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Jim Thompson, our business manager at that time, was approached in late January by a representative of the Chieftains business office. A local band was unable to commit to playing for them, could the Atholl Highlanders play for their concert at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta? "Hells Yeah!" was our answer! I've always been a fan and have many of their tapes and CDs. We would also be appearing with: The only problem wat that the concert was three weeks out, and we would have to learn three new tunes. One tune is called 'Pipe Band March' but is also known as 'The March to the Battle of San Patricios.' That tune was in honor of the Irish deserters that fought in the Mexican War against US forces. The other tune is a Breton pipe tune titled 'An Dro,' it means "The Turn" in Breton and is about a folk circle dance. 'Brian Boru' was the third to be played by myself as a solo. We would not be using a drum major at the request of the Chieftains even though Don Bogue can look quite regal out there. I decided that we would have the competition group handle this one and we had many extra practices to meet this deadline! I had some people state ONLY 3 pipers and a drummer should appear! That would be a 'No' to that on my part. I also was going through a round of chemotherapy at the time and asked a member to back me up on the third tune 'Brian Boru's March.' Band instructor, Henry Frantz, was a big help in the extra practices, as were the drum corps and entire performance group. It's moments like that can make a band shine and a Pipe Major Proud! For uniform, we decided on khaki and no spats. White can give some odd effects under stage lights. One member, Kit Murray, had worked stage and agreed and helped me with this decision. Of course, there was some gnashing of teeth on this. We met and rehearsed with the Chieftains two hours prior to show time. We were shown our entrance, stage marks and the exit. We ran through the attacks on the tunes, the first few bars, and the were sent us off to a rehearsal room located near the top of the Fox. It had a sign that said 'Pipers' in a nice papyrus font. Yes, I took it home! It's on my wall. Tune, and tune and tune! Due to time considerations, the 'Brian Boru's March' tune was dropped. Thank goodness though! My backup had failed to practice the tune and my hands were in throes of chemo-induced numbness. Our stagehand appeared and she led us down to the stage wings. Showtime! Enter the Band! We filed onto the stage, took up our positions to play after a nice introduction, played. I think the audio speaks for itself on tuning, and out togetherness on the tunes by the entire corps, is due to hard practice. Pam Kohler-Camp managed to capture both of our appearances and John Murray posted these to his Youtube account. I had asked the pipers and drummers to cut off after we had ALL left the stage. I didn't want a trailing sound of pipes and drums dropping off one-by-one, I wanted a clean cut-off from all! Second Entrance 'An Dro'Our second number was scheduled toward the end of the show, and another stagehand had been designated to lead us down for the second tune, 'An Dro.' He failed to show! However, Henry Frantz and I were listening to a speaker in our rehearsal room, and, being Chieftain fans, knew we were supposed to be on our way down! Our stage hand had failed to get us! It would have been funny to see the drum corp making for the old, creaky elevator with pipers hurrying down the stairs if it weren't for the urgency! Hearts pounding, we made our way back to the stage wing. Paddy Moloney of The Chieftains was making the tune’s introduction and was asking "Someone go get the pipers and drummers, eh?" at one point as we grabbed our breath, calmed and assembled. The pace set by the Chieftains was quick, but we held in for about 6 minutes of play. No one had told us about the Pilatzkes dancing through our ranks, and I about jumped out of my skin, when a dancer whirled past my left side! Aftermath We were happy to add these new tunes to oue repitoire! I've met Breton pipers in Edinburgh so was happy to add 'An Dro' to my personal tune list. Below is a news article about one of our young pipers at the time, Harrison Parker. Evan Kohler-Camp |
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Teen to help Chieftains ‘spread’ Celtic music By Sonia Murray Imagine being a teenager with your favorite rock star’s poster hanging prominently on your bedroom wall and, as fate would have it, that star comes to your town and asks you to join the band onstage. Well, what’s happening to 15-year- old Westminster student Harrison Parker tonight isn’t exactly that. He has classic oil paintings by a family friend hanging in his room in Buckhead, not posters. And he and about 10 other members of Stone Mountain’s Atholl Highlanders Pipes and Drums will be playing Celtic music, not rock. Still, the ninth-grader says he thinks it’s “huge, absolutely huge” to join iconic Irish folk act the Chieftains at the Fox Theatre, where Parker has seen “lots of professional grade stuff.” “Lovely,” the Chieftains’ Paddy Moloney said by phone this week. For years now the group, which has been around for nearly five decades, has asked promoters to invite local musicians to play with them on their tours. “I remember one time we played Atlanta it was pandemonium,” Moloney recalled. “Thirty-six musicians turned out. It was tremendous for us —- because it’s just good camaraderie. We want to keep this great tradition alive … but with 36 more people up there, the promoters went berserk.” On the other hand, Parker, who’s been a pipes player for almost three years, appears rather calm about the opportunity. That might be in part because he lost his maternal grandmother a few days ago. (He played “Amazing Grace” at her funeral.) “This is huge, not because I’m attempting to achieve fame,” Parker said, “but because I get to spread some music to people in a time of mourning for some, like me. Or hopefully in a time of celebration for many others … including me, too.” IN CONCERT
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