Old Music, New Success
A competitive adult bagpipe band is the last thing you’d expect to find in a high school cafeteria in the middle of the night. But if you came to campus at the right time, that’s exactly what you’d see.
20 members of the Pacific Coast Highlanders get together every Thursday night in the NPHS cafeteria to rehearse traditional Scottish and Irish music. Rick Freed, a former teacher, has been in the Pacific Coast Highlanders band for 40 years. “I started it at this school … there’s probably 3 or 4 high schools in Southern California (with a bagpipe band),” Rick said.
The pipers and drummers practice at the school for their three competitions at Scottish festivals, as well as other performances which take place throughout the year. “(We learn) seven or eight songs a year,” said Doug Freed, a band member.
Bands travel from different parts of California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and Colorado to participate in the competitions, which are 2 days long. “There can be anything from 10 bands to 30, and they put us in grades based upon our ability, length of experience, (and number of members),” Reynolds said.
“The first competition is in February and the last one is in October … (so we’re practicing for) pretty much the whole year,” said Mike Reynolds, pipe major. “We’ll probably get serious about rehearsing for a particular competition anywhere from a month and a half to two months before the competition.”
However, the band prepares for more than just competitions. The band has taken the stage on holidays such as St. Patrick’s Day and Father’s Day, in parades, and at graduation each year. However, their most popular performance is their Christmas show.
“Every year for the past couple years we (have done) a flash mob for Christmas at the mall,” Rick said. “The first one we did 3 years ago has about 1,300,000 hits on YouTube.” In 2012, the band took the Oaks Mall by storm as pipers rode down the escalator and drummers came marching in. They posted the video on Youtube and it quickly went viral. Since then, the flash mob has become an annual tradition.
One top of preparing for shows and competitions, the band still finds the time to give lessons to students and adults. “We get somebody who’s new, or less experienced, and we’ll pair them up with somebody who knows how to play, so it’s kind of a private, one-on-one lesson,” Reynolds said. Beginners learn to read music and then move on to playing a practice chanter, an instrument similar to a flute, before learning the bagpipes.
Although lessons are a big part of what they do, the band’s main purpose is to make friends and have fun. “We all like to play, we all love the music, and we have a good time together,” Reynolds said.
You can see their original flash mob video here:
