Bagpiper

At the age of 8, David Barnard began his piping tuition with Noarlunga City Pipe Band (PM, Bill Corrin) in South Australia, where he gained valuable parade experience. He was eventually selected by the City of Adelaide Pipe Band (PM, Bret Tidswell) and participated in their development programme, tutored by James (Jim) Smith.

At 18, when David moved to the UK he continued his piping as a solo player, with many weddings, funerals, Burns suppers etc. David had a brief stint with the Pride of Murray Pipe Band in London, which included Artois Libéré parades, in remembrance of WWII, in Calais, France and surrounding towns in 2010.

When David returned to Australia, he took up the position of Pipe Major with the Castlemaine Highland Pipe Band in Victoria, where he undertook the development of their music and general artistic planning. He was also a member of the Victorian Pipers’ Association (Murray Blair) and through this, embarked on some invaluable tuition with Terry Tully, during his visit to Australia.

David’s job then took him to New Zealand, where he joined the City of Wellington Pipe Band and held the positions of Pipe Sergeant and Band Secretary, again with significant development of the artistic planning and musical progress of the band. This included securing RNZPBA education funding for a joint band retreat and concert with the Wairarapa Fern & Thistle Pipe Band, where he conjointly acted as Pipe Major, to assist in their musical development and artistic planning.

David plays 1990’s R.G. Hardie blackwood pipes, with Balance Tone (HR) drone reeds, G1 chanter reed, Gannaway leather pipe bag with Highland Reeds/Bruce Hitchings moisture control system and a David Naill blackwood solo chanter. In March 2022, David returned to the UK to pursue his love of Piobaireachd and resumed private lessons in Scotland.

In 2023, David had the joy of leading a pipe band of 24 players from Germany, France, Hungary and the UK for André Rieu Productions. This was for 5 performances in Cluj-Napoca, Romania at the BT Arena.

Following on from Romania, André Rieu asked David to lead the massed bands for the Vrijthof season in Maastricht in July 2023. This involved over 220 musicians from Belgium, Germany, England, Scotland and The Netherlands. Each of the 12 performances saw 150 pipes and drums on stage with André Rieu and his Johann Strauss Orchestra.