Charlie Graves, Bagpiper

"Charlie the Bagpiper Guy" has long been a familiar face in pipe band competitions at many Scottish Games and Celtic Festivals throughout the Northeast states and Ontario Province in Canada.

I have been playing the Great Highland Bagpipe since I was eleven years old (over 40 years). I was a core member of the Syracuse Scottish Pipe Band’s elite G3 Competition Group in 2005, when they finished third in the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association (EUSPBA) Northeast Division. When that group disbanded in 2007, I moved on to the Mohawk Valley Frasers G3 Competition Group, which did even better in 2008: we finished first!

As a pipe band competitor right from the start, I realized early on what is critical to winning the Grand Prize: a total and unflinching commitment to playing a well-tuned instrument with fingerwork that is clean and timed with tight precision.

In later years, as I started branching out into solo piping gigs, I took that commitment with me, and never let go of it. I strive each time for that same pursuit of excellence to make my music flow at weddings, funerals, fundraisers, and parties. I have complete Scottish formal dress regalia for these occasions. My repertoire includes a variety of marches, jigs, hornpipes, reels, polkas, slow airs, and slow marches. My instrument is well maintained and fitted with high grade competition components--including a state of the art electronic tuner--for maximum reliability and achieving the highest sound quality.

But the proof is in the listening­-I will be happy to give you an audition if you wish. I'm based in Dryden, NY. My phone is 607-330-2700. My email is cgraves1@twcny.rr.com.