Upper Potomac Music Weekends 

Barry Shears is a native of Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. He has been playing the bagpipe for 50 years, and at an early age began collecting and composing music for the Highland bagpipe. He is an acknowledged expert on the history of traditional piping in Nova Scotia and its intrinsic connection to the Gaelic language, music and culture of the province. Barry is an award-winning musician and has performed at festivals and concerts throughout North America and Europe. He has published several books of bagpipe music and history, performed and appeared in two movies, and appeared on several recordings of traditional music.

​

In addition to numerous articles (a partial listing can be found at capebretonpiper.com) dealing with Highland culture in Nova Scotia and abroad. His list of publications include The Gathering of the Clans Collection, Volume One; The Gathering of the Clans Collection, Volume Two; The Cape Breton Collection of Bagpipe Music; The Flordia Smallpipe Collection; and Dance to the Piper: The Highland Bagpipe in Nova Scotia, a book of history based on his Master of Arts thesis from Saint Mary’s University in Halifax and published by Cape Breton University Press in 2008.  A 6th collection of history and music titled “Play it Like You Sing It” The Shears Collection of bagpipe Music and Cutlure from Nova Scotia was published with great fanfare in October 2018. This collection covers piper profiles and images, a study of immigrant  and locally made bagpipes in Nova Scotia, and 249 tunes collected from the last of the ear-trained pipers in Cape Breton.

​

Currently retired from competition, Barry spends much of his spare time researching Nova Scotia’s extensive piping history, collecting traditional pipe music and piping related paraphernalia, composing and arranging, performing at concerts and dances, adjudicating piping competitions, and teaching and lecturing on Cape Breton dance music both at home and abroad.