Coffin dodgers all, we are mostly retired. Some of us are more tired than others. Despite this, we have a love for the pipes and the music, and we gather weekly (and sometimes more frequently) to play the Great Highland Bagpipe, learn the intricacies and nuances of the tunes, and share experience in musicality, maintenance and history of this loved-or-hated instrument.

For the last 10 years, our group has been meeting, learning and playing the Great Highland Bagpipe (GHBP), playing for parades, memorials, funerals, weddings, gatherings, churches, you name it. We have pipers ranging in experience from boy pipers with British regiments to enthusiastic hacks, but all of us work as a family to get better and entertain our audiences. Whether it’s a parade, a funeral, a wedding, a celebration or a memorial, any and all of us truly love what we do.

Every piper in our group plays well. Some of us have competed at national level, and a couple of us have won national grading. All of us are musicians. 

P/M Bill Muzzy has been in the piping world for longer than he can remember. His interest in teaching came from his experiences as an administrator and instructor at the North American Academy of Piping and Drumming under the late John McFayden and Sandy Jones, where Bill served as a teacher of the beginning piper classes, ran the school and generally stewarded at the Grandfather Mountain Highland Games for many years.

Bill’s teaching style is quiet and efficient. He believes in allowing students to hear their mistakes, self-critique and correct under advisement. Over the many years Bill has been a piper, he has been the inspiration for several fine players to go on to excel. He still plays daily, and his appreciation of piobaireachd is legendary, as anyone learning Ceol Mhor from him will appreciate. 

Bill is an expert in the history of piping. He has played in bands along the Gulf Coast for many years. He has performed solo at too many ceremonies to list, and before Hurricane Katrina, Bill had one of the most enviable collections of piping music in the US. Alas, much of it was destroyed, some of it priceless and irreplaceable. His favorite teaching phrase is “well, it’s not exactly as written …”

When he retired and moved to Ocean Springs over ten years ago, Bill began teaching students locally. Today, Bill teaches the Piobaireachd Master Class (by invitation) on Tuesdays, the Beginning Piper class on Wednesdays, followed by the Advanced Pipers class, followed by the Band Assembly. He can be reached at classes or by email.

The current Pipe Sergeant of the St. John’s Pipers, COL. (Dr.) Bill “Doc” Christmas a.k.a. “The Colonel”, is a retired U.S. Army veteran. His current instructors are P/M Bill Muzzy and P/M COL. (Dr) Martin Docherty. Originally born in New Zealand, he was a member of the NZ Army and learned to play the bagpipe in the NZ Scottish Regiment. He began teaching the bagpipe in 1998 while in the US military, and has played for US military ceremonies and leaders all over the world. He assumed the role of Pipe Major of the Mineral Area Police Pipes and Drums as instructor and director in 2000 after he left active duty.

He became Pipe Sergeant for the Grade 3 John Ford Pipe Band in St. Louis and competed with the Grade 1 Invera’an Pipe Band as a piper under P/M COL. (Dr.) Martin Docherty. Doc was both a student and an instructor at the North American Academy of Piping and Drumming for several years, where he was instructed by P/M Sandy Jones, P/M Gordon Warburton, P/M Ed Neigh, P/M Bill Caudill and P/M Greg Abbott. Both P/M Jones and P/M Abbott have taught at schools and workshops directed, taught and organized by the Colonel.

Before retirement, COL. Christmas competed at multiple national competitions in grades 4, 3 and Grade 2. He is currently rated by the EUSPBA at Senior Grade 4. His favorite teaching phrase is “well, it could be worse …” Doc does teach selected individual students privately in the Scottish style of Canntaireachd, and is a self- confessed perfectionist. He also accepts bookings for private performances.