December 6th 2003
Fayetteville was the site of the December meeting. This required that Tristen Dean be at my house at 6:00AM on a Saturday morning, and that Jimmy Bell swing by and pick us up moments later for the four hour jaunt over. We had a very nice drive via Mountain View, Leslie, Harrison, and Huntsville, among other small towns too numerous to mention. We enjoyed the Arkansas winter landscape very much. The lack of foliage allows for views of the surrounding hills, as well as houses and barns that might otherwise be hidden. All three of us seem to have an appreciation for interesting architecture, and Arkansas has quite a bit of that. We also saw a coyote, a fox, and numerous hawks and buzzards and such. A couple of coffee stops, and a nice breakfast buffet at the Shoney's in Harrison made for an exceedingly pleasant outbound trip.
We arrived just a few minutes ahead of an on time start for the 11:00AM meeting and were greeted in the parking lot of McNair Middle School by long-time members of the Ozark Highlanders, David Wilson and Jim Buck (aka "Buck Wilson", no relation). They showed us the way into the room where the morning's instruction was to take place and Dave had already started coffee, hot water for tea or hot chocolate, and several varieties of donuts. A first class operation.
Others began arriving a few at a time, and the gathering grew to include Pipe Major Harriett Sisson, her daughter Amy Robinson, Marguerite Keating, Linda Jones, former Highlanders Pipe Major Jack McFadyen, Alastair McCaskie, Fred Edgar, Anna Blore, Laura Blore, and Kristin Springston. After a time, Harriett's husband, Red Sisson dropped by to represent the drummer for the band, and another former Pipe Major, Steve Wilson (no relation) also stopped in for a bit to meet Jimmy and to say hello. Including me, that put two current Pipe Majors (Harriett and Jimmy), and three former Pipe Majors all in one room without serious incident. Proves it can be done.
Jimmy began the class by introducing diagrams and explanations of the embellishments that are common to Piobaireachd. He then explained how various Piobaireachds are constructed, and what some of the subtleties are that can be listened for from tune to tune. He then turned to MacIntosh's Banner as an introductory tune and explained how the cadences are played, and then went through the Urlar and the subsequent variations, answering questions and demonstrating the expression.
After about an hour and fifteen minutes we all started getting our pipes put together and warmed up. Several of my friends from Fayetteville, Sharon, Bob, and Kendra Croddy all stopped by to say hello, and to enjoy the piping on tap.
Tristen started off the performance portion of the afternoon with a rendition of MacIntosh's Banner. He gave them a taste of the redundant A, to demonstrate the "old style". His F went a bit sharpish over the course of the tune, but overall a fine performance on a nice pipe. A little drone touch-up by Jimmy about halfway through the tune was just the ticket. Tristen just gets better and better every time we go out somewhere to play.
Next, a few of the ladies from the Ozark Highlanders presented an ensemble. They introduced themselves with The Brown Haired Maiden. They followed with a brief bit of the Overture from Jesus Christ Superstar, which led into Colin's Cattle. Jim Buck, Linda, Alasdair, and David joined them then for "The Flett Set".
Jim Bell was up next. He demonstrated some of the other points he had made during the lesson regarding Glengarry's Lament by playing the tune. At Tristen's request, Jim then gave us all the bird. The Desperate Battle of the Birds, that is. He explained a couple of versions of the story behind the tune, and then played it beautifully on a well set-up and maintained pipe. ALWAYS demonstrating what a bagpipe can and should sound like. It was the first time he's played out with the newly tied-in Ross bag, and it seemed to give him no trouble at all. He finished up with Beloved Scotland, and explained what is meant by "Gold Medal tune", after letting them hear what one should sound like.
At this point some wise guy took over writing my notes for me, but I remember what REALLY happened. I played Morag of Dunvegan to warm up the pipe. It's a tune I first learned as a piper for Ozark Highlanders. Then after a little false start I played Tommy MacDonald of Barguillean to make sure things were settled, and then I gave them Struan Robertson's Salute. I had a memory lapse in the Taorluath and played a wrong note, but covered for it nicely and I doubt that many noticed. Jimmy. My drones were going very slightly by the end of the tune, but it wasn't so much as to make it an unpleasant experience. I then switched to my Fairylore pipe and played just the Urlar of Donald MacLeod's The Field of Gold. I hadn't played it in a while, and it's such a lovely tune that I was glad to get a chance to resurrect it. It also sounds very pretty on the smallpipe.
Afterwards a bunch of us retired to a favorite restaurant of mine called Hugos, just off the downtown square in Fayetteville. I convinced Jimmy and Tristen that they HAD to try a chicken sandwich called Derek's Special. It really is special. I once met Derek's mom. She's a very nice lady, and her son invented a GREAT sandwich. Hugos also has Guinness on tap. None of the Lyon crew partook, but the locals enjoyed one or two, and we had some very pleasant conversation.
On the way out of town I gave Jimmy and Tristen the quick and dirty tour of downtown, and Dickson Street up to the University of Arkansas. It's really quite a nice city, and it has grown very rapidly since I moved back to Arkansas in 1992. When I moved away from Fayetteville to Batesville in 1998 the population signs read 44,000 and change. Now they read over 58,000.
The trip back was pleasant, but uneventful. We turned north, just past Harrison and stayed on 412, coming back through Yellville, Mountain Home, and Ash Flat (thanks to a missed turn in the dark at Mountain Home that would've taken over the Norfork dam).
Our thanks go out to the Ozark Highlanders for their hospitality, and enthusiasm for learning a bit about Piobaireachd, and we look forward to having some of them join us here for the February meeting. The January meeting will be held in Arkadelphia.
Kenton Adler