Dedicated to the Pipes: Introducing Amber Blair A young Scottish-American woman discovers her musical heritage By Scott Williams Amber Blair of Greensburg, Pennsylvania is one of a number of fine young bagpipers who are currently making their names as serious musicians in the Eastern United States and internationally. Amber’s interest in piping came from her grandfather, Ross. “He visited Scotland when I was three,” she explains, “and returned to tell me fascinating stories of castles and dancers and bagpipes. He was very proud of our Scottish heritage. My sister and I started Highland dancing together when we were 9 and 11, but Lindy developed stress fractures that forced her to quit dancing and I discovered that I was more interested in bagpipes. I got a practice chanter for my 13th birthday and my first set of bagpipes a few months later. “My first formal lessons were with Jimmy McIntosh when I was 14. We first met at McHenry, Maryland, where I was competing on my practice chanter. A few weeks later, I attended my first Balmoral School in Greensburg where I had lessons with Jimmy and Adrian Melvin. I began taking regular lessons with Jimmy in September of 2000. I attended the Balmoral School in Greensburg for several years, receiving additional instruction from Mike Cusack and Norman Gillies. In 2004 I attended the Piping Center USA Summer School in Virginia where I had the opportunity to study with Roddy MacLeod, Gavin Stoddard and Chris Armstrong. I also attended the Invermark School in Vermont that summer and studied with Donald Lindsay and Jack Lee.” ______________________ “I got a practice chanter for my 13th birthday and my first set of bagpipes a few months later.” ______________________ Amber is currently in her third year in the honours program at Seton Hill University majoring in Music Therapy with voice as her major instrument. “I hope to have a second major in Voice Performance and I will be auditioning during the current semester for that opportunity. I study voice, piano, and guitar at Seton Hill and piping at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. My future plans are to get my Masters degree in Music Therapy and then to work with seriously ill and special needs children. I am currently learning American Sign Language and hope to begin Braille in the near future.” Amber was one of the original members of the Balmoral Highlanders Pipe Band (Grade 4) in Pittsburgh and played with the band until 2004. “It gave me a good basic understanding of how pipe bands operate,” she says. “In early June of 2004 I joined the Oran Mor Pipe Band as they were preparing to compete at the World Pipe Band Championships for the first time. It was a big challenge for me to learn all of the music, work with harder reeds, and get everything up to the band’s high standard. The most memorable experiences for me with Oran Mor are our two trips to the World Pipe Band Championships in Scotland and the weekend-long practices in ‘Lindsayland’ (Donald Lindsay’s house). It is inspiring to work with such a talented group of musicians. In the spring of 2005 I began piping with the Carnegie Mellon Pipe Band under Alasdair Gillies. Working with Carnegie Mellon keeps me in practice.” Amber began competing in Eastern United States Pipe Band Association-sanctioned competitions in 2001 as a Grade 3 piper, skipping Grade 4. In 2002, she finished the season in first place overall in Grade 3. The following year, she skipped past Grade 2 and entered competition in Grade 1 where she finished fist in the overall standings and first in piobaireachd (classical bagpipe music). In 2004, she was third overall in piobaireachd, and as the 2005 season drew to a close she found herself once again in first place in both the overall and piobaireachd categories. In 2001 and again in 2002, Amber was awarded a Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Apprenticeship grant to study with Jimmy McIntosh. The award paid for her lessons and part of her travel expenses for two years. “Applying for the grant involved answering essay-type questions about my goals,” Amber explains. “I had to tell about my interest in piping, my interest in my Scottish heritage, Jimmy’s credentials as a master piper, and so forth. I also had to submit a recording of my piping. The apprenticeship grant was awarded through the Pennsylvania Institute for Cultural Partnerships.” Her list of solo awards is very impressive. In addition to those awards already mentioned, in 2003 she was the Gilchrist Challenge winner and placed fifth in piobaireachd at the Nicol-Brown Invitational, where she also shared the Dress and Deportment Award. In 2004 she placed third in the Sandy Jones Invitational and third overall and third in the piobaireachd at the United States Piping Foundation Amateur Championships. In 2005 she placed first overall and first in the piobaireachd at the same event as well as sixth place in the piobaireachd at the Nicol-Brown. She placed first as well in the Metro Cup Amateur Piobaireachd and won numerous “Piper of the Day” awards at various games across the region. ______________________ Amber, like other young pipers, is frequently called upon to perform at functions. ______________________ Amber’s love of competitive piping also took her to Scotland. “I competed in the MacGregor Memorial Piobaireachd Competition in Oban in 2003, 2004, and 2005,” Amber continues. “Unfortunately I have not placed yet, but the MacGregor has been a wonderful experience. Each time I go, I learn more. It has given me the opportunity to meet so many people from the worldwide piping community and make so many friends. This is the only competition I have entered in Scotland, but I am planning to spend more time competing there in 2006. My first trip to the MacGregor was memorable because it was also my first trip to Scotland. My mom and I spent ten days there visiting Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Oban. It was like a dream for me to be there and to compete. Scotland is so beautiful, and there was so much history and tradition to absorb.” Amber, like other young pipers, is frequently called upon to perform at functions. “I’ve played at Burn’s dinners, at Pittsburgh’s annual Tartan Day Celebration, at the St. Andrew’s Society of Pittsburgh’s annual dinner, at several local heritage and cultural festivals and talent shows, at my high school graduation, at church services, the National Day of Prayer, Pittsburgh’s First Night celebration, weddings, funerals, a school memorial service at the Flight 93 Memorial (9/11), which is about an hour from my home, and numerous Pittsburgh area parades as well as parades in New York City with the Oran Mor Pipe Band. We also played at Piping Live concert in George’s Square, Glasgow during World’s Week.” She admits that “my piping experiences have been mostly positive ones. I don’t have much experience on the international scene yet and I have much to learn in that area, but my piping has led me to have a unique group of friends, guys and girls, young people and adults, from all corners of the United States as well as Canada, Ireland and Scotland. The people that you meet are the real prizes you win in piping; it’s the part that matters most to me. I know many of these people will be my friends for life.” This article first appeared in Celtic Heritage at www.celticheritage.ns.ca. Scott Williams is a bagpiper but also a schoolteacher, writer, children's author, solo piping and pipe band adjudicator, and composer of bagpipe music. He was born and raised in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada where he was totally immersed in the Highland culture of the region's Scottish immigrant population. As a small child, he was drawn to the music of the bagpipes and, more than half a century later, it is still one of the most significant influences on his busy life. This website: Copyright © 2006 Dream World Media, LLC. / Urban Mozaik Magazine. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed in Urban Mozaik Magazine are not necessarily those of Urban Mozaik Magazine and the publisher cannot be held responsible for them. This website/publication, in whole or in part, may not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher.