For over 20 years piping has been my passion and my profession — playing the pipes, teaching, developing products, and finding ways to combine tradition with technology and innovation to help pipers learn more efficiently and to find greater success, enjoyment, and fulfilment in playing music.
As musicians, we’re part of a community of performers. Performing is what we do. Whether it’s a solo gig, a St. Patrick’s Day parade, a competition at the Highland Games, or just playing for friends and family — playing our music for ourselves, for each other, for our community, and for the world is a vital part of being a musician. Sharing our music with others is a huge part of the joy, inspiration, and motivation we feel to perform, practice, prepare, and strive to improve our craft and refine our art.
In 2010, I challenged myself to expand opportunities for pipers to enjoy and learn from playing in competitions, without the expense and complications of travel. This lead to the world’s first online bagpipe competition — similar to the familiar Highland Games, but instead of competing in-person, competitors send in videos of their performances from the comfort of their homes, sometimes featuring beautiful backgrounds in nature or architecture, or personalized by costume, uniform, and other unique touches. Our panel of world-class judges from all across the globe ranks the winners and gives detailed, thoughtful comments for every single performance. This extra freedom and potential for creativity coupled with high-quality, personalized feedback have made this event the world's number one online piping and drumming competition, and our amazing contestants continue to enter season after season. Competition videos and judges comments have been viewed hundreds of thousands of times!
The Fall 2022 World Online Piping & Drumming Championships is open for registration now!
I'm pleased to have created an event that helps us all find ways to enjoy playing our instruments while connecting with and serving our community and the world around us, especially in times like the past year. Let’s come together by doing what we love to do: playing music, sharing it with the world, keeping our spirits high, and showing that together we can make a positive difference!
Stay tuned for more info on this season's judges, sponsors, and other features — including some fun additional prize categories not dependent on final placement. We’ll be sending out helpful tips on how to make the best videos possible, and offering Q&A sessions for all your burning questions and needs.
Best of luck, and Happy Piping!
Jori Chisholm
Founder of BagpipeLessons.com and the World Online Piping & Drumming Championships
Inventor of the Tone Protector™
