Interviews

The final part of our May 1993 discussion with the late forthright, erudite and musically courageous piper. If you can only read one thing this year, make it this, perhaps the most outspoken and frank full-length interview of the nearly 100 we’ve done so far.

How does a blond, blue-eyed, 6’1″ teenage surfer f …

We revisit our 10,000-word discussion from three decades back

In the final part, Hutcheon discusses her work as piping teacher at Craigmount High School in Edinburgh and, later, Strathallan School in Perthshire. A detailed overview of judging and her techniques is included, as well as her prodigious work with the RSPBA and volunteer contributions to Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh.

Within six months of launching Broadleys Bagpipes & Reeds, Broadleys cracked the Grade 1 band market with six-time World Pipe Band Champions Simon Fraser University playing their pipe chanters.

In Part 4, Hutcheon goes back to discuss her earliest days with Polkemmet Colliery under Pipe-Major Johnny Barnes and Pipe-Major Robert Mathieson in the 1980s, followed by one year (1987) under the legendary Ronnie Lawrie, and in 1988 as pipe-sergeant with Pipe-Major Davey Barnes. Polkemmet would win major championships and come second in the World’s before Hutcheon departed for, once again, Shotts & Dykehead, now led by Mathieson and Lead-Drummer Jim Kilpatrick.

In Part 3, she discusses the move to Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia under Pipe-Major Tom McAllister and Leading-Drummer Alex Duthart, more challenges as being one of only two female Grade 1 band players.

“I think band members should be allowed to provide intelligent input on who judges. We should ask the bands what their thoughts are.”

“If an adjudicator gives a prize to a drum corps that is flying off at a tangent and producing all kinds of riproaring feats of percussional dexterity, and the pipe corps just happens to be there, well, they shouldn’t be getting the drumming prize.”

We continue with Part 2 of Jennifer Hutcheon: the pipes|drums Interview. Among many other topics, she discusses being the first female to compete with a Grade 1 band when she joined Red Hackle under Pipe-Major John Weatherston and Lead-Drummer Wilson Young. The band was on the cusp of winning the World Championship, and in 1972 gained the then Scottish Pipe Band Association’s Grade 1 Champion of Champion title.

She truly broke the Grade 1 glass ceiling for females more than a half-century ago and now sits down for an exclusive five-part discussion about her story of perseverance, determination and a refusal to accept anything but success.

We continue with the second part of the pipes|drums Reunion Interview with five Grade 1 Polkemmet Pipe Band members of the 1980s. This era of the now-defunct but historically significant band made a mark in only a few years. With the first-time leadership of Pipe-Major Robert Mathieson and Leading-Drummer Jim Kilpatrick, Polkemmet emerged as a driving creative force on the UK scene, which was then dominated by the seemingly unbeatable Strathclyde Police.

We get together with former members Brian Lamond, Davey McRobert, Ian Morris and Gordon Stafford to talk about a historically significant band that, at the time, won competitions, made musical waves and did things differently, all while having a whole lot of fun.

We bring pipes|drums readers our exclusive 8,500-word March 2004 conversation with the late great Captain.

We conclude the exclusive pipes|drums Interview with Mike Cusack, the greatest competitive piper in American history. In this final installment, Mike Cusack looks at judging, teaching, and what the future might bring for the history-making piper.