Four of the crew behind the Military Tattoo
Next month more than 600 performers will gather in Palmerston North for the New Zealand Military Tattoo – an evening of bagpipes, military bands and kapa haka (plus the occasional Air Force flyover). Four of them introduce themselves.
BELLA PRICE, 9
Plays cornet with Levin & Districts Brass, alongside her father Reuben. She’s never been to a military tattoo before, but she’s been watching YouTube videos of the famed Edinburgh one.
I can’t remember when I first played the cornet, but I remember that my Dad would show me how to blow on it. Then I wanted to know the valves, so he taught me. I can play the D an octave above middle C. For me, that’s very, very high.
The theme for Rocky is my favourite tune. It was the first one I ever learnt. When I’m playing in front of people I feel really, really happy – and quite nervous.
At Christmas we did street marches in Feilding, Dannevirke and Levin. It was a medley for the Christmas parades. Marching as you play makes it very hard, because it’s all bumpy and the music moves all over the place – there’s a little music stand attached to the cornet.
In the Edinburgh Tattoo videos I saw that there were pipe bands and a lot of people marching. It was very cool.
The one thing I hate about the cornet is the spit that collects inside the instrument. I can’t really blow it out and it makes the music that comes out sound funny. It gurgles.
ANDRAE PEIPI, 41
Is drum major for the New Zealand Police Pipe Band. He’s been to world pipe band championships in Glasgow and in Northern Ireland, and has played at the Edinburgh Military Tattoo. By day he works as an embalmer and undertaker in Palmerston North.
I was born in Invercargill. My father is Tu¯ hoe and my mother is Nga¯ ti Porou. There are some Scottish links in the family too, but they’re watered down.
My cousin used to play for the Tuatapere Pipe Band and I remember as a young chap watching him play. I decided years after – when I was 19 or 20 – to join the City of Invercargill Caledonian Pipe Band. I learnt how to play the bass drum. From there I went to the New Zealand Police Pipe Band.
I’m the backup bass drummer but my main appointment is drum major. I’m the person up the front with the mace. The stick is known as the ‘‘mace’’ not ‘‘baton’’.
Our tartan is a McLeod tartan in recognition of the first New Zealand police officer who was killed on duty – Constable Neil McLeod, in 1890. Just recently, when the band was 80 years old, some of his descendants came and saw us present the new tartan.
As drum major I’m responsible for drill, deportment and giving the word of command at street marches. It’s more along military lines than the flashy style you see at American Football games. We don’t dance; we give commands: ‘‘Stand at ease!’ ‘Attention!’ ‘Right wheel!’ ‘Left wheel!’ ‘By the centre, quick march!’’
The pipes are a war instrument, which is why a lot of Scottish regiments used them, to put the fear of God in their opponents. It’s an acquired taste, like anything, you like it or you don’t, but then you suddenly realise ‘Oh, I really like this’. It makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
SARAH DE BRUIN, 22
Has been a highland dancer since the age of four. Along with 70-odd other dancers from New Zealand and abroad, she’ll be part of the ‘‘Gael Force’’ dance company that will perform at the Tattoo. She lives in Nelson, where she works as a horticultural consultant.
I met my best friend through dancing. It sounds cliche´ , but no-one else understands the effort and the time and the pain as much as another competitor. Performing and the adrenaline that comes with that is really addictive.
The opportunity to travel has been great. I’ve been to tattoos in Switzerland. I’ve competed in the US and Canada, in Scotland and Australia. I’ve competed in the world dancing championships four times and made the final twice – though now I’m older and working, I’m less competitive.
I like to call it a sport as well as an art form. We compete; we train; there are rules we follow; it’s judged based on those rules. It’s really precise. You practise and practise and when you finally nail that on stage in front of the judge it’s a really proud thing. I’m pretty useless at any other kind of dance.
When we compete in Scotland it’s at tiny little highland games that have been there for hundreds of years. Three of my great-grandfathers emigrated from Scotland and in 2014 we went over and did a little family history tour. We went around
graveyards and churchyards – I feel quite connected in that way.
I grew up in Dargaville and throughout my career I’ve had the same dancing teacher, Mark Forshaw, from Whangarei. When I went to Massey to study we’d send videos and call all the time, and also Skype lessons. Since I moved to Nelson and got a new job, I still spend about an hour a day being involved, whether that’s watching videos, or dancing myself or teaching.
My favourite competitive dance is the Strathspey and Highland reel. You compete on your own but on stage in formation, so you weave in and out of the other competitors. The history behind it is that some churchgoers were waiting for the minister to come to a church and they got cold, so they danced together to keep warm.
BLUE CALDWELL, 81
Plays baritone horn with Levin & Districts Brass. A former policeman and builder, he’s been in playing in pipe and brass bands for 65 years, including 20 years in Air Force bands and 10 years with Army bands.
My proper name is Myron. I was given the nickname Blue at about age nine, because I was a redhead. It’s like calling big tall guys ‘‘Tiny’’.
I was born in Reefton on the West Coast but I was raised in Inangahua Junction. Inangahua means ‘‘little whitebait’’. The first band I played in was the Inangahua Silver Band – it was started more than 150 years ago and it’s still going.
The first instrument I played was a flugelhorn, then I moved to bands and bought myself a cornet and played that for 10 years, then moved to the tenor horn, then to the baritone. The baritone has the same pitch and sound as a trombone, but it faces upright like a horn or euphonium.
The music I like to listen to is more moderate to classical. I’ll listen to almost anything except the modern rubbish where you can’t understand the words.
To me, no-one’s ever matched Bill Haley in Rock
Around the Clock. He had a sound all his own. I’ve been banding for 65 years. I played my first tattoo as a drummer in a pipe band; the second was playing cornet in a civilian brass band, and my third was with an Air Force brass band.
‘‘Tattoo’’ comes from the words ‘‘tap toe’’. The drummers used to go out and beat the drums and that was the time to get the soldiers back out of the pubs and back on to the base – though you’ll probably get a much better description if you ask Uncle Google*. * Uncle Google confirms this etymology, adding the detail that it’s from a 17th-century Dutch phrase ‘‘doe den tap toe’’ meaning ‘‘turn off the tap’’.
All interviews as told to Adam Dudding
New Zealand Military Tattoo, Palmerston North, April 4, Central Energy Trust Arena, Palmerston North. For info and tickets see www.nztattoo.nz