In the final ever edition of the Piping Today magazine published in May 2020, a wide range of people were asked to give their 2020 vision for piping going forward. They were all sent a list of questions and asked to choose one to answer in no more than 200 words.
The questions prompted a wide range of interesting and entertaining answers, and we will share them on bagpipe.news over the rest of this year. To give the writers a chance to update their thoughts, we have asked them to write us a short and snappy postcard from 2022, letting us know their plans for this year now that piping is opening up again and life getting back to some normality.
Keith Bowes Jnr’s 2020 Vision
With so much teaching going on in schools, I would love to encourage all pipers to make sure they put something back into piping once they leave school.
Attend and support your local RSPBA branch meetings and competitions. Take up membership with organisations such as the Scottish Pipers Association or Eagle Pipers. Build your own collection of music books. Spend a summer going round the Highland Games. Attend concerts, recitals and seminars. Teach. Contribute to the world of piping and do things for the greater good. Carry on traditions and create new ones too. Enjoy all aspects of the art and make sure to pass on as much knowledge to the next generation as you possibly can.
Keith’s postcard from 2022
I am writing my postcard to you from Cambrai, France where I am currently on a tour of 1st World War cemeteries and battlefields. Today we visited a Skye man, Donald MacDonald, who died aged 31. As I turn 33 this week, I find is hard to comprehend why these men lost their lives so young.
Later in the week I hope to play a tune by the graveside of my Great Uncle, Donald Brown, from Islay. A huge honour we have as pipers to lay down a mark of respect, to remember, and be grateful that they gave up everything to allow us the freedoms we have today.
Sometimes we take our piping so seriously. This week reminds me to take more positives from our piping scene and to try and enjoy the moment that little bit more. I look forward to a summer full of good music and fun.
Keith Bowe’s Jnr
