Laura Power
Northern News Services
Published Friday, August 24, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - "The thing goes in the what's-it-called and it goes like that when you do this," Coady Summerfield told me on Friday afternoon in Somba K'e Park.

Coady Summerfield of the NWT Pipe Band demonstrates how to play the bagpipes at Somba K'e Park. - Laura Power/NNSL photo

Well no he didn't, but it sounded something like that to me, a bagpipe virgin. The man knows way too much about bagpipes for me to learn in one hour, but did a bang-up job of teaching me as much as he did.

It was almost a perfect setting for such a learning experience. The sun was bright in the sky and the stage in the park was dry enough to sit on. But as I waited for him to arrive I did notice one pitfall - there were several small children playing in the park. Part of me felt I should warn their parents about the terrible noises I was about to make, but in wandered Coady and no warning was uttered.

He's been playing the bagpipes since he was 17, he told me. I asked him why he started.

"My mom made me do it," he answered.

Back in his hometown of Halifax, he wanted to join this snare drum and piping school and play the drum, but he quoted his mother as having said "well you'll be a piper if you're going to do anything."

Coady's mother is a smart lady for guiding him so. At 25, he now knows just about everything there is to know about the pipes, including the history of the instrument from the time it was invented in Egypt to how it became associated with the Scottish. Sadly, when he was explaining what all the bits of the instrument are called and what their functions are, my inner butthead was giggling at the heavy use of the words "bag" and "blow," but fortunately my interest in the instrument was strong enough to allow me to concentrate on the words in between.

Turning our attention to some of the disadvantages of piping, he explained to me that "nobody looks good when they play the bagpipes."

"I'm going to try to prove you wrong," I said, and later failed at doing so (see photo).

Playing the pipes, he said, are like many things Scottish, such as golf and scotch.

"It's either good or it's the worst in the world... you can have a really good golf game or you're throwing balls into the water hazard."

He tuned up and played a little. Having lived in Scotland for a while, I am completely enamoured by the sound of bagpipes, so even the tuning sounded great to me. I especially enjoyed his version of Snoop Dogg's "What's My Name."

But I make it sound like he's not all that serious and that's far from the truth. This guy has been piping with the NWT Pipe Band since he moved to Yellowknife three years ago and is now an established member of the group. He's played with the band at community events such as the Alzheimer's walk, the city's Celebrity Auction and the Canada Day parade and has played at weddings on his own.

Coady told me that back in Halifax as in many other places, piping is very competitive. Here, he said, it's much more recreational and about advancing skills.

In the spirit of helping people advance their skills, he handed me the practice chanter. That's a practice version of the part you finger like a clarinet. He taught me a scale and let me move on to the full set.

Unfortunately, two of the small children I'd spotted earlier must have heard him playing and came over to sit on the grass and watch.

I'm afraid the noises I made, the type that Coady compared to torturing cats, may have scarred them or at least confused them.

I had joked earlier in the session about being a windbag, but when it came time to fill the bag with air - and keeping it full long enough to make sounds - I was an embarrassment. Coady stood patiently by as I tried several times, red in the face and out of breath, making sounds that probably haunted his dreams later that night. The children sat on the grass with the same sort of confused expressions one might have watching a random gory scene in an otherwise light and funny movie.

"HonkSCREEECH," said the bagpipes.

I told Coady I guessed I wasn't such a windbag after all.

"Anyone who called you that can take it back now," he said.

He gave me a few dates when the pipe band would be getting together, and said they are supportive of people who are learning. Perhaps some Tuesday night - their practice nights - I'll go and try again. Or at least listen outside to the wonderful sounds an experienced piper can make.