Musical pipers

Group keeps traditional bagpipe sound alive

By Kate Westby | The Daily Journal

Published Tuesday, July 8, 2008

While the 12 days of Christmas are still months away, it’s never too early to listen for pipers piping and drummers drumming.

The Heather and Thistle Pipes and Drums Band, under the direction of pipe major Dan Aird of Kindred, N.D., will perform at upcoming area festivals, including Waterama in Glenwood and Water Carnival in Detroit Lakes.

Sixteen volunteer pipers and drummers currently make up the non-profit ensemble, performing traditional tunes at a number of local parades and concerts throughout the year. Most recently, the band performed at the Perham Turtlefest parade and the Pelican Rapids International Friendship Festival.

The Heather and Thistle Pipes and Drums Band started in 1992 when Fargo-Moorhead members of the St. Andrew’s Society, an organization committed to sustaining Scottish heritage, wanted to start a piping band. After the band’s first pipe major moved, Aird said it was a chance turn of events that led him to fill the spot.

“I had seen a notice in the paper about playing in the band, and since I played, I decided I should go,” Aird said. “But when people found out I had played for such a long time, they decided to make me the pipe major.”

But “such a long time” is an understatement for Aird’s piping experiences. After seeing a pipe band march in a local parade, young Aird made a promise to himself to learn how to play the bagpipes someday.

“I really love the sound of the pipes, so the day finally came when I just went down to the music store on a whim and asked for information on how to play,” Aird said. He left the store with a beginner’s book and chanter, or part of the bagpipe used to play the melody, and began teaching himself bagpipe fingerings.

During college, Aird met a classmate who knew how to play and gave him piping lessons. Nearly 40 years later, Aird is an avid piper who not only directs the Heather and Thistle Pipes and Drums Band but also performs solo at almost any event imaginable—weddings, funerals, reunions, birthdays—and instructs beginner piping classes.

Aird said the classes he offers start the first Monday after Labor Day at the First Presbyterian Church in Moorhead, but it can be a stretch to keep classes in session until Memorial Day.

“We usually start with quite a few people, but by the end of the year, maybe half of them are left because it’s a lot of work,” Aird said. “The fingerings are very complex those who really want to learn usually stick with it.”

While the ensemble shares a common love for the music, Aird said the individual members come from diverse walks of life. One of the band’s drummers, Alexandria Davis, is blind but still plays and marches with the ensemble.

“Alexandria called and said she was blind and wanted to learn the bagpipes, so we talked for awhile and I found out she’d been playing with a drum corp,” Aird said. “So I told her she could play with the band the minute she got here if she drummed, and she came.”

Davis, who directs the North Dakota branch of the Bugles Across America organization, is now learning to play the bagpipes with Aird. Although she is also busy training with the Civil Air Patrol, Aird said she will soon be back performing with the Heather and Thistle group.

“Alexandria does a great job, and with someone guiding her, she marches right along with us,” Aird said. “She’s a really good drummer and is picking up the pipes quickly.”

Aird advocates for traditional music groups because audiences can see that carrying on tradition extends beyond showy performances or building an individual’s repertoire.

“Even though some may think that people pipe just because of family tradition, the only real reason we do it is that we just love the sound of the bagpipes,” Aird said. “And you have to like the music or else you won’t stay with it because piping takes a lot of effort to learn. So we do it for the music.”