A Piper's View: My pipes!

The different tones of wood and silver are astonishing.
Notice the brass insert in the blow pipe.

Family crest mounted to bass drone stock

This is a set of Atherton, (MacDougall reproduction, mimicking a set fashioned sometime between 1857 and 1880 by Duncan MacDougall himself) African Blackwood Great Highland bagpipes, hand turned from the finest African Blackwood in 2009 by David Atherton from Atherton Bagpipes, of Naperville Illinois. This beautiful set of pipes are mounted in boxwood and hand engraved silver. The silver was commissioned to David Davidse of True Hand Engraving from King City, Ontario Canada and is engraved in a Victorian pattern. All silver is hallmarked and registered in Birmingham, England. The shield mounted on the base of the bass drone is engraved with the Reardon Family crest, sporting the term Airson Mo Theaghlaich meaning For My Family. When piping solo events a matching blackwood chanter turned by David Atherton sings brightly, while in a band setting we use a Macallum poly chanter with Ross reeds. The drones are fitted with custom glass Rockets to provide an incredible umbrella of sound. All tied into a Gannaway leather bag.

Tenor and bass drone tops engraved to perfection surrounding
boxwood inserts.

Why A Piper's View?

Each day we bump into someone we have not met. Most times we don't realize it but each one of those meetings touch us in a different way. Whether positive, negative, or something we just brush off. Some of those interactions we carry for mere moments, others last for days, weeks, or even a life time. Since I have been involved within the fire "fraternity", and the bagpiping community within that frat, I have come across some pretty interesting people. Had some interesting times (to say the least), and during the moments within those times someone inevitably says "we should write a book." The next guy always comes back with "it would be a best seller." Now I don't know if this will ever become a book and for that matter a best seller, what I do know is the stories in my head and the stories I haven't lived yet might just be interesting to somebody. If anything my children will be able to see that being good and watching over others is the right way to be, sort of a love thy neighbor type of thing. Some of the scenes are enjoyable, some are not. I know there will be a lot of sadness in the writing, I mean let's face it, I pipe way more funerals and memorials than I do weddings and graduations. That's not to say there won't be laughter, I am so sure you'll get a kick or two. I plan to tell the future stories as they happen but will be going back as far I as I can remember starting with the day I knew how I could help others, and you know what, I believe since that day I have been able to help others. I also believe telling their stories from a different angle, one they may not be aware of, will help them too. Most times you may not know who the story is about, because I'm not going to say, but sometimes you may be able to figure it out on your own. I will have trouble getting across my point, but I will try my best as I'm not the best writer. Hopefully some of you will take something from these stories, even comment on your own take. I hope to give insight on an emotional time in these people's lives. Tell of how they handled it. Tell of how they handled it affected me, because let's face it each and every person we meet effects us in some way whether we know it or not.

Peter

2 comments:

wheezerNovember 10, 2013 at 11:56 PM
Powerful blog pete!!!! Amazing..... You are amazing...i love hearing you.practice almost in mom and dad's backyard, and dad loves it toooooo.
AnonymousJanuary 17, 2016 at 4:10 AM
All Europe had the pipes centuries ago, only Scotland failed to progress and stubbornly clung to the wailing and wauling.

A Piper's View

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