Piping in P.E.I - College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts of Canada

The preservation of Celtic culture is a particular preoccupation on Canada's East coast. Fiddlers and folk singers abound, the celidh is a common occurrance, gaelic is almost an official language, and stepdancing breaks out at the drop of a hat.

What better location, then, for an institution which promotes' the culture of the Celts than among the green, rolling hills of Prince Edward Island, where some 70% of the population are descended from the original Scots and Irish settlers?

There is such a school: the College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts of Canada. A non-profit entity, it is one of only four international organizations - and the only one outside Scotland - supported by the Caledonian Foundation of New York (which funds cultural organizations that preserve and promote the music, song and dance of Scotland).

Located on Water Street in Summerside, a town of 16,000, the college is comprised of a small white clapboard building and a 650-seat domed amphitheatre on five acres of property. The Highland Gathering Field can host up to 10,000 people for concerts. There is a new dormitory and a library containing unpublished manuscripts, recordings of vintage performances and teaching tapes of master piobaireachd players of yesteryear. ("Piobaireachd" is the classical music of the Highland bagpipe.) The music may be traditional but video cameras and super slow-motion VCRs are used as learning aids.

Award-winning piper Scott MacAulay is the founding director of the college. MacAulay's roots are in Ontario, not the Maritimes. Born and raised in Hamilton, MacAulay's parents hailed from the Outer Hebrides Isle of Lewis. Many other Lewis families emigrated to the Golden Horseshoe region of Ontario and got together regularly for ceilidhs (a house party, pronounced kay-lee). "These ceilidhs provided a wonderful environment for sharing in the rich cultural heritage of Scotland," MacAulay says. "In many ways I was brought up in a more Highland setting in Hamilton than I would have if my parents had never come to Canada!"

Playing the bagpipes as a youth, MacAulay won amateur and professional competitions throughout North America. After winning major prizes in Scotland against top players on the international circuit, he began to give recitals and workshops in "Scottish strongholds": Canada, New Zealand, the United States and Scotland. Once established as a teacher, he was invited to become the Founding Director of the College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts of Canada.

The college offers courses on all levels for adults and young people in Highland bagpiping, Scottish-style snare drumming, Highland dancing and stepdancing. There are also programmes for Gaelic singing, guitar, fiddle and tin whistle.

A year-round enterprise, the college features regular semesters of classes, summer school, various adult workshops and an internship programme for intensive study. The latter is internationally recognized and attracts participants from as far away as Scotland and New Zealand.

"Another major new initiative that we are looking at launching," says MacAulay, "is teaching Celtic performing arts by video conferencing live to anywhere in the world." The college is installing and testing this new technology in-house. "This shows that you can live in paradise and still do business with the rest of the world!"

MacAulay and Bruce Gandy handle bagpipe instruction duties. Gandy is the former Pipe Sergeant of the 78th Fraser Highlander Pipe Band and former North American solo piping champion. He has published two volumes of Contemporary and Traditional Music for the Highland Bagpipe.

Colleen Taylor has been the college step dancing instructor for the past 6 years while former Torontonian Barbara Brown heads up the Highland dance classes. Brown was a successful competitive dancer for 23 years and belongs to the Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing Panel of Judges. Brown and her guest instructors teach Highland dance students from three years of age and up. They are expected to work hard to master the intricasies of the ancient dances. The little ones learn balance, coordination and rhythm before moving on to basic feet and arm positions and basic movements. Then they will master the Highland Fling, the Sword Dance and the Seann Triubhas (shawn trews). Most of the traditional dances were derived from war dances and were once performed only by men, but the fair sex today makes up a large proportion of the competitors. Dancers learn to move their hands and heads, and how to dress properly. Students also take part in the Highland summer concert series.

Christine Primrose from the Isle of Lewis will be on hand to conduct workshops in gaelic singing this summer.

Drumming students study with Sean Morton, a former drummer with the Fredericton Junior Pipe Band and the Fredericton Society of Saint Andrew Pipe Band. He led the Gaelic College drum corps when they won the Grade 3 World Pipe Band Championships in 1994. The following year, Morton captured the Maritime Open Drumming Champion Supreme Award.

The fiddling tradition is somewhat of a New World art in that the instrument fell out of favour in Scotland in the 19th century, and has all but disappeared from Scotland. The fiddle is a most portable instrument however, and from the 18th century, Scottish settlers flocked to Canada, bringing fiddles along and thus preserving a tradition. Kim Vincent, an expert instrument-maker and restorer, gives instruction at the college in fiddle, guitar and tin whistle.

The College of Piping may be a learning institution, but there's entertainment afoot for casual visitors. At the end of June, the college hosts the Summerside Highland Gathering, featuring solo piping, pipe band competitions, highland dancing, stepdancing, heavyweight athletics and childrens entertainment. A Military Tattoo will be held in conjunction with this event, featuring the Pipes and Drums of the 48th Highlanders of Canada along with the Band of the Royal Regiment of Canada.

Special concerts are scheduled: on July 31st, the College will host The Great Big Sea; The Battlefield Band from Scotland will make their Island debut August 14; and The Rankins (formerly known as the Rankin Family) take over the stage August 22.

The Summer Concert Series (June 29th to August 27) attracts many tourists from "off island". Held four nights a week at the College of Piping, Mondays are devoted to Island Dance (including Scottish and Irish genres). On Tuesdays it's an evening of music, song and dance featuring the Acadian group, Acadilac. The Chaisson Family of Scottish fiddling headlines Wednesday nights. And Thursday means Come to the Ceildh, with a cast of over 50 pipers, drummers, fiddlers step-dancers, Highland dancers and singers in an action packed evening of music song and dance. For tickets to events, call toll free 1-877-BAG-PIPE.

[For related events, see the article on The Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown, page 14]

This year is the 125th Anniversary of Prince Edward Island joining the Canadian Confederation. All in all, it looks to be a busy summer on the little island, and the staff and students of the College of Piping will be leading the way. See you there! - "Chi mi ann an sin thu!"

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