#Bagpipe player gold software#

The band sports the FirefighterвЂ™s Memorial Tartan which has a red background and black, green, and gold threads.IвЂ™ve been searching for some decent software to print music and/or play it back. After that performance and some fund raising efforts, the band was able to purchase kilts made by USA Kilts at a price of nearly $500 per kilt. Members played in khaki shorts and black band t-shirts because they hadnвЂ™t been able to raise enough funds for a proper Scottish uniform or kilt.

In August of 2009, Meridian Firefighters Pipes and Drums performed (very nervously) at their first public showing at The Meridian Firefighters Salmon BBQ. In June of 2009, many of the instruments began to arrive, including 8 sets of personalized and custom McCallum Bagpipes from Glasgow, Scotland. With piping instruction from Pipe Major Ron Lopez, the band was not quite yet formed, but off to an amazing start. In October of 2008, then Firefighter Tony Chance arranged a piping school at Meridian Fire Department in conjunction with a local citizen band The Boise Highlanders. There are now more than 20 fire service bands in the Northwest (Idaho, Oregon, Washington, Canada) and 5 fire services pipes and drum bands in Idaho alone. Since the Septemattacks on the World Trade Center and the deaths of 343 FDNY firefighters, the tradition of bagpipes and honoring the fallen has swept the country.

The bagpipes have become a distinguishing feature of a fallen heroвЂ™s funeral. Today, the tradition is universal and not just for the Irish or Scottish. All members wear the kilt and tunic, whether it is a Scottish clan tartan or Irish single color kilt. Many bands wear traditional Scottish dress while others wear the simpler Irish uniform. They are also traditionally known as Emerald Societies after Ireland - the Emerald Isle. The bagpipes add a special air and dignity to this solemn occasion.Д«agpipe bands, represent both fire and police, often have more than 60 uniformed playing members. It wasnвЂ™t too long before families and friends of non-Irish firefighters began asking for the bagpipes to be played for fallen heroes. The most famous song played at fire and police funerals is Amazing Grace. Those who have attended a funeral where bagpipes were played know how haunting and mournful the sound of the pipes can be. It was somehow okay for a hardened firefighter to cry at the sound of bagpipes when his dignity would not let him weep for a fallen comrade. The Irish firefightersвЂ™ funerals were typical of all Irish funerals - the pipes were played. It was not an uncommon event to have several firefighters killed at a working fire. The only jobs they could get were the ones no one else wanted - jobs that were dirty, dangerous, or both - firefighters and police officers. Factories and shops had signs reading вЂњNINAвЂќ - No Irish Need Apply. In the 1800вЂ™s, Irish immigrants faced massive discrimination. It wasnвЂ™t until the great potato famine and massive Irish immigration to the East Coast of the United States that the tradition of the bagpipes really took hold in the fire department. One of these traditions was the Great Highland Bagpipe, often played at Celtic weddings, funerals and ceilis (dances). When the Irish and Scottish immigrated to America, they brought many of their traditions with them. The tradition of bagpipes played at fire department and police department funerals in the United States goes back over 150 years.

Bagpipe player gold