Welcome

The Canberra College of Piping & Drumming was established in 1999 to promote and teach bagpipes and Scottish pipe band snare, bass and tenor drumming.

 Since its inception, the College has taught many hundreds of students and has established itself as one of Australia’s foremost piping & drumming instruction institutions. As part of its charter the College has undertaken a number of initiatives over the years to support and complement its core teaching function.

In 2005 the College held the first of 14 piping and drumming Workshops in Canberra. These Workshops were held over 3 days, were attended by up to 150 pipers and drummers from around Australia, and were led by an instruction team of 10 of the best pipers and drummers from around the world. We built the Workshop into the third largest event of its kind in the world.

In 2011 we made the decision to hold an annual Scottish Highland Gathering in Canberra. The primary motivation was that such an event would provide an opportunity to promote Scottish culture throughout Canberra and the region, and in particular to demonstrate and promote piping and drumming. We have held ten Highland Gatherings to date and built it into the second largest event of its type in Australia.

In 2022, due to the success of our learner program and the impact of the above initiatives, we were able to establish for the first time our own College Pipe Band. We now have a functioning pipe band which is performing at public events in the region and the players are rapidly developing the new skills required to play in a band environment.

The future for the College looks very bright. We continue to build the organisation and the interest and involvement in piping and drumming in the Canberra region. The College is a very inclusive and to that end we welcome anyone who has an interest in piping and drumming, irrespective of age, gender or profession.