If you can picture your children bringing home bagpipes, a snare drum, bass drum or tenor drum and drumming up some new beats there may be an avenue to get them there.
The Guelph Pipe Band is set to launch pipe instrument learning programs for youth 18 and under.
Growing up in Kincardine, Zack Miller lends his interest in snare drum to the town’s Saturday Night Pipe Band Parade. Where the pipe band plays through the street as people watch.
He started learning the snare drum at 12-years-old. It’s been 21 years and through this time he’s competed with a couple different pipe bands.
He lives in Guelph and plays with the Guelph Pipe Band’s Grade 3 band and he leads the Grade 4 drum corp. He was off competing with the Guelph Pipe Band in Scotland in the summer. He learned pipe instruments are taught in elementary schools there. He wants to bring the same idea here. “We’re kind of behind the times in Ontario with pipe bands,” said Miller.
To continue to develop pipe bands locally, starting the learning programs can help recruit new members and “start the next generation of pipe band players,” he said.
The Guelph Pipe Band is starting two new learning programs, a beginner program and an intermediate program. For the beginners, no experience is necessary. Students in the beginner program don’t need to bring any instruments since the program has loaner equipment. They are also able to bring the instruments home for practice.
The intermediate program doesn’t have loaned instruments but the Guelph Pipe Band would help support students in accessing equipment so they could participate in the program, Miller said in a follow-up email.
The first four weeks of both programs are free and if students want to continue on for the remaining eight weeks the cost is $10 per week. Financial assistance is available to those as needed.
Both programs run on Monday evenings from Oct. 21 to May 26 at the Royal Canadian Legion at 57 Watson Pkwy. For more details and registration visit the website.
Miller is trying to make it as low barrier to entry as possible. By not setting an age minimum for the programs he hopes children will take a lead to ask their parents to join. In Miller’s view the ideal age to start is over eight-years-old but the program is happy to make it work for younger students.
The idea is that the beginner program rolls into the intermediate program and students can gain the skills to perform at events like the Guelph Community Santa Parade and Remembrance Day ceremonies. Then eventually start to compete in competitions.
Learning pipe band instruments is more than just the instruments, skills like perseverance, and being connected to the local community is a big part, said Miller.
He’s hoping the programs take off. In the future, if the opportunity comes about he would like to see the programs implemented into schools much like it is in Scotland. For now he wants to get things started with the programs with the Guelph Pipe Band and see where it leads.
