I have a very old Ivory mounted Highland Bagpipe for sale.  The maker is unknown but they sound great.  I believe the wood is cocus.  I am asking $2,200 USD.  Please contact me if interested and I will answer any questions.

Check out the photos (copy & paste address below for photos)

http://s156.photobucket.com/albums/t8/tomspiping/Old%20Drones/

This Friday October 30, 2009, I am planning a piping visit to The BBC for a little bit of piping, food and drink.  Planning to arrive around 8:00pm and hope to play a few tunes on the Great Highland Bagpipes while enjoying a pint and some food.  Hope to see you there.  Nothing like an evening out at the British Beer Company.

On Sunday October 25, 2009, there was a pipe band contest at the Shaw’s Conference center in Brockton and there were five Fire department  pipe bands  in attendance.  I have been working with the Greater Boston Firefighters Pipes & Drums for a few months as their pipe instructor and we entered the contest and the Band sounded great.  We won First place!  I am very pleased with the results of all of our work and I look forward to more good times ahead with these guys.  Congratulations to the Greater Boston Fire Fighters Pipes & Drums on a job well done!

This coming Saturday, I will be in my first Pipe Band Competitions in years.  The contest is called the Glasgowlands Highland Festival.  I am really looking forward the experience and thrill of pur first pipe band competition especially with this group of musicians under the direction of P/M Iain Massie.  I hope to see you there.

UPDATE: I am pleased to announce that the Worcester Kilties took 3rd place out of 7 Bands.  Not band for our first contests.  Next up Hunter Mountain August 16th.

Congratulations, to Highland Dance Boston for putting on a really fantastic program.  The dancing and music was excellent.  I piped for a variety of Traditional and National Highland Dances using both my Highland Pipes and my Scottish Smallpipes.  I even played a duet on the Highland Pipes with one of the dancers, Hailey Harris.  We played Jimmy Finlater and then we launched into the jig Glasgow Police pipers with a really nice variation that Hailey taught me to play.  Hailey and I then played the Cockney Jocks for the dance of the same name.  I really enjoyed the experience of piping for such an incredibly talented group of dancers.  They are really nice and a real pleasure to work with.

Thanks again to Highland Dance Boston and Congratulations for a job well done!

HDB in Concert!

We are very excited to be putting on our own concert for the second time! Come join us as we perform our favorite dances and choreographies to a combination of live and recorded music. Musicians include fiddler Barbara McOwen, pianist Beth Murray, pipers Tom Childs and Mike MacNintch, as well as members of HDB. We also feature special guest dancer, Andy Taylor-Blenis.

Tickets: $15
May be purchased from an HDB member, or reserved by email: hdbtickets@gmail.com

3:30 pm Sunday, June 14, 2009
Boston University Dance Theater, 915 Commonwealth St, Boston, MA
(Entrance is on Buick Street)

It has been a couple of weeks since my last entry and I have been busy piping.  I have played numerous private functions including weddings, funerals and parties everywhere from the end of Cape Cod to Stowe, West Roxbury and my hometown of Rockland.   

Also, I am piping with the Worcester Kiltie Pipe Band this year and it has been a real pleasure to play in this fine pipe corp.  I find that I have to practice quite often and that’s a good thing for my piping.  The Worcester kiltie Pipe band is getting better and better and I am excited about attending some upcoming Scottish Games where the Band will be competing.

I have just become affiliated with the Greater Boston Firefighters Pipes and Drums I will be an instructor to the pipe corp.  This is a great group of people and I am looking forward to great times ahead with this group. I know it will be fun.  I first ran into the Greater Boston Firefighters Pipes and Drums at Fanuiel Hall on St. Patrick’s Day and I jumped into the ranks with them as we proceeded to march into some of the local night spots where we gave an inprompto pipe band concert to every one’s delight.  It was a great evening and from that I know we’ll have more good times to come.

On Saturday April 25, 2009 at 8:15pm I will be piping for Highland Dance Boston as we perform a Highland dance performance on stage at the Mansfield High School Auditorium.  NEFFA is always a fun take, you will see all kinds of music and dance from all knids of different cultures.  

UPDATE:  The performance was a success.  The dances were performed beautifully.  I played smallpipes along with my friend Mike MacNintch on Scottish Smallpipes and Tom Pixton on accordion.  It was a real treat to play with this group for this performance.  I look forward to the Highland Dance Boston summer concert coming in June 2009.

I was looking through some of my piping stuff and I came across this letter and I thought it would be an interesting post for my blog. I remember that this parade was my very first parade, first time in a kilt and first time in a parade with bagpipes. I had joined the Civil Air Patrol in 1976, so I could be a piper in their pipe band. I was given a Pakistani made practice chanter and was told if I could play The Rowan Tree on the chanter I would be issued a Pakistani made bagpipe and kilt and I could travel to Washington DC to march in the parade. We actually were only a parade route band and did not march the parade, we stood outside the J. Edgar Hoover building and played. I remember it was brutally cold. I also saw President Carter as he walked past us. This was the beginning of my piping career.

Well it’s that time of year again. I am excited to be a part of the festivities this year. In addition to piping at Symphony Hall with the Chieftain on Friday the 13th, I will be piping from pub to pub for Quality Beverages Starting Saturday afternoon on March 14.

The schedule for the pub crawl is as follows;

• The Chieftain on Washington Street in Plainville, MA from 4 to 5 pm
• Nappertandy’s 46 Day Street Norwood, MA  5:30 to 6:30 pm
•  The British Beer Company Route 1 Walpole, Ma 7 to 8 pm
• Fitzy’s Pub 1 Man Mar Drive, Plainville, MA 8:30pm

It sounds like it will be fun.  See you there

Update:  I survived the deluge of Bass Ale.  I met lots of interesting people and had a really good time.  I look forward to another outing in the future for Quality Beverage.  Thanks to Quality Beverage for this event.  Well done!