WELCOME TO MY
BAGPIPE TUTORIALS WEBSITE

Read what some of Bill's friends have to say about his bagpipe lessons.

• It Began With The Boys Brigade
  Bill started his bagpipe playing as a young lad with the Boys Brigade and upon turning 18 was drafted into the army.

 

• The Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming
  Bill was tutored at Edinburgh Castle by the famous PM Willie Ross MBE. About one year after graduating from The Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming he was promoted to Pipe Major for The Royal Scots, 1^st Battalion.

 

• Playing Internationally
  Besides playing at various locations around the world while in the Army. Bill has also taken civilian bands to compete very successfully on the International Circuit.

 

• An Accomplished Piobaireachd Player and Composer
  In his personal capacity Bill has been recognized as a Piobaireachd (Pibroch) composer of some note, as well as a very successful competitor. Bill's biography will reveal more information about his piping journey and achievements.

Bagpipe Tutorials Website Content

• Bagpipe Lessons - Some Techniques and Embellishments ...
  This section contains a few bagpipe tutorials on how to play various embellishments, finger positioning on the chanter and some notes about chanter maintenance and care.

 

• FREE Bagpipe Tune Lessons
  Every month Bill publishes a FREE Bagpipe Tune lesson. Some of these tunes include Scotland The Brave, Amazing Grace, Black Bear, Kilworth Hills, The Skye Boat Song, Caledonian Canal, The Royal Scots Polka and Bill's own composition Pipe Major Bill Boyle, New Zealand Scottish Regiment.

  You can be notified by email whenever a new tune is published by subscribing to Monthly Tune Notification Service.

   

• Bagpipe Tutorials On DVD
  Bill has documented his bagpiping knowledge onto DVD. The bagpipe tutorials are interactive with links in the document to relevant audio and video files. This means that Bill has enhanced his tutorials with additional video examples and audio instruction. It is almost as if Bill was in your lounge giving you one on one instruction.

  Bill's bagpipe tutorials cater for three levels of piping proficiency:

  1. Comprehensive Beginners Guide
  2. Advanced Comprehensive Guide
  3. An Introduction to Piobaireachd Teachnique.
  4. 115 Piobaireachd Tutorials

  Bill is constantly updating his bagpipe lessons with new content and improvements.

   

• Piobaireachd Tutorials
  Bill has much to offer Piobaireachd (Pibroch) enthusiast. His Pibroch compositions have been recognized and published in various Piobaireachd books and he has also recorded over 115 Piobaireachd Tutorials as well.

  Bill's latest DVD is titled An Introduction to Piobaireachd Technique. This DVD is suited to those who desire to explore the art of playing Piobaireachd or who wish to improve their technique.

  Bill's teaching style is unique. He does not play the tune through one time and then tell you how to play it. Rather, he breaks the tune down into sections and talks you through one section at a time. By doing this you can work at learning to play the piobaireachd tune section by section. This makes it a whole lot easier for you!

 

• Frequent Asked Questions About Bagpiping
  This is the section where you can ask Bill about a bagpiping related question. You can also read some of the question asked and Bill's reply.

   

• Piobaireachd Historical's By Ron MacLeod
  Ron MacLeod has spent years collecting Historical Piobaireachd Stories. With his kind permission he has allowed us to publish his work on this website.

  He has grouped this collection into three categories:

  1. General Piobaireachd Stories
  2. Lament Piobaireachd Stories
  3. Salute Piobaireachd Stories

  Ron has also transcribed A History of Piobaireachd which was delivered as part of Stuart's Pipe Major training at a 1955 Band School in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which is similar to what Bill Robertson had to write and learn while on his Pipe Majors' Course at Edinburgh Castle, under the direction of the famous Pipe Major Willie Ross MBE.

   

• Bagpiping Articles In this section we have grouped together some bagpiping articles and other bits and pieces to do with the site.

  Why not take a look and see if there is anything that may be of interest to you.

 

• Keep Yourself Up To Date With The Latest Bagpipe Tutorials Updates
  Use the handy RSS feature to be able to quickly view the latest website page additions or page updates are. Look on the left hand column for RSS icons which you can click to subscribe to the RSS feed. The Icon looks like the following one

  

   

  Alternatively you could go to Bagpipe Tutorials Blog Page for a quick overview of what content has been added recently.