You never really know where the decisions you make in your life might lead you. For a short time back in the summer of 1998, as a result of serious health issues, I found myself unable to play my pipes, teach my students, or lead my pipe band. Since I could not play, I felt it was time to return to learning. I enrolled in three one-week summer schools, one in Vermont, one in Ontario and one in Cape Breton, where I thought I might get excellent instruction in the performance of Piobaireachd, the classical music of the Great Highland Bagpipe. Piobaireachd, by that time, was making great strides forward in popularity among solo pipers in Atlantic Canada and, though I had a rather limited knowledge of it, I was called upon to teach it to my more competitive students. It was time to hit the books and strive to keep ahead of them. That marvellous summer experience resulted in a three-part series of articles called “A Piobaireachd Summer”, which were published in this magazine from October 1998 to February 1999.

While I enjoyed the instruction I received at all three schools, the following year I chose to return to the Ontario School of Piping at it’s new location at St. Andrews College, in Aurora, just north of Toronto. The school at that time was under the direction of gold medalist and clasp winner, Jim McGillivray with the able assistance of Rob Crabtree. Over the years the School has featured some of North America and Scotland’s top piping instructors. In addition to Jim and Rob, others included Ken Eller, Iain K. MacDonald, James MacHattie and his wife Kylie, Stuart Liddell, Jack Lee, Bruce Gandy, Willie McCallum, and Angus MacColl, to name just a few.

I also met many pipers from all over the continent who came to receive the same world-class instruction that drew me to the school. There was one group in particular that springs to mind. James Parker was the Pipe Major of the Red River Pipes and Drums of Shreveport, Louisiana (see May/June 2007 issue of Celtic Heritage).  He was in the room next to mine, and after his first class with one of the Scottish instructors, he gently knocked on my door and asked if he might bother me for a minute. It seems that between the instructor’s Scottish brogue, and James’ Southern drawl, there was a communication problem in his class and he did not quite understand what the instructor was trying to tell him about the tune he was learning. I was able to help him out, and the next day he returned with other pipers from his band.

From then on, we met every day and I would review the lessons they had just had with their instructors. By the end of the week, we were having mini band practices out on the Quad, a large grassy rectangle between the residences and the chapel. We worked on things like making precise attacks, tuning chanters together, and tightening up unison playing by watching the PM’s fingers. (This eventually led to an invitation to visit Shreveport to hold a three-day workshop with the whole band, which I did the following March and enjoyed immensely.)

At the end of that summer school session, however, James mentioned my assistance to his pipe corps on his comment sheet and much to my surprise, Jim McGillivray phoned me a few weeks later and brought it up. I was feeling a little guilty, as it had not been my intention to interfere with the instruction given, but merely to help these particular students understand it. Jim realized my anxiety and quickly put me at ease by offering me a position on his instructional staff. I have been teaching at the school every summer since, and have just completed my twelfth year there. I usually teach about five classes a day and take one where the focus is on piobaireachd. I also do one of the evening seminars each week. This year, in my one free period each day, I studied piobaireachd with Angus MacColl of Benderloch, Scotland, arguably the top competitive piper in Scotland today, the first week and with Jack Lee of Burnaby, BC, certainly one of the top competitive pipers from North America, the second. Both were amazing teachers. The rest of the time I taught, with nineteen students each day the first week and just fifteen the second. They ranged in ability from absolute beginner to the upper intermediate level.

One twelve-year-old Ontario girl, Oona Nadler stood out from the rest. She was at the School for both weeks and started from scratch. By the end of the second week, she was playing “Scotland The Brave” with all the execution played accurately and with very good musical expression, ready to advance to the full bagpipes. Mind you, she also played the violin and the flute, so she had a very good grounding in music, which was a great help.

In 1999, I passed exams to become a member of the PPBSO’s Adjudication Panel, and the Society awarded me a B Certificate for Solo Piping and an A Certificate for Band Piping. When I’m in Ontario, I am often called upon to do a bit of judging. Over the years, I’ve judged at Maxville, Montreal, Georgetown, Kincardine, Cambridge, and Chatham. This year I judged at the very first games to be held in Lindsay, north east of Toronto. Martha Davis, one of the adult students from Iowa, was kind enough to provide my transport to the games and back to the school. It was a bright and sunny day, and quite hot. The solo competitions were crammed into a very small fenced-in field with no shade whatsoever, and with competitors tuning up in close proximity to those who were playing before their judges, which made it a difficult task to hear each competitor clearly.

The band events in the afternoon took place on a large dusty outdoor arena in front of a packed grandstand. We heard a number of excellent bands, however, and I enjoyed the day, despite the heat and strong sun. Martha and I were not the only ones from the school to attend the Lindsay Games. Instructors James MacHattie and his wife Kylie were competing, as were several of the students. The School’s Director, Ellen Mole, took a carload to the Games, as did another of the adult students, M.J. Perry. Mrs. Perry lived in the area and she invited all of us who were staying on campus for the weekend to her place for a barbecue, which was a great treat.

Once the school ended, I flew home in time to do some judging at the Antigonish Highland Games, the New Brunswick Highland Games in Fredericton, and the Festival of the Tartans in New Glasgow.

I also picked up with my band, which was already in the middle of a very busy summer performance schedule. Some readers may know that in 1984, I helped form the Clan Thompson Pipe Band, based in Stellarton and served as the band’s Pipe Major from 1984-1993. The band attracted quite a large number of experienced pipers and drummers and soon was competing and winning prizes at the Grade 3 level. It continued to grow in strength and numbers until, in 1989, the band won the Grade 3 North American Championship in Maxville, Ontario. Unfortunately, as often happens with pipe bands, Clan Thompson began a slow spiral downwards, first losing most if its drum corps and then some of its hottest young pipers who wanted to move on to the next major prize winning band. When I took a year’s leave in 1993-94 to live and teach school in the north of Scotland, the band faded away.

I was not too upset, however, as in 1988 I had started a piping class at home that, by 1991, had grown to become the Antigonish Highland Society Pipe Band. One band was enough and, though I enjoyed the Clan Thompson experience, I enjoyed working with the young pipers in Antigonish even more. This band improved year after year and in 1995 it won the Grade 4 North American Pipe Band Championship and went on to compete at the Grade 3 level in subsequent years before it, too, began to decline. As I mentioned previously, health problems in 1998 led me to leave the band, and although I returned to it several years later as a playing member under another pipe major, it was never the same and I did not stay long.

About four years ago, I was approached by former members of the Clan Thompson band who were feeling nostalgic and wondered if I would be interested in re-starting the band. We put out the call and a small number of the old gang answered. We had a very slow rise from as few as four pipers and one or two drummers the first summer to the current band of fifteen pipers and six drummers. This band has attracted members from Antigonish, Guysborough, and Pictou counties as well as from Dartmouth, Waverley, Great Village and Moncton, and is once more taking part in regional competitions, albeit at the Grade 4 level. It will be a long climb back up to where we once were and we may not make it, but we’re having fun trying. The band rehearses every Sunday afternoon in Stellarton, and is quite active in the summer, with competitions in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick, numerous parades, the Antigonish Highland Games Tattoo and, for the third year in a row, a series of eight Wednesday night concerts at the DeCoste Centre in Pictou.

These concerts are a delight! The band has developed a 45-minute program, which features a number of solos, and we switch the solo spots around frequently so everyone in the pipe corps gets an opportunity to play them.  We meet early to get warmed up and tuned up, and about 7:00 PM we move onto the outside deck of the DeCoste Centre and begin to play. We consistently draw a good crowd, most of whom are planning to attend the concert inside the Centre as soon as we complete our performance. I think we all enjoy playing at the DeCoste Centre, but even more we enjoy the fellowship that occurs after the concerts when we adjourn to the local pub for a snack, a beverage and some good chat.

As I said at the start, you never know where decisions you make in life might lead you. The mid-summer day in 1966 that I traded a ride on my Honda Trail 90 motorcycle for a chanter lesson with a talented young piper, Francis Beaton of Brierly Brook was a day that changed my life forever. Francis taught me the scale and G gracenotes, and my first little tune. Then he made it possible for me to study with his teacher, Sandy Boyd, and the rest, as they say, is history.