New England Scottish Arts Centre

Very helpful and flexible especially dealing with people during the COVID19 Pandemic. She was very sensitive to my background and experience wanting to incorporate that into my lessons.Very thorough in her assessments.

Lezlie is a true teacher. Everything she does is to help her students. She will make time for an emergency lesson before a competition. She let me borrow a set of bagpipes until I found the perfect set to purchase.

Lezlie gets to know each of her students very well; she understands their individual strengths and weaknesses, and helps pick tunes that are the perfect fit for each individual. If you want an instructor who is going to help you take your piping to the next level, you dont want to miss the opportunity to work with Lezlie.

I started working with Lezlie last year after receiving numerous recommendations noting her charismatic nature and extraordinary teaching methodology; and for good reason. This past year she introduced me to competitive solo piping, and gave me the tools to have a successful season. She has years of experience and an unrivaled knowledge of her craft which allows her to personalize her instruction. This personalized approach is the key to her success, it keeps players engaged and minimizes the frustrations of learning a new instrument or tune. With this method she has fielded numerous professionals and top level amateur soloists. Not only does she provide an unmatched level of instruction, but she devotes her life to spreading the Scottish arts and culture. The time I have spent with Lezlie over the past year has not only made me a better musician, but a better person as well.

I started learning the pipes when I was 12-years-old. Despite my having been an active player/performer for more than 20 years, Ive only recently started pursuing bagpipe competition (starting in 2018).

I had many personal reasons for staying away from competition. Eventually though, I determined that Id like to teach piping myself one day. Accordingly, I concluded that at least going through the experience of competing would enable me to be a more well-rounded resource for any would-be student(s) down the line.

Now although Id finally decided to give competition a go, I was very hesitant and skeptical as I started on my way. In particular, I was very wary in choosing whomsoever I might trust with being an instructor for me in this endeavor. I knew myself well enough to know that if the teacher was too forceful in their own ways/ideas (and those ideas where too divergent with mine), chances were high that Id petulantly rebel and abandon my goal. Quite frankly, Im no picnic, as Im impossibly stubborn.

Now for those who might not know, the principle instructor for the New England Scottish Arts Centre is Lezlie Webster. Shes a professionally-ranked piper, dancer, and she serves as a highly revered adjudicator in these disciplines as well.

She, along with her late husband Gordon (sorely missed), have served as a irreplaceable staple in the propagation of Scottish Arts in the New England area. Gordon was the 9th Sovereigns Piper (1994-1998), and former Pipe Major of both 2nd and 1st Battalions of the Scots Guards. Not surprisingly, their children have grown into profoundly skilled practitioners of the Scottish Arts themselves. Their daughter, Marielle, is an accomplished fiddler and highland dancer, and their son, Campbell, is also a professionally ranked piper, along with also being very capable as a drummer, drum major, and fiddler.

Id had the opportunity to work with Lezlie a bit a few years prior at a summer camp. She impressed me greatly during it, and the things I learned from her in that week served me immensely for years as a performer.

Everyone whose advice I trusted absolutely insisted on the need for me to get an instructor if I wanted to progress with competition. After lengthy internal deliberation, my instincts told me that I could trust Lezlie to take me where I wanted to go, the way I wanted to get there. I reached for the phone, took a deep breath, and dialed up her number.

My instincts proved to be spot on. Rarely have I been more in awe of someones ability to bring the most out of others. She listens, she thinks, she gets YOU to think ... repeat. It seems so simple, but somehow its not. If it truly were that simple, then everyone would be able to do what she does. In my experience, few can come even close. How can that be?

It’s because she loves what she does, and loves sharing it with her pupils. Unfailingly, she gives without any thought of reward. Shell heartily skip a meal to work in yet another lesson; shell text you demanding to know the results of any given contest (if she doesnt happen to be there); shes constantly on the lookout for spare bagpipe parts or uniform bits, knowing that one of her students could use them; shell judge competitors ALL DAY, and then still take time out of her break to listen to a student of hers bumble their way through a bunch of troublesome movements so she can give some on-the-field advise.

You see, simply being an accomplished player doesnt make one a good teacher, especially when it comes to piping. Its a clever art knowing when/how to hammer the pupil over technique, or expression, or phrasing, or tempo, or blowing, or tuning ... a teacher cant do all of it at once, the poor student will lose his/her mind (possibly both of them).

Lezlie’s too smart for that. One item at a time, she helps her students knock their barriers down like dominos. She undoubtedly hears no less than ten things wrong with a tune at any given moment, but she knows which items to attack first. Just as the student has started to get the hang of an issue at hand, Lezlie’s already starting to bring up what’s next. All the while, she still manages to be pleasant and relatable. Coming from someone whose primary motivation is teaching, I can tell you, watching Lezlie at work (let alone being a beneficiary) is truly something.

I finally started competing as of February of 2018. Id begun seeing Lezlie for lessons the prior year starting in May—sporadically at first, and I progressively began increasing my visits as I was able. I was seeing her biweekly starting around November of 2017, and started going weekly by April 2018. Frankly, I found that I couldnt get enough.

With 2018 having come to a close, Ive gotten tons of feedback from all sorts of folks regarding successes Ive enjoyed with my competitions. Im glad to take a bow where its appropriate, but in doing so, I dont want people to mistakenly believe that I deserve all of the credit ... or even a lot of it.

Sure I worked hard, so I guess Ill accept a little (Im short, so I can only hold so much anyways). The rest belongs to one of the most remarkable teachers Ive ever had the good fortune to encounter—her name is Lezlie Webster.