ben montross

• Bagpiper
• Vermont

Ben Montross Bagpiping.

I am located in Montpelier, Vermont and provide professional bagpiping services and instruction for any occasion.

My bagpiping career all began at the age of 14, taking group lessons with Janet Whalen. A few years earlier, while on a family vacation to Disney World, I heard a bagpiper playing with a hand drummer. Embarrasingly enough, that piper was playing MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice tunes on the bagpipes. I thought it was so unique, fun, and interesting that I was hooked and begged my parents to sign me up! I had tried playing several instruments growing up and in school bands but nothing ever stuck. I truly feel as though I am meant to play the bagpipes.

I have studied, either in workshops or individual lessons with Janet Whalen, Gordon Peters, Richmond Johnston, Nancy Tunnecliffe, Scott Walker, Alasdair Gillies, Bob Worrall, Ann Gray, Fred Morrison, Stuart Liddell, Donald Lindsay, Maureen Connor, Andrew Douglas, Peter Kent, James McIntosh, MBE, Lezlie Webster, Roddy MacLeod, and Finlay Johnson.

Past piping events include playing for Guiness USA for the “Welcome to America Party” for Smithwick’s Irish Ale, with brass quartets, pipe organs, and orchestral arrangements in church services and concert events. I even played in a celtic rock band in college!

I regularly play for weddings, funerals, and parties, indoors and out, in all seasons.

As a member of the CDCCA in Albany, NY I welcomed guests to concerts by Slainte Mhath, Seven Nations, The Tannahill Weavers, Hair of the Dog, and Lunasa.