I recently asked the heads of the Gaelic College of Celtic Arts and Crafts if I could interview them about switching their focus from competition piping to their own brand of piping, but they haven’t responded yet. I always thought it was odd that the school only offered the same style of piping that was offered at every school. Where else could you learn “Cape Breton Piping” after all? We haven’t managed to interview anyone on this subject but readers might be interested in this article from the Chronicle Hearld in Nova Scotia:
I thought the quote below from Jack MacIsaac of New Glasgow, who studied at the College back in the 1950s, and who has led many pipe bands in Nova Scotia was telling:
“There has been some discussion over the years about the kitchen-style piping because that’s the way the music was passed along originally,” said MacIsaac. “Many pipers play that way but you have to first be taught properly, and the college is the place for that”.
First you have to be taught “properly”, i.e. Competition style highland piping. I’m sure many pipers will be shocked to lose such a valuable resource for the teaching of Competition piping, where many world class pipers such as Alasdair Gillies taught over the years. However, MacIsaac’s sort of ideology is exactly how “Cape Breton piping”, a unique and culturally important style of piping, was almost erased from existence. You can read more about the Cape Breton Style of piping in this article that explains the Cape Breton piper Alex Curry (pictured at right), who Hamish Moore said was “the most important piper I ever met”.
It would have been interesting to hear from someone on the other side of things.
UPDATE:
The Gaelic College has posted a response to the overwhelming amount of press coverage their course changes have caused. After some time has passed and we’ve all had time to stop reacting with our guts instead of our heads, I suspect that there is very little that the Gaelic College is actually changing. The pipers they are putting in charge are very competent players who know their stuff in both worlds. I also suspect that the playing of pipes by so-called “Cape Breton Pipers” is not so much a difference in style, as a difference in philosophy and intent.
I know that the Gaelic College, for many of us, was starting to feel just a little stale. The energy was seeping out of the place a bit. But looking at the new courses and the instructor list, I’m quite hopeful for the future. If the real change within the college is to inject it with new life blood, that would be something indeed. I may need to find another week in the summer somewhere to fit in some time at the College!
So, I hope all this hullabaloo with the news just means more people will be interested in finding out more about what’s happening in Cape Breton. Kenneth MacKenzie, Ryan J. MacNeil, and Jamie MacInnis are all instructors at the college now. Wow!
I don’t know what all the fuss is about , it is a Gaelic College after all.
In regard to the Clan Currie information on Alex, some of what appears was taken verbatum from a tribute I wrote for him shortly after his death. Here are passages taken from a much longer piece entitled End of an Era . To prevent confusion, and attirbuting the information to the wrong source I am including it below:
“Not only did his style of playing reflect an undiluted Gaelic oral tradition dating back to 19th century South Uist, but his knowledge of tunes – some locally composed and others forgotten in Scotland – was unmatched by many of his contemporaries.”
He was a living representation of one of the many different styles that existed in Cape Breton among the highland immigrants and their descendants – styles that have disappeared from the piping landscape of Cape Breton. Not long before his death, Currie was honored for his contributions to traditional piping during the Celtic Colours celebration at the Gaelic College in St. Anns, Nova Scotia.”
Barry