Scholarships

You’ve heard of scholarships for violinists and guitarists, for flutists and pianists, so why not a Bagpipe Scholarship?

Where to Find a Bagpipe Scholarship

Believe it or not, there are actually a number of educational institutions that offer partial scholarships for those who play the bagpipes.  At most of the colleges and universities that offer these sorts of scholarships, it is not designated as a “bagpipe scholarship” but usually as a scholarship given out by the college’s Celtic Studies program and the scholarship is given for the practice of a “Celtic Art,” though there are a few, such as Monmouth College, in west central Illinois; Manhattan College Pipes and Drums in New York; St. Andrews Presbyterian College, located at Laurinburg, North Carolina; The College of Wooster, located in Wooster, Ohio; Lyon College in Batesville, Arkansas; Iona College in New, Rochelle, N.Y and Alma College, located at Alma, Michigan, all of which offer minor or partial bag-piping scholarships. There is even a bagpipe and drum core in western North Carolina called the Highlands Pipes and Drums of Cullowhee that offers a partial college scholarship in the memory of one of its members.

In fact, there are even more colleges where, with a little creative writing when it comes to the essay section, a student who plays the bagpipes (and who may be majoring in music or some such related field) can actually apply for a full or partial scholarship through the college or university’s music department.

However, if you are looking for a full four year scholarship for a Bagpipe Major, there is only one place in the United States where you will find it and that is at Carnegie Mellon University.

The Only Four Year Bagpipe Scholarship

Yes, you heard that right.  Carnegie Mellon University not only offers the only major in Bagpipe Studies offered in the United States, it also offers needs based scholarship to go with it.

The Carnegie Mellon University Bagpipe Scholarship awards the winner (or winners) up to $7,000 per year for four years as long as they are pursuing a degree in Bagpipe Studies and the proceeds can be used towards books and tuition.

Carnegie Mellon’s tradition of bagpipe scholarships can be traced back to its founder, Andrew Carnegie who actually employed his own personal piper, Alasdair Gilles to be director of Carnegie Mellon’s piping program, and the college still follows the tradition set by employing top-notch bag-pipe instructors for their bagpipe majors.

The Good News

The good news is that there is not a lot of competition for the Carnegie Mellon Bagpipe Scholarship.  Currently there is only one American studying to be a bagpipe major, and only three individuals have graduated from the program in all the years that it has been available, so if you play the bagpipes, you may just want to consider giving this unique scholarship a try.

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