With Founder’s Edition Chanter launch, Lincoln Hilton shifts full-time focus to piping innovation and private tuition

After 14 years with the piping and drumming program at Haileybury College in Melbourne, and the last 10 of those years as its director, Lincoln Hilton will leave the post to focus full-time on “composing and producing both bagpipe and mainstream music, innovating within the piping community, and private tuition.”

Over the last decade, Hilton has carved out a parallel career in music composition and publishing, video production, and product development. His Modern Piping business has produced an award-winning collection, the popular Tone Temple pipe chanter case, and he has previously collaborated with other piping brands such as R.G. Hardie, G1 Reeds, and Boderiou.

The recent introduction of the USD$499 Hilton Chanter “Founder’s Edition” has resulted in almost all of the production limited to only 200 nearly sold out in a matter of a few weeks. The success of his commitment to using only the highest quality materials and production helped to inform his decision to dedicate all of his energy to Modern Piping.

The Founders Edition Hilton Chanter is made with helicopter-grade aluminum and solid brass. Rather than using the traditional irregular note intervals of the Highland bagpipe scale, the Founders Edition chanter is tuned to equal temperament, allowing pipers to play in-tune easily with virtually any other musical instrument.

It comes with a premium-made chanter case for safe storage, a Founders Edition Keepsake Wood Case, Frazer Warnock reed, custom-made medical-grade silicone o-rings for a secure fit, a mountain reed seat, and a split mouthpiece design to prevent moisture pooling.

When Hilton started at Haileybury in 2010, there were about 40 all-male student pipers and drummers. The program today comprises more than 130 and a waitlist, with equal numbers of male and female players. In 2023, the band won Grade 3B at the World Championships.

The Hilton Chanter concept came from his years of teaching. He eventually realized that a poor-sounding practice chanter sapped the motivation to play. “Even if it looked cool, it didn’t matter,” he said. Poor sound made it harder for students to stay excited about playing. In some cases, it caused them to leave the program altogether.”

“As a teacher, I wanted to make something that excited them to pick up, play all the time and be a standalone instrument on its own that you could easily play along with a symphony or pop song. One of the biggest eye-opening moments for me was when I gave my 16-year-old brother-in-law one to play and his practice time went from 20 minutes a day to three or four hours. When he was staying with us, the chanter would literally be on his pillow in the morning as he played it late into the evening.”

A few examples of Lincoln Hilton playing the Hilton Chanter Founder’s Edition:

The original version of this article listed an incorrect price for the Founders’ Edition Hilton Chanter. The correct price is USD$499. We apologize for the inadvertent error.