From the early age of 6 or 7 years old, the sound of the bagpipes has been a driving force in me.  As a young boy, my father used to take me to parades in San Francisco that featured huge bagpipe bands.  I was awed by the majesty of the kilted pipers playing the pipes as they marched by.  The sound of the pipes stirred something deep inside me, even at that age.

Through the years, if I heard a bagpipe playing somewhere I would search to see who was playing and stop to listen.  Often times it was a beginning piper, but what did I know?  It sounded beautiful to me, regardless.  Sometimes I lucked out and came across a very accomplished piper.  I soon began to recognize the difference.  Occasionally, I would hear a piece of music played that reminded me of my father and I standing by the roadside, watching a pipe band pass by, on parade.

It wasn't until 2003, when I was working with the Police Department in Sonora, California, that I actually talked to a piper.  A young Officer, John Bowley, was a piper and a very good one at that.  One day we started talking about piping.  John, seeing that my interest was sincere, suggested that if I were to purchase a practice chanter for about $85, he would show me the basics of how to play.  John said that if it became something that I was truly interested in, he would help me find an instructor.

So, I ran out and ordered a practice chanter through the internet.  Fortunately, John had already warned me to beware of some of the types of practice chanters on the internet and I made a proper choice.  As I waited for the practice chanter to come in, I happened into a small Scottish shop in nearby Jamestown, Ca. and started looking at bagpiping CD's, thinking that I might be able to hear some tunes and start trying to play along with them.  The shop owner told me about a new pipe band that was just starting up in Turlock, Ca., a community about 40 miles from my home.  She also told me that the band was offering free beginning bagpipe instruction.  So, I decided to take advantage of that and drove to the next band practice, where I met my first instructor, Doug Murray.

As it turned out, Doug and I had much more in common than just piping.  He too had been a police officer and he too was an amateur radio operator.  Doug lived just 15 miles from my house, so we began to meet weekly at his house.  After our lesson and practice sessions, we would often talk for hours about our similar interests.  Doug became not only my instructor, but a very dear friend as well.

Shortly after beginning my instruction with Doug, I attended the College of Piping Summer School in Carlsbad, Ca. where my interest in piping began, in earnest.  As a new piping student, the first course was very challenging and the instruction was by world class pipers.  It was a week very well spent, one that I would repeat several more times in the next few years.  It is said that it takes seven years to become a piper.  Of that, I am certain.  The discipline involved in learning the proper fingering techniques and timing of the music is something that cannot be learned in a few weeks or a few months of study and practice.  Although I will say that the younger student will progress much more rapidly than the older student.  Due in part to the flexibility of the younger person's fingers and a mind substantially less tainted by age.  I was 65 years old when I started and soon realized that it would take me a long time to train my fingers to operate when they were supposed to, rather than when I wanted them to.

At any rate, I have substantially surpassed my original goal, which was to learn ten piping tunes and be able to play them reasonably well.  I now play in two bands and have done quite a number of private performances.  The bands I am now associated with are the  Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue Pipe Band and I also tutored eight new pipers who have formed a new bagpipe band, the Salem Professional Firefighters Pipes and Drums, where they have honored me by appointing me their Honorary Pipe Major.  I also do private instruction for beginning students.  As you can see, I am connected with a couple of Fire Department bands.  That's primarily due to the fact that I served 30 years with the San Jose Fire Department.  So, anything fire related is very near and dear to me.

So, that's a little bit about me and my piping interests.  I hope I haven't bored you with all of this information.  Please take the time to kick around the rest of the site and don't forget to sign into my Guest Book on the Contact Me page.  I'll be truly interested in your feedback about this site.

If you have any questions regarding piping in general or you would like to discuss hiring a piper for a special occasion, please contact me.  Thank you for taking the time to get this far into the web site.