The EUSPBA Circle of Honor
The Eastern United States Pipe Band Association Circle of Honor was created in order to focus particular attention on a select group of individuals chosen by the Executive Committee.
These special persons, whether now living or dead, represent the highest ideals of our association as demonstrated by their service and commitment, which extends far beyond that expected in a volunteer-based organization.
It is with great pride in their accomplishments, with esteem, and affection that they are presented and remembered in this fashion.
2011 Inductees
By Nathaniel Green
When
your band is shuffling on nervous feet in the on-deck circle before a
competition, or when you’re taking deep breaths as you walk to the
judge’s table to present your tunes in a solo event, it may be helpful
to remember one thing: if it’s Sandy Jones sitting on the far side, he
feels that most pipers today are a lot better than they were twenty
years ago.
So you’re already starting on a positive note with at least one
judge. And with more than fifty years of piping experience with some of
the top players in the world, Sandy Jones should know good piping.
He began piping under the tutelage of George Mars in Victoria,
British Columbia at the age of eight. He played through high school in
competition bands and solo events on the west coast and in Canada,
including having the opportunity to play with three people who’d studied
at the Pipe Major Course in Edinburgh with Willie Ross, including Angus
Scott and Alec Oliphant.
After high school, Jones joined the Air Force and went straight to the
Air Force Pipe Band in Washington, DC (which requires top-secret
clearance). Then, he “played bagpipes the next 20 years for a living.”
The Air Force Pipe Band, which has since been dissolved, primarily
served to support Air Force bases through public relations work (perform
concerts to draw positive attention to the base and the Air Force in
general). The band, based out of Washington, DC, would also play
frequent concerts locally and for foreign and domestic dignitaries,
including the president.
“We used to play when we were in town at the Capitol steps every
Tuesday, and on Friday nights we used to play at the Watergate concerts
near the Lincoln Memorial,” says Jones. “When I first went in, the Air
Force band was part of the Drum and Bugle Corps, but we got so busy they
ended up separating us and making a separate unit of it. We were the
band that played at the gravesite for President Kennedy.”
And the band wasn’t limited to domestic performances. Its members
traveled internationally, including high-profile events like playing for
the independence of Jamaica from the UK in 1962. “I toured the Far East,
and a lot of the islands on the way,” says Jones. “We used to do
European tours for about a month at a time. Concerts in all the major
cities in Europe. We played in Scotland, England, all over Germany,
Holland, Luxembourg, Sweden … all those in one trip.”
As much as the Air Force Pipe Band was meant as an ambassador to
develop goodwill toward the United States, they may well have developed
goodwill for the instrument, as well. When asked about the reception of
the highland pipes in mainland Europe, Jones says, “They really enjoyed
the pipes. When we came back off those trips, I’d end up corresponding
with people who were interested in learning how to play and I’d try to
put them in touch with somebody.”
Not only did Jones help connect would-be players with instructors in
Europe, but he also found some inspiration of his own there. It was with
the band on a trip to Scotland where Jones first met John MacFadyen,
with whom he’d develop a long friendship. “The last year [the band was]
together, we asked him to come over and we took lessons from him as a
bunch of us wanted to teach piobaireachd.”
Though the band was later dissolved as the armed forces cut spending,
much of their influence in the area remains—though officially Air Force
pipers weren’t supposed to play off-base without permission. Jones and
other Air Force pipers tutored local bands, including the Annapolis Pipe
Band, which has produced a number of notable players. Also, “Just before
we got out of the Air Force, we started a band in Washington … a lot of
them were Air Force pipers and we weren’t really supposed to be doing
it. It was the Denny and Dunipace Pipe Band, which is now City of
Washington.”
Since leaving the service, Jones has shifted his role from performer
to teacher. “I retired from the Air Force in 1978, and just about that
time I got a phone call from The Citadel in Charleston, SC. They wanted
to know if I’d be interested in an opening from the fellow down there
about to retire. I put my name in the pot and I ended up with that
position. I taught pipes down at The Citadel [Military College of South
Carolina] for twenty-five years.”
And The Citadel weren’t the only ones seeking out Sandy Jones for
help. Says Jones, “I got a call from Agnes MacRae Morton, founder of the
Grandfather Mountain Games. She wanted to know if I’d be interested in
being director of piping and drumming for the games. I went down and
talked to them about it and took it over.”
As Jones took leadership of the games, he also examined outside ways
to help promote them, and decided to enlist one of the premier players
he’d met on his travels. “I thought one of the things that would
certainly help would be a piping and drumming school. I had John
MacFadyen come over and judge the first year I was responsible for [the
games]. We talked about it, and that’s how the piping school began.”
Now, after co-founding the North Academy of Piping and Drumming, it
is celebrating its 41st year and draws hundreds of students from across
the country with some of the premier players as instructors. Jones has
also written his own bagpipe tutor, Beginning the Bagpipe, and continues
to offer lessons from his home and workshops for bands, as well as
judging at highland games and playing recitals.
As if his time since retiring from the Air Force weren’t filled
enough, Jones has been called upon again as part of a reunion with that
band. Many of the pipers reunited in 2002 to play a ceremony celebrating
the 40th anniversary of Dulles Airport, and another reunion for the 50th
anniversary this November seems likely. (The Air Force Pipe Band played
at the airport’s dedication by President Kennedy in 1962.)
While the Air Force doesn’t maintain a full-time pipe band anymore
and only reunites the members on rare occasions, the Air Force Reserve
does still maintain a band. And when they were tasked with making a
recording, it seemed only natural that they invite Jones’ group to help
with it.
“When we got together to do that recording [with the Reserve band],
it had been a minimum of thirty years since any of us played together.
We got a lot of the guys together, too. It was a lot of fun. It didn’t
sound bad … but it sounded like we hadn’t played together for thirty
years.”
As a full-time judge and teacher, Jones sees more bagpiping than
most, and he notes that the standard of playing has risen over his
years. Partly, he says, this is due to the availability and emphasis on
good teaching from the start. Also, changes in the instrument itself
have made it possible for better piping.
“Part of being a good piper was knowing when not to play your
bagpipe,” he says. “When I was in the Air Force, people on the other
instruments, string players and so forth, could play hours and hours a
day. With our instrument, you couldn’t do that. So we’d have to do most
of our practicing on the practice chanter. And there’s a difference in
playing the practice chanter and the bagpipe.
“Today, with the water control systems and synthetic reeds, people
can play for hours a day and it’s obvious in their playing. I’m real
tickled with the standard of play today.”
Of course, there’s always room for improvement, and Jones offers up a
caution of diving into tunes that may be too far above your ability
without devoting enough time to basics and easier tunes: “I think a lot
of the younger players hear the older and the really good players play
the hornpipes and jigs, and they try to get into some of that too soon.
They could work a little harder on the MSRs and their big tunes,
especially if they’re going to compete.”
If there’s one more piece of advice we can take from Sandy Jones,
it’s to surround yourself with the best musicians you can find. “The
caliber of the pipers and drummers that were in the Air Force … helped
me develop my piping because I was surrounded by such talent. I owe much
of my success to being surrounded by such good players.”