Posted on 12/31/2014 4:42:08 PM PST by ConorMacNessa
The iconic sight and sound of pipers playing Auld Lang Syne at Hogmannay Street Parties could be under threat – according to piping enthusiasts who are campaigning for more tuition in state schools.
More than 75,000 people are expected to descend upon Princes Street on December 31 to attend one of the world’s biggest and most famous celebrations, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay Street Party, which will see thousands of revellers sing along to the famous song at Midnight.
However, according to David Johnston, Championships Convenor for the Scottish Schools Pipe Band, the world famous tradition could become a thing of the past unless more is done to increase the number of opportunities for state school pupils to learn how to play the pipes and drums.
David says there is also a concern in piping circles that the skills will become regionalised and elitist with many of the country’s top bands coming from rural communities or private schools
(Excerpt) Read more at economicvoice.com ...
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Scotland’s National Instrument in Danger of Extinction.
Not likely. Too many respect the warrior tradition it is melded with in many minds. Hell they’ve picked it up in Japan of all places.
“Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes. Brings me to tears every time. I hope that this talent is continued!
Obviously, what the world needs is a good set of electric bagpipes. With a knob that goes to 11.
It's not a traditional pipe tune, and there are so many wonderful, stirring authentic tunes.
The classic funeral pipe tune is "The Flowers o' the Forest" (commemorating the Scottish defeat at Flodden Field in 1513 - between 12,000 and 15,000 casualties, including King James IV).
There's a song that's connected with the tune - the refrain is "The flowers o' the forest/ are a' weid [withered] awa'."
when i was young we went to the orangmens parade in Horsham (i think) where the Orangmens Home was. There must have been 20-30 bands that paraded in those days. my dad has very bad out of focus video no sound unfortunately
Oh piffle. Not going extinct. My ex’s office manager was Scottish, recorded bagpipe music, and residents of their Florida town had it installed as the sound their automobile horns played. Handy when the tourist season started and idiot tourists drove around drunk or just stupid.
I found out a few years ago I have a Scottish relative who moved from Virginia to Ohio just prior to the Civil War.
For whatever reason I’ve always admired Scottish Nationalism and culture—now I know why!
My mother is from Spain. The Northwestern corner of Spain called Galicia (Gaelic) is heavily Celtic in ethnicity. While I don’t have any relatives from there, I do know that the culture is very “Ibero-Celtic”.
There are many modern artists who use bag-pipes in their music from Galicia. Cristina Pato is one of them and her music is awesome.
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They buried the lede - piping is flourishing in "rural communities and private schools", where it always has -- the authors (and/or their purported source, who may be looking for government grant money) are actually concerned that pipes are too "elitist" and not "diverse" enough, and that the hordes of Muslims and other non-Caledonians are not going to take up the pipes in sufficient numbers to calm their poor nerves.
We are covered up with piping students both here and in the U.K. (the local piping camp in the summer in N.C. has a waiting list). They just are the wrong color (or religion).
BUAIDH NO BAS!!
My daughter spent a summer in Galicia with a host family . . . she enjoyed it very much, and who knows, the Celtic connection may have helped!
“A gentleman is a man who knows how to play the pipes...and does not.”
I'm not sure if you know or if you were just being sarcastic, but there really is such a thing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDCs7ijNUVM
AC/DC has the only single bagpipe song that doesn’t make the ears bleed.
Get to a Scottish festival sometime and hear the variety of songs that pipe bands play. I can't even begin to describe the emotional effect that some of them can bring.
A friend in college was a good piper. I showed him how to play guitar and he showed me how to run those things. It was way too much work, blowing really hard then squeezing my arm down really hard. I gave up immediately. His fingers got sore on the guitar strings and he gave up immediately, too.
I liked when Rod Stewart was played on the pipes in “So I married an axe murderer”.
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