Yes, I Wear A Kilt

As a lot of you probably already know, I have joined Heather and Thistle Pipes and Drums back in September of 2011.  Since then, I have gotten many questions asking why I would want to play drums with a bagpipe band.  My answer has always been the same - why not?

I remember seeing the pipers play during a St. Patrick's Day Parade in downtown Fargo a couple of years ago and wondering to myself how one could join a band like that.  A year later I missed the annual Irish parade because of lousy weather, but I did catch a local news segment that had highlights of the group playing and marching down the street.  

I figured there couldn't be too many bagpipe bands in the area, so I took to Google to see if I could find out more about the group.  I was able to dig up that they were based out of Fargo and their Facebook page put out occasional requests for pipers and drummers.  I was a few months late from their last post about it and decided to wait and see if another request was ever sent out.

In the beginning of September I came across a post on Facebook about an introductory meeting for those wanting to learn how to play the bagpipes.  The post also mentioned that any drummers interested in learning Highland drumming were also welcome, so I decided to go to the meeting and see what it was all about.

The meeting was mostly focused on the bagpipes, as it is the main core of the group, but the question was asked if there were any drummers in attendance.  I raised my hand and was asked if I had any experience.  When I answered yes to the question, I was told I would be sized up for a kilt in a few weeks.

After the meeting, I met up with the drummers and went through some of the sheet music.  I was then asked if I could attend practices on Tuesday nights, starting with the next practice which was taking place the following night.  I said I didn't want to be a hindrance to the group as I wasn't familiar with the music, but I was assured that wouldn't be the case and showed up to play with the group the next day.

Since then I have attended most of the weekly practices and was sized up for a kilt as promised.  Thankfully, the band provides all of the uniforms for their members as they are fairly spendy.  Due to my oddly sized body (tall and lanky) they had to order a kilt that was my size and other accessories for me to wear with the band.  The kilt alone cost nearly $400.

In November, a mere two months after joining, I got to perform with the band at Pangea, an annual celebration of cultural diversity throughout the Fargo-Moorhead area.  This event was pretty well attended, a lot more than I thought would be there.

Partially due to the crowd, I found that I had butterflies in my stomach, which is something that hasn't happened to me in a long time.  I'm also guessing since I wasn't able to hide behind an entire drum kit and the fact that I had to play in time with other drummers also had a little to do with it.  I made it through the entire 30 minute set without any problems, though, I got my first performance with the band under my belt… or in this case, my kilt.

The band went into a bit of downtime around the holidays, however, things are starting to pick up starting this week.  We have three performances scheduled over the next few days, with one taking place on Wednesday evening, and two taking place on Saturday for St. Patrick's Day.

On Wednesday, March 14, we will be performing at the Moorhead Presbyterian Church for an event called An Evening of Spiritual Music.  We will be the first group to take the stage, which starts at 7 PM, and will play a short set of songs.  This event will be a warm up for us as there are bigger performances scheduled for Saturday, March 17.

Saturday will start early as we are set to perform at the Hjemkomst Center's annual Celtic Festival at 10 AM.  We have an extensive set of Irish and Scottish tunes planned for the performance, which will run close to an hour long.  At 3 PM, we will be marching and performing Irish tunes for Fargo's St. Patrick's Day Parade; the same parade where I first saw the band two years ago.

Feel free to come out and watch us at any or all of these events and support your local bagpipe community.  Here is a little preview of what you can expect that I recorded at a recent practice.  This song is called Hills of Alva and will be part of the Celtic Festival on Saturday.

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