Chester County Edition
March 2015
Vol. 12 No. 3
Highland Harmonies Bagpipe Player, Teacher Took Up Instrument at 56 By Chelsea Peifer For a lot of people who play the bagpipes, the instrument is in their blood. Ken Campbell can trace his lineage back to his ancestors who lived in Scotland in 1612, but as far as he knows he is the only piper that ever existed in the clan. “You don’t have to be Scottish to play the pipes. It was a sound that I always appreciated, but I never got involved with it until later in life,” said Campbell, who took his first lesson when he was 56. One weekend his wife suggested they check out the Celtic Fling at the Pennsylvania Renaissance Faire. He was captivated by the bagpipe band competition and told his wife on the way home that he was going to learn to play. “And that was that,” said Campbell, who is now 69. He took his first lesson through Ceòl Nèamh Pipe Band. The group consists of approximately 20 pipers and 10 drummers, and their name translates to “music from heaven” from Scots Gaelic. He took weekly group lessons, where he started on a practice chanter. Playing the practice chanter for one full year prepares the musician to then transfer to playing the full pipes. He took a few private lessons as well. please see HARMONIES page 11
Bagpiper Ken Campbell took up the “brash” instrument at age 56. He now teaches and performs locally and played for a Scottish duke while touring Scotland.
Inside:
Dawn Wells Shares Mary Ann’s Lessons for Life page 6
Screening Colonoscopies Now Covered by Medicare page 8