Alaska News

Serious bagpipe competition opens the Alaska Scottish Highland Games

The 2015 Alaska Scottish Highland Games take place on Saturday, June 27. One of the most stirring moments -- and probably the loudest -- will be when ranks of kilted pipers and drummers from around the state march across the Alaska State Fairgrounds in Palmer to the infectious pulse of Caledonian rousers like "Scotland the Brave" and "Bonnie Dundee."

"I have exactly 100 pipers and drummers combined" taking part in the grand entry and closing ceremonies that day, said Sarah Heverling, the games' piping and drumming chairman. They include four Anchorage-area groups -- the Anchorage Scottish Pipe Band, Crow Creek Pipes and Drums, Alaska Pacific University Pipe Band and Alaska Celtic Pipes and Drums -- and the Red Hackle Pipe Band from Fairbanks.

A number of players and the ensembles will compete for cash prizes of up to $700 at Saturday's games in Palmer. But in Anchorage on Friday, as part of the games, contests for trios and individual pipers will take place at the Loussac Library.

"It's a great way to start off the whole weekend," said Ian White, drum major -- that is, music director -- of the Crow Creek group. "The piping community and those interested in the Celtic arts get to hear some performances with lots of variety right off the bat."

Time evaporates

Trio competition will be held on the library lawn starting at noon. Judges are looking for good playing, "perfect fingering, in-tune, the same expression from all three players," said Tim Kincaid, pipe major of the Anchorage Scottish Pipe Band and athletic director for the games. "But they're also looking for lively execution, brightness, not just playing the notes."

The trio format allows limited harmonization between the instruments, Kincaid said, usually with two pipers playing the main tune and a single instrument providing the harmonic notes. Just like the marching bands, all music is memorized.

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The trios focus on lighter fare or "ceòl beag" ("little music"), marches in duple and triple meter, dances like hornpipes, reels, jigs and the strathspey. The same tunes form the staple repertoire of the massed bands. While conventional thinking associates bagpipe music with the age of pike-and-sabre warfare, some of it is contemporary. White said his trio will be playing one piece that dates from when Bach was a boy, one written within the last 20 years, and one written within the last five years.

"It's like time evaporates," White said. "You have these three pieces, and they all fit beautifully together, as if 300 years had not passed at all."

The trio competition is particularly fun, White said, because "the trios try to practice away in secret so that their bandmates don't know what they're doing until they do it." While some trios "slap themselves together at the last minute, a lot of them stay together for years," he added. "So those groups have some really polished performances."

Deadly serious

Fun aside, the dedicated pipers have the determination of concert pianists. "Even the chiding that goes on is serious. It's a real Celtic throwdown. The playing and the competition are well thought over. Believe you me, it's deadly serious."

The most serious side of bagpiping, the "ceòl mòr," or "great music," will be showcased in the piobaireachd competition, held in the ground floor of the library starting at 6 p.m. Also spelled "pibroch" and pronounced "PEE-brok" in America, this is a form of art music meant for reflective listening rather than marching or dancing. It's in the company of classical string quartets or serious jazz.

"It's the height of Renaissance-style music," White said.

Played by a solo musician, the form consists of a set of ordered variations on a "ground," a format also used in compositions for Celtic harp and Scottish fiddle. In a full performance -- which can take 10 minutes and longer -- the composition ends with a repeat of the original tune.

Three expert judges from the Lower 48 will adjudicate the playing, Heverling said. They include U.S. Gold Medal Champion Ian Whitelaw, whose playing most readers will have heard. Not only has he performed with the Chieftains and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, opened concerts for Sting and played for Queen Elizabeth, but his bagpiping is used on movie and television soundtracks. When Groundskeeper Willie on "The Simpsons" plays the pipes, Whitelaw is the one sounding the notes.

"I think they spoil it by having a judge," said White. "Crowd appeal is more important than the score. But we all agree that the judge needs to be there. They're top-notch players and have heard lots of great performances over many years. They always give us lots of great comments."

Chanters and kilts

Bagpipes, in various forms, are widespread in folk music. They're found across Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. They include small instruments suitable for indoor playing and the Irish uilleann pipes or union pipes, which use bellows in place of the bagpipes' sack. There are even versions where the air is supplied to the instrument by a foot-pump.

The instruments featured in the bands at the games are known as the Great Highland bagpipes. It has three fixed-pitch pipes -- one bass, two tenor -- that supply the steady drone. A fourth pipe, the chanter, is fingered like a recorder to provide the melody on a nine-note scale.

The wind that makes the sound is supplied by the bag, which is carefully squeezed by the player's arm. The bag is filled by a blowstick. A check valve keeps the bag's air reserve from dropping when the player takes a breath. Keeping a steady level of pressure on the bag with one's arm is essential, Kincaid said. "You don't want it to fluctuate or it will change pitch." Getting nervous and squeezing too hard can draw negative marks from the judge.

Bagpipes are tuned higher than most instruments, Kincaid said. An orchestra tunes its A note to 440 hertz; bagpipes tune to 468 hertz. When pipers perform with other instruments, they sometimes have to use a special chanter.

The chanter uses a double reed, like oboes and bassoons do. These are usually made of cane. The drones nowadays use single reed carbon fiber set in a plastic body to resist moisture. As with all wind instruments that get their initial air from someone's lungs, pipes can accumulate a great deal of moisture. That too affects the pitch, Kincaid said.

Getting the tuning right can take a lot of time. The contest rules permit no more than five minutes for contestants to get in tune.

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Other rules address appearance. "Competitors may be prevented from competing and accepting trophies onstage for not wearing acceptable and properly worn highland dress," reads one stipulation. Kilt or trews (tartan trousers, often decorated with leather), shirt, host and shoes "are the minimum requirement," though beginners are allowed to compete in dress pants or skirts.

Solo contestants must march while playing their marches for the judges. There's even a visual effect category for the stick-whirling drummers.

In competition, solo drummers must be accompanied by one or two live pipers. The pipers aren't judged, but the jurors need to see how well the drumming matches the piping, Kincaid said.

World championship hosts

The Saturday competitions in Palmer, which include "little music" solo and pipe and drum ensemble events, will share the schedule with dance and rugby exhibitions along with the popular athletic contests -- like tossing the 127-pound, 20-foot-long log called a caber.

"It's like a Scottish three-ring circus," said Kincaid.

Professional champions from around the world will take part. The games, now in their 34th year, moved to the State Fairgrounds last year to accommodate the crowds. Ten thousand people attended in 2014.

Local Highland fans are particularly excited about next year's event, when Alaska will be the site of the 2016 World Highland Games Championships. Under the auspices of the International Highland Games Federation, the Olympics of Scottish sport has been held in previous years in Scotland, Canada and, earlier this month, Bressiure, France.

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Kincaid said the obligations of the 2016 championships will oblige the hosting Alaskan Scottish Club to nearly double the $100,000 cost of the games. "We can't make it at the gate," he said. "We're already looking for sponsorship."

If enough funds can be raised, a top-grade pipe band might make an appearance along with the cream of international Highland athletes traveling to the competition.

"I'd like to see whoever wins this year's (piping) world championship show up," said White. "We got to think long term. This is a huge deal and Alaska should be really proud. Tim Kincaid's done an amazing job to bring it here. Other areas have been flogging for it for years -- and we got it.

"That's pretty cool."

2015 Alaskan Scottish Highland Games Piping and Drumming Competition

Trio competition will begin at noon Friday, June 26, on the lawn of Loussac Library, moving to Wilda Marston Theatre in the event of bad weather. Solo piobaireachd competition will take place starting at 6 p.m. in the Assembly Chambers on the first floor at the library. Both events are free and open to the public.

Solo piping and drumming, pipe band and drum salute competition will take place during the games at the Alaska State Fairgrounds in Palmer. The grounds open starting at 8 a.m. Saturday, June 27. The massed band opening ceremony will start at 11:45 a.m. and the closing ceremony will begin around 6 p.m. The Celtic rock band Brothers will perform starting at 7 p.m. Adult admission to the games on Saturday is $12.50 in advance, $15 at the gate; for children, $4 in advance, $5 at the gate. Advance tickets can be purchased online at www.alaskascottish.org.

Reach Mike Dunham at mdunham@alaskadispatch.com or 257-4332.

Mike Dunham

Mike Dunham has been a reporter and editor at the ADN since 1994, mainly writing about culture, arts and Alaska history. He worked in radio for 20 years before switching to print.

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