On Tuesday evenings from inside Willingham Hall, the distant cry of Great Highland bagpipes echoes through the air.
Up the stairs and through the auditorium doors, Mercer University Pipes and Drums, a Scottish pipe band, practices and teaches the bagpipes and drums to anyone willing to learn.
The sound of the bagpipes gives the impression that the band is quite large, but with only a handful of members who regularly play, it is smaller than the music betrays. Four new students are receiving lessons, and the band is looking to increase membership across campus, said Associate Professor Emeritus of Engineering Dr. Jack Mahaney, an instructor for the band and also the music librarian.
Anyone interested is welcome to join, regardless of whether they attend Mercer, he said. There are no band fees, and current members will loan out the necessary materials such as bagpipes, drums and kilts.
Beginning pipers typically are asked to purchase a textbook and a practice chanter, the part of the bagpipes that creates the melody, to develop an understanding of the bagpipes. They play the practice chanter by blowing air into the top while using their fingers to create different notes. This year, donors bought practice chanters and books for students, Dr. Mahaney said.
Learning the bagpipes, including the correct hand motions, memorizing music and playing while marching, can be quite tricky, he said.
“It takes time to learn all those different things and coordinate them all, bring them together into you being a piper,” he said.
At the University, the Mercer Pipes and Drums band performs at convocation and the Macon and School of Medicine commencement ceremonies. In the past, it has has competed at the Stone Mountain Highland Games and Scottish Festival, said Senior Lecturer of Engineering Dr. Kenneth Marek, a member of the band. But while competing is fun and exciting, it is not the ultimate goal.
“We’re focusing more on just learning music, getting to play a little bit more often and having a good time,” he said.
Former College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Dean Dr. Douglass Steeples founded the Mercer Pipes and Drums in the mid-1990s, said Dr. Mahaney.
“He found other pipers locally, built up a band, got some people on the faculty and in the student body to help out, and that was the beginning of the Mercer University Pipes and Drums,” he said.
In addition to Mercer professors and students, several band members have belonged to former pipe and drum bands scattered across Central Georgia.
The Warner Robins Air Force Reserve Pipe Band, Centerville Fire Department Pipes and Drums, and the Heart of Georgia Pipes and Troops were some of the pipe bands that used to exist. Over time, these pipe bands began to disband and consolidate until they finally merged with Mercer’s pipe band, Dr. Marek said.
Dr. Mahaney was introduced to Mercer Pipes and Drums as a professor in 1996 after he heard that Dr. Steeples was willing to teach anyone who was interested. However, it was not until 2002 after he completed his doctoral degree that he truly became a part of the band and began playing full time, he said.
His interest and love for bagpipes came from his experience practicing with different instruments in the past, he said.
“I’ve always liked bagpiping music,” Dr. Mahaney said. “Some people think it’s awful. I always loved it.”
Later, Dr. Mahaney helped Dr. Marek get involved. The professors had offices next to each other, and one day, Dr. Marek came to Dr. Mahaney and expressed an interest in learning the bagpipes. Dr. Mahaney said he got Dr. Marek the appropriate materials and equipment and has been watching him play diligently for years now.
Community member and Pipe Sgt. Phillip McDevitt said his story of joining Mercer’s pipe band is a little different. His interest in bagpipes and pipe music began in elementary school when he saw the Pipes and Drums of the Canadian Black Watch Regiment perform at the Toronto Thanksgiving Day Parade.
“It was like a revelation. Hair stood up on the back of my neck,” he said.
McDevitt was 18 years old in 1969 when he purchased his first set of bagpipes, which he still uses to this day. In the 1990s, he joined the Centerville Fire Department Pipes and Drums, playing with the group for seven to eight years until the fire department withdrew support. Shortly thereafter, the band became independent and renamed to the Heart of Georgia Pipes and Troops, which eventually consolidated with Mercer.
McDevitt said even as he joined Mercer’s band, it has always been a challenge to gain new members because people’s lives and commitments change. Mercer Pipes and Drums sets up a table at Bear Fair to recruit new members.
“Pipe bands aren’t exactly like rock bands or string quartets or stuff like that,” he said. “They’re kind of peculiar and specific, and it goes in cycles sometimes.”
Dr. Marek said, “I think the biggest thing to make people interested is to hear it.”
For anyone interested who might have doubts, it is not a high-stakes situation, and it’s more about having fun and learning to play music, he said.
Potential new members are invited to join the band at practice at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays in Toney Auditorium. New members’ lessons start at 5:30 p.m.
“It’s a close-knit group of people who really enjoy playing the pipes and performing,” McDevitt said. “We’re perfectly happy when people may even hear what we’re doing and come in the door and ask us. It’s wonderful.”
