P&D band drums up new goals

After a weekend at the West Point United States Military Academy in New York, members of the Norwich Pipes and Drums learned to work in unity and set new goals for the group.

"It was a good morale boost for the Norwich pipers to work with other military pipers," said Andrew O'Sullivan, a 20-year-old junior civil engineer major from Freehold, N.J., and the pipe major for the band. "We're looking to make it even bigger next year by getting more military pipe bands involved, maybe even the Royal Military College of Canada."

The Norwich band worked with other pipe bands over the weekend.

"We met up with the West Point pipe band and the Rhode Island Highlanders, which is another New England pipe band," said. Caleb Beasley, a 20-year-old junior studies in war and peace major from Shreveport, La. "That meant we learned a lot about working in a large group, which was great practice because we're hoping to get more band members at some point soon."

Beasley has been in the Norwich Pipes and Drums band for two years and is the band's drum major.

According to Beasley, the workshops were well organized for both pipers and drummers. There were knowledgeable instructors and the workshops were geared for a variety of skill levels.

P&D members intend to repeat the workshop weekend, as well as expand their musical experiences.

"We plan on attending the WP tattoo, which is a giant meeting of pipe bands where we perform together," Beasley said. "It's in April of 2012 and band is really excited, and we're also going to do the same workshops next year which will give us even more experience as a band."

Band members wished they had a traditional kilt uniform like other teams. White dress pants were worn instead.

"Our big push for the band is to get traditional uniforms, because right now we're one of the only (local) pipe bands without a kilt," Beasley said. "It feels weird because we noticed that at West Point we were wearing pants while everyone else was wearing kilts."

"It's a financial burden on the band members and whoever helps us with getting the kilt," he added. "But we still have a Norwich University tartan, which is the checkered pattern, picked out. It was approved by the school's president and is in the process of getting registered right now."

The band members want to show off Norwich's colors by matching the tartan to the Norwich dress blues, and they hope to be able to wear their kilts the next time they go to West Point.

"We're in the process of getting our tartan registered with the tartan authority over in Scotland," O'Sullivan said. "When we're done it'll have a copyright on it so no one can use it without permission from Norwich, or if we allow someone to use it the proceeds would go to Norwich."

O'Sullivan said that to raise money, the band is recording and selling a CD of its music.

O'Sullivan appreciated the way the weekend was set up, and he liked that each group had the chance to work on its weaknesses before performing as a mass ensemble.

"I'm a piper so we did a day of piping, which was a morning of instruction and an afternoon performance," O'Sullivan said. "The drummers did the same thing, then joined us later for the group performance. I really liked the set up because it allowed us to work on our weaker abilities before performing together."

Videos of the weekend are at www.youtube.com/watch?v=65jETEUh5sk.

O'Sullivan added that he would like to see Norwich's P&D work with other bands more often.

"Getting (more bands) involved would offer an even bigger chance to learn new songs and foster a positive relationship between us and them," he said. "We're even considering hosting here at NU at some point instead of traveling."

Iain MacHarg, the Norwich professor and the pipe band instructor who is working on the CD with the band, noted the band's growth.

"Two years ago the band didn't really exist, but now we have more students than ever," MacHarg said. "I'm really proud of how well they've done and how strong their work ethic is."

He added, "They really did Norwich proud at West Point."

MacHarg said that one of the hardest things about teaching the pipe band and preparing them for events and trips is that the students who join don't all have the same musical training.

"The majority of the cadets who play in the band have been in bands outside of Norwich, and they mostly played the same regimental tunes but in different settings," he said. "My job was to bring them all together so they played in unison."

Band members have been busy after the trip.

"Since the trip we've been working on our ensemble, which is getting the whole band to play well as a group," MacHarg said. "It's challenging though. You can have the pipes playing well and the drums playing well, but that doesn't mean they'll play well together."

The group plans to enter the New England Championship contest for pipes and drums next year.

Andrew Knapp, an 18-year-old freshman history and education major from Florham Park, N.J., said he felt privileged to attend.

"It was a unique experience, and for me the best part of the weekend was learning to play different marching songs," Knapp said. "It made us into a better ensemble, but it also helped us individually strengthen ourselves by working on whatever area of music we were the least good with."

He added that getting to travel to a new place to practice the bagpipes was both exciting and fun, and that learning about the military lifestyle at West Point was educational.

"Comparing West Point and NU gave me a deeper appreciation for the way our administration runs things here, and a better feel for college," Knapp said, "but I prefer the way our professor structures our ensemble because he emphasizes us helping each other out as students more."

Knapp looks to the older and more experienced upperclassmen for guidance and support, especially when struggling to learn a new piece of music. "I can learn a lot of things from them like how to improve my technique," he said.

Said Timothy Sullivan, an 18-year-old freshman history major from Somerville, Mass., "There were a lot of good musicians from the other bands. It was great to have outside advice and tips on certain things like my techniques and styles."