08/18/10

"Gordon Webster, ex Scots Guards, 9th Sovereign's Piper, one of the most honored Scottish Highland pipers in the United States."

I began myHighland piping studies at the age of eleven with the Torphichen and Bathgate Pipe Band in Scotland. Originally I was taught by Pipe Major Alex Samuel from the Torphichen band and my main influences in my piping career along with Alex were Pipe Major Angus MacDonald MBE, Scots Guards, Pipe Major Jimmy Banks, Scots Guards (who taught me how to be a Pipe Major :-)  ) and my first Pipe Major John Slattery of the 1st battalion. I should also include my piobaireachd teacher, Andrew Pitcaithley Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders, who had been a sovereign's piper before me.

I was a piper in the Scots Guards for 25 years and attended piping courses at Edinburgh Castle during my military service. I passed the Pipe Major's course at Edinburgh Castle, the highest Army certification, with an A pass and was recognized as one of the top pipers in the British Army. I have  travelled the world with the regiment and especially the pipes and drums. Pipe Major of both 1st and 2nd Battalions Scots Guards was indeed an honour for me. I have played for, and with, many celebrities throughout my playing career too numerous to mention. I played many State Banquets as a piper in the regiment and was also fortunate enough to be Senior Pipe Major for 2 years on the prestigious Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

I was selected to serve a term as Piper to Queen Elizabeth the second (known as the Sovereigns Piper). The position of Sovereigns Piper was started in 1843 by HM Queen Victoria and ever since, the sovereign has had a piper dedicated to playing at Royal dinners and other events within the confines of whatever royal palace HM might be, from Buckingham Palace in London, Windsor Castle, Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh and Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. The age old train of thought that the piper wakes up HM to the sounds of the pipes is a myth. The first job of the day is to play outside the sovereign's breakfast room window whilst she or he is having breakfast at 9am. A large repertoire of music is required for the job as you play 5/6 days per week for approximately 20 mins south of the border and 25/30 mins in Scotland and the idea is for the sovereign not to hear the same pipe tunes every day, hence needing a lot of tunes, and remembering all of piper's tunes are memorised and not read from music. I was the 9th piper to hold the position since its inception in 1843 and if people do say that they have been Queens pipers, they only mean that they served as pipers in the British Army.

Following my service to the Queen, I emmigrated to the United States with my wife, piper and Highland dancer Lezlie Webster, and my 2 children Marielle and Campbell. Together we founded the New Hampshire School of Scottish Arts in Manchester, N.H. and now based mainly  from our home in Concord, NH, but with satellite locations in both NH and Massachusetts  The school offers instruction in a wide range of Scottish musical instruments and Highland dance.  Lezlie and I were invited to represent Scottish Highland piping and dance traditions for New Hampshire's presentation at the 1999 Smithsonian Folklife Festival( 1 state and country every year) and again for the expanded recreation Celebrate New Hampshire festival held in 2000 in Hopkinton, NH.

I continue to play all types of engagements either on my own or with my family, they being, weddings, memorials, funerals, corporate functions and highland games, I also teach "people" how to play the instrument and become "pipers", I also teach and have taught bands here in the North East and done workshops with others. I enjoy my work immensely.