The Great Highland Bagpipe played by a Scot in full regalia will provide the finishing touch to your special day. Some suggestions for wedding piping are:
I will be happy to talk these options through with you and consider any others to ensure the piping is tailored to your requirement. This includes the choice of tunes (see Tunes section below).
Available for all types of formal event, including conferences, corporate functions, regimental dinners, fashion shows, etc. Burns Dinners (see next section) and New Year's Eve celebrations are obvious highlights of the year.
Make your party go with a swing! Available for all types of celebration, including birthday and anniversary parties, whether taking place at home, hotel, restaurant or pub.
Burns Night is an obvious highlight of the piping calendar. Burns Dinners and bagpipes go together like... well...haggis, neeps and tatties!
Piping the haggis in and out are pre-requisites of course, but other options include playing for guests arrival, playing a medley of Robert Burns tunes between courses, and leading the chorus of Auld Lang Syne at the end of the proceedings. I can also offer to deliver the address to the haggis (all eight verses from memory and in the right accent!).
My father first took me to visit Burns birthplace when I was seven. Now I play the pipes at annual events commemorating the bard's birth.
For a' that, an' a' that,
It's coming yet for a' that,
That Man to Man, the world o'er,
Shall brothers be for a' that.
Funeral options include piping as the cortege leaves the house, at the church, at the crematorium or at the graveside.
A typical cremation service will entail leading the hearse on its final approach, playing as the coffin is being carried into the chapel, again as the mourners are leaving the chapel, and finally a lament in the distance once the mourners have gathered outside.
The tune selection is agreed with the client beforehand.
Underpinning everything else on this website is the music, the tunes. You might have specific preferences and know exactly what tunes you want played, but on the other hand you might need some inspiration. Hopefully this section will help. Please rest assured that, if all else fails, you can depend on me to choose appropriate tunes for the occasion.
If your tune preference doesn't appear on these lists then don't be put off asking for it. That is, unless the tune is Donald Where's Your Troosers (it wouldn't be the first time).
Below are some tune suggestions for weddings and funerals, and in the column opposite is my usual (but not my complete) repertoire. Finally, at the foot of the page you'll find some sample audio clips.
In alphabetical order here are the tunes I typically select from on engagements.
This isn't an exhaustive list, but I tend to play these tunes more frequently
than others:
A Hundred Pipers ~ A Man's A Man (For a That) ~ Abide with Me ~ Amazing Grace ~ Atholl Highlanders - Auld Adam - Auld Lang Syne - Barren Rocks of Aden - Battle's O'er - Black Bear - Bloody Fields of Flanders - Bonnie Dundee - Bonnie Gallowa' - Bridal March ('Here Comes the Bride') - Brown Haired Maiden - Christmas Medley - Coming Through the Rye - Cock of the North - Colin's Cattle - Corkhill - Corn Rigs are Bonny - Corriechoille - Crags of Tumbledown - Crossing the Minch - Dark Island - Danny Boy - Dolly Gray - Falkland Palace - Farewell to the Creeks - Flett from Flotta - Flower of Scotland - Flowers of the Forest - Fields of Athenry - For He Was a Bonnie Lad - Glasgow City Police Pipers - Glendaruel Highlanders - Going Home - Green Hills of Tyrol - Happy Birthday - Hector the Hero - High Road to Gairloch - High Road to Linton - Highland Cathedral - Highland Cradle Song - Hot Punch - I Love a Lassie - I See Mull - Itchy Fingers - Jock Wilson's Ball - Kate Dalrymple - Keep Right On (to the End of the Road) - Land of my Fathers - Loch Lomond - Lochanside - Leaving Port Askaig - Lord Lovat's Lament - Mac n Irish - Mairi's Wedding - Mingulay Boat Song - Morag of Dunvegan - Murdo's Wedding - Molly Connell - My Home - My Land - My Love is Like a Red Red Rose - My Love She's But A Lassie Yet - Mucking o Geordie's Byre - Mull of Kintyre - No Awa tae Bide Awa - Old Rustic Bridge - Orange and Blue - Pack Up Your Troubles - Pibroch of Donald Dhu - Prince of Denmark's March (Clarke's Trumpet Voluntary) - Rantin Rovin Robin - Road to the Isles - Rocking the Baby - Rowan Tree - Scotland the Brave - Skye Boat Song - Steamboat - Tipperary - The Fairy Dance - Train Journey North - Westering Home - Will Ye No Come Back Again - Wings - Within a Mile O' Edinburgh Toon - Ye Banks and Braes (o' Bonnie Doune).
Click on the buttons below to hear some sample audio clips...