Members of the Leeds Historical Society were treated to a performance by Jim MacRae, an experienced bagpiper who has traveled the world with different pipe bands, during its Sunday, July 13, meeting.MacRae, who is also a freemason, described the history of Scotland, his piper uniform and his bagpipes, and performed during the meeting at the Leeds Depot.
“Evidence of pipes has been found throughout history,” MacRae said. “Pipes were found in some of the ancient tombs in Egypt. They have been used all over Europe, especially by shepherds who wanted to play music while watching their flocks. Figures on ancient Roman architecture even show depictions of pipers.”
When it comes to bagpipes, MacRae has done it all since learning to play the instrument in the 1960s.
He has organized pipe bands across the country, served on piper association boards and as an associate judge, served as pipe major in different bands, recorded his music and published his own method of teaching the instrument.
MacRae is a native of Grove City, Pa., where his coal miner grandfather, Sloan Murdock MacRae, organized the first piper band in the city and tried unsuccessfully to get his young grandson interested in learning to play the instrument.
MacRae did not take up the bagpipe until the 1960s.
In the first band he marched with, he played his grandfather’s pipes.
“There are many components that make the sound of the bagpipe,” MacRae said. “There is the blow pipe with a one-way valve to fill the reservoir bag so you have continuous air pressure to play. That gets the three drones, or background pipes, going to provide that constant sound you hear. Those are two tenor drones and a bass drone. The chanter is the musical part of the instrument where the finger holes are cut out to play the nine different notes we play. There is even a canister in the reservoir bag filled with kitty litter to wick any moisture out before it gets to the reeds.
“I still have my grandfather’s pipes, although I don’t play them that much because they are so valuable to me, both for sentimental reasons and because they are made of real ivory.”
MacRae and his bands have won state, national and world competitions, including the Best Overseas Pipe Band award at the world championship in Glasgow, Scotland, in the early 1990s.
MacRae graduated from Grove City High School in 1961 and began to study piping while attending the Carnegie Institute of Technology.
He graduated from Grove City College in 1965 as a metallurgical engineer and earned a master’s degree in business administration from Olivet Nazarene University in 1996. While working as a metallurgical engineer in Chelyabinsk, Russia, in May 2000, MacRae performed a concert for about an hour, playing and explaining his pipes and uniform. While in Russia, he visited the Ural Mountains to attend a two-day festival and was invited to open the program by playing several Russian tunes on the bagpipes.
He organized a band in Gary, Ind., and the day he received his kilt in 1999, he had to tell the group he had accepted a position in Alabama and would be leaving.
When his work brought him to Birmingham, he began playing with the Birmingham Society of Pipers, which changed its name in 2004 to Alabama Pipes and Drums.
During the meeting, the society also:
O Approved the financial report for the month of June.
O Heard a report that the Rowan House is having a fundraiser Tuesday, July 22, and all the tickets for the event, which will include playing card games and enjoying food at $15 a plate to raise money for the society, have already been sold.
O Announced poinsettias will be sold this year, probably beginning in September, but definite dates have not been set.
O Announced a chili cookout in October and a fashion show in the fall to raise money for the society.
O Welcomed one new supporting member to the society since its last meeting.
O Announced displays of Avon bottles and other collectibles are currently on display at the Bass House.
O Heard from Board of Directors Chairwoman Martha Smith that the budget is tight and a stop to all spending will be in effect until an emergency fund or more donations begin to ease the burden.
O Voted to create an emergency fund using five percent of any income to prepare for the next time money is short.
O Heard a report from Marie Cromer concerning landscaping and how the plan for landscaping near the depot would help during the Leeds Folkart Festival and John Henry Days.
O Heard information about a $5,000 grant from Jefferson County Commissioner Jim Carns that members applied for, and heard about a $2,000 grant that has been applied for to assist the society in managing the depot.
The Leeds Historical Society, a non-profit organization founded in 1998, meets the second Sunday of each month.
For more information about the Society, go to www.leedshistoricalsociety.org.
Jane Henry, the society’s public relations and publicity director, can be reached at jhenry534@alltel.net.
