Wearing full wool attire can get awfully hot when you are practicing indoors as Scott Cawley of Hebron wipes his face of sweat while Scott Cummings of Vernon takes a swig of water. Both are members of the Manchester Regional Police & Fire Pipe Band which practiced Monday night for a performance in Germany next month. (JOHN WOIKE / HARTFORD COURANT / October 28, 2009)
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The Manchester Regional Police & Fire Pipe Band will perform in Germany this month alongside the best bagpipe and drum outfits in the world.
Pipe bands, military orchestras and drum corps will gather at the Fulda Military Tattoo in Fulda, Germany, on Nov. 13 and 14, promising a scene of color and precision and the roof-lifting spirit of massed pipes and percussion.
There will be pipers in ink-black doublets, scarlet tartan and ostrich-feather bonnets, Highland dancers, and brass bands strapped with rows of thundering drums — all carrying forward centuries-old traditions.
Arrayed as a Scottish Highland regiment, the Connecticut pipe band will look right and sound right, members say. But they also acknowledged that alongside such storied outfits as the Lothian & Borders Police Pipe Band of Edinburgh, Scotland, they'll be the minor league players, kind of like a seasoned club band sharing a stage with the Rolling Stones.
Still, members say that although they're a bit nervous, they plan to represent Connecticut and the U.S. well as the first American pipe band to play the event.
"There's always an apprehension. We don't want to go over there and fall on our faces," Manchester Regional pipe major Rick Beaulieu said. "We're very proud to have been invited."
The invitation to Fulda resulted from the friendship between Manchester Regional drum major C.L. "Ox" Gara of New Britain and William Jordan, drum major of the Dumbarton & District Pipe Band of Scotland. Gara said Jordan, one of the top drum majors in the world, vouched for the Connecticut band with organizers of the Military Tattoo, and "they went on Billy's say-so" in extending an invitation.
The Connecticut band formed in 1953 as the 53rd Stewart Highlanders. In the early years, about half the members were police officers and firefighters. Today, the ranks include only a few emergency service workers. Gara, who says his nickname has more to do with his personality than his physical build, is an assistant technical director at the Hartt School at the University of Hartford; Beaulieu is a financial analyst at Pratt & Whitney; and the band's president, Kevin Kerchaert, is a Hartford-based architect.
Since they received the invitation last fall, band members have been focusing on rehearsing the packet of music sent by tattoo organizers, Kerchaert said. Twenty-eight band members out of about 40 — 21 pipers, 6 drummers, the drum major — are making the trip, he said.
The band has played in New York City, Boston and as far away as Maine, but this is its first international event, Kerchaert said. Asked about the attraction of performing with a traditional pipe band, he said, "There is a certain camaraderie; it's more than just a hobby. The ability to stand in a circle and play with other musicians, other like-minded people, you get a real sense of joy in that."
The band is to rehearse in Fulda, in central Germany, on Nov. 12, readying for performances at the Tattoo ( www.military-tattoo.de) on Nov. 13 and 14. The name for such gatherings comes from a British army practice that started in the 17th century in the Netherlands and Belgium.
"Drummers from the garrison were sent out into the towns at [9:30 p.m.] each evening to inform the soldiers that it was time to return to barracks," according to www.militarytattoo.org. "The process was known as 'Doe den tap toe' and encouraged the innkeepers to 'turn off the taps,' stop serving beer and send the soldier's home for the night."
Kerchaert hinted at another tradition the Connecticut band will keep in Germany. In pipe band circles, "going regimental" means wearing nothing under the kilt.
"All I can say is that our No. 1 dress uniform is a regimental uniform, so you can decide," Kerchaert said.
Pipe bands, military orchestras and drum corps will gather at the Fulda Military Tattoo in Fulda, Germany, on Nov. 13 and 14, promising a scene of color and precision and the roof-lifting spirit of massed pipes and percussion.
There will be pipers in ink-black doublets, scarlet tartan and ostrich-feather bonnets, Highland dancers, and brass bands strapped with rows of thundering drums — all carrying forward centuries-old traditions.
Arrayed as a Scottish Highland regiment, the Connecticut pipe band will look right and sound right, members say. But they also acknowledged that alongside such storied outfits as the Lothian & Borders Police Pipe Band of Edinburgh, Scotland, they'll be the minor league players, kind of like a seasoned club band sharing a stage with the Rolling Stones.
Still, members say that although they're a bit nervous, they plan to represent Connecticut and the U.S. well as the first American pipe band to play the event.
"There's always an apprehension. We don't want to go over there and fall on our faces," Manchester Regional pipe major Rick Beaulieu said. "We're very proud to have been invited."
The invitation to Fulda resulted from the friendship between Manchester Regional drum major C.L. "Ox" Gara of New Britain and William Jordan, drum major of the Dumbarton & District Pipe Band of Scotland. Gara said Jordan, one of the top drum majors in the world, vouched for the Connecticut band with organizers of the Military Tattoo, and "they went on Billy's say-so" in extending an invitation.
The Connecticut band formed in 1953 as the 53rd Stewart Highlanders. In the early years, about half the members were police officers and firefighters. Today, the ranks include only a few emergency service workers. Gara, who says his nickname has more to do with his personality than his physical build, is an assistant technical director at the Hartt School at the University of Hartford; Beaulieu is a financial analyst at Pratt & Whitney; and the band's president, Kevin Kerchaert, is a Hartford-based architect.
Since they received the invitation last fall, band members have been focusing on rehearsing the packet of music sent by tattoo organizers, Kerchaert said. Twenty-eight band members out of about 40 — 21 pipers, 6 drummers, the drum major — are making the trip, he said.
The band has played in New York City, Boston and as far away as Maine, but this is its first international event, Kerchaert said. Asked about the attraction of performing with a traditional pipe band, he said, "There is a certain camaraderie; it's more than just a hobby. The ability to stand in a circle and play with other musicians, other like-minded people, you get a real sense of joy in that."
The band is to rehearse in Fulda, in central Germany, on Nov. 12, readying for performances at the Tattoo ( www.military-tattoo.de) on Nov. 13 and 14. The name for such gatherings comes from a British army practice that started in the 17th century in the Netherlands and Belgium.
"Drummers from the garrison were sent out into the towns at [9:30 p.m.] each evening to inform the soldiers that it was time to return to barracks," according to www.militarytattoo.org. "The process was known as 'Doe den tap toe' and encouraged the innkeepers to 'turn off the taps,' stop serving beer and send the soldier's home for the night."
Kerchaert hinted at another tradition the Connecticut band will keep in Germany. In pipe band circles, "going regimental" means wearing nothing under the kilt.
"All I can say is that our No. 1 dress uniform is a regimental uniform, so you can decide," Kerchaert said.
