PRESIDENT — Jean Latimer
VICE-PRESIDENT — Tyler Cramer
GAMES CHAIR — Leslie Grant
TREASURER — Lisa Scott
RECORDING SECRETARY — No candidate
CORRESPONDING SEC. — Kay Morneau
TRUSTEE — Alan Ramsdell
TRUSTEE — William Wallace

The bagpipe has a long and honorable history stretching back to the beginning of civilization, for it is one of the oldest musical instruments played by man.

Tradition has it that the bagpipes were played by the shepherds outside of the stable in Bethlehem on the first Christmas morning and to this day, so firm is this tradition that shepherds in Italy come into the towns and cities to play the bagpipes outside of the churches and cathedrals at Christmas.

In ancient times, the bagpipe was a popular instrument with the Greeks and Romans, with famed Roman Emperor Nero being a skilled performer. The instrument was, however, particularly popular with the Celtic races and they and the Romans carried it into all parts of Europe during various migrations and invasions.

In all parts of Britain, as on the Continent, the bagpipe flourished and was in great demand at fairs, weddings, open air dances, pageants and all sorts of processions and merry-making. It is mentioned and described in books of all kinds, from the plays of Shakespeare to country ballads, and pictures and carvings of it are numerous. Many of the carvings depict Roman soldiers playing on the one-drone bagpipe.

The bagpipes were played all over England. Lincolnshire and Northumberland in particular were famous for the high standard of their pipers, but the instrument declined in England during the rule of Oliver Cromwell as many of the activities it accompanied, like dancing, were pounced upon by the Puritans and even music was looked upon as sinful.

In Scotland and Ireland, however, the bagpipes’ history was different. Music, dancing and poetry were part of the life of the Celtic people, and except for a period during the Reformation and Disarming Act, the instrument was encouraged and flourished, in fact, even to the detriment of the harp.

In the Highlands of Scotland, the bagpipe was developed from the early bag, chanter and one-droned pipe—a second was added around 1500 A.D. and 200 years later a third bass drone was added. Other forms of the instrument were devised in Ireland and the Lowlands of Scotland, where they are still played. But the form of bagpipe we call the Highland bagpipe is the most popular and best known.

In the 17th century colleges of piping were formed in various parts of the Highlands. The most famous was the McCrimmon College in Skye. The McCrimmons, a remarkably gifted family, were hereditary pipers to the McLeods of Dunvegan, and their courses, which lasted seven years, attracted the best players and students from all parts of Scotland and Ireland.

In those colleges were developed “Coel Mor” or Pibroch, the classical music of the bagpipe; music that stands comparison with the greatest compositions in the world of music. These colleges lasted for 200 years and their music is preserved and played until this day.

It can be said that the McCrimmon family laid the foundation of today’s piping and their teaching has been carried on by Scotsmen and Scottish regiments in every part of the world. This probably more than anything else, has associated the bagpipe with Scotland in the minds of people.

The music performed on the Highland bagpipe can be divided into five parts:
1) Coel Mor or Pibroch;
2) Competition-type Marches, Strathspey and Reels;
3) Jigs;
4) Marching Airs and Dancing Tunes; and
5) Slow Marches and Slow Airs.

There is no sign of any decline in the popularity of this remarkable instrument and the interest shown in it is truly worldwide. There has been a tremendous upsurge in the USA, Canada, South Africa, India, New Zealand, England and Ireland; and an increasing interest in France, Holland, Spain, Italy, Yugoslavia, Russia, and the Middle Eastern countries. Continued encouragement has been given to the piper by various Highland gatherings putting on competitions for the exponents. These competitions have been a prominent feature at Highland games for many, many years.

Auld Scots Glossary

Gaelic Greetings

Good day— latha math (LAH-uh mah)
 
Good morning— madainn mhath (MAHD-uhn vah)
 
Good afternoon/evening— feasgar math (FES-gur mah)

How are you?— ciamar a tha sibh (KIM-uhr uh hah sheev)

Fine / well— tha gu math (HAH goo mah)
 
Very well— gle mhath (KLEY vah)
 
Not bad— chan eil dona (HAHN eyl DOH-nuh)
 
Thank you— tapadh leibh (TAH-puh leyv)
 
How’s yourself? ciamar a tha sibh fein (...sheev feyn)

• Knowledge speaks. Wisdom listens.
  
  
• If anything goes without saying, let it.
  
  
• A good name, like good will, is earned by many actions and lost by one.
  
  

May 1 Nelsa Mullen—Birthday
May 2 Susan Wallace—Birthday
May 6 Marilyn & Mickey Veich—Anniv.
May 6 Kay Morneau—Birthday
May 8 Gib & Helen Hall—Anniv.
May 9 Monte & Jerry Lou Patterson—Anniv.
May 9 Helen Ritchie Krcina—Birthday
May 9 Leslie Grant--Birthday
May 11 Norma Wallace—Birthday
May 13 Roderick & Margaret Pressley—Anniv.
May 15 Jim & Sandy Ledy—Anniv.
May 16 Barbara Montgomery—Birthday
May 17 John Glasgow—Birthday
May 17 Adam & Cherise Beatty—Anniv.
May 18 George O’Brien—Birthday
May 19 Wade & Danene Richardson—Anniv.
May 20 Nita Gilbreath—Birthday
May 20 Helen McMaster—Birthday
May 20 Pete Morgan—Birthday
May 21 Glenda & Craig Averill—Anniv.
May 22 Redford Sanderson—Anniv.
May 23 Tommy Thompson—Birthday
May 24 Cathy Reid—Birthday
May 25 Dennis Kavanaugh—Birthday
May 25 John Tennyson—Birthday
May 27 Robert MacGregor—Birthday
May 28 Cadence Hankins—Birthday
May 29 Bobby Gray—Birthday
May 30 Frederick & Ann Ferguson—Anniv.
May 31 James Weber—Birthday
May 31 Wally Straughn—Birthday
May 31 Jennifer & Ian MacFarlane—Anniv.

District tartans in the British Isles are no longer confined to Scotland alone. They are to be found also in other areas which have a strong Celtic tradition. The pride of the Celtic race remains wherever one of the Celtic languages is still used as an everyday means of communication, or was so until comparatively recently.

Welsh is spoken by about a fifth of the population of Wales. Cornish, which has not been generally spoken in Cornwall since the late eighteenth century, is today used on a limited basis by enthusiasts who wish to encourage its preservation.

Branches of the Goidelic group of Celtic languages have survived in Ireland, in the Isle of Man and in Scotland, especially in the Hebrides. Irish and Scottish Gaelic are still the mother tongue of a relatively small minority of the respective populations of Ireland and Scotland. Manx is no longer in everyday use, though it still forms part of the official parliamentary proceedings in the Isle of Man. Like Cornish, Manx is spoken by groups of patriots and it is taught in some of the local schools.

Today, Cornish, Irish, Manx and Welsh tartans, like those of Scotland itself, are worn with pride not only by those families of Celtic descent but also those of Viking and Saxon origin. Racial divisions, by blood alone, have come more blurred than surnames alone indicate, since from earliest times much intermarriage has taken place. National pride is often more a matter of geographical boundaries than racial origins.

In Ireland there are only three district tartans. Ulster, Clodagh and Tara. The kilt which is not extensively worn, is usually made of green or saffron material.

Outside the British Isles, the country which has given rise to most new district tartans has been Canada. Nova Scotia produced it own district tartan in 1956. Following the success of the Nova Scotia tartan other provinces followed with design of their own. New Brunswick, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, British Columbia and Yukon. Other tartans of the British Commonwealth are to be found in the Bahams, Bermuda and Australia.

The growth of tartan in the United States was the consequence of the widespread role played by the Scottish organizations in the U.S. One of the earliest is the American Bicentennial which was designed in conjunction with the Scottish Tartans Society in 1975. Several states, including Arizona, now have their own tartan.

President: Elizabeth Reich — 602-509-1146
1st Vice Pres: Vacant
2nd Vice Pres: Tyler Cramer — 574-344-1314
Treasurer: Lisa Scott — 623-363-3355
Recording Sec: Jean Latimer — 602-867-6507
Corresp. Sec: Jean Whyman — 602-956-6424
Trustee: Alan Ramsdell — 480-969-8400
Trustee: William Wallace — 480-838-7055
Past President: Harold Stewart — 480-832-0243
Newsletter Editor: Jo Ramsdell — 480-969-8400

Regular membership meetings are held the second Thursday of each month at the Scottsdale Senior Center, 1700 N. Granite Reef Rd., Scottsdale, Az. beginning at 7:30. Come join us or call 602-431-0095 or log on to www.arizonascots.com

Drop in at our next meeting on Thursday, May 13, 2010.
We hope to see you there!

The first newspaper in Scotland was the “Mercurius Scoticus” of Leith, near Edinburgh, which first appeared in 1651. The most widely read newspaper of the present day is the “Sunday Post” published at Glasgow and Dundee, carrying homely facts and stories each weekend. The widest read Scottish ex-pat newspaper for Scots living overseas is the “Scottish Banner” published monthly in North America and Australia.