Sean Patrick Regan Bagpiper

Each performance includes world-class piping, presented in traditional Highland regalia. Events are customized to the client's needs. The following are typical performance arrangements, though the specifics may differ from one event to another.

Weddings:
Prelude, playing marches and strathspeys outside or inside as appropriate, as guests arrive
Procession, playing from a stationary point or leading the bridal party up the aisle
Hymns or other dedications during the service, sometimes in collaboration with the organist and other musicians
Recession, leading the newlyweds back up the aisle
Postlude, playing reels, hornpipes, and jigs outside or inside as appropriate, as guests leave

Wedding Receptions:
Ambient music, strathspeys & reels and hornpipes & jigs played outside or inside as appropriate, as guests arrive
Procession, leading the bride and groom into the reception hall
Dances and dedications, slow airs or waltzes as appropriate
Ambient music during dinner
Fireworks, a short set of dizzyingly fast tunes to finish off a performance

Funerals:
Prelude, playing slow airs, piobaireachd, and hymns outside or inside as appropriate, as guests arrive
Procession, leading the family and/or the casket into the church or funeral home
Hymns or other dedications during the service, sometimes in collaboration with the organist and other musicians
Recession, leading the casket to the car
Postlude, playing slow tunes as guests return to their cars for the funeral procession
Ambient music, playing at the gravesite as guests arrive and gather
Amazing Grace, usually reserved for the end, played either stationary or symbolically leading the deceased away as appropriate

Family Reunions/Birthday Parties/Receptions:
Approach the site from a distance, playing the pipes
A Show: alternating music and stories about the bagpipe and pipers, Q&A, special requests, etc., each show being customized to the audience
Ambient music, played nearby to lend an appropriately festive air to the occasion, often followed by mingling for Q&A, as appropriate

Festivals/Concerts/In-service Performances:
Shows as arranged by contract

Sean Patrick Regan is a third-generation piper. He started lessons at the age of 8 under the instruction of his father, Dr. Patrick Regan, who was the first person in the world to earn a degree in bagpiping (BFA-Carnegie Mellon University). Sean is the only person in the world to earn a Music Education degree with the bagpipe as the primary instrument (BAME-Edinboro University of PA), and one of only two persons to receive a Master of Music Performance (Bagpipes) from Carnegie Mellon University. A musician with over 40 different instruments under his belt, he has entertained audiences at home and abroad for over 25 years.

Sean began his formal study of the Scottish arts as a highland dancer at the age of four. He continued as a competitive dancer until he turned 13, when he decided to more actively pursue competitive piping and drumming. His band experience began with the Steel Thistle Pipes & Drums of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he played as a piper and snare drummer in grades V, IV and III. He also played snare with the Carnegie Mellon University Grade III Pipe Band, and was a member of the midsection of the Carrick High School Pipes & Drums in Grade V competition. During his time as a student at Edinboro University, Sean expanded his performance and musical background by joining the Great Lakes Grade II Pipe Band of Cleveland, Ohio piping with them at the North American Championships and winning the Midwest and Canadian Pipe Band Championships. While at Edinboro University, Sean played in over 200 performances, and earned recognition through countless academic and competitive awards. He graduated Summa Cum Laude as the Outstanding Music Major of his class, and was inducted into the National Music Honor Society.

Sean moved into the Grade I bracket of the EUSPBA in 2008, but his solo competition career was put on hold when he began to pursue his teacher education. In 2007 and 2008 he taught as a guest instructor of the Bluebonnet School of Scottish Bagpiping and Drumming, and in 2009 he taught as a guest instructor for the College of Piping, in Glasgow. In 2012 he directed and taught at the small but well-received Edinboro Scottish Arts Summer Camp.

Also in 2012, Sean returned to solo competitive piping, winning Piper of the Day at the Alma Highland Festival and at the College of Wooster Piping and Drumming Competition. He finished the year by winning six 1st-places in seven events sanctioned by the World Online Piping and Drumming Championships, which made him the highest-scoring competitor in the world, and amounted to one-fifth of the total points earned by the United States that year. In 2013, Sean graduated from Edinboro and accepted the position of Director of Music at Massanutten Military Academy in Woodstock, Virginia. He ended that year ranked 7th out of 73 Grade I competitors in the eastern United States. The 2014 and 2015 seasons progressed with numerous awards, culminating in the 2015 United States Piping Foundation where Sean took 1st in the Piobaireachd and 2nd in the MSR events, earning him the Grade I aggregate title (and shiny silver belt buckle!). During that time, Sean also played with the Greater Richmond Grade III Pipe Band and the Peel Regional Police Grade I Pipe Band.

At the end of 2015 Sean received confirmation of having successfully passed the Level 8 and Piping Teacher certification exams from the Piping and Drumming Qualifications Board, and was upgraded to Professional solo competition. He ended the 2016 competitive season ranked 10th of 133 Professional competitors in the eastern United States.

Sean worked for four years as the Director of Music at Massanutten Military Academy, where the Pipe Band was the primary school ensemble, building the program from five members to over 30 in a school with a population of only 100 students. In 2017 he returned to Pittsburgh and began instructing the Balmoral Pipes & Drums, ending the 2018 seasons and 2019 seasons at the top of their grade. Also in 2017, he joined and began performing with The Rogues, "America's Celtic Band," and is featured on their 25th Anniversary Album, "25... and LIVE!"

In 2018 he accepted the position of Pipe Band Director at Edinboro University, where he taught until 2023. Between the Edinboro and Balmoral Pipe Bands, Sean ran over 130 band practices online during the pandemic. He also taught hundreds of lessons by Zoom; having begun teaching online some ten years earlier, it was not as jarring a transition for him as it was for some. He ended the 2020 season ranked 3rd in the solo standings for the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association.

Today, Sean perform locally and nationally, and teaches piping and drumming in-person and via remote instruction. He also continues to serve through the Balmoral School of Piping & Drumming, a Pittsburgh-based nonprofit tax-exempt corporation which produces education- and entertainment-oriented events, both online and in person, for students and audiences of all ages and ability levels.

For most events, no additional amplification is needed.