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Multnomah student pursues a wee bit-o-bagpiping

He wore a buttoned-up, green and blue plaid shirt. He approached the Bradley practice rooms with a sagging duffle bag and a smile. Inside one of the rooms, he emptied the contents of his bag, assembled the pieces, and became a lively Scottish bagpiper.

John Smithies, a senior at Multnomah Bible College, said he began learning how to play the bagpipes two years ago on a chanter. A chanter is a long, thin, wooden instrument used by many bagpipers before they attempt to play the real thing. "It isn't difficult to blow," Smithies said. "You just have to be conscious of the fingering." Smithies started playing the actual bagpipes last semester.

Now the instrument was silent. Smithies blew into the mouthpiece, slowly filling the limp bag cradled in his left arm. The three drones (jointed pipes that provide the constant background tones to bagpipe tunes) leaned against his shoulder and arm. As the bag filled with air, the staggered drones rose to attention. When the bag reached optimum fullness, he quickly punched it with his left elbow and the drones kicked in.

Smithies said he always wanted to play the bagpipes. "If you want to do something, you should do it," he said. "I didn't want to be 60, looking back over my life and saying, 'I wish I'd done that.'" Smithies' wife, Susan, said there is more to her husband's desire to play; his mother researched the family's Scottish ancestry. "It's not just a cool instrument. It's part of who we are," Smithies said.

The bagpipes are a physical instrument, Smithies said. With his left arm, he pushed the air from the bag through the drones. Then he breathed a lung-full of air back into the leather bag. The sack filled. The cycle continued. He held the bagpipe's chanter in both hands; his fingers lay stiffly across the eight holes. The undeniable, stark sound of a Scottish tune poured out. "It takes everything you've got to keep them going," he said.

There are different styles of bagpipe music, such as traditional and pibroch, Smithies said. He said he prefers pibroch--a slow, passionate, classical style--and his goal is to play that form eventually.

Mrs. Smithies said he would like to have private lessons. At this point, Smithies practices on his own for an hour every weekday. Smithies said he wants to join a pipe band someday. He has never worn a kilt, but a pipe band would supply one, he said.

Smithies said he appreciates the positive comments from students; he had expected negative reactions. His music carries over much of Mult-nomah's campus if the wind is right. Suddenly, the tune ended. Smithies quit feeding air into the bag, the drones faltered, and the instrument lay limply in his arms once again.