The Black Tusk Caledonia Pipes and Drums is a fixture in Squamish, playing at events such as Canada Day and Squamish Days Loggers Sports, but the band is most noted for its role in the Remembrance Day ceremony.
The band, which started out in the late 1970s as the Squamish Kinsmen Pipe Band, has been facing some challenges of late.
Last year, it needed to find a new place to rehearse. Now, new members are needed to boost the ranks.
“It’s going to be a challenge for the Remembrance Day ceremony,” said Sandy MacKay, who has children in the band and decided to step in to play the bass drum. “If I didn’t do it, we were on the point of disbanding… The whole band knew I’d been bringing the kids to practice for years.”
The band has had members from different generations of families, such as 93-year-old Jim Crombie, whose daughter Ailsa Yaky is a member, along with her own daughters, who travel from the city.
Even though Crombie was born in Scotland, his homeland was not where he first learned the bagpipes.
When the pulp mill he worked at in Ocean Falls, B.C., was on strike, he took up the instrument at the urging of another fellow Scot wanting to start a band.
“He’s one of those guys that can play anything,” says his daughter. “He can play anything by ear.”
For her part, Yaky learned the pipes when she was 12 years old but there were not many other kids playing, so she put them aside for years.
“I didn’t go back until 20 years later,” she said.
Members do move on, though, which means the Black Tusk Caledonia Pipes and Drums faces turnover and needs more stable membership, especially in the drum department at present is to remain a staple of Squamish celebrations and ceremonies.
“We’ll take anybody who wants to learn. We’ve got a good song and dance to recruit people,” MacKay said. “We’re willing to teach people how to play the pipes.”
He adds that people do not have to read music to be able to pick up the instrument. It can be a little daunting, though, for new players.
“The worst part of bagpipe playing is to tune up,” Crombie said.
Aspiring pipers and drummers will need to be able to pick up the skills and fit in with the group during rehearsal, so a little musical instinct will be necessary to earn one’s kilt.
“The rewards of being in the pipe band are pretty unique,” MacKay said.
Right now, the band is down to one tenor drummer, one snare drummer and five or six pipers, along with MacKay on the bass drum. He wants to see the band soldier on, especially when it comes to this time of year and the ceremony on Remembrance Day.
“I’ve got a real weak spot for veterans,” he said.
For more information on the Black Tusk Caledonia Pipes and Drums, see www.squamishpipeband.ca.
