Bagpiper Bill - Portland Oregon

Wedding Ceremonies
Grace your wedding with a highly-skilled bagpiper. Weddings are so special, and I have had the privilege to perform for more than 500. I know I'm doing something right when I'm playing for a young couple's wedding and I was the bagpiper at their parent's wedding.

Whether your ceremony takes place inside a chapel, church or historic building, or outside in the mountains, by a lake or rushing river, the Great Highland Bagpipes add a timeless beauty to any wedding ceremony. "Bagpiper Bill" performs for over 25 weddings annually throughout Oregon and surrounding states each year. Call anytime, Bill would love to talk to you about your upcoming wedding, and to help you arrange music for your guest arrivals, ceremony processional, unity candle/ reflective moment, recessional, leading guests from ceremony to cocktail hour music and entrance into the reception music, or for any combination of the above. Typical Cost: $250 (+/-)

Birthday Parties
Add the bagpipes for a special birthday SURPRISE, as the piper starts in the distance, walking towards and ending at the birthday person. "Bagpiper Bill" will march in as a surprise; performing for the honored person a selection of favorite songs (from Irish Eyes are Smiling to Scotland-the-Brave, to Amazing Grace) before playing 'Happy Birthday' on the bagpipes at the very end of the party - everyone joins in in singing Happy Birthday with the pipes! A spectacular effect. Typical Cost: $150

Memorials and Funeral Services
Grace your family's service with skilled bagpiping at an affordable price. "Bagpiper Bill" can help you add a selection of beautiful tunes to your funeral service. With over 50 funeral services annually throughout Oregon and surrounding states, Bill adds a soulful beauty to any service. Recently he performed at Arlington Cemetery in Virginia as a solo piper for a Marine Corp Sargent killed in Afghanistan, the family flew him to Washington DC to perform at the conclusion of the full military honors ceremony. You can be assured that you are in good hands. Whether in a church, a cemetery service, a formal Military service, or a scattering of the ashes, Bill's pipes will add a soul-lifting and a profoundly emotional ambiance to your family's service.
Typical Cost: $150 - $250

Celebrations, Golf Tournaments, Anniversaries
Add the sound of the bagpipes to your event and make the day a great day to remember. "Bagpiper Bill" performs at a wide-range of festivals to private, intimate ceremonies. Bill has an ability to be creative and instantly adaptable to the needs of his clients guarantying the events success. Bill loves to perform and any event becomes alive with his melodic music. Typical Cost $150 - $250

School Events/ Cultural Days/ Boy Scout Troops
"Bagpiper Bill" performs for schools in his continued commitment to help culturally educate the next generation about Scotland and Ireland. Having lived as a boy in Scotland, Bill entertains children with a fantastic video show called "A Trip to Scotland and Ireland" while performing on his low-volume, electronic bagpipes He gets the children dancing and marching to the pipes afterwards - they love it !
Typical Cost: $50 and up

The cost of hiring a bagpiper depends on many factors including the length of the performance, travel distance and time, any costs (tolls, gas, taxes), special tune requests, etc. Additional factors like the bagpiper's years of experience or the local market supply and demand might influence the quote. Each bagpiper will have their own method for determining the final cost but knowing it's a combination of factors can help explain some differences in price range.

ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS:
Especially if it's your first time working with a piper - it's somewhat natural to associated the quoted cost directly to the time spent performing. Because it's easy to subconsciously form this association - a price quote can sometimes result in some sticker shock; but it's important to understand the full context in terms of preparation, travel time, and the actual performance.

Even if the musical performance itself only lasts 20 minutes, the bagpiper is still investing time "behind the scenes" starting with the phone or email consultation and including bagpipe maintenance, dressing in uniform, traveling to and from the venue, any pre-event rehearsals, learning or practicing any requested, non-repertoire tunes, etc. (not to mention the financial investment to maintain the instrument and uniform!) So what on the surface might appear as a 20 minute engagement could in reality add up to several hours in total.

To give an example, the cost of dining out at a fancy restaurant isn't limited to the short period of time spent actually eating, but rather takes into account the cost to the restaurant in purchasing the food, the skills of the chef and their many years of practice and refinement, the quality of service provided, etc. Re-framing the quoted cost in this context offers up a new perspective on the quoted rates of many top-rate, professional bagpipers.

Add the sterling harmonic sound of "The Great Highland Bagpipes" to your event to make it amazingly special !!!

I've been playing the bagpipes (or some form of it) since I was 5 years old as a "wee lad." I received my advance piping instruction from the "Great Ones!" - Donald Shay Ramsey & John D. Burgess/Willie Ross - Revolutionary bagpipers of their time that brought "Rock & Roll" into piping in the early and mid 20th Century.

Recently I was honored to be taught by a World Champion bagpiper - Ian Whitelaw - a pure traditionalist and a lover of wolves and kindred spirits.

I was born into a Scottish Family of musicians and my piping career really catapulted at the age of 13 in San Francisco, California under my piping instructor, J. William Merriman, of the Prince Charles Pipe Band. I've performed in 1983 for the Queen of England at a state visit in Seattle; AND for 2 former Presidents of the United States during campaign events, let alone many other dignitaries. Over the years I've been honored to perform and compete as a piper with several premier Pipe Bands at the World Championships in Glasgow, Scotland. I've won many international solo piping competitions and was a member of pipe bands that won several major pipe band competitions. But what I really love is winning the hearts and souls of my audiences.

Thank you for considering my Celtic musical services!

Sláinte,

Bill ("Máel Coluim MacMhurchaidh" - William Malcolm MacMurchy IX)

PS. "He Makes your event Special With his Amazing Grace" - My Mom - "Elizabeth"