads of my teaching materials and articles, see below."

Fun times in piping classes!