Bagpiper
08-02-2006, 03:31 PM
FORMER prime minister Jean Chretien’s decision to drop a helicopter contract when he came to power in 1993 was indirectly responsible for John Walsh becoming a bagpipe maker in Antigonish.
"I was working for a company working on the EH101 helicopter for the Armed Forces and that was when Jean Chretien came in and canned the helicopter program so all our jobs were pretty much obliterated," the affable expatriate Brit recalled in an interview at his Antigonish shop, which includes bagpipe production facilities out back and a Celtic-themed gift shop in front.
"My wife is from Antigonish, so we said we have to move somewhere, why not go where the grandparents are?"
Mr. Walsh, 54, a native of Bradford in Yorkshire, got involved in pipe bands through the influence of his mother, a banjo player who thought he needed something to do as a teenager.
He originally wanted to be a drummer, but was told that the pipe band he’d joined had loads of them.
"They handed me what they call a practice chanter and a Logan’s tutor book and said just read through that and come back in a few weeks," he said with a laugh.
That modest beginning led to a career as a piper that has seen him play with a number of the world’s best pipe bands, including current Grade 1 world champions, the House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead Pipe Band, named for two towns near Glasgow, with whom he still performs.
"I go over a few days before the competitions. We practise each night of the week prior to the championship and then I play the competition and come home."
Mr. Walsh ,who trained as an electronics engineer, visited Canada with the Shotts and Dykehead band when they played the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto.
"I really like Toronto compared to Glasgow," he said.
Mr. Walsh emigrated to Canada in 1980 and was working as a circuit designer in Toronto where he met his wife Jean, who was playing in another pipe band.
In Toronto, he was pipe sergeant with the General Motors pipe band, later renamed the 78th Fraser Highlanders, which became the first pipe band from outside Scotland to win the world piping championship in 1987.
The family, which by then included two boys, moved to Antigonish in 1994, where Mr. Walsh combined his engineering and design skills with his passion for bagpipes and began making shuttle pipes — bagpipes that use a cylinder drone system — which he designed from an illustration he had seen in Edinburgh Castle of a French bagpipe called a musette.
"It’s an unusual-looking thing," he said of the compact pipes, which sell for about $700 a set.
Sales of the shuttle pipes, which he marketed by giving sets to touring musicians, took off after their introduction, said Mr. Walsh.
"We’re selling hundreds a year. It’s a different-sounding instrument. Its design is unique. The drone is right in front of you, so when people are learning they can actually see what they are doing."
The shuttle pipes have been bought by pipers from Canada, the U.K., the United States, Europe, Russia and the Far East.
"We had a chap in today from Japan," said Mr. Walsh, who keeps a map in his lathe-filled workshop that is marked with all the places his pipes have gone. "He bought two sets and was in getting them checked out."
Ed Coleman, a retired newspaperman from Kentville, owns two sets of Walsh’s shuttle pipes, which he said are ideal for playing indoors, unlike the larger and louder Highland pipes.
Mr. Coleman, who is using the shuttle pipes to help teach his grandchildren to play, has been playing for 50 years. He said the Walsh pipes are first rate.
"The workmanship is definitely outstanding," he said, adding Mr. Walsh also did a tremendous job of refurbishing his Highland pipes, which were made in Scotland.
"He’s an outstanding craftsman."
The popularity of the shuttle pipes prompted Mr. Walsh, whose business employs eight people, to branch out into the production of small, or lowland pipes, and the more familiar large Highland bagpipes.
"The Highland bagpipe is a new venture for us. We’ve been doing it for a year, perfecting it, and I’m really happy with it," he said of the large pipes, which sell for $1,400 and up per set, depending on material and ornamentation.
Mr. Walsh, whose business has received about $15,000 in loans from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, acknowledged that setting up shop in rural Nova Scotia has its challenges.
"One is the availability of materials here," he said. "The wood I purchase (like African blackwood), I have to get out of Ontario. Everything has to be shipped in, which proves a little bit expensive."
Another factor not found in many business cases was dealing with being a newcomer to the community.
"I’ve just about got over it now, but being from away is a bit of a drawback. I had to be very careful when you wanted some work done locally, because as soon as I open my mouth, people know I’m not from here and the price goes up," he said.
"It was noticeable in the beginning, so if I wanted to purchase some special stuff locally, I would get one of the chaps that works for me to put in the phone call and it would get the reasonable price."
Mr. Walsh, who has recorded a solo CD and played Irish pipes on the Barra MacNeils’ cover of the Lovin’ Spoonful’s Darlin’ Be Home Soon, said bagpipes can be difficult to master and maintain, and he strives to make a product that will encourage people to play.
"The problem with a lot of bagpipes is maintenance. I tried to get rid of all the maintenance details so you could just pick it up and play it, put it down for two months and pick it up and still play."
As for the enduring appeal of the pipes, Mr. Walsh said they produce a music that, for him, is uniquely stirring. "It penetrates the heart," he said. "No other instrument does that for me."
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/518812.html
"I was working for a company working on the EH101 helicopter for the Armed Forces and that was when Jean Chretien came in and canned the helicopter program so all our jobs were pretty much obliterated," the affable expatriate Brit recalled in an interview at his Antigonish shop, which includes bagpipe production facilities out back and a Celtic-themed gift shop in front.
"My wife is from Antigonish, so we said we have to move somewhere, why not go where the grandparents are?"
Mr. Walsh, 54, a native of Bradford in Yorkshire, got involved in pipe bands through the influence of his mother, a banjo player who thought he needed something to do as a teenager.
He originally wanted to be a drummer, but was told that the pipe band he’d joined had loads of them.
"They handed me what they call a practice chanter and a Logan’s tutor book and said just read through that and come back in a few weeks," he said with a laugh.
That modest beginning led to a career as a piper that has seen him play with a number of the world’s best pipe bands, including current Grade 1 world champions, the House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead Pipe Band, named for two towns near Glasgow, with whom he still performs.
"I go over a few days before the competitions. We practise each night of the week prior to the championship and then I play the competition and come home."
Mr. Walsh ,who trained as an electronics engineer, visited Canada with the Shotts and Dykehead band when they played the Canadian National Exhibition in Toronto.
"I really like Toronto compared to Glasgow," he said.
Mr. Walsh emigrated to Canada in 1980 and was working as a circuit designer in Toronto where he met his wife Jean, who was playing in another pipe band.
In Toronto, he was pipe sergeant with the General Motors pipe band, later renamed the 78th Fraser Highlanders, which became the first pipe band from outside Scotland to win the world piping championship in 1987.
The family, which by then included two boys, moved to Antigonish in 1994, where Mr. Walsh combined his engineering and design skills with his passion for bagpipes and began making shuttle pipes — bagpipes that use a cylinder drone system — which he designed from an illustration he had seen in Edinburgh Castle of a French bagpipe called a musette.
"It’s an unusual-looking thing," he said of the compact pipes, which sell for about $700 a set.
Sales of the shuttle pipes, which he marketed by giving sets to touring musicians, took off after their introduction, said Mr. Walsh.
"We’re selling hundreds a year. It’s a different-sounding instrument. Its design is unique. The drone is right in front of you, so when people are learning they can actually see what they are doing."
The shuttle pipes have been bought by pipers from Canada, the U.K., the United States, Europe, Russia and the Far East.
"We had a chap in today from Japan," said Mr. Walsh, who keeps a map in his lathe-filled workshop that is marked with all the places his pipes have gone. "He bought two sets and was in getting them checked out."
Ed Coleman, a retired newspaperman from Kentville, owns two sets of Walsh’s shuttle pipes, which he said are ideal for playing indoors, unlike the larger and louder Highland pipes.
Mr. Coleman, who is using the shuttle pipes to help teach his grandchildren to play, has been playing for 50 years. He said the Walsh pipes are first rate.
"The workmanship is definitely outstanding," he said, adding Mr. Walsh also did a tremendous job of refurbishing his Highland pipes, which were made in Scotland.
"He’s an outstanding craftsman."
The popularity of the shuttle pipes prompted Mr. Walsh, whose business employs eight people, to branch out into the production of small, or lowland pipes, and the more familiar large Highland bagpipes.
"The Highland bagpipe is a new venture for us. We’ve been doing it for a year, perfecting it, and I’m really happy with it," he said of the large pipes, which sell for $1,400 and up per set, depending on material and ornamentation.
Mr. Walsh, whose business has received about $15,000 in loans from the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency, acknowledged that setting up shop in rural Nova Scotia has its challenges.
"One is the availability of materials here," he said. "The wood I purchase (like African blackwood), I have to get out of Ontario. Everything has to be shipped in, which proves a little bit expensive."
Another factor not found in many business cases was dealing with being a newcomer to the community.
"I’ve just about got over it now, but being from away is a bit of a drawback. I had to be very careful when you wanted some work done locally, because as soon as I open my mouth, people know I’m not from here and the price goes up," he said.
"It was noticeable in the beginning, so if I wanted to purchase some special stuff locally, I would get one of the chaps that works for me to put in the phone call and it would get the reasonable price."
Mr. Walsh, who has recorded a solo CD and played Irish pipes on the Barra MacNeils’ cover of the Lovin’ Spoonful’s Darlin’ Be Home Soon, said bagpipes can be difficult to master and maintain, and he strives to make a product that will encourage people to play.
"The problem with a lot of bagpipes is maintenance. I tried to get rid of all the maintenance details so you could just pick it up and play it, put it down for two months and pick it up and still play."
As for the enduring appeal of the pipes, Mr. Walsh said they produce a music that, for him, is uniquely stirring. "It penetrates the heart," he said. "No other instrument does that for me."
http://thechronicleherald.ca/Business/518812.html