Photography and copyright: Gina Newman of California
Atholl Highlanders with Faith Hill
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The fellow that managed to get us this gig, wanted payment to be in the form of allowing him to wear his doublet. I thought it was a fair request and allowed it. During our recorded footage, you'll never see him though. The cameras were going crazy around Faith Hill and blocked any movement further down the line so they stop on Sam Cytulski and he gets the attention. The National Anthem cannot really be played on Pipes, it's not in the key of the pipes, BUT you can do background harmonics. This was worked out by Wayne Coleman but the actual usage is another story told below. You see, they recorded the harmonics, cleaned up the sound electronically, and played it back during our appearance. All music for the Super Bowl is recorded prior and no live music occurs. It helps prevent mistakes and errors. All the pipers had plugged the chanter reed hole and were fingering to the recorded sound. Only drummers were able to play because you can't just fake that easily. If you watch the video, you'll see that it's not normal stick work. Once we finished, we were hustled off by our handlers. We did not get a chance to view except on the TV at Jim and Catol Thompon's old place in Decatur. It was memorable though and a very fond memory. Evan Kohler-Camp Pipe Major Emeritus Atholl Highlanders Pipes & Drums USA |
