Greetings!
The University of California , Riverside is proud to offer a BA in Music with emphasis in either the Great Highland Bagpipe or Scottish-style drumming. This new degree offering started this year. Dr. Walter Clark, Chair of the Music Department, has selected two first rate musicians to offer instruction in this program: Mr. Ian Whitelaw and Mr. Edward Best. Both have played with grade 1 bands Ed with the LA Scots and Ian with Simon Frasier University Pipe Band among others), have excelled in solo competition and bring a proven track-record of private and group-level instruction.
While other private colleges offer a degree in bagpiping (Carnegie-Mellon) or perhaps a minor, to my knowledge this is the first public institution in the United States that offers a BA degree in piping and perhaps the only institution public or private in the world that offers a BA in Scottish-style drumming. It is my hope that as this fledgling Celtic Arts program grows along with endowments to support this art-form, we will some day be able to offer degrees in Highland Dancing, Gaelic, Celtic harp and Celtic fiddle.
The University of California , Riverside Pipe Band which has been in existence since the year 200 has volunteered to serve as the required ensemble for this new program. We hope to enjoy a symbiotic relationship with UCR in this endeavor. The band offers two $1,000 scholarships each year to help defray the cost of tuition at UC Riverside for qualified pipers and drummers. Thus far this is the only scholarship directly tied to piping and drumming at UCR, although I expect that to change over time.
Inasmuch as UCR is part of the premier public
University system in
California and the United States , the academic requirements for
admission are considerable. Information about admittance procedures,
scholarships and other related programs can be obtained from Dr. Clark whom I
have copied on this reply.
Mike Terry
Pipe Major – UCR Pipe Band