UC Riverside Bagpipe Degree

UC Riverside inaugurated its degree programs in bagpipes and Scottish drums

  Area:
  Location: United States   California
  http://www.music.ucr.edu/courses/lower_division.html
  951-368-9478

Ian Whitelaw, the new pipe director at UCR, brings a lifelong love of piping and a passion for its history and culture to the position. Ditto drumming director Ed Best, who has been playing Scottish drums since he was 8. Walter Clark, music department chairman, is convinced that once word is out that UCR has Whitelaw teaching bagpipes and Best teaching Scottish drums, people will flock to the fledgling program. UCR has a long Scottish tradition, beginning with the name Highlanders, which was chosen as campus mascot in 1954 and referred to the campus's elevation above the city. Student housing complexes with Scottish names such as Aberdeen-Inverness, Lothian and Bannockburn dot the campus. And, it has its own unique tartan plaid -- royal blue and ancient gold, shot through with white and black and pleated to the stripe -- which is registered in Scotland. http://www.music.ucr.edu/people/directors_lecturers/whitelaw/index.html