Atlanta Pipe Band

About the Atlanta Pipe Band

Having recently entered its 51st year, The Atlanta Pipe Band continues to further the great tradition of Scottish music and culture through performance and education.

The APB is the pioneering Scottish cultural organization in Atlanta that provided inspiration and leadership for other local Scottish organizations that followed.

The Atlanta Pipe Band prides itself on shaping young players into accomplished musicians and encouraging new players to join and learn the art of Scottish music. The band provides instruction for students, aged 8 and above, in piping and drumming, including snare, tenor and bass.

The Band performs frequently for civic, commercial and private celebrations, adding its unique flair to a wide range of events across Georgia and the Southeast. In 2018, the APB performed on two occasions with the renowned Irish supergroup, The Chieftains, in Atlanta and Athens. The band has two IMDb credits, for soundtrack in the motion picture, Into the Wild, and for documentary in Celtic Women: Believe, recorded at Atlanta’s Fox Theater.

The Band’s long history includes such titles as US Open Pipe Band Champion (Grade 3), Eastern US Pipe Band Champion (Grade 3 and 4), Southeast Pipe Band Champion (Grade 3 and 4), Southern Pipe Band Champion (Grade 3) and Midwest Pipe Band Champion (Grade 3).

Under the leadership of Pipe Major John Recknagel and Drum Sergeant Patrick Osborne, the APB’s two competition units are a major force on the competitive circuit. The APB finished first in the Grade 3 season standings in the Eastern U.S. Pipe Band Association in 2013 and 2016, straddling two third-place finishes in the intervening years. As a result, the APB’s Grade 3 unit advanced to Grade 2, competing at that level in 2017 and 2018.

Currently the band has two competition units competing in grade 3 and grade 4.

While competing primarily in the Southeast, the bands’ competition schedule has taken them across the U.S., from the East Coast to the West, and even into Canada at Maxville, Ontario, and Montreal, Quebec.

Both competition units draw members able and desiring to compete and perform at a higher level, both from the metro Atlanta region and across the Southeast. Individual members of the band have competed at the highest levels in the U.S., Canada and the U.K., and many are prize-winning soloists. All, however, take special pride in the ensemble performance, producing a technically challenging and musically satisfying experience for the listener.

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