about
I began learning the chanter aged 9, though I have to admit, at first, I wasn't very keen! However after 6 months of weekly lessons at the 13th Dundee Boys Brigade, I had moved onto bagpipes and within a couple of months I was really enjoying playing as part of the pipe band.
I later joined the 6th/8th BB before moving on to Tayside Police Pipe Band, my first experience of practising with an adult pipe band. When I turned 16 I began to play for MacKenzie Caledonian and started competing with the band. The following year the band won almost every major competition in Grade 3A before being promoted to Grade 2.
Competing with MacKenzie Caledonian with my full ivory (reclaimed from old Glen pipes!) Wallace Bagpipes.
During this time my performance career had already begun. I began performing as part of the “Breath of Scotland” variety shows led by Ronnie Coburn. My first stage experience was at the Webster Hall in Arbroath where I played solo pipe sets as well as for the highland dancers.
I started to discover other kinds of Scottish folk music via Gordon Duncan’s albums and shortly after my 16th birthday I began to learn the low whistle. It was a slow process as I bought an Eflat whistle without realising I could only play along to slow airs on perfectly tuned Bflat bagpipes!
After finishing 6th year in 2009 I signed up to Dundee College to study HNC Pop Music. This was a real learning curve for me as bagpipes don’t often play in pop or rock lineups (being a super-fan of the Red Hot Chilli Pipers at the time certainly gave me some ideas!) and AC/DC’s Thunderstruck ended up being the stand out set at our summer concert that year.
On finishing my year at college I started my studies at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland (formerly known as the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama) where I was accepted to study on audition day and offered the prestigious Jimmy Shand Scholarship. At the end of my first year of studies I decided to leave the course as I had been approached by Stuart Cassells to start performing with the Red Hot Chilli Pipers.
My first gig with the Red Hot Chilli Pipers, Innsbruck, Austria, August 2011
I had originally met Stuart in July 2009 when the Chilli Pipers were booked to perform for the second half of a large scale charity concert organised by Anne Gloag at the Whitehall Theatre in Dundee. As I was warming the pipes up in my dressing room and getting my fingers going with some flashy Gordon Duncan tunes, Stuart entered and suggested that instead of playing the usual Highland Cathedral set that I join him and the amazing Stevie Lawrence for a fast-paced set of reels. The finale of the show had all the performers on stage as the Chilli Pipers closed the concert with “Rory’s” set. Being such a fan of the band already I knew the set inside out and after a small push I struck up and joined in and Stuart pulled me forward into the Chilli line up. As we walked off stage Stuart congratulated me on my performance and said I’d have to join the band. It was only a couple of years later that this dream of mine ended up coming true!
During my time as an Army Cadet in Dundee I had started teaching some younger pipers and for the last couple of years in the Battalion I was the Cadet Pipe Major for Angus and Dundee as well as Senior Cadet Pipe Major for the whole of the UK. It was teaching at the cadets that sparked my love for teaching and I started advertising my piping lessons. Some of my most memorable performance experiences as a young musician were when I was asked through the cadets to play as a guest piper for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo in 2008 and again in 2009 and 2011. I lived in Edinburgh Castle for the duration of the shows, where I met and made some brilliant lifelong friends in the army.
Cadet Pipe Major Howie at Cameron Barracks, Inverness c.2008
With my teaching experience gradually starting to build up I started sending my CV off to schools in the local area and in March 2012 Dr Glynn Jenkins gave me my first break in the education world by hiring me as the Pipe Band Assistant at St Leonards School in St Andrews, Fife. The school already had a full-time piping teacher but the school band at this time was quite large and my role was to tune the pipes and assist with band practices and concerts.
After a few years of touring all over the UK, Europe, America, Canada, the Middle East and China with the Red Hot Chilli Pipers I started to look for a more settled role. In January 2015 I was appointed as the Bagpipe Instructor at Cargilfield Preparatory School in Edinburgh.
This post was previously held by double Gold-medallist Dougie Murray and Pipe Major Ross Munro (previously of the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards), so piping at the school was already very popular. After my first year of teaching at the school I had grown the numbers from 32 to 45 individual lessons with pupils from the ages of 6 to 13.
Using my own teaching syllabus, pupils progressed rapidly which resulted in me running an A band, B band, an Advanced Pipers group as well as a Chanter group for the up and coming learners. At our peak I had 26 pupils on pipes throughout the school. At least one piper per year would go on to their senior school where bagpipes and music was whole or part of their scholarship.
Leading the combined A and B Bands of Cargilfield Preparatory School, Edinburgh 2018.
During my five years working at Cargilfield I also had a great time working with Brian Elrick at Glenalmond College, Perthshire. I taught for two days per week as well as running the school’s folk band and towards the end of my time at Glenalmond I also taught accordion. I have previously taught at St Andrews University teaching undergraduate, masters and Phd students as well as local school children. I have also taught on behalf of the National Piping Centre, teaching week-long intensive summer courses. In May and June 2018 I taught group classes in Primary and Secondary schools locally in Perthshire through the Vale of Atholl Pipe Band. I have also taught pipes and whistle at the week-long residential Gaitherin’ folk music camp in Aberdeenshire.
Throughout the years I have been fortunate to have performed with a number of bands including some top Scottish Ceilidh bands such as Jim Jam, Grouse, Drams and Foot Stompin’ Ceilidh Band. More recently I have been performing with the London-based Reeling Band, SuperGrouse. We have played in many stunning civic halls for hundreds of dancing guests as well as in Granada, Spain, and the Houses of Parliament for the Parliament Ball.
I have also tried to be as active as I possibly can in the pipe band circuit, mostly playing for bands in the local area. I played for the then Grade 1 Vale of Atholl band in 2018 where I arranged the majority of the competition medley material. Prior to this I competed with the 2016 lineup of the Spirit of Scotland Pipe Band under Pipe Major Roddy McLeod. The band was mostly made up of Glenfiddich Champions and Gold Medallists, with an award-winning drum corps led by Jim Kilpatrick MBE.
Pipe Major Roddy McLeod leading the Spirit of Scotland Pipe Band to the arena. Forres 2016.
Winning the UK Championships with the Vale of Atholl in Bangor, my first outing as a Pipe Major in May 2024.
In November 2023 I took over the Grade 3A Vale of Atholl Pipe Band and on my first outing as a Pipe Major we won the UK Championships in Bangor. The band also won the British Championships in Forres and within one season the band has been promoted to Grade 2.
Recording work over the years has included working with Lorne MacDougall on Disney Pixar’s, Brave, and DreamWorks Animations, How To Train Your Dragon 2 & 3. I also worked closely with Lorne and saxophonist/multi-instrumentalist Leon Thorne in arranging tracks for the Chilli Pipers’ 2013 album, Breathe. Another recording highlight includes playing composer Julia Wolfe’s Lad, live on BBC Radio 3 with eight other top class pipers all dressed in the red and black colours of the Chilli Pipers, led by none other than Pipe Major Robert Mathieson.
L-R Kyle Warren, Craig Munro, composer Patrick Doyle, myself and Lorne MacDougall. Air Lyndhurst Studios, London, 2011.
Performance highlights include playing the bells in at the Casino de Monte Carlo at their hogmanay celebrations in December 2012 and being part of the first band ever to play live in Grand Central Station, New York.
Since 2016 I have performed regularly for HM King Charles III at his Dumfries House Estate for private dinners. In 2017 myself, Craig Muirhead, Wilson Brown, Finlay MacDonald, Finlay Johnston and Pipe Major Roddy McLeod were invited to Buckingham Palace to perform at the celebrations for the 25th anniversary of the renovations of Dumfries House.
A quick chat with HM The King after our performance at Buckingham Palace, 2017. Photo - Paul Burns Photography.
Since starting lessons with Harvey Scott at the Boys Brigade I’ve been fortunate to receive tuition from some of the best pipers in the world including Stuart Samson, Allan MacDonald, Roddy McLeod, Callum Beaumont and six years of tuition whilst at school from Pipe Major Ian Duncan.
In 2016 I “caught the bug” for photography and videography. Outwith my usual piping jobs I have been photographing and filming weddings as well as music videos and short films for artist and musicians. You can check out my photography website for more info on that side of my work - www.kylehowiephotography.com.
I now teach bagpipes at Strathallan School and enjoy competing with the Vale of Atholl Pipe Band as well as having a go round the Highland games circuit.
If there’s anything else you’d like to know, do get in touch!
All the best
Kyle
tools of the trade
Solo Highland Bagpipes - https://kintailbagpipes.com/jr-glen-bagpipes/
Bflat Highland Bagpipes - www.wallacebagpipes.com
Pipe Chanters & Reeds - www.g1reeds.com
Blair Digital Chanter - blairbagpipes.com
Reel/Uilleann Pipes - fredmorrisonpipes.com/online/
Drone Reeds - www.pipedreamsreeds.com
Eflat & F Whistles - www.colingoldie.de
Low D Whistle - mkwhistles.com
High D Whistle - killarneywhistle.com