In 1998, I attended three summer
schools to further my understanding of Piobaireachd (Celtic
Heritage: A Piobaireachd Summer: Oct/Nov ‘98; Dec ‘98/Jan
‘99; and Feb/March 99). One of the schools was Donald F.
Lindsay’s Invermark School of Piping. I flew to Boston, then
travelled by bus to Castleton, Vermont to study with Donald
(Celtic Heritage, Feb/March and April/May, 99)and also with world
renowned piper Alasdair Gillies (Celtic Heritage, June/July, 99).
I was placed in the advanced piping class and sitting beside me
every day for a week was a thirteen year old boy whose fabulous
fingers, wonderful talent, and true love for the music were an
inspiration to all of us in the group. The boy, Andrew Douglas, is
now an Open class piper at age seventeen, and he has agreed to be
the next subject for this series of articles about Young Pipers of
North America.
Andrew was born on September 24th, 1984 to Bruce and Elizabeth
Douglas of Syracuse, New York. “My great grandfather on my
father’s side was born in Scotland,” says Andrew. “My
grandfather, great uncle, father and aunt were all involved in the
piping culture in central New York and they have given me a great
deal of encouragement and support. Also, my brother Alex is a
Grade 1 level drummer and plays with the Oran Mor Drum Corps.”
Andrew has recently completed Grade Eleven as a student at St.
Andrew's College in Aurora, Ontario and is an accomplished A-Level
scholar. He plays on representative teams (volleyball, basketball,
lacrosse), and is a member of the jazz band and other musical
ensembles as a percussionist. He is the pipe major of the pipe
band and currently receives tuition in piping from the College’s
full-time instructor, Jim McGillivray (See Celtic Heritage,
Aug/Sept 95), a Gold Medalist and Clasp winner, and one of
Canada’s leading experts in Piobaireachd.
“My first teacher, however, was my father,” Andrew explains.
“He played in various central New York piping organizations from
1958 to the mid 70's. I’ve been told by others that he was quite
the talent as a young player, and he still plays at a high level.
He set down the pipes until 1991, at which point it caught my
interest. He started teaching me on my eighth birthday in 1992.
Dad played with the Oran Mor Pipe Band until 1998, and then
rejoined the lower-grade feeder band to Oran Mor, the Mohawk
Valley Frasers. He was a factor in their rise from Grade 5 to
Grade 3 by 2001. Dad used the College of Piping Tutor, the
‘green book’, and taught me all of my ‘light music’
basics. He stressed learning from both the printed page and by ear
at a very early age. I remember I learned my first big tunes
totally by ear, from an old Glasgow City Police Pipe Band album
from the 60s.”
Andrew caught on quickly. “When I was tiny,” he reminisces,
“I used to listen to songs on the radio and count the beats. I
remember I used to count to three, and had to hold the third beat
longer. I finally discovered in Grade 3 music class at school that
there could be four beats to a bar of music! Anyway, I was always
listening for patterns. I learned the twelve bar blues progression
found in popular music when I was about five, although it was not
taught to me in school till I was in Grade 9. I had a keen
interest in music, and was always considering how it flowed
naturally. Piping was an easy concept for me to pick up.”
Andrew’s father introduced him to the Mohawk Valley Frasers when
he was nine years old. The band was in Grade 5 at that time under
Pipe Major Ed Nickerson. When he joined Oran Mor at age ten, his
father sent him off to Donald Lindsay for lessons to prepare him
to compete as a solo piper. “It was from Donald that I got my
start as a Piobaireachd player and progressed through the amateur
ranks up to my first year in Grade 1. He taught me about singing
the tunes and how to do all the movements correctly, etc.. By
then, I was I pretty well learning light music on my own, but I
did have lots of help at summer schools from players such as Jack
Lee, Alasdair Gillies, Willie McCallum, Angus MacColl, Jim
McGillivray, and of course Donald.
“It was at that time that I was invited to attend St. Andrew's
College in Aurora, Ontario where I could study under Jim
McGillivray. I had known him from the Invermark Schools, and
accepted the invitation based on his impact on my playing during
the short time he was able to teach me at summer schools. I was
really happy to receive a scholarship that covers part of my
expenses. There have been some other good pipers attracted to the
school. Grade 1 piper Matthew Mitchell, for example, is at the
school now. I’m pipe major of the band and Matthew is pipe
sergeant. The band is steadily improving.
“Jim has helped me advance toward my goals of perfecting my
playing and reaching my potential in many ways. He always preaches
competitive finesse and especially ‘no boredom’ in relation to
my Piobaireachd. He has taken me into the professional level of
Piobaireachd for sure, and my current goal is to play the music
the way he wants it played.
“You see, I think Piobaireachd is an art, but not necessarily
musical, not in the ordinary sense anyway. When kids are starting
to learn it, often they are looking for the musical quality of the
tunes, but where you really have to look is at the background of
the composition and try to tell the story. Just because it
doesn’t sound musically great, doesn’t mean it’s not a great
Piobaireachd to play. Understanding this was an important stepping
stone for me. When you get to be a pretty good player and finally
decide its time to get serious about Piobaireachd, like I did when
I had reached the Grade 1 Amateur level, you have to play it as an
art. I credit my success so far in piping to Jim's and Donald's
faith in my playing.”
Andrew rose through the competitive ranks quickly and was the
overall winner at the prestigious Nicol-Brown Invitational Solo
Amateur Piping Competition held in Hartford, Connecticut in 1998
(1st in the MSR, 1st in the 6/8 March, and 3rd in the Piobaireachd),
with the first prize being an all-expense paid trip to London,
England in 1999 where he won the Under 17 Slow Air and Jig
contest, and placed second in the M/S/R. He came second overall at
the Nicol-Brown in 2000, and came third overall at the George
Sheriff Invitational Amateur Solo Piping Contest in Hamilton,
Ontario. He finished in first place in almost every event he
entered in the United States (with the exception of two second
place finishes in Piobaireachd) and ended up as EUSPBA’ Grade 1
Champion Supreme. “I still play with the Oran Mor Pipe Band,
under Donald Lindsay and Jim Clough,” he adds, “but I joined
the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band early in 2002. I flew out
for my first rehearsal with them late in January.”
The band flew Andrew to Vancouver for several practices over the
winter to prepare him for their spring concert tour, which would
take him to Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Glasgow, Scotland, in
March of 2002.
A series of competitions on the west
coast of the US and Canada left the
band undefeated, and Andrew as the
sixth place aggregate Open player in the
BC Pipers' rankings. A stop-over
at the North American Pipe Band
Championships in Maxville, Ontario in
August earned him a third place in the professional MSR at
Friday's Gold Medal Competition, and led to a North
American Championship for the band.
The next week, Andrew was in Scotland with the band for the World
Pipe Band Championships and phoned home the next day to report
that they had taken second place.
Andrew has branched out into teaching, working with private
students and pipe bands, and has taught at workshops, clinics, and
summer schools. For example, in 2001 he taught at one of the
Invermark Piping Schools.
“I taught just one class a day for two weeks to take a chunk out
of the tuition fee for my own lessons,” he explains. “It was a
remarkable experience because I got a shot at sparking some
students with the excitement of playing. It is so important at
that stage to get ‘pumped up’ about learning. I tried to help
them do that.” Andrew also worked with the Mohawk Valley and
Scotia Glenville Pipe Bands, and taught a few students during
summers.
Some of Andrew’s original compositions have been published in
Bruce Gandy's third book and in Charlie Glendenning's new book.
“I enjoy composing,” Andrew says. “Actually, I’m quite an
active composer. It’s something other pipers should try to do,
but they should compose ‘music’ first. The ‘flash’ comes
second. My first tune is still one of my favourites to play.
It’s called ‘Puckertoot Road’ and it’s named after the
twisty road to Donald Lindsay’s house. It was a ‘seat of the
pants’ kind of thing. I just wrote some notes down. Later,
Jackson Galloway went through it with me and helped me see how
some of the notes didn’t work - words like ‘cheesy’ and
‘gigundo’ were hard to take for a cocky young composer, but I
managed. Jackson taught me to write harmonies. He’s a great
musician and has had a great influence on my development as a
player.
“You know, with the right attitude toward your own ability and
your own potential, you can go anywhere, and that applies to
anybody. You never have to settle for second best. If you're not
winning when you'd like to be, you need to seize that opportunity
to get better. Everyone has weaknesses, but the ones with the
fewest weaknesses are the ones who fixed the big ones while they
still could.
“Piping teachers need to challenge their students to be real
musicians in everything they play. Never let them forget that
there will always be something in their playing that they can
improve on. I think the level of piping is at an all time high in
North America right now, but it can still get higher. Like I said
about composing, it is the music that is most important and not
the flash.”
Andrepassionate about making music first, and flash later.
Otherwise, you’re like a shooting star and you fall to earth
unnoticed. I mean, you don’t have to be ‘Alasdair McMozart’
to be successful in creating good music. You just have to play it
so it sounds beautiful, not fast, not necessarily really sharp,
just beautiful. It’s tough to explain. You have to feel it.”
Andrew returns to St. Andrew’s College in September for his last
year of high school and will be joined by his younger brother,
Alex Douglas,
a top notch Gaelic drummer who will
join the school band as lead tip of the
drum corp. Andrew will continue
to attend practices in Vancouver with SFU
as they prepare for an upcoming
concert tour that will include stops in
Toronto, Boston, and Halifax in the
spring of 2003.
