Welcome
A special way of honoring and remembering friends and loved ones.
Appropriate for all weddings, funerals and memorial services, corporate and promotional events, banquets and family gatherings, religious services, parties, and special functions.

PIPE MAJOR NICK CLASSEN began learning to play the bagpipes in 1961 in Austin, Texas, and has the longest tenure of piping in Austin of any piper in the area. He has played for well over 2,000 occasions during his years of piping which include parties, weddings, funerals, parades, civic and social functions, business promotional performances, TV appearances, and special religious ceremonies and church services.

P/M Classen has studied bagpiping under the late, world famous piper Seumas Mac Neill of Glasgow, Scotland, who was one of the founders of the College of Piping in Glasgow. He has also studied with a number of other champion pipers in the United States and Canada including Michael Cusack, Robert Worral, Sandy Jones, Lars Sloan, Roderick MacDonald, Mark Wygent, and Reay MacKay. He has taught piping for over 20 years in the Austin Area, and has competed and won awards in solo piping and pipe band competitions at Highland Games in Texas, Oklahoma, Connecticut and Winnipeg, Manitoba.

P/M Classen was one of the Founders of the Southwest Piping and Drumming Association in 1970, which was the first effort to organize pipers and drummers in Texas and Oklahoma. He is currently a member of the Southwest Branch of the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association. He was a member of the Houston Highlanders, Alamo City Highlanders (San Antonio) and Austin Highlanders Pipe Bands before the formation of the Capitol City Highlanders Pipe Band (CCHPB) in 1981. With the exception of a two-year period, he has served as pipe major of the CCHPB from its beginning to the pressent time.

Highlights of P/M Classen's piping career include :

  • Performing for five Texas Governors (Connally, Smith, White, Briscoe, Clements)
  • Playing for the Grand Openings at Austin Hancock Center (1964) and Highland Mall (1973)
  • Participating in the opening day ceremony for HemisFair/Texas in 1968.
  • Performing at the Governor's Mansion in 1985 where Governor Mark White honored and entertained publisher Malcolm Forbes and other guests including Lady Bird Johnson, Ross Perot, George Kozmetsky and Dr. Red Duke
  • Piping for Prince Charles' visit to Austin in 1986
  • Playing for the Governor For a Day Ceremony in 1989 honoring Senator (Governor for the Day) John Leedom of Dallas
  • Playing for Claudia Taylor (Lady Bird) Johnson's TRIBUTE CEREMONY at the LBJ LIBRARY, July 2007

P/M Classen holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Kansas and a Master of Science Degree in Environmental Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin . He is a Licensed Professional Engineer in the State of Texas and worked in the Environmental Engineering programs of Agencies of the State of Texas for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2000.