Elliott Smith, Bagpiper Bagpiper from Fulton, NY

Experienced and punctual piper available for funerals, weddings and special events. A drummer or second piper and or Irish dancers may also be available. I wear highland evening dress which is most popular with competition pipe bands. I or we arrive an hour before the event. I started bagpipes in 1976. I had met the piper at the Sterling Rennaisance Faire and asked for lessons. About two years later I helped form a madrigal group which performed at that faire for six years and I began doing a little solo work on pipes there. I was asked to play for a production of Brigadoon and had to borrow a uniform from my old instructor. I also played for the local Hibernians and for a wedding but just wore a sport coat. I was taken in as a student by the Syracuse Scottish Pipe Band in 1987 and accepted into the band about six months later which was quite an accomplishment as this Syracuse band is a very demanding competition band. The second piper is Matt Welling. When he was 17 one of his last wishes was to get some pipe lessons before he went into the military. Somehow he had gone all the way through public schools and no one discovered his gift for music. It changed his life. He also joined the Syracuse band and we do many performances together, Matt's now about 34. The Irish dancers are from the Kinlough Academy of Irish Dance, which is a registered school of Irish Dance belonging to my oldest daughter, Siobhan.