SUNSET SOLIDARITY
Bagpiper offers nightly song at Mashantucket reservation during quarantine
In other communities, police and firefighters are using music to help people get through the pandemic, and in Connecticut, so, too, is Tom Miskell. Every day around twilight, Miskell takes his bagpipes, hops in his car and drives somewhere on the Mashantucket reservation.
He takes the bagpipes out of the car and plays whatever moves him that day. Sometimes there are people, listening, socially distancing, if he plays on the reservation. On April 23, he played in front of the Mashantucket Tribal Museum. The day before that, he played near Lawrence and Memorial Hospital for a health care worker appreciation parade.
He’s played at the Grand Pequot Tower at Foxwoods, the “Skye Boat Song” echoing mournfully through the now-empty hotel. He’s played “Danny Boy,” in front of his police car parked in the driveway of the vacant Two Trees Hotel, and “Scotland the Brave” flanked by the stone entrance posts of the public safety building.
The videos of Miskell’s solitary serenades are posted nightly on Deputy Chief George Potts’ Facebook page.
“It’s been a great success,” Potts said. “I can’t believe how many people watch it and reach out and say, ‘I look forward to this every night.’”
Miskell, 42, is a patrolman for the
Mashantucket Tribal Police Department. He has been playing the bagpipes for 11 years.
He got the idea of playing at sunset when the Colorado Emerald Society, an organization of first responders who play bagpipes, put out an invitation to fellow bagpipers across the country to play for people during the coronavirus quarantine.
“It’s part of ‘Sunset Solidarity,’ ” Miskell said. “They opened it to all police and firefighter pipers, to play around sunset until the quarantine’s over.
“You can play whatever you want. It’s
kind of whatever sounds best that day.”
“I tell people where he’s going to be, so they can go out, open their doors and their windows, weather permitting, and they can hear him,” Potts said. “It gives people a sense of calm. People love the bagpipes.”
With Miskell as the centerpiece, the tribal police department was set to debut its honor guard, with patrolmen marching and carrying flags, at local St. Patrick’s Day parades in mid-March. But the parades were canceled due to the pandemic, and Miskell had nowhere to play.
The music seems to reflect the mood of the times.
“The bagpipes have always been an instrument that would bring strength to people,” Miskell said. “It goes back to the old days, where they led chiefs into battle.
“Police and firefighters around the country are using bagpipes to lead people through this quarantine, this battle, and we’re going to get through it.”
Lori Riley can be reached at lriley@courant.com.
Amid the fear and isolation gripping our state right now in wake of the coronavirus outbreak, neighbors are stepping up in extraordinary ways to help others. In our new “Neighbors Helping Neighbors” series, we will profile those acts of kindness and generosity. If you have an idea, please email it to kmccallum@ courant.com.