Pipe dreams come true
Cape Breton bagpipers place in international competition
CHRISTMAS ISLAND — A pair of bagpipers from Cape Breton recently placed in an international competition.
Aidan MacNeil, 16, of Christmas Island and Maël MacNeil, 12, of Sydney each finished in the elite six at the World Online Piping and Drumming Championships. The event featured competitors from 23 countries on six continents who submitted 1,650 video recordings of their performances in 78 events, including solo piping, side drumming, tenor drumming and bass drumming.
The international panel of world-class judges awarded Aidan sixth-place in the Grade 3 piping six-eight march for his performance of “Tug Argan Gap,” while Maël played his way to two sixth-place finishes — one in the Grade 4 piping jig category for his rendition of “Cutting Bracken” and the other in the Pipe Major Alasdair Gillies Memorial Challenge march for “Captain Norman Orr-Ewing.” ‘NICE FEELING’ “I was pretty excited to hear that — I don’t think I ever played in a competition this size before,” said Aidan, who also performed well at the Winter Storm pipes and drums competition in Kansas City, Mo., an event that is considered the North American solo championships.
“I ended up getting a fourth down there, so that’s close to what this is — this is the worlds.”
Maël, who just celebrated his birthday Tuesday, said he was “quite happy” when he learned how well he’d done in the competition, later adding that placing high makes all the hours of practice worthwhile.
“It really does make the work pay off. It’s a nice feeling too,” said
While they are not related, piping and drumming is very much a family affair.
Both boys are members of Cape Breton University Pipe Band where they each play alongside a parent and sibling.
Aidan’s mother MaryLeigh MacNeil plays bass drum, while brother Cameron MacNeil, 14, also plays pipes and sister Emma MacNeil, 13, plays snare drums. Maël’s father Ryan J. MacNeil is pipe sergeant in the band and his brother Ewan MacNeil, 12, is the lead drummer. Mother Jennifer MacInnis cheers on her sons and ex-husband from the stands and is a member of the CBU Pipe Band board.
SEASON ON HOLD
Aidan said getting to play with his family is “really fun,” as well as convenient in pre-pandemic days when they would travel to competitions and highland games around the region.
“It kind of makes it easier going to all these events when we're all going for the same reason,” said the Rankin School of the Narrows student, who started playing six years ago when he learned that Trevor Kellock, the pipe major of the CBU Band, was giving free online lessons.
With the competition season on hold, Aidan said he will miss getting together with friends he normally only sees at events.
“I love the instrument and the music. I love everything about being in a pipe band and all that because of the places you go and the people you meet — there are a lot of great people. It's fun going to the highland games — you get to see a lot of people you only see there,” he said.
“It's just really different because we're usually pretty busy now. The last few years we've been getting used to going all over the Maritimes every summer and competing a lot and now it's cancelled full stop.”
NORTH AMERICAN CHAMPS
MaryLeigh MacNeil said this was going to be a “huge season” for the CBU Pipe Band, which was scheduled to go to Glasgow, Scotland, in August to compete World Pipe Band Championships after winning the Grade 5 North American Championships at the Glengarry Highland Games in Maxville, Ont., last summer. That win capped off a competitive season that saw the band place first at the Pugwash Highland Games, capture the Nova Scotia Championship and Atlantic Canada Championship with two firsts at the Antigonish Highland Games, and place first and third in their events at the New Brunswick Highland Games.
“We were scheduled to go all over the Maritimes this summer and then to Scotland for the world pipe band competition,” she said, adding that living in the same house as an aspiring bagpipe player isn't always easy, especially when they are first learning the instrument.
“It's not a quiet instrument, that's for sure, but I do love it, thankfully,” she said. “Otherwise it would have been a rough couple of years.”
MacInnis said it wasn't always easy on the ears when Maël first began playing five years ago. However, she said when Ewan began first playing it was even harder on her hearing.
“I guess I was used to the bagpipes — it was when the snare drum came home. I think that shocked me the most because the snare drum is incredibly loud. Everybody knows the pipes are loud — especially when the kid is just learning, those pipes can hit notes that you never even knew existed — but I think when the snare drum came home I was like, ‘Wow, it's window shattering,'” she said adding that her Ashby area neighbours were thankfully understanding.
NEIGHBOURHOOD CONCERTS
Their patience has paid off in recent weeks as Maël has been putting on some impromptu performances, including one where he played “Amazing Grace” for the victims of last month's deadly shooting and an Easter Sunday show that drew people outside to listen.
“It was a nice treat for them after all the years of listening to Maël get to where he's at,” said MacInnis, who is the niece of hockey legend Al MacInnis.
She said after years of fundraising and hard work, it was disappointing that their trip to Scotland was postponed. Still, she said the band now has more time to hone their talent.
“We will get there, just not when we anticipated we thought we would,” she said. “It's just going to mean one more year to really group together and maybe have a little bit more money in their pocket when they go next year and really strengthen the tunes they need to strengthen. There's some positives out of it but we were still really excited with this big win.”
Maël, who just finished Grade 6 at Centre scolaire Étoile de l'Acadie, said he understood when the season was cancelled due to COVID-19.
“I was not surprised. I was a little disappointed but you knew at one point it was going to happen. It's a pandemic. — it wasn't just going to stay in one spot.”