1/1/2024 0 Comments Scottish buff bagpipe player![]() ![]() "I read about some heroic battles where troops were led by bagpipers," Shearer says. He was fascinated by an instrument that was used centuries ago by Scottish clan chieftains to psych out their enemies with an ear-splitting racket. And he's Welsh.Ī student at Fort Lauderdale High School where he's a member of the Reserve Officers Training Corps, Shearer is an avid British military history buff. ![]() While their choice of musical expression may have been influenced by their bloodlines, heritage did not seem to play an overpowering role in their decisions.Įxcept for Brandon Shearer, at 16, the youngest Highlander. Most of the Highlanders are Scottish by descent, not nationality. "You're blowing and squeezing the bag at the same time." Not to mention marching.Īdds Alan Freebairn, "If you're out of practice, it can kill you." "It's not so much the notes but learning how to breathe," says Jim Freebairn, a retired Air Force officer from Fort Lauderdale who joined the band along with his brother, Alan. The pressure must be constant in order for the instrument to play. Air is blown into the bag with a blow pipe. The three tall pipes extending skyward are drones, which make the sustained notes that are the hallmark of the bagpipe. The melody is played on the chanter, a flute-like pipe at the bottom of the bag. The instrument can emit only nine notes, from low G to high A with no sharps and flats. "When you do it right, it sounds good but if you do it wrong, it sounds terrible."ĭuring practice, the pipers wearily trail each other around the small church fellowship hall, eyes starting to glaze as they launch into The Gardens of Skye one more time.īesides their strange appearance, bagpipes also are difficult to play. "The idea is to get all the bagpipes in time and playing together so they sound like one pipe," says Sloan, whose genial nature conceals a drive for perfection. They will try for a repeat performance this weekend at the Miami Scottish games on Key Biscayne, where they also took a first last year. The Highlanders took first place in the pipe band competition at the Orlando Scottish games in January. Their music is as polished as their appearance. Each wears a kilt with sporrans, a furry purse worn on a belt skean dhus, a dirk snugged in the top of a knee-high stocking and bonnet, a hat. Now the group's 12 bagpipers and eight drummers parade in full Scottish regalia. When Sloan, 56, an airline mechanic, and a few fellow Scotsmen formed the band 13 years ago, "we were four pipers, mostly beginners, with no uniforms. People like pipe bands because it's something different," he says.Īnd people like the Highlanders because, well, they're good. When Bill Sloan picked up his first bagpipe in 1948, "there was very little demand for pipe bands." But within the last 10 years, he has seen the Scottish sound catch America's ears. ![]() By democratic vote, the band opts for a Fort Lauderdale Irish festival and an event at Hallandale's Gulfstream Race Track. "Hey, you guys are squawking about wanting new kilts," Sloan says as the protests rise. It also means more time and more weekends spent away. Taking the dates means good money, money that can be used for equipment or to travel to the Scottish games held around Florida. As the band gathers, Pipe Major Bill Sloan of Davie announces several possible engagements. Now that he has the time, Ritchie regularly makes the trip to a Fort Lauderdale church where the Highlanders rehearse each Thursday.
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