Summer is icumen in …

Ten years of It. David Hannay looks back on a decade of LBPS summer schools at Kirkdale House and beyond

THE ORIGINS of the summer schools were two fold. The first was my concern, when living in Glasgow in the 1970s, at the lack of tuition on Highland pipes during the summer when most experts seemed to disappear across the Atlantic to teach in summer schools in North America. The second stimulus was Jock Agnew whom I had known since we were boys in Galloway and who had become an authority on bellows-blown pipes since leaving the Merchant Navy. Day and weekend courses were fine, but it seemed to us that there was a need to get away for a longer time, in order to really improve playing.

I started on the Highland pipes in London, but had been an early member of the LBPS, acquiring a set of Northumberland half long pipes from Colin Ross. In the summer of 1997 I went to a five-day course on bellows-blown pipes at Sabhal Mor Ostaig in Skye. The tutor was David Taylor from Kirriemuir and there were two other participants besides myself. We learnt a lot, not least at the local hostelry in the evening, playing with other musicians. This course was not continued, due to lack of numbers, so the next summer we started the first summer school at Kirkdale in Galloway, with Jock Agnew and David Taylor, who had been a teacher in Newton Stewart, as tutors.

Although the summer school was not at first officially adopted by the LBPS, we circulated their members and during the first week in August 1998 ten participants came to Kirkdale. The house is an 18th century Adam house which has been in the family since it was built and is now divided up. The centre portion has a hall and gallery, and one or two larger rooms including a basement.

The house was not big enough to provide accommodation as well so participants stayed in local hotels, B&Bs or camped. Lunch was provided in the kitchen/dining room, and evening meals depended on which local ceilidh group we had arranged to visit. This fulfilled an important aim of the course which was to play with other instruments and over the next few summers local musicians came to ask when the bellows blown pipers were coming again. Another important aim was bagpipe maintenance and reed making, which over the years has been ably provided by Richard and Anita Evans.

It is essential at the start of such a course to have someone there to get the pipes going properly, and for this Richard was invaluable.

The course was divided into two groups with Jock taking the beginners and David the more advanced players. In addition, Jock took those with Border pipes, numbers of which increased from one participant in the first year. People could move between groups and the emphasis was on informality and flexibility, with participants starting by writing down what they wanted to achieve during the week.

On the whole this seemed to be a successful approach, judging by the feedback sheets at the end of the course, although there were changes made each year. Some things we did not repeat, such as a session on meditation to soothe performance nerves, or afternoon master- classes by visiting experts Hamish Moore and Matt Seattle which were excellent but did not attract those who were not already at the summer school. On the other hand a list of optional workshops in such things as bagpipe maintenance, bellows technique, and Dixon tunes proved popular additions.

For the next five years the summer school continued at Kirkdale. The intention was to break even financially, which we did, with costs being for tutors and catering or rather the ingredients for Janet's lunches, which always received enthusiastic comments in the feedback. Each year brought its particular memories such as Jim, who had not played pipes for many years since being in a Grade 1 band in Ireland, but wanted to play for his grand- daughter's dancing. At first he could not get the hang of bellows, but one evening at a ceilidh it suddenly all came together and the tunes and fingering started an unstopable flow.

Then there was Peter from America, glued to Jock's manometer, trying to keep a steady pressure. After the first two years, we were fortunate in having Gary West take over from David Taylor. Once, when we were playing with Gary at a local gala, the locals seemed more interested in a Canadian group of dancers and some children were noticed with their fingers in their ears when we played. On one occasion Wendy Stewart came over from Monaive for the evening with her clarsach to provide beautiful and seemingly effortless accompaniment to the small pipes. Perhaps a main memory of the summer schools at Kirkdale was the house full of music for five days, and how quiet the old place seemed when everyone had gone.

However after five years it seemed time to move on, partly because Kirkdale did not have enough space, particularly for practice rooms, if numbers increased. The new Crichton campus at Dumfries, where I was doing some teaching, seemed a more central and spacious venue, and they taught Scottish studies and had summer schools there. The venue should have been ideal, but in the event the Crichton campus was not interested in piping summer schools, and although for one year we had good arrangements for rooms and catering, it was indicated that the costs would double the next year so we had to move on. Nevertheless the summer school was a success, and we were fortunate in having Ian MacInnes to succeed Gary West and join Jock Agnew as a tutor. There are happy memories of a session with Matt Seattle in the Globe Tavern, once frequented by Robert Burns, and a final ceilidh ending with Caroline playing an Irish jig on a trombone.

At the suggestion of Nigel Richard we contacted Common Ground which ran a music festival at Auchencruive, outside Ayr, and for the last four years the LBPS has been part of the Common Ground week. The event, which has its roots in the Girvan Folk Festival, takes its name from the famous speech by Martin Luther King, symbolizing how music and art can bring people together. One of the great advantages of combining with Common Ground has been the opportunities it offers to play with other instruments. Also it is a family affair with classes on a wide variety of instruments and art forms. Peace studies and evangelism may not be your scene, but LBPS members have formed an impressive bass section to the gospel choir.

The format for the LBPS summer school remained with an introductory folder and session on pipe maintenance, before splitting into two groups for each tutor. In the afternoons the participants could go off to other groups or have individual tuition. In the evenings there were some great concerts with excellent musicians and informal ceilidhs into the early hours. An American innovation were slow jam sessions, with a session master on a keyboard who controlled the pace and brought in those who were more hesitant about playing in public. For two years at Common Ground the tutors were Jock Agnew and Ian MacInnes, and for the past two years Chris Gibb from the RSAMD and Neil Patterson, who also taught the whistle at Common Ground.

After Auchencruive, Common Ground moved to Craigie College in Ayr, which was an ideal venue with everything on the same site. However, after another two years Common Ground made plans to move to Glaisnock House near Cumnock but had to switch at the last moment to Friars Carse near Dumfries, which was somehow managed by Common Ground's somewhat flexible organisation. LBPS participants were put up in Thornhill, where there was some excellent draught beer.

We managed to arrange for three young local pipers to be sponsored. They already had excellent fingers and picked up the small pipes in no time. At the final concert these so called beginners gave a sparkling performance on the small pipes. Apart from these three, there have only been three other young players taking up the offer of a free place in the summer school, and these were Karen, Ann and Kevin at Kirkdale, the latter now an accomplished soloist and competitor on the Highland pipes. It is to be hoped that more young players will take up the offer and join the other participants which have included those from America, Canada and Germany. Each year we have had between ten and 14 participants, of whom about half have been on previous years.

The summer schools have been fortunate with their tutors and participants, one of whom said in his feedback that it was one of the happiest weeks in his life. The move from Kirkdale after five years to Common Ground via Dumfries has brought new challenges and opportunities. Organising the summer schools has been fun and something to look forward to in the summer, like the house martins returning in the spring. Summer schools are like music, they do not exist but rather happen, and live on in memories like old friends.