Warpipes
"The pipes, the pipes are calling!"
School of Piping
Piper & Instructor
Rory M. O'Halloran
Hire a bagpiper!
Weddings, Funerals, Birthdays, Baptisms, Etc.
Bagpipe Lessons! Learn to play the bagpipes!
To navigate this site, click on the lumps of gold to the right
warpipes_gorge.net P.O. Box 982 The Dalles, Oregon 97058
SUGGESTIONS FOR LESSONS: LEARNING TO PLAY THE PIPES
You are about to undertake a difficult but most rewarding challenge! Bagpipes are
not for the feint hearted! These are some suggestions and guidelines:
GROUP LESSONS: The novice will learn that everyone struggles at times. It is also easier to learn by watching and hearing others. The shy individual is often more comfortable in a group setting rather than a more intimate setting. Those with a more competitive nature will be encouraged to move along more quickly. The more collaborative in nature learn more quickly from playing with others. Parades and other group performances are FUN. A band must practice together to play together!
PRIVATE LESSONS: Everyone learns at their own rate. Some will want to slow down a little to tackle those areas that are personally challenging. Others will want to advance more quickly to learn that special fingering or tune.
Time and Practice! Make a commitment! You can be one with the pipes. There are few instruments that you can wrap yourself around like you can a bagpipe, or that wraps itself around you.
We will also meet outdoors to practice marching.
In addition to learning how to play the bagpipes,
You will learn about "Highland Dress"
You will learn about the construction, care and maintenance of a bagpipe.
You will learn about the ancient history of the bagpipe itself.
You will need to purchase a practice chanter and tutor book. Contact me to get the right ones. Many are available on-line, and through Columbia River Music and Klindt's Booksellers. Please contact us if you need advice or help in purchasing. Please wait to purchase bagpipes until you have had an opportunity to learn techniques and fingerings, and have advice of an experienced piper. Warpipes School of Piping
Lessons! Learn how to play the bagpipes
New Beginner Level Lessons begin May, 2011
Lessons are listed on a per hour basis
GROUP LESSON at our location in The Dalles Oregon ONE HOUR $25.00
7 PM Wednesday Nights
PRIVATE LESSON By appointment at our location in The Dalles ONE HOUR $35.00
PRIVATE LESSON By appointment at your location. ONE HOUR $45.00
Mileage rate of $ .50/mile will be charged if location
is over 25 miles round trip from The Dalles, Oregon
Lessons may be paid for weekly or monthly.
A 20% discount will be given to students of North Wasco Schools
Family Discounts are available. Warpipes School of Piping
Rory O'Halloran is the former Pipe Sergeant with the All-Ireland Pipes & Drums (defunct) of Portland, Oregon. He earned his Bachelor of Science degree from Portland State University in 1978, and Master's from Western Oregon University in 1991. In addition to over thirty years of piping experience, Mr. O'Halloran has had over thirty years experience as a high school teacher and varsity coach. He takes great pride in the professions of teaching and coaching. Rory is a proud member of the Oregon Education Association, promoting excellence in Education. There are many factors that contribute to the progress of a learner. Not the least of these are the confidence and trust in an instructor with knowledge, experience, patience, humor, the drive for excellence, and a life-long desire to learn. In teaching, one truly comes to understand. The student and mentor are on a shared journey of inspiration. Honesty is the greatest tool a teacher can posess. Mr. O'Halloran will be honest with his students regarding their talents and present level of performance, as well as sharing what is needed to progress to the next level. He never pretends to know it all; you will be encouraged to seek knowledge from others. You will be helped to find the tools you need to achieve!
Rory O'Halloran also plays in a local Irish Folk Band, "Barley Draught" with six other excellent musicians. Besides piping at the beginning and ending of sets, he contributes tin whistle, vocals, and the occassional stint on the bodhran. Come to The Dalles, Oregon and give that band a listen! Their banjo, guitar, bass, fiddle, harmonica, bodhran, and whistle combinations have a wide following in the local area.
Warpipes School of Piping
TIPS FOR PLANNING YOUR EVENT
Piping is normally performed in several short sessions rather than one long one. Sets that last 5 - 20 minutes with time in between keep the piper in top form while allowing guests time to chat and truly enjoy the music.
Bagpipe reeds are highly susceptible to changes in humidity and temperature. If there will be lengthy wait periods between sets, or there is a change in location it is wise to give the piper a place to re-tune and warm-up.
Bagpipes are not like a piano that can start at a moment's notice. The bag must be inflated and all reeds blown in. Especially when the piper has been waiting for a long period of time, it is best and most dramatic to allow them start up the pipes in a place away from the audience, and make a grand entrance into the performance area with the pipes already playing in their full glory!
When traveling pipers often need a place to dress, tune-up, and warm-up.
If it is within a reasonable driving distance, a piper being professional and wanting to make your event special, will normally drive to the location weeks ahead of the event to scope out the location and venue. A piper can often offer ideas for planning. However, if you are holding a rehearsal or planning meeting it's worth the minimal cost to include the piper in those meetings.
It's YOUR event: Don't turn your special day into a three ring circus! Think CLASSY! At a wedding, for example, the focus should be on the bride and groom, not the piper! Sometimes the echo of pipes down the hillside to the glenn are much more dramatic and effective than having a piper right next to you in a crowded room.
Be creative. have FUN and contact us if you need ideas! Warpipes School of Piping
APPEARANCE PRICING
These prices apply from arrival time to departure time, including "wait" periods between sets.
(Example: Playing at the beginning and end of a wedding)
APPEARANCE up to TWO HOURS in Length Base Price $165.00
(Negotiable for events lasting less than an hour)
For Each 15 Minutes over the first two hours $ 12.50
Driving to change of location between sets $ 15.00
Example: Wedding and reception are in two different locations
Rehearsal on a day prior to the event $ 30.00
Travel
Per mile fee for locations over 50 miles round trip from The Dalles, Oregon $ .50/mi.
No charge up to 50 miles round trip from The Dalles
Meals
If travel and appearance time combined are more than four hours, meals will be $ 15.00
charged unless provided as a part of the event.
Lodging $120.00
If travel and appearance time exceed eight hours, hotel costs will be charged.
An agreement must be signed and a non-refundable $50 deposit made prior to your event being scheduled. Click on the "Agreement" page.
Funerals: Out of respect for the deceased and bereaved, the above standards and prices may be waived or modified.
CONTRACT FOR SERVICES
YOUR NAME: __________________________________________________________________ Phone: ________________________________
ADDRESS _____________________________________________________________________ E-mail: ________________________________
EVENT TITLE ___________________________________________________________________
EVENT LOCATION _______________________________________________________________
DATE(S) _________________________________TIME: From ______________ To _____________
APPEARANCE OF TWO HOURS OR LESS BASE PRICE $ 165.00
EACH 15 MINUTES OVER TWO HOURS $ 12.50 ea. $ ______
CHANGE OF LOCATION BETWEEN SETS $ 15.00 $______
SEPARATE REHEARSAL DATE $ 30.00 $ ______
TRAVEL COST IF OVER 50 MILES ROUND TRIP FROM THE DALLES $ .50/mile $_____
MEALS IF TRAVEL AND APPEARANCE ARE OVER FOUR HOURS $ 15.00 $_____
AND NOT PROVIDED AS PART OF YOUR EVENT
LODGING IF TRAVEL AND APPEARANCE TIME ARE OVER EIGHT HRS. $ 120.00 $_____
TOTAL $______
Signature: ___________________________________________ Date:_________________
If you are unable to copy this agreement, contact us and we'll send you one by e-mail or postal service
A fantastic Irish folk band in the Columbia River Gorge!
Mike Ballinger: Guitar, Vocals, bodhran Shay Murphy: Guitar, Vocals, Percussion Michael Byrne: Bass Peny Wallace: Fiddle, Mandolin
Patrick Rawson: Harmonica, Vocals Jack Dosier: Banjo Rory O'Halloran: Bagpipes, Tin Whistle, Vocals
Upcoming Performances
Friday, November 25, 2011 6:30 PM at The Clock Tower in The Dalles.
Christmas Concert!
Sunday, December 18, 2011 7PM at St. Peter Landmark, The Dalles
Come listen and sing along with this fantastic Columbia River Irish folk band "Barley Draught"!
If we really pay attention in life, we realize how much we've received from our families, our friends, our communities, our schools, churches, and other organizations. It's always a good time to give back.
For several years I have been a regular performer at our local Relay For Life. For over twenty years on St. Patrick's Day I have performed at our local schools in The Dalles. My church, my children's activities, the Veteran's Home, and other local organizations that offer help, learning, and comfort to our citizens have been recipients of my effort to give back some of the great joys, comforts, and learning opportunities I have received throughout my life. I regularly participate in local parades just to celebrate our community.
To give back and to be a contributor and producer in our culture and society; to give something meaningful to the human endeavor is the main reason I chose to spend my life in the professions of Teaching and Coaching.
My parents, grandparents, siblings, extended family, nuns, teachers, coaches, and the inspiring words of the likes of JFK, Martin Luther King Jr., and Bobby Kennedy instilled in me at an early age several qualities that I wish to pass on to future generations. A sense of truth, fairness, social justice, freedom, honesty and integrity, personal pride, a love of learning and for ancestry and heritage, determination, perseverance, tolerance for others, diplomacy, responsibility, and a love of beauty, nature, art and music...these characteristics I was fortunate enough to encounter in my own mentors while coming of age. These I have hoped to pass on to others.
Providing an affordable oppourtunity for present and future generations to celebrate their own dedication to their core values through the determination and perseverance it takes to learn to play an ancient cultural instrument gives me great pleasure. A bagpipe band in The Dalles, Oregon would be a wonderrful way to give back to this community while honoring my own heritage with many here who share the same.
Planning a wedding with BAGPIPES!
Questions?
Need a copy of our Service Contract?
Want to schedule lessons?
Contact us!
Pipe Major Rory O'Halloran
P.O. Box 982 The Dalles, OR 97058
OR
Click on this link
e-mail us at:
warpipes_gorge.net
With Barley Draught 6:30 PM Friday, November 25, 2011 at The Clock Tower in The Dalles, OR
With Barley Draught 7 PM Sunday, December 18, 2011 at St. Peter Landmark in The Dalles, OR
www.warpipesschoolofpiping.com
You are listening to "Remember Me In An Fhairche" copyright 2011 Rory M.O'Halloran; a Barley Draught original; Music and lyrics by Rory M. O'Halloran.
To hear the live version with real instrumentation and vocals, visit Barley Draught when you're in the Columbia River Gorge!
