The famous Willie Ross, instructing at the Army School of Piping at Edinburgh Castle, in the 1950's

Rob Clower, the founder and Pipe Major of Turlach Ur, has been teaching Highland bagpipes for more than 40 years. His students play in pipe bands throughout the U.S. and abroad, many also competing successfully as soloists.

Rob and experienced senior members of Turlach Ur are available for private bagpipes lessons. Nancy Clower provides local instruction in snare, tenor, and bass drumming. Rob also teaches piping at Grinnell College.

Each student will need to purchase a practice chanter or drum sticks and pad, and be prepared to practice regularly and carefully. Bagpipes are not required until the student is more advanced, and instruments definitely should not be purchased without consulting us first, since there are a lot of poor quality imitations out there. The band supplies drums to players who have reached the performance level.

Please email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. and we’ll talk about getting started!