top of page

Guest Blog from Bagpiper in Wales, John Campbell

  • John Campbell -
  • Mar 6, 2019
  • 2 min read

I'm regularly asked 'how or why' I took up the Bagpipes. Starting any instrument at 39 apparently isn't normal, but...

I have always had a desire to learn a musical instrument, the difficulty being, which instrument? This is on the basis that if you're going to give 100% to the effort, it needs to be the right instrument. My story started In November 1999, with a Bagpiper revisiting his whole repertoire near my accommodation over 3 nights. This was in preparation for the Millennium New Year.

On night two, I started to think about how, one NYE I could surprise my Glaswegian born father with a blast of Auld Lang Syne, as he coughed & spluttered his 'wee dram' in utter shock.

Alas with a borrowed practice chanter and basic scales, I returned a few nights later to the weekly practice with others.

Apparently with the progress I was making in 3 months and my abundance of energy to learn, the piper offered to sell me his spare set. A short while later, members of a band asked us all to join them with a view to competing. A minimum of 6 Bagpipers are needed to enter competitions. A few outings to the competitions to listen to upper grade bands and their incredible and powerful sound, had me hooked.

With a few years in a competing band, with 2 of the 5 major championship events, i.e. The Scottish & European Championships bagged in the same year. I came away with a far better idea of what highly 'tuned' Bagpipes should sound like. For me the natural progression & aspiration was to compete in solo events.

I relished the idea of instrument preparation & tuning coming down to my efforts alone. In bands, usually the Pipe Major would be responsible for overall tuning.

The rest as they say is history. In less than 1 year, I had acquired my first overall win and came joint 1st at the Grade 3 World Amateur Solo Piping Championships in 2009. At the 2011/12 League season end, I had acquired the most overall points at Grade 3 to win the overall league title for the season. This led to promotion to Grade 2 with a fare degree of success since.

Since 2011, I have been a registered 'business' as 'Bagpiper in South Wales & Adjacent Counties'. Over time I was successful in gaining membership of the Guild and therefore enhancing the trust in which clients give their Wedding Bagpiper & other suppliers. My base is generally given as a Cardiff Bagpiper, on the basis the services expand outwards from the Capital 🙂

Our services extend to many other areas namely Funerals, of which many Directors call in advance of a family meeting to check & secure availability. Other events include Burns Suppers, Birthdays, Anniversaries, Corporate Events & many with surprise elements. With assistance of my partner Louise (TeamBagpipesWales), our business has grown year on year. Trust in our Bagpiping Services & the testimonials given via my Freeindex page has now listed Bagpiper John Campbell as 1st in the country & 'outstanding' as we approach 190 5* Reviews.

Slanj au Var 🙂

Wedding Bagpiper Wales

Bagpiper in South Wales John Campbell performis at many weddings!


 
 
 

コメント


© 2013-2025 My Wonderful Welsh Wedding. All rights reserved. All images and text on this site are protected by copyright. Kindly refrain from unauthorized use as it may result in legal action.

bottom of page