Biography

Timothy Cummings is a Vermont-based composer and multi-instrumentalist (chiefly a piper) who enjoys an uncommonly diverse repertoire.  His music spans from contemporary and sacred music to the traditional melodies of the British Isles, Appalachia, Cape Breton, Brittany, and beyond.

Tim earned his undergraduate degree in Music Education at the College of Wooster, (Ohio), both a B.A. Honours degree in Ethnomusicology and an M.A. in Musicology at the New Zealand School of Music—Te Kōkī (Wellington), and spent a semester at the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and National Piping Centre (Glasgow).

While living in New Zealand, Tim was a member of the Manawatu Scottish Pipe Band (Grade 1), winning the Royal NZ Pipe Band Championships in 2001. In 2002-03 he was the Artist in Residence at The College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts of Canada (Summerside, PEI).

Tim is currently on applied faculty at Middlebury College and the Middlebury Community Music Center. He performs regularly with Triton, a trio with accordionist/pianist Jeremiah McLane and violinist/nyckelharper Alex Kehler.

In addition to teaching and performing, he operates Birchen Music & Publishing, a cottage industry devoted to publishing a diverse array of new music for Scottish-style pipes. He has also written extensively for the National Piping Centre’s Piping Today magazine.

Recent creative projects have included The Wind Among the Reeds, an award-winning duo album with Jeremiah McLane (2016); On This Day Earth Shall Ring, an extensive printed collection of traditional carols arranged for pipes (2017); The Birds’ Flight, a Scottish & Appalachian-themed album with Pete Sutherland and Brad Kolodner (2021); and Rule of Three (2023), Triton’s debut album.

Tim has appeared as a performer, workshop leader, and dance musician at Acadia Trad School (ME), the Beinn Gorm Smallpipe Weekends (VT), Càirdeas (VT), the Celtic Arts Foundation (WA), Colaisde na Gàidhlig / The Gaelic College (NS), Maine Pipes & Fiddle Weekends, the Northeast Heritage Music Camp (VT), PEI Fiddle Camp, The Pipers’ Gathering (VT, CT), The Piper’s Rendezvous (QC), Trad Camp (VT), the Upper Potomac Piper’s Weekend (WV), the Wooster Smallpipes Workshop (OH), the Spanish Peaks International Celtic Music Festival and Piping Retreat (CO), the Bellingham Celtic Festival (WA), the Boxwood Festival (Australia), the Celtic Harmonies International Festival (QC), the Champlain Valley Folk Festival (VT), the Dance Flurry Festival (NY), Festival Chants de Vielles (QC), Fiddle Hell (MA), the New World Festival (VT), Revels North (NH), and Swing Into Summer at Pinewoods (MA).