From Our Director: Summer 2020

Pipers and Drummers:

Heartfelt Greetings! I hope that you and your family are staying safe during this unusual and difficult time we are experiencing with the highly contagious Coronavirus.

Many piping and drumming events between now and June have been postponed or cancelled. We hope that the Balmoral Schools will happen this summer, but it really depends on the venues ShadySide Academy in Pittsburgh (July 5-10) and East Stroudsburg University of PA (July 12-17) declaring that their facilities are safe. Nonetheless, we remain committed to the hands-on personal instruction that has always been a hallmark of the Balmoral School of Piping and Drumming. Come for the music, stay for the community.

Deposits to these institutions have been paid, and the airfares for our overseas instructors (Terry Tully, Robert Mathieson, and Bruce Gandy) were purchased in December. We are very hopeful that we can move forward with the summer sessions with these and our other outstanding instructors. In the unfortunate case of cancellation, of course all student deposits will be refunded.

Meanwhile, I encourage you to use this lockdown time to practice and play your music. If you have any questions or if we can be of help with your practicing or learning new music, please contact us and we’ll do our best to assist you.

We are very much looking forward to the end of the Coronavirus nightmare and the coming together again to celebrate the healing power of music and the return of normalcy and community.

Sincerely Yours,

George Balderose

Executive Director

Balmoral School of Piping and Drumming

Plans for Summer 2020!

Pittsburgh’s Balmoral School is proud to announce guest instructors from Scotland, Ireland and Nova Scotia for our 2020 Pennsylvania summer schools. All three have won major awards and have an incomparable record of teaching and promoting pipe music around the world Pittsburgh school instructor,  Terry Tully, is one of the most influential composers of bagpipe music in Ireland and a former Pipe Major of St. Laurence O’Toole Pipe Band. Under Tully’s leadership, SLOT was the first pipe band from the Republic of Ireland to win the Grade One World Championship, also winning prizes in Ireland, as well as the Scottish and British 2008 Championships. Tully has performed with the Chieftains at Carnegie Hall and has appeared on three of the band’s albums. Bruce Gandy of Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, will teach at our East Stroudsburg School. Gandy was a member of the 78th Fraser Highlanders Pipe Band when they were the first non-Scottish pipe band to win the World Pipe Band Championships in 1987. His solo awards include the Canadian Gold Medal, Gold Medal at the Northern Meeting, Gold Medal at Oban, and Bratach Gorm. He is a 3-time winner of the MacCrimmon Memorial Cairn for Piobaireachd and is a Vancouver Indoor 6-Time Metro Cup Winner. Teaching at both our Pittsburgh and ESU schools,  Robert Mathieson is a renowned composer of pipe music, as well as an award-winning Pipe Major. He served as pipe major of the Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band of North Lanarkshire, Scotland, from 1986 to 2010. The band won 30 major championships under Mathieson’s leadership and was a 5-time winner of the World Pipe Band Championships. Our Pittsburgh school held at Shady Side Academy in Fox Chapel, runs from July 5-10, and our East Stroudsburg school, held at ESU, from July 12-17. Students, both individuals and pipe bands, in small classes of five or fewer, will receive instruction on the Great Highland pipes, Scottish smallpipes, snare, tenor drum and bassdrum, while making friendships that last a lifetime.