Pipe Band Blog
Thoughts and musings from the Las Vegas Pipe Band
Recently, I had a young student say to me “There are so many bad things in the world that it doesn’t matter what I do, and for every good thing I do there are 1000 bad things to take its place. Everything is useless”. He went on to say “I feel like nothing I do will ever mean anything because I will eventually just die. And nothing I’ve worked hard for will ever matter.” Now, that is some serious Nietzsche for a young kid. Believe it or not, this conversation started by talking about practicing bagpipes. Oh no!
Las Vegas Pipe Band plays the traditional regimental march tune Rowan Tree as the middle in a set of 3 tunes bookended by Scotland The Brave and Wings. It's a beautiful tune and one of the first parade tunes new members learn. We probably play it at least once every practice and I can't think of a time that we didn't start off with a tidbit of historical knowledge or a fun trivia fact about the tune from Max: "Does anyone know what kind of tree the Rowan tree is?" to which the more studious members of the band, or those with decent memories, would reply: "an ash tree." Max would make sure we all knew it was a white ash (or mountain ash) as a matter of fact. Max also told me that the Rowan Tree was thought to ward off evil spirits and witches - so a perfect topic for this time of year!
Wow, what an experience! In April, I had the pleasure and honor to be asked to participate as a bagpipe player in the Virginia International Tattoo with the Wake & District Pipe Band. I arrived to Virginia late on a Saturday and rehearsals began Sunday morning. It was 8 days of craziness from there… an amazing craziness!
With the World Pipe Band Championships coming up, let’s take a moment to recall a watershed moment in piping history. On August 15, 1987, the 78th Fraser Highlanders from Ontario, Canada became the first non-Scottish band to win the World Pipe Band Championships in Grade 1.
For this edition of Inside the Circle, the Pipe Band Interview series, we sat down with Ben Klink -- Bass drummer extraordinaire to discuss how he got into Pipe Band Life, and what his favorite swear word is. Enjoy!
“It’s not whether you can or can’t… it’s whether you will or won’t.”
- Cuba Gooding Jr in Life of a King
Something about describing someone as talented or gifted bothers me. Keep in mind, I am prone to getting fired up over seemingly nothing and everything all at once. I am a passionate man. :)
On this edition of Inside the Circle, we learn about what it takes to be a star drummer in the Las Vegas Pipe Band from the one and only Tony Bakerink!
In this edition, we sit down with Piper Max Kuniansky, retired business man and Pipe Band Historian. We talk to Max about where he wants to see the band go in 5-10 years, and how piping has changed his life. Enjoy!
I’ve been a band geek for as long as I can remember. My parents, with incredible foresight, gave me a toy Mickey Mouse Drum Set when I was about 3 years old. I fell in love with the drums immediately. My sisters promptly broke my beloved toy, but to be fair to them, the heads were essentially made of construction paper. But I didn’t care. My world had ended as far as I was concerned; I was never going to be Peter Criss.