Highland Pipe Bands in Canada

Historical Background

The first Scottish regiments to see service in Canada (mainly in Quebec and Nova Scotia) were Montgomery's Highlanders (1759), the 42nd Highlanders (1759), and the Fraser Highlanders (1761). This was before the days of pipe bands in the modern sense, but the Fraser Highlanders at least had 30 pipers and drummers. (This musical unit was revived in 1967 for the Canadian centennial.) In the later 18th century, Highland regiments began to be raised in Canada itself, the earliest being the Royal Highland Emigrants (1775; later called the 84th Highlanders) and the Argyle, or 74th, Highlanders (1778). These, together with the Highland companies of various Canadian regiments and Highland regiments from Scotland stationed in Canada, helped to keep bagpipe playing alive, as they did in Scotland itself, at a time when private playing and the wearing of the kilt were proscribed.

Most Canadian Highland regiments were volunteer reserve units (militia), of which the oldest (5th Highland Regiment of Hamilton) was founded in 1816. Of these, the most influential musically came to be the 48th Highlanders of Canada, founded in 1891. Other prominent military pipe bands in Canada in the late 19th and 20th centuries have been those of the Seaforth Highlanders (Vancouver), the Canadian Scottish Regiment (Victoria), the Canadian Black Watch (Gagetown, NB, a regular unit), the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Hamilton, Ont), the Calgary Highlanders, the Highland Light Infantry (Galt, Ontario), the Cameron Highlanders (Ottawa), and the Black Watch Royal Highlands Regiment (Montreal). Many other reserve units have had or still have pipe bands. In 1916, piper James Richardson, of the Canadian Scottish (16th Battalion Canadian Expeditionary Force), was awarded the Victoria Cross posthumously for his gallantry at Regina Trench.

Modern History

The pipe band scene in Canada was transformed by the gradual introduction of civilian bands. Among the early bands still active are the Ingersoll (Ontario) Pipe Band (founded 1910) and the Society of St. Andrew Pipe Band (Fredericton, NB, founded 1927). After the 1950s, as these bands proliferated, particularly in British Columbia, Ontario, and the Maritimes, standards of playing improved dramatically. There were also new developments in drumming, in which George Pryde (Pipes and Drums of Powell River, BC) and John Kirkwood Sr. (d 1972; Clan MacFarlane Pipe Band, St. Catharines, Ontario) played an important part and influenced bands throughout the world.

The City of Toronto Pipe Band (founded 1950) and Clan MacFarlane (founded 1958) dominated Canadian competitions during the 1960s and early 1970s (The City of Toronto Pipe Band was, in 1966, the first Canadian band to win a prize at the World Pipe Band Championship at Inverness, Scotland), but their supremacy has been challenged increasingly. The leading civilian bands in the 1970s in Ontario were Macnish Distillery (formerly St Thomas Police Band or St. Thomas Legion Band, known however as “The St. Thomas,” founded there 1921), Clan MacFarlane, Guelph, Windsor, Erskine (Hamilton), Toronto and District Caledonia Society, and General Motors (Oshawa).

In British Columbia, leading bands are Triumph Street (Vancouver, founded 1971) and the City of Victoria (founded 1972). The formation of civilian competition bands also opened up an opportunity for women to join pipe bands and also to form all-women bands, including the Calgary Girls' Pipe Band (founded 1931), the Georgetown (Ont) Girls' Pipe Band, the Vancouver Ladies Pipe Band and the Fraser Holmes Memorial Pipe Band (Pictou, NS).

Competitions

For competition, pipe bands are classified by the provincial pipe band societies into grades 1–4. Grade 1 (highest proficiency) bands have included all those mentioned in the previous paragraph, the Simon Fraser Pipe Band and the 78th Fraser Highlanders (Toronto, world champions in 1987). Most of these bands are heard by the general public only in the competitions at annual Highland Games, of which there are many in each province.

Canadian bands also compete at games in Scotland and the USA. Some of the Canadian Highland Games are quite old; but the most important annual pipe band competitions have been established in Ontario, at Maxville (the largest in North America), Ottawa, and Toronto. The last-mentioned was begun 1972 as part of the Scottish World Festival at the CNE, and many of the best bands in Scotland have flown over for it. On these occasions the international panel of judges several times has placed Canadian bands in the prize list, and in 1976 the Grade 1 competition was won by Guelph Pipe Band. This band, the City of Toronto Pipe Band and Na Cáberfeidh (Toronto) no longer existed in 1990. Nevertheless, Grade 1 Canadian bands at that time outnumbered those in Scotland and, as the results of international competitions attest, were, after 1980, on a level with Scotland's best.

See also Great Highland Bagpipe; Scottish Music in Canada; Canadian Grenadier Guards Band; Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry Band; Royal 22nd Regiment Band; Armed Forces Bands in Canada; Police Bands in Canada.

Discography

• Clan MacFarlane Pipe Band, vol 1. World Records WRC-192
• Guelph Pipe Band. Pipe-Major E.D. Neigh, Drum-Sergt Larry Willis. 1978. Mercey Brothers MBS-0046
• Macnish Distillery Pipe Band Vol 3. World WRC4-3956 (cass)
• The Pipes and Drums of Powell River. Aragon ALP-125
• The Pipes O' The Cape Breton Scot. The MacDougall Girls Pipe Band. 1958. Rodeo RLP-26
• Play the Sweet Music: City of Victoria Pipe Band. Iona 77-018
• Reflections. Toronto and District Caledonia Pipe Band. World WRC4-6521 (cass)
• The Sounds of Macnish Distillery Pipe Band. World Records WRC-210
• The Triumph Street Pipe Band. Ensemble Productions EPN-228
• Vancouver Ladies' Pipe Band. Ara-Mac Records AML-2