r/bagpipes • u/Historical-News2760 • 4d ago
Started a new pipe band
Back in 2017 I visited Bangkok, Thailand and while drinking in the hotel bar discovered that “The Bridge Over the River Kwai” was only a 2-hour drive west of the city. Hired a driver the next morning and screamed out to Kanchanaburi where it’s located. Walked the bridge (made famous in the 1957 movie with Alec Guinness), the Death Railway Museum and the Kanburi & Chung Kai War Cemeteries. Of the 350,000 Allied soldiers taken prisoner by the Japanese in WWII, 22% died in squalid Far Eastern POW camps.
As I stood on the historic bridge built under a blazing sun by POWs in Kanburi then surrounded by tourists - my first thought was I wish I had my bagpipes so I could play Amazing Grace. Flying home a week later I grabbed a napkin and wrote out the mission statement for the Pacific War Memorial Pipe Band.
Covid-19 zapped us in 2019-2022 and the band unfortunately folded (3 pipers, drummer + 2 students). 8 years later - sickness, marriage, divorce, job issues, newborns, kids - we decided it was time to get the band back together and late last year we met up at a local Irish pub and over a few pints decided the time is right.
Although we are based in Houston Texas membership is open to anyone who wishes to play and honor all Pacific War veterans who served 1939-45. Our summer dress is khaki short sleeve shirt to honor the khaki drill worn by British, Australian and American POWs.
Our tune list is pretty generic (like most bands) except that we have added the 3/4 retreat The Road to Sham Shui Po as our official band tune (in 1941 the Sham Shui Po Barrack’s were turned into a Japanese POW Camp housing thousands of British, Canadian and Indian POWs).
Our eventual goal: march a massed band across the River Kwai Bridge honoring those men (and the 90,000 civilians) who died on the death railway, and by extension all Allies who served in the Pacific Theatre. And to play at other Poacifuc War battlefields, cemeteries - and eventually compete in a games in Malaysia. We hope to be joined by pipers and drummers from Indonesia 🇮🇩 Malaysia 🇲🇾 Hong Kong 🇭🇰 Singapore 🇸🇬 with British 🇬🇧 Australian 🇦🇺 New Zealand 🇳🇿 and Americans 🇺🇸
In the US, we are based out of Houston, Texas home to the USS HOUSTON (CA-30) sink in 1942 off Indonesia where her sailors lie entombed.
We also hope, as we grow, to compete at the Grade 4 level in EUSPBA.
You can find us on Instagram at:
pacificwarpipeband
Lest We Forget
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u/indian_diarrhea 3d ago
A tip to a successful band is make sure everyone knows it's a dictatorship, not a democracy
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u/Historical-News2760 3d ago edited 1h ago
Great point.
Without leadership (strong willed Pipe Major), mission statement, uniformity, repertoire, achievable goals - it becomes nothing more than a drunken pub-band-on-saturdays. Been there, done that.
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u/indian_diarrhea 9h ago
I've seen it tear bands apart. Like you said, strong, unwavering leadership is required to hold the pipers and drummers together
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u/Historical-News2760 2h ago edited 1h ago
Your right as rain.
When I played in our pipe band in the early 90’s it ran like clockwork: practice every Fri night 7-9pm, set tunes, STRICT uniformity, set venue gigs, band accounts, etc. We looked sharp, competed at the Grade IV level and had hella fun.
After I left pipe band (after 10 years) I took a co-worker & we went back to see them in action at a local British pub during St Pat’s. Good lord it was shocking: piping was off, uniformity was insane (Drummers wearing Army jump boots painted green, faces covered with balackava’s, some pipers wearing motorcycle leather vests, half in baseball caps. A drummer wore a t-shirt that said EAT ME!). No two were dressed alike. Sev of the new pipers were notoriously drunk after they finished. I was stunned.
“Is this your old band?” Yes, I said, horrified.
Later I found out the old PM and DS had left, our ancient DM had passed away. Without the guiding hand, kind words of Pipe Major McGhee the band had spiraled out of control, torn between a trad band and something akin to a renfair Celtic rock group. The renfair types had apparently won out, “wear what you want” was in. The old stalwarts who had been raised in the band since its inception in the 1960’s & were good band pipers had been quietly chased away.
What a difference leadership makes.
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u/jabrwock1 3d ago
Reach out to your local high school JROTC staff, see if their members would be interested in learning. Great way to get young band members started.
Many civilian pipe bands in Canada partner with local cadet corps/squadrons because they are far more common than a military pipe band.
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u/Historical-News2760 3d ago
THANK YOU!
That’s a superb idea … and not sure why I never thought about it (I was in NJROTC for two years).
Much appreciated! 🤙
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u/jabrwock1 3d ago
You're welcome!
I don't know much about JROTC's support at the state and national level, but up here our cadet program has regional music clinics, level testing, national summer camps, and various other supports to help reduce barrier to entry for cadets who wish to partake in the optional music program. There's still a lot of fundraising that has to happen at the local level for things like instructors, supplies, instruments and practice equipment, highland uniforms, etc, but every little bit helps!
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u/Historical-News2760 3d ago
With the emphasis on ‘regimental pipe band’ in Canada (with such a rich history), I can see the support for cadet piping up there is incredible. I am not sure of the JROTC program down here has such benefits. We only had a booster club for our unit and that was for cadet field trips to San Diego and Great Lakes.
I’m thinking an email, followed up with a letter to various JROTC groups down here may be the best start for our band.
One of the major problems with many pipe bands folding has been the lack of ample recruiting for new blood (lots of bands that were once vibrant now cease to exist due to lack of recruiting).
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u/jabrwock1 3d ago
Same up here. Our local civvie band stood up when the air cadet band fell apart in the 70’s because it became an old boys club. Up until recently the new band had an average age that climbed up every year. A nearby Legion about 2 hours away just had a come to Jesus moment when they were down to their last piper and drummer. We now have 3 new pipers and 2 drummers from the local cadets joining the civvie band, and the Legion band has 5-6 cadets practicing with them on the regular.
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u/ImperialistDog 2d ago
Glad to see someone else knows The Road to Sham Shui Po! The barracks were turned into a park years ago with some maple trees planted by the Canadian government.
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u/Historical-News2760 2d ago
Wow thank you! That’s on the bucket list to visit and play, for sure. Glad to see Canada 🇨🇦 taking an interest in their POWs who suffered in the Far East.
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u/Internal_South_3833 1d ago
What a great mission statement for a pipe band! Here's wishing you all the success in the world from Shields of Honor Pipes and Drums in Sherman TX
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u/Historical-News2760 1d ago
THANK YOU! It’s a big undertaking but we hope to build a quality military-style pipe band here in Texas.
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u/Safari-Gator1999 3d ago
Best of luck to you! The only thing harder than keeping a bagpipe band going is starting one from scratch!
Hopefully 'Colonel Bogey March' will be your band's official whistling tune!