On piping - Top 25 tunes for every piper

Playing bagpipes, like most instruments, means playing a variety of tunes. Bagpipes are one of a few instruments that demand to be played memorized. This can be difficult for some, easier for others, I’ve covered how I memorize tunes before so I won’t write on that topic today. Before doing a search on the internet, I started with a list of what either I play, what friends say they are requested to play, what our band or other local bands plays on a regular basis. How does one then stop at 25 tunes when there are literally dozens of great tunes which could be included? I then spent some time validating what I know is played with a search on most popular tunes yielded a very good list of tunes. The tunes listed are not is a specific order, but represent wonderful classics pipers should be familiar with. Another day I’ll post what tunes my friends and I are working to perfect for performance. Enjoy!

1.            Scotland the Brave

2.            Amazing Grace

3.            Green Hills of Tyrol

4.            Skye Boat Song, Traditional

5.            Highland Cathedral

6.            No’ Awa’ Tae Bide Awa

7.            Rowan Tree

8.            When the Battle’s O’er

9.            Highland Laddie

10.          Orange and Blue

11.          Bonnie Dundee

12.          Battle of the Somme

13.          Barren Rocks of Aden

14.          A Hundred Pipers

15.          Flower of Scotland

16.          Brown Haired Maiden, The

17.          Wearing of the Green

18.          Minstrel Boy

19.          Greenwood Side

20.          Mhari Bhan

21.          Liberton Pipe Band

22.          Garry Owen

23.          Atoll Highlanders

24.          Going Home

25.          Mist Covered Mountains

On motivation

There is an old Scottish proverb: It take seven years to make a piper. When you start on chanter you are excited to be on the road to playing bagpipes. It maybe a year or so to get the fundamentals down of piping music and chanter work. Then a couple of years learning to incorporate chanter work and music memorization with playing the bagpipes. Along the way life happens and for short periods of time you may step away from the learning curve. So what gets and keep you motivated as a bagpiper?

For me there is a three-fold challenge in piping:

1. Memorizing music

2. Mastering the instrument physically

3. Making music.

Each has its own challenge in staying motivated.

Focusing on memorization can be tough. We listen to other players that seem to easily memorize music, while I struggle. It is and it isn’t a matter of repetition when it comes to music memorization. The quality of your time and the method of how you memorize are very important. I was playing a strathspey that I love and learned, but have never played it technically well. So I learned another and will put that old one on a shelf for a couple months or years and come back to it. Memorizing music should be fun not tedium.

Mastering the instrument is a matter of just staying the course. Keep playing, Keep working on the instrument with a singular purpose. Putting the pipes down for a while will, just like in exercise, be counter-productive.  Maybe change up the playing routine, or change your practice location, or play some new music. Staying motivated could be as simple as connecting with other pipers. Join that band, or regularly play music with pipers you know. You will be motivated to improve, try new music you hear and by taking an interest in your friends will be motivated to keep playing. Staying connected with other player is key

Staying motivated to make music may be the most difficult of all. Not everyone is born with a sense of what music sounds like. So listen to world class piping. Ok, some of that music may be way too technical for us ordinary humans, but you may also hear a tune that does inspire you to learn. Or in listening you will hear that elusive musical pattern of the tune you have been trying to master.  It could be as simple as listening to Pandora or Spotify or an online piping music web site. Be careful about YouTube though as not all recording are created equal and not all pipers play well.

Also, Chart your progress. Write a note or email a fellow piper on what tunes did you learn this year. Make note of embellishments have you made progress on or mastered? In January, set yourself a goal. Maybe it is to enter one additional competition or enter one for the first time. But do it for the fun of it. Reward yourself when you see a success.

On 911

Each year on September 11, our generations pause to remember the events that took place in 2001 when Islamic terrorists hijacked planes and using them as bombs took down the twin towers of the World Trade Center in NYC, struck the Pentagon in Washington DC and drove one plane into the ground in Pennsylvania as that flights crew and passengers fought back. And each year pipers are called upon to assist in the memorial events. As pipers we are called to perform at memorials of loved ones now departed. What an amazing honor that must be! I lift my hat (glengarry) to the families on those lost in the attacks, to the responders who aid and the pipers who played.

There is a story, reported by Joel Meyerowitz, professional photographer who chronicled the recovery work on the Trade Center site: In March 2002 as crews sifted through the piles of debris, firefighter found a portion of a Bible fused to a chuck of steel. The page that remains visible is from the Gospel of Mathew from Jesus Sermon on the Mount and reads: “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth: But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also.” How amazing that something God’s scripture might survive the fall on an entire building and survive.


Amazing Grace
Lyrics: John Newton; Tune: Unknown

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.

T'was Grace that taught...
my heart to fear.
And Grace, my fears relieved.
How precious did that Grace appear...
the hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares...
we have already come.
T'was Grace that brought us safe thus far...
and Grace will lead us home.

The Lord has promised good to me...
His word my hope secures.
He will my shield and portion be...
as long as life endures.

When we've been here ten thousand years...
bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise...
then when we've first begun.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me....
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now, I see.

On the Ivory in Bagpipes

In the wake of the public outcry recently about a US dentist killing a single male lion named Cecil in Africa, I thought about what such might have to do with bagpiping. Sport hunting has long been part of the human psyche, and tradition, and has little to do with the manufacture of highland bagpipes. Yet part of the story was the underlying theme of hunting endangered species. As an individual, as a people, and as a nation, we need to grapple with the implications of using the elephant, rhino, and other endangered species to produce sculptures, jewelry, and, bagpipes. Should it be allowed at the expense of endangering an animal population? Just because we can? I would say not.

In March of 2015, 15 tons of elephant ivory was destroyed (burned / pictured above) in Nairobi, Kenya. It had been confiscated from poachers. One article I read was that emerging markets for ivory has emboldened criminals to hunt and kill elephants for their tusks. Groups such as Save The Elephants (http://savetheelephants.org/) (SAE) are doing their part to raise awareness and helping fight poaching. Why burn the poached ivory? Maybe allowing it to be sold would feed a market, so better to starve that demand; remove the source from the end user. According to SAE, approximately 100,000 elephants and rhinoceros were killed in Africa between 2010 and 2012. In February of 2014, President Obama, announced a call for member states to place a permanent moratoria on all commercial imports, exports, and domestic sales and purchases of new ivory. This is welcome news and will help, but not eliminate, the killing and black market for ivory.

As an industry, some bagpipe makers have throughout the past used elephant ivory (among other exotic materials) for projection mounts on pipes. Up until 1976 when the US banned import of ivory, some pipe makers offered it as an option. It was a natural material that looked beautiful mounted on a set of pipes. In a news story from August, 2014, two US bagpipers had their pipes detained by US border security at the US / Canada border because their pipes had ivory. Luckily they got their pipes back in time to travel to the Worlds with their band. Since 1976 the plastics industry has developed imitation ivory which is special cast polyester with the characteristics of real ivory (color, density, texture). The imitation ivory can be turned by lathe into mounts. On the sets of pipes that I have seen, this product works very well and is beautiful.

So if I ran the circus, what would I do to minimize illegal trafficking of ivory?

First, I would advocate maintaining a complete international ban of new elephant and rhino ivory. One huge ‘elephant in the room’ is testing ivory’s age. The cost of testing the age makes easy identification of ivory, as old or new, a matter of the owner providing proof of the ivory’s age. And if suspected as new ivory then testing would be called for. If everyone was honest, the problem would go away, yet greed gets in the way when there remains a market for ivory. Stiff penalties should be levied and the sale of confiscated ivory would be directed to protect endangered species.

Second, I would advocate the free trade of legal ivory within countries. Private individuals may hold and to trade, however I would require all ivory to be registered with a national registry. Ivory held outside of these requirements would be subject to confiscation. I can see obvious challenges to this .

Third, I would advocate that the penalties for poaching or engaging in any form of illegal trade in ivory (or in any endangered species) be very severe. Any monetary consequences would flow to programs protecting the elephants and their environment. There must be a component on education as well.

With 7.3 billion people now populating Earth, there will be people wishing for and able to afford exotic material, even though endangered species. Do we allow the use of endangered animal parts? If not elephant or rhino, what about buffalo, or walrus or Hippo or killer whale? To paraphrase former First Lady Nancy Reagan, “Just say no.”

Photo credit: KHALIL SENOSI / AP

On Bugs Bunny's 75th Birthday!

Growing up as a kid in the 1960’s, Saturday morning cartoons were part and parcel to my early growing up years. All of the major TV studios would show cartoons for our pleasure. It may have even been a follow-on to the wildly successful family programming of the Walt Disney Co.: The Wonderful World of Disney. Initially the format was to replay the cartoons played before theatrical released movies of the 1940’s and 50’s. Eventually, cartoon programming was being created just for TV and often used as a showcase that advertisers could show products to a burgeoning post war market. Breakfast cereals such as Frosted Flakes, Cheerios, and Rice Crispies immediately come to mind. Like Mickey Mouse is the iconic mascot of Disney, Bugs Bunny was to the Warner Brothers Studios. Bugs Bunny is celebrating his 75th anniversary today, 27 July 2015, debuting in “A Wild Hair” with the voice of Mel Blanc.

Of all the zany madcap cartoons Bugs starred in, it is his 1948 “My Bunny Lies over the Sea” that has Bugs getting lost on his was to vacationing at California’s La Brea Tar Pits and instead winds up in Scotland. He meets character Angus MacRory wearing a kilt and playing a version of Bonnie Banks O' Loch Lomond on his bagpipes. Bugs mistakes the pipes as a monster attacking ‘an old lady’, Bugs stomping the bagpipes to pieces, much to Angus’s chagrin. MacRory and Bugs spend the rest of the cartoon in various challenges such as golf and eventually a piping challenge. MacRory does his best playing a very fast pieced piece, but Bugs plays the bagpipes with bass drum balanced on his head (played by his ears) and various band instruments attached to drones, etc. When watching the cartoon again, I realize that both Bugs and the Scot MacRory are voiced by Mel Blanc.

As a kid, this classic cartoon would play every so often in the Saturday morning cartoon lineup, and when it did, I loved it. I do not recall when I first saw it, but I do recall it distinctly enough to describe it as some of the earliest bagpiping I remember. As a side note, I was amazed in junior high with a revelation that many of the cartoons seen on Saturdays were released before I was born and came from the 1940’s. Thankfully, I’m not so old as to remember the original releases, but it’s also wonderful to be old enough to have experienced some of those early moments and programming of the TV age. And that Bugs Bunny and his cartoon contemporaries are ageless and can still be seen.

So cheers to the creative team who created that “Wascally Wabbit’ for our delight and entertainment 75 years ago and for their insight in using the bagpipes as a bit of comic relief.

On Piping on the 4th of July

“Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it.” - Thomas Paine

On this 4th of July, 2015, the day starts early with preparing to march with the band in the Piedmont, CA parade. Our band has been participating in the parade some twenty plus years (so I’m told). On a Saturday morning, there is little traffic heading to the East Bay as our band members converge from all over the Bay area. Piedmont was the home of Catherine Young, our former Pipe Major, and is situated in the beautiful hill above Oakland and just south of Berkeley. As the celebration is a one direction parade half the band (those early to arrive) park at the end of the parade and walk the parade route to the staging area, and those who a rise and get under way a little later, park in the neighborhood near the start of the parade (they will have to walk back when the parade is over).

We meet at the staging area at approximately 8:30 for a 10:30 step off. Pipers immediately begin warming up adding the playing to the growing cacophony of sound. Through this process we each rough in our tuning in preparation for tuning with the PM. If you are like me, then you try and come prepared, practiced and tuned ahead of time so tuning (both chanter and drones) will go smoothly and quickly. It just so happened that this year, my high ‘A’ gave me tuning problems, drat! I was able to eventually sort it out and please the PM. The drummers are performing a similar ritual, tuning their instruments with the Drum Sergeant until he is satisfied with their sound. This year we have two new side drummers who are performing their first gig with the band, and one of them has never marched in a parade. So it will be a day of fun filled memorable firsts. Our amazing friends, the Piedmont Highland Dancers are also warming up, stretching and practicing for their number in front of the reviewing stand. At some point we are all called to ‘circle up’ and play the tuning sequence and then a tune of two. Then we break formation and wait our turn to go. Everyone is encouraged to stay in the shade as that is where we tuned. The warming sun will throw our tuning off soon enough. Maybe as the sun, and our playing warm the pipes, we will all rise in pitch together. We will be under way soon enough.

We march in formation, on the tap, to within yards of the starting corner of the parade. The Drum Major calls out the tune having conferred with the PM, then by the rolls we step off playing Crags of Tumbledown Mountain, our beautiful banner carriers in front (in red cowboy boots, band t-shirts and Glengarries) followed by the color guard. Piedmont’s 4th of July Parade is near perfect. Approximately one half mile long, cool weather, with great crowds cheering us on. Because of the length of the parade and the crowds lining the streets the full way, the band takes few breaks from playing. There are, as in all parades, some ‘starts and stops’ along the way. We even have a long enough ‘stop’ to have a practice run through of our band’s marching drill, then playing Orange and Blue for the dancers, and marching back into block formation playing Scotland the Brave. Before you know it, we are at the reviewing stand, perform for the judges then march out. Within the next several blocks, the parade is over. After dismissing, our PM plays Happy Birthday for our talented Bass drummer, Marie, whose birthday was on the 3rd of July.

To be part of an annual tradition such as a 4th of July parade with such an enthusiastic crowd is fun. Walking back to the car, I even met a couple friends for whom I performed solo for last summer at a birthday! It was great to touch base with both lovely ladies. I was home by probably 1:30 and still had time for BBQ with friends, and fireworks viewing with family and friends. Parades, U.S. flags, fireworks, and reflection of the diversity of our land and her people, the amazing liberties our fore fathers fought and won for us ARE worth celebrating. America does have her faults; we are a work in progress; we are one nation under God, founded on Biblical principles, and remains the greatest country on Earth. May God bless the United States of America!

Happy 4th of July!

On piping at the Battle of Waterloo

Two hundred years ago the Napoleonic Wars were fought. On June 18th, 1815, south of Brussels in Belgium with combatants: British, Germans, Belgians, Dutch and Prussians met against the French Grande Army with the leadership of the Duke of Wellington, Marshal Blucher and the Prince of Orange against the Emperor Napoleon. This was to be the decisive battle Napoleon’s comeback and drive to control Europe. Volumes have been written about the battle. At the reenactment of the battle I Belgium this year there was a photo of pipers as part of the Anglo reenactment. It peaked my curiosity as to stories about the pipers and their contributions to the battles.

At the Battle of Quatre Bras, fought between the Duke of Wellington's English-Dutch army and the left wing of the French Armée du Nord under Marshal Michel Ne It was fought on 16 June 1815, two days before the Battle of Waterloo and was fought near the strategic crossroads of Quatre Bras. From The Story of the Bagpipe by William Flood, published in 1901:

    “At Quatre Bras the role of piper-hero fell to the lot of Kenneth MacKay,
    the piper of the 79th Cameron Highlanders. At an important crisis he
    stepped out of the ranks and blew up “Cogadh na Sith” (War and Peace),
    an ancient pibroch, with startling effect, in the very teeth of the French
    cavalry.”

At the Battle of Waterloo pipers were attached to the 42nd, 78th, 79th and 93rd regiments, the pipers performed valiantly.

    “When the din of the battle of Waterloo raged most fiercely the bagpipes
    were heard in no certain fashion. The piobroch at the word of command,
    “Prepare to charge,” roused the troops, and it is said that one brave piper,
    when wounded in the leg, threw down his pipes and entered the fighting
    ranks, dealing havoc all round till he was killed. (Flood, 1901)”

During the battle, the 79th (Cameron Highlanders) formed into a defensive square to face the charge of the French cavalry. Piper Kenneth MacKay left the safety of the square to march before his comrades while he played the Pibroch, War or Peace, indifferent to the dangers he faced. Their meritorious actions the 79th earned the rare honor of being praised by Wellington in his Waterloo dispatch. Sometime after the battle, King George III was told about the incident and presented MacKay with a set of silver mounted bagpipes. The story goes on to say that MacKay was also asked later to play the piobaireachd for the Tzar of Russia, Alexander I (reigning 1801 – 1825).

Information about the 200th anniversary reenactment of the Battle of Waterloo can be found at:
https://www.waterloo2015.org/en

These stories speak of real lives who stood in battle to be counted worthy of the sacrifice in serving their country. Men such as MacKay still inspire those of us who are inspired to play the music they did in hope of inspiring others, not just in entertainment but in life.