David Lanigan's Bagpipe Bio

Bagpiping schools that David has attended are the Balmoral School of Piping and Drumming, Coeur d'Alene Summer School of Piping and Drumming, and Western Academy of Pipe Music.

David also has attended many Highland bagpipes weekend workshops presented by the Oregon Pipers' Society in Portland, Oregon, and the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band in Burnaby, British Columbia.

Favorite workshops of David were the Seattle, Washington Lowland bagpipes workshops featuring Scottish players Anna Murray, Gordon Mooney, and Hamish Moore; and the music and culture workshops presented by Slighe nan Gàidheal.

In 1996, David traveled to the Scottish Hebrides island of South Uist and took part in the first annual Ceòlas school, a reintegration of the music (bagpiping, fiddling, singing) and step dances of the Gaelic peoples of Scotland. Ceòlas also affirmed links between Scotland and Cape Breton Island in Canada.

A highlight of David's concert performances was playing Scottish Highland bagpipes on stage with Ireland's ambassadors of folk music, The Chieftains, during one of their US tours.

David has been composing original tunes and arranging traditional tunes throughout his years as a piper.

In January, 2001, five of David's original compositions and arrangements for the bagpipes were published in Cape Breton bagpiper Barry Shears' tune book "The Gathering of the Clans Collection, Volume 2".

In May, 2010, four of David's original compositions were published in Washington State bagpiper John Dally's tune book "The Northwest Collection of Music for the Scottish Highland Bagpipe."

David played with the Desert Thistle Pipe Band of southeastern Washington for 25 years, nine of those years as Pipe Major. He also played a bit with the Willamette Valley Pipe Band of Portland, Oregon.

Early in his bagpiping career, David competed in the Pacific Northwest Highland games circuit, with stops in Athena and Portland in Oregon, and Seattle, Spokane, and Tacoma in Washington.

In 1999, David formed Celtic band Skweez The Weezle, in which he has played Scottish Lowland bagpipes and Scottish smallpipes, Irish bouzouki, octave mandolin, tenor mandola, dulcitar (a hybrid of Irish bouzouki and mountain dulcimer), and whistles (while occasionally getting in some tunes on the Scottish Highland bagpipes as well).

Skweez The Weezle is still going strong, with David currently playing Scottish Lowland bagpipes and smallpipes, along with whistles and occasionally some tunes on the Scottish Highland bagpipes as well.