Program Booklet 2003

From the Chair


by Michael Dow

I would like to dedicate at least part of this letter to our old friend, the North Hero Village Hall. Those of you that have been with this piping event for more than a couple of years will remember this structure as a very singular place with it's own distinct personality. The not unpleasant smell of the old, washed wooden floor and the sound of footfall on wood stairs going down to a cool basement. I can easily hear the large sash windows being opened for another hot day and the stage curtain being drawn for another show. I remember the writing on back of the stage's backdrop and reading names of people from many past performances. Local names unknown to me and pipers' names (my own included) with dates that recorded for history "I was here and having a blast!" Those are gone and probably never to be seen again as the building has been declared structurally unfit for use. So we say "good bye old friend" and thanks for many years of great service.

Now we have a new home and what a home it is! North America has many piping events each year but none of them can have a view much better than ours. With one of the largest fresh water bodies on earth and the western shore of heavily forested Vermont to look and play to - it just does not get any better. We are so spoiled and so lucky!

However, the room with the view does not come free. Our wonderful hosts, Susan & Mike Tranby, charge us only a token amount for the use of their field and for that we are very grateful.

When we were in the Village Hall, all of facilities fees came to a bit less than $800. This year the tent, table and chair rental amounts to over $4,000 and it's killing us. Last year we were lucky to be awarded a grant from the Vermont Arts Council that just about covered the tent and chair rental. This year we are again thankful for being chosen for a VAC grant, even if it is 25% less than last year. We hope to make up the difference with a most regrettable but small hike in registration fees and the continued good will of our piping friends and their financial contributions. To all of you who give a little extra we extend our profound thanks.

We hope you all enjoy these fleeting moments with our musical friends as we think they are the very best of times.

Gaelic Musical Traditions from Nova Scotia


By Barry Shears

Nova Scotia is situated on the East Coast of Canada and it consists of a mainland section and the island of Cape Breton. It has both historical and cultural connections with Scotland, beginning in 1624 when, in order to encourage settlement in the colonies, James I established the Knights Baronets of Nova Scotia. The first of these Baronets was Sir William Alexander, then Secretary of State for Scotland. Early attempts at Scottish settlement included Charles Fort, Port Royal, on mainland Nova Scotia, and Baleine, Cape Breton Island in 1629. These settlements were short lived. The French, who also laid claim to various parts of North America, captured both settlements and the inhabitants of Baleine were forced to help build the French fort at St Annes and later most were returned to Scotland. It would be over 100 years before any further attempts at Scottish colonization were attempted. These included the settlement of disbanded Highland soldiers after the Seven Years War and the American Revolution; Loyalist re-settlement from such areas of Scottish settlement as North Carolina; Gaelic middle class immigrants (1773-1815) and lastly, victims of the infamous "Highland Clearances" (1815-1848).

During this last period, roughly 1773 to 1848, Nova Scotia was the destination of tens of thousands of Highland immigrants from Scotland. They brought with them a rich and varied tradition of music, song and dance. As the " National" instrument of Scotland, the bagpipe was omnipresent among the Gaels who settled in North America. This was particularly true of Nova Scotia and the adjacent Maritime Provinces of New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island. As Dr. Abraham Gesner, New Brunswick, noted in 1842 " In a Highland settlement a set of bagpipes and a player should not be forgotten. I have known many a low -spirited emigrant to be aroused from his torpor by the sound of his national music." The immigrant Gaels brought Scottish made instruments to Nova Scotia and as the population grew, a market for locally made bagpipes and repairs to existing instruments emerged. This contributed to the formation of a small "cottage industry" of bagpipe manufacture in several areas of Nova Scotia from 1817 to 1920. These early bagpipe makers used mainly local materials such as apple and pear wood, bone and cattle horn and some sea ivory. Recent research has uncovered a few examples of smaller versions of the Great Highland Bagpipe and two bellows blown instruments. In 19th century Nova Scotia, the Highland piper’s chief function was as a purveyor of dance music and there was plenty of opportunity to perform. As Charles Dunn points out in his book Highland Settler: A Portrait of the Scottish Gael in Nova Scotia (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1953) " The pipes were considered suitable, indeed almost indispensable, at any occasion, trivial or serious, solemn or hilarious; the everyday visit, the baptism, the engagement party, the wedding, the funeral were all graced by the pipers skill."

Step-dancing

Step dancing involves the intricate movement of the dancer’s feet in time to the music. In its more traditional form the dancer remains almost motionless from the waist up, arms held loosely by the side. The dancer uses the knees, ankles and feet to provide various motion combinations allowing the dancer to perform a variety of steps resulting in a percussionist effect. The acquisition and performance of individual steps is very much a personal matter and quite often no two dancers will perform identical steps.

The traditional dances brought by the first Highland settlers to Nova Scotia from Scotland consisted mostly of the Scotch Fours and Eight Hand Reel (sometimes referred to as the "Wild Eight") and were performed to either bagpipe or violin music. Documented evidence provide us with the names of several dancing masters who immigrated from Scotland in the early 19th century and established dancing schools after their arrival. Recently discovered oral accounts indicate that, in some cases, the dancing master would be itinerant, moving from community to community, conducting dance classes over a period of several days.

The Scotch Fours are performed by two couples to Strathspeys (once known as StrathspeyReels) and Reels while the Eight Hand Reel was performed by any number of participants.

By the turn of the 20th century several of these group dances, such as strathspey dancing and the Scotch Four, declined and were gradually being replaced by the more modern group dances such as the Saratoga Lancers and Quadrilles. These imported dances, or variations of, constitute the modern Cape Breton Square set or Square dance. These "set dances" are usually performed by four couples.

Types of Dance Music

Strathspeys

In Cape Breton the Strathspey consists of two sub-groups: the Slow Strathspey and the much older StrathspeyReel.

The Slow Strathspey is what one normally hears played today by pipers. It is not usually intended for dancing but it is better described as listening music. (Exceptions include the modern forms of Highland display dances such as the Sean Truibhas, Sword Dance, Fling, etc.)

The Slow Strathspey is usually played in two bar phrases (4 beats per bar) and have, with the passage of time and the influence of competition, migrated from the original time signature of 4/4 (Common Time) to one which is closer to a 12/8 rhythm (Compound Time). The Metric Accent for these types of tunes is usually represented as:

/Strong, Weak, Medium, Weak/ /Strong, Weak, Medium, Weak/

The StrathspeyReel is also 4/4 (Common Time) in structure, but is played in a rounder fashion and at faster Tempi than the Slow Strathspey. Most StrathspeyReels are simple in melodic structure and are usually expressed in one bar phrases (4 beats per bar) and Tempi vary from instrument to instrument and performer to performer. The Metric Accent for StrathspeyReels is usually indicated as:

/Strong, Weak, Weak, Medium/ /Strong, Weak, Weak, Medium/

Reels

The ever-popular Reel is perhaps the only surviving dance form indigenous to Scotland. In the Cape Breton reels are usually expressed in one bar phrases (2 beats per bar) with a Metric Accent of

/Strong, Weak/ /Strong, Weak/

Jigs

This tune classification is very old and continues in popularity. In Cape Breton they are usually 6/8 tunes, and as such, require a strong compound rhythm. Jigs are expressed in one bar phrases (2 beats per bar), played at approximately 120 beats per minute, with Metric Accent of

/Strong, Weak/ /Strong, Weak/

All three types of dance music require a certain amount of "lilt" to enhance the dance rhythms. Lilt, or the subtle inequality of note-lengths, remains one of the most important aspects of Cape Breton dance music.

Conclusion

The roots of Gaelic instrumental music in North America have remained strongest in Cape Breton. Unfortunately the fate of traditional piping was aligned very closely with the fate of the Gaelic language in Nova Scotia. As Gaelic in Nova Scotia retreated, from a high of over 100,000 speakers in 1880 to less than 500 by the end of the 20th century, the need for these types of musicians declined proportionately. By the 1930s the violin was displacing the bagpipe as a favoured dance instrument, but it too appeared to be in decline by the 1970s. In Nova Scotia the Highland piper evolved from a community based folk musician to one of competitive piper and bandsman. Thankfully a few of the old style dance pipers survived until well into the 20th century and have managed to pass on, via recorded performances and interviews, glimpses of an very old and diverse piping culture.

 

 

The Rough Guide to Piping in Europe


by Chris Ormston

(A slightly less than politically correct extension of a popular series of guidebooks courtesy of the mind and pen of Chris Ormston.)

At a Northumbrian wedding it is thought to bring good luck to the happy couple if the piper sleeps with the Chief Bridesmaid. In an ancient ritual, the Bridesmaid will initially appear to spurn his advances, whereupon the piper must insist upon his right, or turn his attentions to the Bride’s mother.


When visiting the Pipers’ Club in Dublin, it is customary for visiting musicians to propose a toast to Her Majesty the Queen, followed by a rousing rendition of the "Orange Sash"

Audience participation is expected during Irish traditional music sessions. Express your appreciation by shouting "No Surrender to the IRA [International Reggae Association]" every time the musicians change key.

When attending a Breton Fest Noz you may encounter a Bagad consisting of bombardes and, nowadays, Highland pipes. Demonstrate your interest by enquiring why the French would ever have a need for war pipes.

You will rarely encounter Italian competitors at a war pipe competition as they will already have surrendered.

When visiting Eastern Europe, native bagpipes make ideal souvenirs for animal rights protestors back home.

Reduce competitors’ stress at pibroch competitions by offering $1 for someone to play Amazing Grace.

Highland pipers love to be asked what’s worn under the kilt.

Impress other pipers by announcing that your top-of-the-range set of pipes was delivered just days after placing the order, thanks to the extra $100 cash you gave to the maker.


Reghart O’Tomlinson, Deaf piper


Presented by Steve Bliven

Reghart O’Tomlinson was a strong, albeit heretofore unknown, influence on the music and playing of the Loud Highland Bagpipe from the MacCrimmons and the beginning of piobaireachd to contemporary exponents such as the esteemed Rufus Harley. The bastard son of a priest, he (Reghart, not Rufus) was stone deaf from birth. This unfortunate circumstance, however, did not lessen his love of bagpipes and their music. Because of his deafness, Reghart’s music was freed from the constraints of the traditions of his day and allowed him to express his inner pre-Celtic roots, although he was never able to hear the results.

Reghart became the first of the true "wandering pipers", being driven from village to village as townspeople were exposed to his playing.

Steve Bliven has spent hours conjuring up the legend of Reghart O’Tomlinson and, while he will not be a part of this or any other program, we feel it important to encourage him in his fantasies

 

On the Accompaniment of Bagpipes


by Aron Garceau

When first asked to write this article, I thought "sure, no problem". Boy was I wrong. The first problem I had was figuring out my audience. I’m writing an article on playing guitar to be published for a bagpipe festival. Was my audience going to be a bunch of bagpipers who wanted to play guitar? Was my audience going to be bagpipers who already played the guitar? There was the possibility of my article being read just by guitar players (the bagpipers in the audience having skipped my article for a much more informative article by a Goodacre brother). Having all of these choices before me I decided instead to gear my article towards bagpipers who wanted to know more about how others accompany them.

My next problem was what direction to take this article and how much theory to assume the reader knows. Knowing how much I tended to drift off during theory class in college I decided that I would avoid it here as well. Instead I’ll simply attempt to put down on paper what I do when I’m working with a bagpiper.

I used to be one of those people who thought there was only one kind of bagpipe and it was played in local parades and funerals by guys in kilts. Then in 1996 I joined the Vermont Celtic-Rock group Whisky Before Breakfast, a rock band with a bagpiper at its center. After a year of playing in this group there was no going back for me. Whenever I heard a bagpiper playing solo I added accompaniment in my head. Bagpipes did not sound full enough to me; I was used to them being backed by drums, bass and guitar. This struck me especially hard when I spent the day with our piper who was playing a solo wedding gig that afternoon. As a nod to me he played a tune that was part of our repertoire and my brain just couldn’t take it! There was so much missing! I ran to the car, grabbed my guitar and quietly played along.

I still can’t listen to too much solo piping these days; although that’s not to say that as a solo instrument the bagpipe has no place (in fact people have died for saying less in Scotland). In many instances it is much more appropriate for the bagpipe to simply accompany itself. For instance, when a piper deems it necessary to march out in front of an army with the loudest instrument ever invented and that piper plays it for the enemy, I consider this a "solo gig". Other instances such as funerals, competitions (notice I seem to be caught up with highland bagpipes) and the like also have little place for an accompanist. So when can the bagpipe be accompanied?

When a bagpiper is on stage, there should be a guitarist. When a bagpiper is in a session, there should be a guitarist. When a bagpiper is at the store shopping for fruit there should be a guitarist only so that the bagpiper does not forget that when they next pick up their set of pipes there should be a guitar player sitting next to them. Why is this you ask?

Reason #1: Because all pipe tunes sound alike. There, I’ve said it and you know you wanted to a long time ago. Many people scoff and curse when they hear this but think about it…why does an audience clap, cheer and in general go crazy when a solo piper makes the change from a strathspey into a reel? Because it’s an exhilarating change from one time signature, one feel into another by an instrument that can’t change much else.

Reason #2: The bagpipe, while being one of the coolest instruments ever made or played cannot change the key, cannot change in dynamics and cannot change in tone (those who do aren’t doing it on purpose and shouldn’t be playing on stage, my own piping included).

How does a guitar player solve these two problems?

  1. By providing the movement of a chord progression that drones simply cannot do,
  2. By changing key when the tunes change key, something else the drones cannot do, and
  3. By varying in dynamics and tone, which we all know adds so much.

Without going into music theory, as I said before, I’ll explain how I work out a tune or set of tunes when first confronted with them by a bagpiper.

First, decide what key the piece is in. This can be done easily: ask the piper what key their instrument is in. If they say a Scottish smallpipe in D then logic would assume you’re in D, however this isn’t always the case. If the bagpiper doesn’t know the key, ask them for the last note or the "main" note of the tune. Once the key is figured out, remind yourself of the standard progressions in the key, mainly the Tonic (I), Subdominant (IV), the Dominant (V) and Relative Minor (iv). Unless you get really advanced, you typically use no more than these chords. The reason for this is those drones, they tend to get in the way of more specialized chords (unless you have a bagpiper who will turn the drones off).

I’ve found that most music written for the pipes can be accompanied in it’s simplest form with two chords only: the I and the IV. Meaning, if we are in the key of D the guitarist would play a chord based on the 1st note of the D scale (D) and a chord based on the 4th note of the scale (G). Why so easy? Most bagpipes do not have many chromatic or "in between" notes if any at all. Whereas a piano can fit 13 notes into one octave’s worth of notes a bagpipe can fit only 8. Whereas Chopin can modulate through 6 different keys in one piece, your typical bagpiper usually sticks to one key per tune (in an AB tune; tunes with three or more parts sometimes change keys). The key changes come when that same piper plays, for example, "Within a Mile of Dublin" in the key of D and within the same set (and usually without skipping a beat) plays a tune in the key of G. If all goes well you play the chords D and G for the first tune and, the chords G and C for the second tune and end. This is a little simplistic and as a warning… if you go to a session and find that you are not the only guitarist there, these practices will get you voted "the guy who gets the drinks" pretty quickly. If you are not much of a guitarist, this is a great thing to do in the privacy of your own room as you pop on a copy of your favorite bagpipers solo album and give it a whirl.

When confronted with a tune that I do not know, I’ll usually listen to the piper play it once first, maybe using the method above through the entire first section. Then I’ll start to branch out and try different chords in the first A section. If I played something I didn’t like I’ll try not to repeat it on the repeat of the A section. Basically, the rule is "use your ear". It’ll work better than you think.

Something I like to experiment with is chord substitution. Here comes that theory I promised not to throw in. In the key of D the sixth (iv) chord is B minor and can be used anytime the D chord is used… really… no it’s true. Granted you wouldn’t want to end the tune on the B minor chord but if you take the chord apart you’ll see it’s made up of a B, a D and an F#. A D chord is made up of a D an F# and an A. They share two notes and when the minor is swapped with the major it adds a great bit of tension before the release. Granted, if the tune is using the note A heavily in this section the B minor chord may not be the best choice and may sound a bit like, well, an A being played over a B, it’s dissonant and doesn’t sound that good. Like I said, use your ear.

If playing an acoustic gig, I use a drop D tuning when the key of the tunes is D. It definitely gives the guitar more of an "authentic" sound and mimics the drone of the bagpipe yet still allows the change of notes. It also makes it easier to do bass note runs in between your chord choices, although it does throw off some tried and true chord forms (mostly the beloved G chord). If the bagpiper is playing in something other than D however, I keep the E string as an E. Now, if playing an acoustic gig with a highland piper you’ll need electricity. There is no pick in the world that will give you the added boost needed to overcome the sound of those two wood planks vibrating together inside the chanter stock.

In the same token a player of the Scottish small pipe in D cannot compete with a guitarist playing a Gibson Gold Top Les Paul run through a Marshall Stack with the volume turned to "11." As you know the highland piper plays in the key of Bb (more like Bb-and-a-half) and for this circumstance I will capo up to the third fret and play my Bb chords with a G chord fingering. I don’t know why, I guess I just love the open sound way more than having to use a bar chord and it more easily opens up the possibility of finger-picking (for this you really need electricity).

The best way to learn to accompany a bagpiper is to do it and do it often. It’s all very 4-H. Do it enough and you will come up with your own "tricks of the trade". Knowing how the tunes are constructed, knowing how the bagpipes work all takes a back seat to being able to rely on your ear and knowing your own instrument. As the guitarist, we may not play as many notes but we sure add to the performance. And I leave you with this…

How many guitar players does it take to change a light bulb?
Twelve. One to change the bulb and eleven to say they could do it better.

 


Paddy Conneely – The blind piper of Galway


by Jimmy O'Brien Moran

Paddy Conneely was a blind professional union or uilleann piper, who lived in the city of Galway on the west coast of Ireland, during the first half of the 19th century. He is of interest for several reasons. An article with his picture appeared in "The Irish Penny Journal" (see below for picture and text) on October 3, 1840, spreading his fame throughout Ireland, and to a lesser extent, England. This was the first time a living folk musician appeared in such an article and Conneely appears to have benefited considerably from it. He was, by all accounts, an excellent piper. His portrait was painted in great detail by artist Frederic William Burton and subsequently engraved for publication. His music was transcribed by at least five collectors.

Ireland was in the grip of the landlord system during Conneely’s lifetime, which greatly favoured Protestants over Roman Catholics. In this two-tiered system the gap was wide between rich (largely Protestant) and poor (largely Roman Catholic) with few in between. Conneely would have been born into a poor Roman Catholic family with the prospect of spending his life toiling at some menial job, most likely on the land, except for the fact that he was blind.

It was usual at the time for anyone with visual impairment to take up music as a profession, sight not being a requirement in an oral/aural tradition. The folk composer, Turlough Carolan, is perhaps the best-known blind harper. The cause of Paddy’s blindness is not known but visual disability was common enough at the time. However, it appears that he was blind at least from early youth. He was probably born around 1800 and died on September 11th 1851.

If Paddy was piping in the 1820s then he was within 100 years of the origins of this instrument. His set of pipes which had belonged to Michael Crampton (d.1813) was certainly one of the earliest examples of the two regulator "union bagpipe". This was only ten or fifteen years later than O’Farrell’s publications so that on one hand we have O’Farrell’s play list and on the other we have the play list (though necessarily incomplete) of a professional piper.

He enjoyed the patronage of the landlords and the wealthy during his later years and was visited by several collectors so that a substantial portion of his repertoire has survived in transcription. About 180 melodies survive and, although in some cases they may represent the choices of the collectors, there is enough variety of tune types to offer an insight into his repertoire. The majority of the collection comprises airs, several of which were sung and not played on the pipes. However, around one third of the transcriptions are dance tunes, jigs, reels, hornpipes, marches, quicksteps and tunes in polka rhythm.

Paddy lived in relative prosperity for several years until the great famine of 1845-1849. Ireland's population explosion, particularly between the 1750s and the 1840s, brought its share of poverty as more than one third of the estimated population of 8.3 million lived at subsistence level.

Famine was not unusual in 18th and 19th century Ireland, but it was generally localised and limited in scale. There is a paradox in the fact that, particularly in the 19th century, an increase in the export of agricultural produce ran counter to a decrease in living standards of the labouring class. While other crops were being harvested and sold to pay the rent a large section of the population was totally dependent on a single food crop, the potato. This dependence created a delicate balance that could not be sustained. The potato blight (which recurs to this day) struck in August 1845, and affected the potato crop for several years in succession. It was this repeated pattern that contributed to the extent of the disaster. "The removal of that one means of sustenance meant a sentence of death for those trapped in the subsistence economy." (Foster, 1989; 201)

The Ireland in which Paddy Conneely died in 1851 was reeling in shock and trauma. It had witnessed an inevitable yet unimaginable disaster which would scar the national psyche for generations.

"In the beautiful land of the merry-hearted, 'all joy was darkened, the mirth of the land was gone'. In the country of song, and dance, and laughter, there was not heard, wherever that famine came, one note of music, nor one cheerful sound, only the gasp of dying men, and the mourners' melancholy wail." (Reynolds-Hole, 1859)

Paddy Coneely, Galway Piper

Paddy Coneely, The Galway Piper
Text taken from the above picture

We need hardly have acquainted our Irish readers that in the prefixed sketch, which our admirable friend the Burton has made for us, they are presented with the genuine portrait of a piper, and an Irish piper too - for the face of the man, and and the instrument on which he is playing, are equally national and characteristic - both Irish: in that well-proportioned oval countenance, so expressive of good sense, gentleness, and kindly sentiments, we have good example of a form of face commonly found among the peasantry of the west and south of Ireland - a form of face which Spurtzheim distinguished as the true Phoenician physiognomy, and which at all events marks with certainty a race of southern or Semitic origin, and quite distinct from the Seythic or northern Indo-European race so numerous in Ireland, and characterized by their lighter hair and rounder faces. And as to the bagpipes, they are of the most approved Irish kind, beautifully finished and the very instrument made for Crump, the greatest of all Munster pipers, or, we may say, Irish of modern times and from which he drew his singularly delicious music. Musical readers ! do not laugh laugh at the epithet we have applied to the sounds of the bagpipe: the music of Crump, which we have often heard from himself on these very pipes, was truly delicious often to the most refined musical ears. These pipes after Crump's death were saved as a national relic by our friend and worthy and patriotic historian of Galway - need we say, James Hardiman - who, in his characteristic sprit of generosity and kindness, presented them to their present owner, as a person likely to take good care of them, and not incompetent to do justice to their powers; and the gift was nobly and well bestowed! Yet, truth to tell, paddy Coneely is not to be compared with John Crump, who, according to the recollections of him which ever cling to our memory.

 

 

 

Moebius
Art Music? Traditional Music? Traditional Art Music?


By Jon Swayne

In the early 90s, Don Ward, Judy Rockliff and myself met fairly regularly to try out stuff on three pipes. At that time we usually used two pipes in G and one in low D. Most of the harmonies were improvised, but I also began to write some simple arrangements. It allbegan to come together when I made a pipe in low C (a fairly uncommon pitch at that time) which gave us the interval of a fifth between the drones and was much more satisfying (see below). Then we got invited to perform at a bagpipe conference in Gijon in Asturias; we needed more repertoire in a hurry, so I started to develop some ideas I had had for some years about bagpipe harmonies. Soon after that we recorded a CD and began performing on a fairly regular basis. Judy dropped out because of illness around 5 years ago, and we were fortunate to be joined by David Faulkner, who learnt an extensive repertoire in an amazingly short time.

We often get asked what the name means. Well, August Moebius was a 19th century
German mathematician who is best known for inventing a band or strip which is like a loop with a half twist. The result of the twist is that the strip only has one side and one edge. Or to put it another way, you can slide your finger over the whole of the surface without going over the edge. Such conundra appeal to the minds of me and Don, and it was just one of those ideas which came up when we were thinking of names for the group, and it stuck. If you like, you can also see some symbolic correspondence between a Moebius band and the music we play

A large part of the reason why people like pipes is for the sound they make. (Come to think of it, if you ask people why they don’t like pipes, it’s usually because of the sound...) That might seem obvious, but especially with classical music, and to a lesser extent with other kinds, the sound, as sound, is usually supposed to be subservient to some higher cause, which is the music or the ideas which it is trying to express by means of melody, structure, etc. The fact that a bagpipe has a drone helps to give its music a timeless quality, so that what the music is trying to say is often less important than the state of mind it produces.

The result of three pipes playing in harmony together produces, I think, a kind of synthesis of both sides of the argument. On the one hand you have the feeling of timelessness induced by the drones; on the other, the harmonic possibilities offered by the three chanters against the drones enables a very powerful emotional and dramatic impact. When (as they should be) the pipes are perfectly in tune with each other, there is something immensely satisfying about the sound of the chords which can be produced, whether voluptuous or bleak.

I have been fascinated by the idea of bagpipes playing together in harmony ever since I first started playing pipes. In fact, on the very first record of Blowzabella (a band which I helped to start in 1979) there were some simple examples of tunes harmonised on 3 pipes, done by doubletracking since there were only two pipers in the group. A year or two after that I had the chance to try something slightly more adventurous with three pipes together at different pitches when with two other pipers, we improvised a three-part harmony version of some simple tunes on Galician Gaita in high D, cabrette in A, and Flemish pipe in low D.

It became clear that for a really satisfying sound and for flexibility and variety, pipes at two different pitches would give much more scope than simply two of the same. This is because the relative ranges of the instruments overlap. It also means that you have two different drone pitches happening. Assuming that the drones of both instruments are used, unless you are going for really weird effects, the choice of intervals between the two sets of drones boils down to two, the fourth and the fifth.

Both these intervals have their merits, but you only have to try it to come to the conclusion that the fifth is the more satisfying.

Except for the RWE (really weird effects) Proviso, both pipes must play in the same key. Each pipe on its own has a choice of two major keys, one based on the 6 finger note, the other on the 3 finger note. Therefore in the case of the fourth between drones, the upper pipe must play in its 6 finger key, the lower in its 3 finger key. The opposite applies when the interval between drones is the fifth. In this case the upper pipe plays in its 3 finger key, and the lower in its 6 finger key.

Fourth: Upper in A, lower in E: play in key of A.

Upper in G, lower in D: play in key of G, etc.

Fifth: Upper in A, lower in D: play in key of D.

Upper in G, lower in C: play in key of C, etc.

It’s clear that some melodic freedom must be sacrificed if, as is usually the case, the upper pipe carries the tune. With the A/E or G/D combination, the tune must be a 6 finger tune for the upper pipe. In this case it is useful if the lower pipe is able to overblow, in order to extend the shared scale up by a fourth. With the A/D or G/C combination, the tune must be a 3 finger one for the upper pipe, and here it is useful if the upper pipe can overblow. A further implication is that in the A/E or G/D combination (drones at fourth), the lower pipe, which is playing in its 3 finger key, should be able to play a flattened seventh relative to its 6 finger tonic, since this is the fourth degree of the scale in the 3 finger key. Conversely, in the A/D or G/C combination (drones at fifth), this applies to the upper pipe. Depending on the demands of the music, in the A/E or G/D combination the upper pipe may need a sharp seventh. In the A/D or G/C combination, it’s desirable for the lower instrument to be able to play a sharp seventh since it corresponds to the major third of the 6 finger scale of the upper (which becomes the sharpened leading-note of the 3 finger scale).

All the above is quite difficult to visualise from words, and there are other more complicated implications, but once you try things out in practice it becomes clear and obvious.

In order to fill out simple harmonies, or to make more advanced ones possible, you can add a third instrument. It usually seems better to double the upper one than the lower, though this is not the only possibility. You could for example use an EAE, DAD, DGD, CGC, CFC, etc combination. However, depending on its design the high pipe could be rather piercing and tiring for extended listening, and would be better balanced by a larger ensemble underneath it. AAD, GGC is more mellow.

Provided that the drone/chanter balance of each individual instrument is appropriate, there won’t be an impression of excessive drones when all instruments are playing.

Writing harmonies for any combination is really a matter of experiment to see what works best. In writing for Moebius, I use a variety of means, from the simplest — pencil, paper and head — through keyboard, computer sequencer to multi-track recorder. If you have trouble hearing harmonies internally (which I do, unless they are relatively simple ones), a keyboard is probably the quickest way to check ideas. With the left hand play a fifth or fourth as appropriate at the pitch of the bass drones, and in the right hand play the three chanter notes. (If you are using a synthesiser you can use weights or wedges to keep the drone notes down.) Of course, you can also improvise harmonies on the three pipes in real time, but in my experience it is difficult and time consuming to arrive at harmonies other than tonic, dominant and sub-dominant triads. A keyboard allows you to visualise and experiment with possibilities much more easily. As far as I am concerned, anything goes, provided that within the harmonic direction of the piece, it goes with the drones.

Everyone knows that a badly tuned bagpipe sounds horrible. This is even more true of bagpipe harmony groups, so it goes without saying that the greatest possible attention must be paid to accurate adjustment of the pipes, not only before starting, but also as the piece progresses if necessary by adjusting pressure in response to the needs of the harmony. It’s worth bearing in mind too that PA seems to exaggerate any mistuning.

I would encourage anyone who hasn’t tried bagpipe harmony playing in whatever combination to do so. It can be enormously satisfying. It’s probably best to start with pieces that are not too technically demanding, and to concentrate on accurate tuning and getting a beautiful sound.

It’s not too easy to find music which is suitable for harmonising for three pipes, which is why I decided to write all the music for Moebius. "How can this be folk music?" I hear you ask. Well, I don't see why it should be, or why it can’t be. Most of the pieces we play are based on traditional dance forms such as waltz, polka, hornpipe, bourrée, etc. On the other hand, I have taken the opportunity to do something a little more experimental from time to time, such as exploring the effect of changing harmonies without much melodic focus, or extending the structure beyond the 8 bar repeated form.

Recently I’ve been writing music for 6 pipes (at 3 different pitches) and percussion, but that’s another story.

 

Piping and Dance in the New World
A Cape Breton Perspective


Barry W. Shears

Between 1772 and 1850, various areas of Atlantic Canada were settled by Gaels from the Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Among these immigrants were representatives of some of the more famous piping families.

These first settlers also included several lesser-known piping families: Jamiesons, MacKinnons, MacArthurs, Nicholsons, MacDougalls, Beatons, Gillis’, MacIntyres, MacIsaacs, Campbells, MacDonalds, MacQuarries, MacVicars, MacLeans, MacCormicks, Carmichaels, MacInnis' and Fergusons.

In the early 1800s, the East coast of Canada was unsurpassed in the quality of its pipers, having probably the largest concentration of pipers outside Scotland at that time. Much has been lost but what did survive points to a vibrant musical way of life. The piping tradition in rural Nova Scotia was largely unaffected by changes among pipers in Scotland and what developed was a parallel piping culture.

In Scotland, the army is credited with keeping the piping tradition alive. It has been said the Highlanders never marched anywhere without their pipers. Grouping pipers and drummers together produced the first military pipe bands around the mid-1850s. Under these conditions the musical requirements for pipers began to change. Eventually dance rhythms gave way to march rhythms. Some strathspeys and reels were re-arranged as marches and in the case of William Ross’ Collection, many of these melodies were also renamed.

An increasing number of prestigious competitions were held where by pipers not only vied for top honours but also for the chance of gainful employment as pipers to the aristocracy. Add to this the detrimental effects of immigration, and changes were inevitable.

Certainly writers in the early part of the last century echoed sentiments expressed by Samuel Johnson after his 1773 visit to the Western Isles. Johnson had found a decline in piping probably due to migration to the cities of Scotland and immigration to the colonies.

The decline of piping standards by the early part of the nineteenth century is remarked by both James Logan in his Scottish Gael, 1831 and J.G. Dalyell in his Musical Memoirs of Scotland, 1849, present pipers, they believed, were inferior to their predecessors and getting worse.

In Nova Scotia, there was very little army influence on piping until the first World War. Rural areas were particularly unaffected. Pipers there served a more diverse and functional purpose, that of community musician, responsibilities of which included playing for dances and weddings.

Dances

We have noted the supreme place of the bagpiper as the purveyor of dance music at all social functions of the ordinary people from medieval times. Most of these functions had to be conducted outdoors or in a large farm building, such as a barn and that when it was empty. The fiddle held sway indoors but it is not until the eighteenth century that one sees it offer serious competition to the bagpipe in popular social dance, and then particularly in the Central Highlands, Breadalbane and Strathspey.

When one thinks of Scottish dancing two forms immediately spring to mind: Scottish Country Dancing and the various solo exhibition dances such as the Sword Dance, Sean Truibhas and Highland Fling.

Imported from France and England, Scottish Country Dancing developed in the ballrooms and assembly halls of late 18th century Lowland Scotland. Its performance later incorporated some regional dance styles. The Highland dances, although now performed following set rules and regulations, are believed to have originated among ancient rural dance forms.

One Scottish dancer in particular is given credit for changing the performance style of the ancient dance known as the Sean Truibhas. Piper Willie MacLennan (1860-1898) was one of the first professional dancers in Scotland to learn ballet technique and employ it in the Scottish exhibition dance idiom. His interpretations proved very popular and other exhibition dances were eventually similarly affected by European ballet styles.

We are left to wonder what specific social dances were performed by the common people in the Highlands of Scotland in the 18th and 19th centuries. This period is too early for Scottish Country Dancing and the Sword Dance and others cannot be termed social dances. There is no recollection of Scottish Country dancing among the Gaels in Nova Scotia which indicates that it was unknown at the time of immigration.

The most obvious answer, but not necessarily the only one, is stepdancing. All indications are this was a popular form of entertainment in some parts of Europe two centuries ago. Browsing through the statistical accounts for the various Scottish parishes for this period (18th century), one finds time after time that their chief amusement is dancing. Remnants of this type of dance can be found in Ireland's dance tradition, Appalachian ‘Buck’ dancing in the United States, French and Acadian dances in Quebec and the Maritimes, and Scottish stepdancing in areas of Canada’s Atlantic provinces, most notably Cape Breton Island.

Stepdancing involves the intricate movement of the feet in time to the music. In its more traditional form, the dancer remains almost motionless from the waist up, employing movement of the knees, ankles and feet to produce the various motion combinations.

Singers, or anyone of the various bagpipe forms found in Europe at that time, supplied the music provided for dancers. As musical sophistication evolved, other instruments were developed to provide music for both dancing and listening.

The introduction of the violin, with its musical range and dynamics, coincided with a growing trend to move entertainment indoors. Changes came slowly to the remote Highlands and Islands of Scotland. Community pipers were not incognizant of these changing developments in music, and by the mid-eighteenth century there emerged dance musicians competent on both instruments. It is apparent too, from some of David Allan’s pictures, that the piper sometimes alternated with the fiddler at weddings and the like. Sometimes the piper was also a fiddler, as was the case with Joseph and Patrick MacDonald.

There would be some tunes common to both instruments, but gradually the range and popularity of the violin enabled its players to develop its own distinctly Scottish repertoire. This era is often referred to by Scottish violin music historians as "The Golden Age of Fiddling." Eventually, the violin penetrated the Western Isles, but by the late 1700s, the bagpipe was still being employed for outdoor dances often accompanying very diverse ceremonies. Outdoor communions were often devoid of pious solemnity, burlesqued by the presence of peddlers booths, confectioners’ tables and whiskey tents. The celebrated Roderick MacLeod, a nineteenth century Evangelical Minister in Skye, described a scene which he witnessed during his boyhood at Dunvegan,

" ...as soon as the services, which were conducted in the open field, were ended, three pipers struck up music, and three dancing parties were formed on the green {where the communion was served}.…"

This is an important description in so much as it reveals the type of music played, as well as the close proximity to the MacCrimmon piping college at Boreraig. Some piping scholars maintain that Ceol Mor (Big Music) was the only form of music performed by a majority of the 18th century pipers, and that many of the family pipers considered Ceol Beag (Little Music) as decidedly inferior. This cannot be the case and it would be tempting to imagine one or more of the MacCrimmons or their pupils playing for group dances such as the Scotch Fours when not playing the classical music of the bagpipe.

One thing is for certain, many of the early immigrants to the Maritimes were well acquainted with dancing as a form of social entertainment.

"...Another band of settlers, who sailing from Moidart to Prince Edward Island, also enjoyed the good fortune to be accompanied by a piper. A descendant tells that when they landed they formed themselves into sets on the shore and danced a Scotch Reel to the music provided by Ronald MacDonald the piper; and Bishop Fraser, who was present at the celebration exclaimed with delight, ‘That man has the best little finger on the chanter I have ever known.’ "

The practice of dancing to pipe music continued among the descendants of the first immigrants.

"Each of the platforms had about it a large crowd looking at the reels and jigs and piper. The dancing went on all day vigorously. The most impressive figure of all was the piper. The pipes go well with the national emblem: they are a very thistle in your ear. Their weird barbaric strains are certainly inspiriting and martial, but you must be a Scotchman to love them. One of the pipers a very tall, very dark, very shaggy man, sat up with a rigid neck, stiff figure, puffed out cheeks, and looked like the presiding genius of some awful heathen rite. But he was one of the gentlest of men. I afterward spent a day with him noting some of the native airs of Cape Breton."

Whether the author of this travelogue was referring to melodies composed in Cape Breton or simply Scottish tunes played in Cape Breton we will never know. Since this encounter occurred at East Lake Ainslie, the piper in question was in all probability Big Farquhar MacKinnon.

The traditional dances brought by the first Highland settlers from Scotland consisted mostly of the Scotch Fours. These dances were performed by two couples to strathspeys and reels. At the turn of the century, this dance form was being replaced by more modern group dances such as the Saratoga Lancers and the Quadrilles. These imported dances, or dance variations, constitute the modern square sets or square dance found in Cape Breton today.

 

 

Lowlands or Borders?

A view of a bagpipe-naming controversy


Ray Sloan

The issue of nomenclature has been discussed a number of times in recent years, both in the piping press, newsgroups and on the world-wide-web. There is still a lack of consensus, it seems to me, specifically, on whether or not what has commonly become known as the "Border" pipe should be so called. My own view is, by now, well known, they should not; they should in fact be called the "Lowland" pipes.

Controversy and misunderstanding are not new to the world of piping, indeed, it seems to me that they are inextricably linked! In his work of 1911, Bagpipes, Grattan Flood opens Chapter 22 with the following;

"Much misconception has existed in regard to the Lowland Bagpipe as distinct from the Highland. Some writers allege that the two instruments are totally distinct, and that the Lowland Bagpipe is rather of an inferior class." (Note the use of Lowland)

This sentiment is also echoed elsewhere by R.D. Cannon in his authoritative book, The Highland Bagpipe and its Music, where they are called "common." Cannon also states,

"Lowland Bagpipes (note again the use of Lowland) are thought to have been played from about 1700 but they were displaced to some extent by another type of bagpipe, the so-called pastoral pipe, and also by fiddle and concertina."

Lowland pipes are sometimes called Border pipes , but this term is a misnomer; they were played throughout the Lowland region, which includes the whole North-Eastern seaboard of Scotland. The last pocket of Lowland piping was to be found, about 1900, not in the Borders but in Aberdeenshire.

When it was that Lowland pipes became known as Border pipes, I am not sure, but I feel that it is certainly as a result of the renewed interest in this instrument around the late 70s and early 80s, when, perhaps, some of the new makers, with sales on their agenda, were looking for a description which sounded a little more catchy? There are, to my knowledge, and I accept that I may be wrong here, no historical references to this pipe as a Border pipe, only as Lowland, so where the term came from, or who first (inaccurately) coined it, are a mystery to me. There are now further confusions with a revived interest in Reel pipes. (I think that this whole interest in rediscovering our piping history is connected to the New Age movement, which I liken to the Enlightenment movement in the 18th Century.)

According to Joseph MacDonald (1760), the Reel pipe was, "the same in form and apparatus with the greater," and was played for dancing. These so-called Reel pipes were not so loud as the Great Highland Bagpipe (GHB) and were offered by a number of makers throughout the nineteenth century. There was also the Half size pipes which were popular in boys’ bands from around 1900. Cannon states that Henderson of Glasgow maintained the distinction between the Half size and Reel pipes and says that the two are often confused, but unfortunately does not say where the confusion lies. What is certain, is that they were both mouth-blown and that they both had drones tied into contiguous stocks, as for the GHB, as distinct from the Lowland pipe with a common stock.

According to Cannon, bellows pipes were still included in bagpipe makers’ price lists as late as 1901, but these were not Lowland Pipes. They were bellows-blown versions of the Highland half-sized or Reel pipes. The last known player of such a bellows-blown Reel pipe was Angus MacPherson, who died in 1976, aged 96 years. He said that he played bellows pipes at weddings simply because they would stay in tune throughout the long night. His repertoire was the usual Highland.

What is clear here is that the Reel pipe is originally almost identical to the Half size pipe and was, like the former, mouth-blown and not bellows-blown, and has drone arrangements as for the GHB.

It is a worthwhile conjecture to assume here that the version of Reel pipe blown with bellows in fact preceded the Lowland arrangement of having drones in a common stock, for a very simple reason, and not just about reliable tuning. Try tuning drones which are slung over your shoulder and tied into contiguous stocks, whilst your right arm is tied down by a bellows strap! I have, and it is not easy — downright awkward in fact! So, having found that bellows-blown Reel pipes were more reliable for tuning, and perhaps easier to play for prolonged periods, the next most obvious step is to get around the physical problem of tuning the drones. This can be done by placing those drones into a common stock, so that they lie across your arms allowing you to wind your bellows, whilst comfortably "popping off" and tuning your drones. What we have now is a version of the Half size and Reel pipe, played with bellows, having drones in a common stock, and which we have come to call the Lowland pipe, for reasons already mentioned above.

I shall now throw another bagpipe into this cauldron of confusion, the so-called Northumberland Half-Long, a great sounding romantic term, and I would love to invent it! What is it? A Lowland pipe by another name. Where did the term come from? No one knows; we can only guess.

No one has yet come up with a definition, or description, of this Half-long, which differs substantially from the Lowland pipe. The only practical difference that has been historically noted, by looking at sets in the museums, is that some of the sets of Lowland pipes played throughout Northumberland and the Borders had the drones arranged as bass/tenor/alto. How these may have come to be known as Northumberland Half-Long is a mystery, and may have more to do with alcohol than history or expedience.

There has been a suggestion that the term may refer to a shorter bass drone. I think not. I have personally found only one example of a bass drone shorter than the norm for Lowland pipes. This is on the set of pipes of 1772 which belonged to Muckle Jock Milburn of Bellingham, the so-called "Muckle Jock Set." I found the bass drone to be only 5 centimetres shorter than others similar, quite insignificant and hardly justifying a new term for the pipe. This however does tell us about the lack of any kind of standardisation between makers of the period. This term is another misnomer and is perhaps very simply a local term used to describe the Lowland pipe in Northumberland, for whatever reason. The term certainly does not imply the existence of any older, larger, or half-as-long pipe in Northumberland.

If this pipe had existed as a unique form of pipe, there would have been historical examples. There are not. There are only examples of Lowland Pipes which get called, sometimes, in Northumberland, Half-Longs. These were also, apparently, sometimes called variously the Hill pipes and the Northumberland great pipe. Historically it is very hard to find any written evidence of the term. In the Flood book of 1911, there is no mention of it at all, but there is mention of the Lowland pipe.

In the Border Magazine, number 371 of November 1926, a controversy was under way concerning the adoption of the term Half-Long for what was judged to be a newly invented pipe for the Boy Scout movement in Northumberland. An article had appeared in a previous issue, written by a Mr. R.N Appleby-Miller, Lieutenant, 6th Northumberland Fusiliers, protesting that the pipes adopted for the Boy Scouts are, "erroneously called Half-Longs…..and are alien to our county." These pipes were actually invented, re-invented, re-modelled, from the Lowland pipes around 1920 by the famed collector W.A. Cocks of Ryton, George Charlton and others, specifically for the Boy Scouts. In the above-mentioned article of November 1926, G. Charlton states that these sets were modelled on the Muckle Jock Set, in addition to a set belonging to James Hall, piper to the Duke of Northumberland at that time.

The owner of the Muckle Jock set, Mrs. C.M. Stoddart of Ashington in Northumberland, stated that the set had been in her family for over 150 years and that they had always been called Half-Longs in her family. This effectively disposes of Mr. Appleby-Millers’ statement that the term is "alien to our County," but does highlight confusion and dissent. Mr. Charlton goes on to say that the smallpipes (Northumbrian) had been tried for military use but were found to be not loud enough, and that they were anxious that the Scouts "should have pipes which could be heard out-of-doors."

In defence of the redevelopment of what he called the "Northumberland Large Pipe," that his movement had worked to save from extinction in 1926, he says,

‘sixteen troops of Boy Scouts have adopted the Northumberland Half-Long pipes, and every troop has been presented with a set of pipes free of charge from the people of Northumberland. Two troops have adopted the Northumberland Smallpipes. A band of eight Pipers is in the process of formation by Armstrong College in Newcastle-Upon-Tyne, and their pipers have already played publicly. A band of six pipers has been formed by Newcastle Royal Grammar School. Over sixty sets of Half-Longs have been made during the past twelve months."

These will, undoubtedly, have been made by Robertson of Edinburgh.

Robertson, initially produced a number of Half-longs with chanters possessing G# in the scale. These were, however, at some point withdrawn and replaced by chanters with the flattened 7th in the scale. The reasons for this are not fully known, but one would naturally suspect that this is because enthusiasts were by now more familiar with the more widespread flattened 7th scale, of the Scottish conical bore chanter. The drones of these Robertson Half Longs, as redesigned by Messrs, Charlton, Cocks et al remained and persist to this day in the form of tenor/baritone/bass.

I can only assume that the reasons for putting a baritone 5th in place, instead of the alto 5th, was for volume, as they were quite specific about this need for volume. I believe that this was in fact a fundamental error, in historical as well as musical terms. The style of the drones may indeed have been modelled upon the Muckle Jock and James Hall sets, but the arrangement was quite wrong. I have looked at in excess of 14 antique sets of Lowland, or Half-Long, pipes, and only five of these had a 5th interval drone, all others being the normal Scottish tenor/tenor/bass. Of these five only one had this 5th interval drone in the baritone position, i.e. between the tenor and bass, this was a Robertson set from circa 1930. All of the others had this 5th at alto, i.e. bass/tenor/5th. This Robertson pattern is the Brien Boru pattern of drones. The 5th drone found in the alto position has more of a musically blending effect, complementing the harmonic structure of the bass drone. One only has to listen to a set of drones with a baritone, and then a set with alto, to become convinced of the superior merits of the alto, the old makers obviously realised this.

In 1906, one William O’Duane, working with Henry Starck in London, produced and patented the Brien Boru pipes, as a new form of Irish Warpipe. The drones were three in number, issued from a common stock, and were arranged tenor/baritone/bass. It is important to note the predating of these to the Robertson Half-Longs. It is quite possible, if not likely, that those searching for pipes loud enough for the Boy Scouts of Northumberland, saw these Brien Boru pipes, were impressed by their volume, and therefore decided to adopt this pattern for the new Half-Long, as opposed to the older Northumbrian pattern of Lowland Pipe with an alto drone.

The Brien Boru pipes never really took the imagination of pipers in this country (U.K), and had only limited success in Ireland, the two drone GHB holding sway in that country. One of the reasons for this unpopularity was the apparent difficulty of fingering the complex keyed chanter.

So, where does this leave us? I started by looking at the nomenclature of a certain bellows-blown pipe, and ended up with a potted history of some other common stock instruments, Lowland/Half-Long and Brien Boru pipes, taking in some interesting relatives like the Reel pipes and Half-Size GHB. What I have learned is that there is little mention, or historical evidence, to support our conical bore/common drone stock/bellows-blown pipe that is the Lowland pipe, being called the Border pipe.

Throughout history, pipers have been associated with bawdiness, drunkenness, and behaviour generally perceived to be that of the, so-called lower classes. Notwithstanding that in modern society today the playing of bagpipes appeals to a pan-cultural and pan-social interest group, it might save a lot of confusion if we simply re named these things, generically, "Lowlife Pipes!"

 

Report from the Treasurer

by Steve Bliven

"Money makes the world go around…"
Joel Grey, in Cabaret

It will cost between $22—$25,000 to put on the 2003 Pipers' Gathering.

This includes travel and stipends for the performers/instructors and the cost of facilities, publicity, and the other incidentals involved in running a three-day event such as this.

None of the funds are used for salaries for the organizers and staff of the event. All of their time and effort is given voluntarily in order to make things run as smoothly, efficiently—and inexpensively—as possible.

This year, income from registrations for the event, private lessons, vendor fees, and sales of concert tickets is projected to provide approximately $13,500. The difference between this figure and the total cost to run the event will (hopefully) come from T-shirt sales, a grant from the Vermont Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts, and donations from individuals and corporations interested in seeing the event succeed and continue.

While still a generous amount, our funding from the Vermont Arts Council is down by 25% this year—a trend not uncommon with all arts funding.

Consequently, we will depend to an even larger amount on individual and corporate donations.

We would like to thank those listed below for their donations this year—and would like to encourage anyone who is able to assist us in continuing the tradition of piping in North Hero. And if there are any corporations or business which would like to consider a sponsorship, we would certainly like to talk with you.

In 1999 the Pipers’ Gathering, Inc. was established as a non-profit corporation in the state of Vermont and subsequently was recognized as a tax-exempt, non-profit [501(c)(3)] organization by the US Internal Revenue Service. The sole activity of the corporation is to sponsor the North Hero Pipers’ Gathering. Remember, all donations to the Pipers Gathering, Inc. are tax-deductible.

2003 Donors

At the time of writing, these people have been willing and able to provide additional financial support to the event and the Directors of the Gathering want to thank them profusely. They include (in alphabetical order):

Anonymous (3) 
Steve Brittain 
Jordan Bruce 
Meir Chernofsky 
Douglas Dexter 
William Dobbs 
George Lott 

John and Nancy Lovejoy
Wileen Reber
Mark Stayton
David Stephenson
Daron Tansley
Chauncey and Peggy Varney
Susanne Ward

 

Bottom Line:

We encourage anyone able to help support this event to make a donation at the registration table or at the concert ticket booths or by mailing a check to:

The Pipers' Gathering Inc.
Steve Bliven, Treasurer
49 Plains Field Road
South Dartmouth, MA 02748

Thank you for your participation and we hope you greatly enjoy the Gathering and the concerts.

 

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