Funeral & Wedding Piper
A Bagpiper (Bagpipe Player)
Solo - Lone Piper for any event.

Funerals, functions, events and Bagpipe Tuition
Burn's evenings - Piping the Haggis,
St.Andrew's & St.Patrick's Days,
Funerals- - Weddings



Bryan Mitchell offers professional Bagpiping services, adding impact and ceremony to any event.

The ceremonial bagpiper of choice in full highland military regalia, or in other styles of attire, for funerals, weddings, civic and corporate events, or for anniversaries, Robert Burn's evenings, Haggis address and even whisky tastings. Easily available for local region locations and venues. For further afield, in other regions of New Zealand, either by travelling or referral to out of area contacts, a piper can usually be arranged.

Bryan has played internationally and regularly plays for Cambridge civic ceremonies (solo piping for remembrance services) and for RSA and Le Quesnoy related events over the past 40+ years. During this time Bryan was the P/Mjr of the Cambridge & Districts Pipe Band for 35 years. Prior to this he was P/Mjr for a period in the City of Hamilton Pipe Band having previously played with the City of Auckland P.B. and the North Shore Highland Pipe Band. He has in past years also played concurrently with the Auckland Police Pipe Band and the City of Manukau Pipes & Drums in local contesting and overseas performances in Australia, U.S.A., and Canada.

With his wide experience and significant repertoire of tunes, Bryan can easily handle any piping need and situation.

 Free Bagpiper referrals possible for out of region locations, almost anywhere in New Zealand.

Funerals

The specialist piper for Funerals...
 E-mail your inquiry to Bryan

I can service funerals throughout the Waikato, Waipa, Matamata, King Country, South Waikato regions.
And have provided service to these funeral homes as well as families who independently organise their piper.
Funeral homes or funeral services like Haven, Grinters, Watersons, Broadway, Woolertons, Morrisons, Seddon Park, Simplicity, Simply, Pellows, Ana-Maria, Heritage, South Waikato, Rosetown, Sadliers.
My tartan attire can be Scottish, Irish, Welsh or Cornish and potentially your family or clan tartan.

Piping services can be as wanted for:
Piping the casket in.
Piping the casket out.
To your selected tunes .
Play tunes in the background while tributes are placed on the coffin once in the hearse.
When the hearse departs the pipes can be played from a stationary position,
OR can lead it away, for the final send off.

 If a burial follows the service:
the cemetery (graveside) can also be included:
Pipe the pallbearers to the grave site.
Play a lament as, or once the casket is lowered.
Play as final tributes are cast into the grave.
Mostly tunes requested are Airs or Laments, but sometimes folk want uplifting tunes
to celebrate the life of the deceased. This is something the pipes can do very well.

Attendance is always in kilted garb and if the deceased is ex-Military,
if requested, I can wear full Highland military garb to honour their service.
E-mail your inquiry to Bryan

Funeral Tunes

There are many suitable tunes, but often requested tunes are listed here:

Abide with Me
Amazing Grace,
Danny Boy,
Dark Island, The
Flower of Scotland, O'
Flowers of the Forest,
Going Home,
Highland Cathedral,
Loch Lomond,
Lord Lovat's Lament,
Mingulay Boat Song
Mist Covered Mountains,
Mo Ghilie Mear,
Old Rustic Bridge, The
Raglan Road, The
Road to the Isles, The
Scotland the Brave,
Scots Wha Hae,
Skye Boat Song,
Westering Home,
When the Battle is Over,
When the Piper Plays,


Learning to Play the Bagpipes - Tuition
 Are you interested in learning to play the bagpipes?
Or Perhaps someone in your family? Basic Tuition Information.

Click on the image below for more detailed information on
learning to play the bagpipes
General background and information details follow:


Cambridge. 
Tauranga. 
Raglan.
National Pk. 
Cambridge. 
Tirau. 
Hamilton. 
Pornic, France. 
Te Rapa. 


Budapest. 
Danube. 
Bratislava.
Bavaria. 
Salzburg. 
Brittany. 
Le Pouldu, Fr. 
Shetland. 
Dublin. 
St.Andrews. 
Re-Enactment. 

Extensive experience.

Bryan has the experience and knowledge to advise on procedures or play bagpipes at a wide variety of functions: Receptions, Weddings, Funerals, Civic and Ceremonial occasions, Ceilidh dances, Highland Dancing, Anniversaries, Remembrance parades, Corporate functions and more.

Having played the bagpipes since 1962, and been a Pipe-Major since 1987, and played in more than 22 countries. At private functions, at formal and informal occasions; wedding funerals, civic, cultural events and for the dancing at numerous ceilidhs, highland dancing competitions, A&P Shows and demonstrations, and has been a solo piping competitor as well as played in Pipe band competitions and tattoos. Piping locations have been very diverse for many different reasons. I have played for weddings, funerals, and other occasions in places like... Scotland, Orkney, Shetland, Faroe Is., Iceland, Canada, U.S.A., Bermuda, Jamaica, Panama, Tahiti, Norfolk Is., Tasmania, Australia, New Zealand (N.I., S.I., Gt.Barrier), Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Austria, Germany, France, Denmark, England, Ireland, Nn Ireland, Wales.
On the high seas - Tasman, Pacific and Atlantic.

Choose tunes:

Scottish, or Irish exclusively, or a selection combining tunes from either, plus tunes from other sources. Tunes can be specially written, or transcribed from other genre (within reason). Tunes can also be played on the Highland Small-pipes.
Choice of tartans.

If you want the piper attired in a Scottish, Irish, Welsh or even Cornish tartan, ask, it is probably possible.

 Choice of different Highland dress styles.

Styles of attire can vary from full No.1 Highland Regimental dress (military regalia) best used in winter & cooler weather, or in feilidhmhor or feilidhbeag kilted attire in styles including various plaid and jacket combinations.(refer to the small photo images above).

Locations - There's a huge variety to choose from.

Anywhere in the NZ within reason and within your budget, even at sea. Pipers can perform in almost any location. Usually individual pipers have a base fee. But beyond a 'home' radius of their domicile, extra time and travel costs will probably apply. Bryan for example has played in many places for weddings; on mountains, hills, plains, at beaches, parks, gardens, farms, lakesides, churches, halls, grand mansions, civic centres, theatres, hideaway lodges, chapels, cathedrals, temples, public and private locations. Almost anywhere is possible - At times even places like France and Scotland were possible on rare occasions- but referrals to pipers there are also possible.

bryan.jpg
 Bryan, at the Tetoto Gorge, a sea breached volcanic caldera on the western side of Mt Karori near Raglan.

Amidst the Ling heather in National Park.

WP-StAndrews.jpg
Bryan, piping for a wedding in St.Andrews, Scotland.

E-mail your inquiry for a piper to Bryan Mitchell.


Scottish and/or Irish tunes
for a wide range of functions. Funerals, Weddings, Anniversaries, Birthdays, Events, Conferences, Highland & Ceilidh Dancing, etc. If you have special bagpipe tune requirements, let me know. I can search my library or other resources for existing tunes or can compose a tune for that special person or occasion.

I have a library of many thousands of bagpipe tunes, in books and in digital format so can usually find tunes or track them down, and transpose them if required (and transposable) to the bagpipe scale.

I provide this tune service freely to other pipers who may need to track down tunes for any reason.

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Tips on Using a Piper at a NZ wedding.

The role of a Piper in NZ.

Cellphone signal coverage at our rural location is extremely poor, and reception totally unreliable. Therefore our email IS NOT linked through to any cellphone. We rely on broadband laptop computer based email inquiry and response methods. So response will not be immediate, but would normally be within 6-24 hours. Often less. There is a facebook page, @nzpiper4u. However again on there queries are asked to be directed to the email address as fb is accessed less frequently than our email system and fb response is NOT immediate and so could take longer.

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BEMitchell
Updated Jan2026
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