Looking back over my
last entry, I can’t believe how far I’ve come.
So much so, I’ll dare to call myself a Piper. Not a very good piper (yet), but by God, I’ve
played in public, pubs and parades. So I’ll
claim the moniker, thank you very much.
Let’s see if we can’t
catch up on this marathon…
Since the last post, we
got our uniforms in and have been sorting through ill measured tunics and
oversized kilts. But we managed to trade
around enough to get ourselves respectably outfitted. The kilt I ended up with is still a bit big,
so I’ll have to find a tailor to bring it down an inch or two, and take an inch
off the bottom.
Neil got us new chanter reeds.
While they may sound better, they are quite a bit harder to play. Our debut was scheduled for June 22nd,
and the fact is I didn’t feel comfortable playing the harder reed. So I switched it back for my easier reed.
The morning of the 22nd, I took my pipes out to an
isolated section of Magnuson Park to practice my tunes. I have to admit, there
was something deeply satisfying in standing on the shores of Lake Washington,
playing my pipes under a cloudy (and very Scottish feeling) sky, sending the
tunes out across the water.
That evening was a
“soft” opening, under the guise of our monthly Department Social. We gathered (in uniform) at Paddy Coynes at
Pier 70. We marched in (well, walked in)
playing The Minstrel Boy followed by The Rowan Tree. The crowd was highly enthusiastic! Throughout the night, we played three or four
different times. Unfortunately, our
repertoire is limited to Minstrel Boy/The Rowan Tree, The Battle’s Over/Green
Hills of Tyrol, Amazing Grace, Going Home and Scot’s Wha Hay (Not played.) Consequently, we repeated our sets a few
times. Nevertheless, it was a huge boost
to our self confidence, and just what we needed. The best part was that my parents were in
town and got to see the whole thing.
The next day I put my
harder reed back in. (This becomes important
in a later post.)
The next few rehearsals
we worked on marching. Unlike my
marching band days, there is no stylized step, not high knee, no rolling
foot. It’s really just walking in
syncopation, which is fine with me.
Boston Police Pipes and Drums arrived on July 19th.
There was a joint practice on July 20th, which I was unable
to attend.
July 21st was
our first parade – the West Seattle Hi-Yu parade. It was to be the beginning of a pretty
intense bagpipe week…
We marched ahead of
Boston. In the course of our practices,
it was decided we could only effectively march to the 4/4’s. For some reason the ¾ marches were throwing
people off. So we played Minstrel
Boy/Rowan tree over, and over, and over, and over…….
Boston marched behind
us. We played our two tunes, then Boston
would play 3 or four tunes, they’d we’d play our two tunes again. Much to my surprise, my lips held out for
nearly the entire parade. There were
only one or two sets where I had to just sound my drones, because I couldn’t
get enough air to set the chanter.
Following the parade,
we had lunch at Terrible Beauty in West Seattle. Boston’s drum major presented our band with
an inscribed Paul Revere bowl. It was
promptly filled with Guinness and passed around. I don’t know if it was intended to mirror a
Quaich ceremony, but that’s what it was.
It was all very heartfelt. We went
to Seattle University where the Delta Police Pipes and Drums had just
arrived. There was a group photo of all
three bands, and about half the group went off to The Chieftain Irish pub to
keep drinking. Myself, I went back to
headquarters to get some downtime, water and put some more hemp on my drones.
Around 1600 or so, we
all met at the decommissioned Pier 62.
The plan was to march up the sidewalk to Paddy Coynes for the Department
Social. That was the plan. Delta decided “the hell with it,” and took
over all the north bound lanes! What
could we do? We gave them about a 10
minute lead, and then Boston went off with us behind them, traffic be damned.
When we got to the pub
and marched in, it felt like a hero’s welcome.
Between the three bands, there had to have been over 50 pipers and
nearly as many drummers. It was a sight
to be sure. Great guys, great fun! One of the Boston pipers (Steve McLaughin) was
so happy to be there, he exchanged lapel pins with me.
Sunday was the Big
Event. We met at Seattle University and
started setting up for the concert. Like
any performance event, there was a tremendous amount of “hurry up and wait.” But we did get off the ground at 6:00
p.m. The finale was an In Memoriam video
of the fallen from all three departments, while we played Amazing Grace. There may have been some dry eyes in the
audience, but I didn’t see them. (Delta PD was kind enough to post an edited version of the concert on YouTube. The link is here: Seattle Police Inaugural Concert
I know quite a few of
the band members went out for celebratory drinks, but I personally had had
enough over the last few days, and was quite happy to spend the rest of the evening
at home with my wife.
Monday Delta P.D. had
to go home, and some of our band mates treated Boston Pipes and Drums to a tour
of the Space Needle. With the assistance
of Guardian One, they were able to get photos of both bands on top of the
needle! Me, I had to work. Besides, I dislike heights…
Tuesday we were back at
it. We met at 9 to do a walk-through of
Safeco Field, where we would be playing that night.
Afterwards, we marched to the Police Guild
BBQ and played there. Several of the
band members were content to hang out in our drum major’s R.V. But the rest of us managed to get rides back
to our cars. I got home for an hour or
two with my boots off, and some general cooling down.
At about 1600, we met
again and went to F.X. McRory’s. We met
Boston there and we all played at the bar.
Then we marched to Safeco Field, playing through the Aisle of Vendors.
A last minute tuning,
then we took the field at about a quarter to seven. Again, we did our 4/4’s and Boston did their
set. Once the game started (Mariners vs.
Yankees) Safeco management was kind enough to give us a place to stash our
instruments and buy us each a beer. The
rest of the game we had people (especially women) chatting us up, thanking us
for being cops and commenting on our kilts.
Unfortunately, Steve said he caught hell about giving his lapel pin away
and needed it back. I told him he could keep
my pin, as I could easily replace it. He
was kind enough to give me a challenge coin in return. I think I got the better part of that bargain.
Following the game we marched back to F.X. McRory’s. Half way there, both bands stopped to play a
few sets. It had a nice “duel” feel to it.
A shame we knew so few tunes!
We finally dismissed, and eventually made it to our respective cars and
back home.
The capper to this madness was July 28th; The Torchlight Parade.
Our instructor laughed at us that we were
doing it so soon in our career. He said it’s
a little like training for a marathon by running a marathon. But we were feeling pretty cock sure after all
the practice we’d gotten in the previous week. The short version is we made it through. Personally, I was able to play nearly every time,
except the last two sets. My lips just weren’t
there.
Although Boston was gone, The Seattle Fire Pipes and Drums met us at
the end of the parade, and we all re-convened at F.X. McRory’s for more piping.
The word came down that if we were going
to drink, we needed to remove our badges and secure our weapons. It was sensible advice, to be sure. Unfortunately there really wasn’t anywhere to secure
our weapons. Apparently someone found someplace,
because I saw about half the band enjoying a pint or two. Me, I stuck with water.
I managed to hang with the group through the beginning of another set,
but then my lips were done for good. While
some of the band talked about heading up to Fado Irish Pub, I told the pipe major
I had nothing left and was heading home. I found out later I wasn’t the only one, so I don’t
feel so bad about that.
It was an incredible experience, but great inspiration to learn more
tunes. (I am SO SICK of Minstrel Boy and
Rowan tree…………!)
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