Pipes and drums group to end seminar with concert

Recommend This Print This Get E-mail News Alerts Buy Photos/Page Reprints * Breaking News If local news is breaking and you know about it: * Call Us: 800-296-5137 * E-mail Us * Upload Your Photos

By Josette Keelor -- jkeelor@nvdaily.com

WINCHESTER -- The City of Winchester Pipes and Drums band will perform tonight at John Handley High School alongside world famous highland dancers, Celtic musicians and faculty from The National Piping Centre in Glasgow, Scotland.

"It's gonna be a heck of a time," said band director John Taylor.

But the Handley National Piping Centre Summer School Concert, which begins at 7:30 p.m., is only part of the role that Winchester has played in the bagpipe and highland drums' march across the United States in recent years.

Taylor, who with friend Jimmy Gordon learned to play the bagpipes in Scotland more than 10 years ago, decided to bring the program they fell in love with to the states.

The concert caps off the six-day seminar that Gordon and Taylor set up in Winchester after encouraging professors of music from The National Piping Centre in Glasgow to expand their program to Winchester nine years ago. The summer school, which began with registration on Sunday at Shenandoah University and ends Friday, is open to all ages. It runs each year on the third week of June.

"This was the first [in the U.S.], and then they expanded from ours," Taylor said.
In February, there's a school in upstate New York and at the beginning of June, there's one in Atlanta. Another summer school, previously in California, has disbanded, he said.
The center also offers summer schools in Munich, Germany, and in Switzerland.
"I actually taught Jimmy first, and he became very enthusiastic about it," said Taylor, who's retired from Winchester Public Schools.

Gordon, a retired dentist, was all for encouraging others to acquire a love of piping and drumming as well, Taylor said, but neither thought that traveling to Scotland for lessons would be feasible for many Americans interested in learning to play.

If they couldn't bring students to the teachers, they decided, why not bring the teachers here?

So far the summer school has been a success and recruits 55-65 participants each year, Taylor said.

This year attendance has fallen to 35 because of the bad economy, he said. The price for six days is $450 without meals, he said, and with room and board at the Lee-Jackson Motel for out-of-towners, it's about $800.

Musicians of all ages and levels of experience are welcome for the summer camp, he said, with children as young as 9 participating. Children under the age of 16 must have a parent or guardian accompany them.

Bryan LaFollette, 14, of Highview, W.Va., began playing the bagpipes five years ago, and has been in the Winchester band and part of the summer school for the past four years.
With a mother who plays guitar and a grandmother and sister who play piano, Bryan's interest in music is not surprising.

"I went to a birthday party for a cousin of mine when I was 5," he said by phone Monday. A bagpipe player was part of the entertainment, and he knew from that moment he wanted to learn to play. "I was completely mesmerized."

He attended a local pipes concert and met Taylor, who gave him free private lessons for a year before Bryan joined the Winchester band and began attending the summer school.
He enjoys the school because he gets to work with world-class musicians, but also because he meets students like himself from all over the country.

"[This week] I've met someone from Pennsylvania, Colorado and Texas," he said.

Bagpipe music, Taylor said, is "a wonderful music, very evocative." He isn't surprised that so many students flock to the summer school in Winchester each year.

"They love it and want to learn to do it themselves," he said.

"The preponderance of our students come from the Eastern seaboard, but because of the quality of our faculty, we have students from all over the country," Taylor said, some even from Mexico.

The website for The National Piping Centre, www.thepipingcentre.co.uk, explains that the summer school covers "all aspects of performance including practice routines, technique, musical expression, tuning and ensemble playing."

The school recommends beginners buy a copy of The National Piping Centre's Tutor Book before starting lessons with the summer school program.

They are "all teachers at the piping centre and all are world champions," Taylor said. "It's a well-quality facility."

"It really makes for a very rich school," he said.

Many of the faculty will perform in the concert tonight, he said, "Which means the best pipers in the world."

Capt. Stuart Samson, retired former director of the Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming for the British army, will perform, as will Roddy MacLeod, principal of The National Piping Centre.

"[MacLeod] has come all nine years," Taylor said.

The concert will feature Scottish fiddler David McLaughlin, from Frederick County, and harpist Abigail Palmer, of Middleburg. The Thistle Highland Dancers of Northern Virginia will perform, as well as the McGrath Irish Dancers of Damascus.

Tickets are $20 for adults and $10 for students and are available at the door or by calling 667-1952.

The City of Winchester Pipe and Drums includes members from age 10 up and rehearses Tuesdays from 7 to 9:30 p.m. at the War Memorial Building in Jim Barnett Park in Winchester.

Membership is free, and students can learn highland drumming or bagpipe playing.
For more information on the Virginia Piping & Drumming School, visit The National Piping Centre's website at www.thepipingcentre.co.uk.