Wanganui Chronicle. SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 1947. THE MUSIC OF SCOTLAND.

Wanganui Chronicle, 8 March 1947, Page 4

Wanganui Chronicle. SATURDAY, MARCH 8, 1947. THE MUSIC OF SCOTLAND.

yy/ANG'ANLT this week-end is playing the part of host for hundreds of kilted visitors, here for the New Zealand pipe band championship contest. That such duty will bo fulfilled in every detail may be taken for granted, for the eity appears to have proved itself adequate to the task of entertaining the hundreds of bandsmen who were in Wanganui for the Dominion brass bands contest duri.xg the week which ended last Saturday. In turn, citizens and visitors in their thousands were entertained at Cook’s Gardofis by the visiting and home bandsmen. That a different kind of music will be provided by the pipe bands need not make the contest any the less entertaining for patrons, whose appreciation, when expressed, should provide encouragement for the bandsmen. Wanganui audiences are not tardy in giving expression to appreciation. Visiting bandsmen for the recent brass bands contest were a credit to the cities they represented and to the organisations responsible for sending them to the, contest. They took their work seriously and enjoyed their leisure moments with a cheerful decorum which made their conduct on and off the contest grounds all that could be desired of guests of a city. The visitors left behind them a memory of a new high level in the standard of band music and an equally high level of conduct off parade. Old bandsmen have spoken of the playing us a revelation to those with many years of band contests. Wanganui citizens have also expressed keen appreciation of the restraint which marked the conduct of the bandsmen off parade, at a time when exuberant feelings and high spirits might have had less desired effects. To-day the atmosphere of the city shows the change which might be expected with the nature and the tempo of the music. Last week it was brass band music, played before an audience which is accepted as being more band-minded than any other in the Dominion. Yesterday the stirring music of the pipes replaced that of the brass band instruments, and again to-day a feast of the music peculiar to Scotland but popular the world over will be provided. Here it may not be amiss to express approval of the action of the responsible organisation which found itself unable to avoid the contest overlapping the Sunday, bandsmen in many instances beingunable to secure more than a few days’ leave from employment at a time of shortage of manpower. To-morrow morning is to be devoted to a combined church parade and service in Cook’s Gardens, conducted under the auspices of the Wanganui Ministers’ Association. In these days of a more or less Continental Sabbath, such observance is well in keeping with the traditions of the stern Scot.

The pipes and pipe band music are accepted as traditionally Scottish. They have provided material for many a joke about the Scots, but there is reason to believe that the canny Scot was himself responsible for circulating many of the jokes. He recognises them as valuable publicity. Pipe music dates back to the days of the Persians, and pipes may be found in many Continental countries and in the Far East, while Ireland has a bagpipe of its own. But. it is in the Highland bagpipe which has developed through the centuries to provide Scotland with the music which its New Zealand exponents are demonstrating at its best in Wanganui this weekend. Thus have the sons of “Caledonia, stern and wild,” carried to the ends of the earth the tartan and the pipes, with all that they mean to the Scot.

As might be expected from such a Scottish centre, Dunedin is well represented, but an interesting feature is the presence in Wanganui of four pipe bands from such an essentially English community q.s Christchurch. That the cult of the pipes and the swing of the kilt have spread their attraction throughout the Dominion is evident from the fact that bands attending the contest come from all parts of the country, front Auckland and Tauranga in the north to Timaru, Ashburton and Temuka as well as Dunedin in the South Island. The Taranaki province has sent two bands, Hawke’s Bay three and Nelson one. The Wanganui Highland Pipe Band, always keen to support the championship contest wherever held, has been as unfailing in its efforts to reach a high standard as it has been generous in its response to appeals for public appearances. More important still so far as the contest is concerned is the presence of three school bands. In addition to the Wanganui Collegiate School, the Feilding Agricultural High School and St. Andrew’s College have sent bands, and the spirit of competition should have a beneficial effect on the standard of their playing. As the Wanganui Technical College also has a pipe band in training, Wanganui is maintaining its tradition as a band-minded city. The recruitment of young bandsmen, in pipe bands as in brass bands, is excellent evidence of the healthy public appreciation of band music as an asset to any conujiunity. In the healthy discipline as well as the entertainment they obtain and provide, bandsmen show a civic spirit all the more appreciated in days when there is a tendency to let the other fellow do all the work. In New Zealand the pipe band is an amateur organisation. The individual piper may be assisted to the extent that supporters of the band provide some of the funds whereby pipes and uniforms are purchased, there is, however, no professional pipe band to set a standard, as is the case with the military pipe bands of Scotland and England. Yet such is the high standard attained in New Zealand that pipe bands are beloved of Scot and Sassenach alike. Those who have not the blood of Scotland’s descendants in their veins may profess a lack of appreciation of pipe band music, but their pulses quicken and feet arc set tapping to the strains, of pibroch, strathspey and reel. That still more enthusiasm may be awakened as a result of the current contest is devoutly to be hoped. A surprising but commendable feature of the development in pipe bands in the last decade is the number of girls who have taken on the pipes. In this they have been infused witli zeal as a result of the Dagenham Girls’ Pipe Band in Essex, England, and the tour of New Zealand some years ago by a girls’ band from New South Wales. In Wanganui girl pipers have held their own with other players, and they assisted materially in maintaining the strength of the band while other members were on active service.

The organisation of band contests is no easy task, and those who undertake Such work confer a boon of no small dimensions upon the city and its citizens, as well as on visitors, whose goodwill is an intangible but nevertheless valuable asset. The organisers deserve all the support and encouragement it is possible to extend them. With that forthcoming, a successful conclusion to Wanganui’s bands carnival is assured.