Absence Noted - Elder from

Absence Noted - Elder from Fraters attended the 9/11 memorial last night, and I have to commend his memory; he noted that the bagpipers were the Minnesota Pipes and Drums, remembered that that's my band, and mentioned my absence.

Which is true; I'm not a piper yet. Just a student, honking away on the chanter, learning by far the most complex of my ten instruments.

I'll say this; it's on occasions like 9/11 that the bagpipes come into their own. They combine the best of both worlds; the starkness of the pipes' mournful keening (listen to "Amazing Grace" or "Flower of Scotland" and not feel choked up) catalyzes the emotions; on the other hand, when they switch to more martial music (listen to any the hundreds of jarring, asymmetric-sounding martial airs that have been written for the instrument), it provokes an urge to club the enemy to death with your shoes, grocery bags, whatever is at hand - the pipes are incendiary. Which is why all the Scottish regiments in the British (and Canadian, and Indian and even Pakistani) armies still play them.

Next year.