Our Dojo University team are led by world-champion bagpipers who have been master instructors for decades, working with bands and soloists all over the world, from complete beginners all the way up to professional pipers and Grade 1 bands. 

Our teaching faculty are all leaders in their own bands and extremely experienced instructors, performers, and band leader, with decades of experience to guide you to Bagpipe Freedom. 

As a Dojo U student, you'll be getting the best advice in the world, from people who don't just talk the talk; we've walked (and won!) just about every walk there is at every level in the bagpiping world.

We run between 3 and 6 live online classes every weekday, and a few classes every weekend as well. During the March Makeover month, we'll be running at least two dedicated daily classes to help you work on the weekly topics and end your bagpipe struggles!

Dear Struggling Bagpiper,

The above quote was part of an actual response I received when I asked my email list how I could help them succeed.

Believe me, when I sent the email, I wasn't expecting to run into an emotional brick wall with the responses. I was... ya know... just trying to do my due diligence as a business owner.

Why did I get emotional? Surely, I've seen this sort of thing before.

As it turns out, there were two reasons.

Reason 1: It's not supposed to be this way, for anybody! Nobody decides to learn the bagpipes in hopes for a struggle.

The pipers who succeed (not just in playing well, but also in enjoying the experience)... they're not struggling. They're not tense. Somehow they've cracked the code to make their bagpipes easy to play. If you're reading this now, you deserve that too.

Reason 2: Countless, I mean countless people had already responded with the Exact. Same. Painful. Experience.

How could there be so many folks out there struggling? And not just struggling – hating it! Hating the experience of simply picking their pipes up.

I want to share some actual quotations from email responses I received. Do any of these resonate with you?

"...I want my bagpipes to be my friend, not my enemy."

"I feel like I'll never be more than a mediocre piper because I can't control this octopus..."

"If I don't get answers, I'm eventually going to have to quit."

"I play much better on the practice chanter than I do on the pipes."

"When I try to play my bagpipes I am firing all over the place in a disorganized way."

"I am so tense (when playing the pipes) that my thumbs get very sore, from gripping so much."

"I have been playing my bagpipes for 20 years and they're still not easy or comfortable."

"No matter what I do, I never have enough breath to keep the pipes going for more than 30 seconds."

“If I was confident in tuning, I could pick up my pipes, play a couple of tunes, get them close and get stuck into a session. That would make me want to play them, to jam my way through tunes, old favorites, or focus on some new material. I spend so much effort on trying (and failing) to get them sounding reasonable that I hate playing, so I just do the bare minimum, then back in the box. I've lost my mojo :-(“

And these were just the well worded examples! As the proprietor of an online school for bagpipers, I was shocked and a bit freaked out that we had failed so miserably, so many times, to help people develop a bagpipe that was comfortable to play.

When I pick up my pipes, I never have any doubt that they'll be comfortable.

I never lack any confidence that I can get them sounding truly enjoyable in a few minutes' time.

As I play, I'm generally fully relaxed, and able to focus on the music.

And, if I experience any discomfort or tension being brought on by my pipes, I have a quick, easy, no-brainer way to correct whatever the issue is. That way, I can get back to my session (i.e. having great fun and enjoying music-making) as soon as possible.

Now, I'm not saying this to brag. I'm saying this because it's finally time for you to enjoy the exact same experience when piping.

At Dojo University (our online, worldwide bagpipe school) we're so dedicated to helping you achieve this feeling, we're taking over our entire online bagpipe school for the month of March 2023, with a program that promises to teach you bagpipe comfort and confidence in 30 days, or your money back!

This program guarantees:

• When you pick up your pipes, there will never be any doubt that they'll be comfortable.

• You'll no longer have any lack of confidence that you can get them sounding truly enjoyable in a few minutes' time.

• As you play, you'll be fully relaxed, and able to focus on the music.

• And, if you experience any discomfort or tension being brought on by your pipes, you'll have a quick, easy, no-brainer way to correct whatever the issue is. That way, you can get back to your session (i.e. having great fun and enjoying music-making) as soon as possible.

If you follow our program for 30 days, we promise bagpipe hell will be in the rear-view mirror.

At the end of the month, you will be a drastically more confident, comfortable piper. Period.

Will you still have days where the pipes aren't cooperating? Yes. But you’ll know exactly how to attack issues that crop up, so you can get back to playing music.

To tie this all in with our theme – piping can finally become that little slice of heaven to look forward to each day. That's the way it should be.

We teach thousands of students around the world how to play good music – mastering the art of learning and playing the bagpipes in the process – in a highly accessible way that is completely unlike anything else you'll find online or in person, anywhere in the world.

We created Dojo U because we noticed that too many pipers were struggling out there in the world. Bagpiping should be a joyful experience, each and every day you pick up the pipes. If it's not, we strive to fix that before it's too late.

At Dojo U, we do things a little differently to how you may have approached learning to play the bagpipes before.

One of the key reasons for our ongoing success is that we're always evolving, improving, and growing, so if you've been a student and left us for any reason – you'll probably notice that the Dojo looks a bit different to what you might remember (and has a lot more value to explore). 

We'd love to welcome you back and show you around!

Believe me, you're not the first person to have doubts about the effectiveness of online bagpipe lessons. 

Our school is indeed a big shift from the typical "master-->apprentice" approach to teaching bagpipes. 

It is indeed harder to teach certain skills over the internet (as we can't do much that's truly "hands on.")

It's true, some of the "in person magic" that you can get from a truly great solo lesson or group session might not seem to be as magical in an online setting.

The Thought Experiment

All of these difficult challenges indeed crossed my mind one beautiful day in Playa del Carmen, Mexico. It was the year 2011 and my wife and I were on our honeymoon. We were sipping frozen cocktails, and daydreaming. My wife was presumably daydreaming about normal things... but not me. I was, of course, daydreaming about bagpipe stuff. 

The daydream went like this:

1. "I really used to love bagpipe camp as a kid.
2. As an adult, I love teaching at bagpipe camps, because no one has more fun (and gets better faster) than at a bagpipe camp. 
3. It's too bad bagpipe camps are so expensive, require so much travel, time away from work and family, etc. It's really too bad...
4. You know, if you could do a bagpipe camp using the internet, the price and challenges of going to piping school would be greatly diminished, and the school could serve far more people. 
5. But that will never work. (and here I proceeded to list all the reasons an online bagpipe school would never work. It included many of the "objections" we discussed above)
6. Ok, ok, but what if somehow we could make it work. What would be gained?"

And so, I proceeded to think about all of the incredible benefits that could be had at a fictional, mystical "online bagpipe school." 

1. Instead of a great bagpiping experience for one week per year, we could up it to 52 weeks per year!
2. The price of this service could be much less than "real" bagpipe camp. Much, much, much less.
3. Wherever you were in the world, you could experience incredible bagpipe sessions from the world's best pipers.
4. No commute, no gas money, (and in 2020 and beyond - no health risks!)
5. We could teach students with a longer-term strategy (not confined to just one week). 
6. We could teach students the art of integrating bagpiping into their daily lives; not that bagpiping is just something fun you might get to dive deep into one week per year at a far off place.
7. We could develop an incredible community of pipers that grew together over time.
8. And the list of "good" things went on, and on, and on.

So, just over a decade ago, it became clear that I couldn't afford not to try to build the world's first "online bagpipe school." And so that's what I did (with the help of my extremely talented team, and amazing world-class instructors).

All of the challenging bits above are still challenging. It would be amazing if I could some how magically reach through my computer screen and help a student whip their pipes into tune. 

But the reality is, these challenges have made student and teacher better as a result. And meanwhile, the positive benefits (many of which I predicted back in 2011) keep proving greater, and greater, and greater.

Dojo University is a fantastic product for bagpipers with and without access to in person instruction:

Bagpipers without access to in-person instruction can utilize Dojo U to (quite literally) ascend from the very first day picking up a practice chanter to becoming an advanced bagpiper. Many have already done it!

Bagpipers with access to in person instruction can and should supplement their in-person lessons with the Dojo. The Dojo can help you develop a more rounded skillset than private lessons typically offer, and can provide you with the support an community any bagpiper needs to be successful.