FSS Employee Says “It Takes a Lot of Wind”

For John Richard Young, a Wisconsin native living in Minot since 2012 who earned a Multimedia Studies Degree with a Minor in Music Performance at Minot State University, he took on the bagpipes some 5 years ago in 2018.

The road to playing bagpipes went directly through John’s Dad (John Bernard Young), who has been playing the bagpipes for 20 years. And that’s not all “Yeah, my younger brother has played the bagpipes longer than I have actually”, and in North Dakota it is certainly rare for 3 members of the same family to be bagpipe players. So, you have John Bernard who now lives in New Salem, John Richard from Minot and Daniel, who lives in Hazen, traveling to Bismarck to join the El Zagel Shriners in parades and other bagpipe friendly events. Call it dedication I guess.

As John explains it, playing the bagpipes is a bit different from his woodwind background. “When you play a clarinet, you blow directly through the reed.” But with a bagpipe you are “basically blowing through a straw into a big bag” explains Young “then squeezing the air out of the bag through 4 different reeds.” The most important would be the chanter reed and this is where the tune is created. The other 3 are “drone reeds, and they create the other undertones of the notes and pitches” continues Young.

What makes someone want to play bagpipes? Perhaps that is a question for John’s dad, because it is his influence that got both John and his brother (Daniel) started.

John, his Dad and his brother all play bagpipes in the Bismarck based El Zagal Shrine Oilers Fez & Thistle band. Although John lives in Minot where he works for the 5 FSS on Minot AFB as an Office Automation Assistant – Marketing Coordinator, he will make numerous trips to Bismarck to play with the El Zagal group. Besides those appearances, John will be asked to play at various other events such as celebrations and funerals “about once a month.” On top of that, John says that he practices about 20 hours per month to maintain his craft. “It takes a lot of breath to play bagpipes, and I find myself getting worn out and running out of breath when I play for long periods of time”.

This summer John accepted an invitation to play at the MSA (Midwest Shrine Association) convention held last week in La Crosse, Wisconsin. There were 3 other Shrine Bagpipers that joined with John to participate in the daily parades that are common to Shrine events. John’s wife Monica, who originally is from Minot (maiden name Haarstad) tagged along with John.

So were the other players good? “I would say that they have been playing much longer than I have and are more professional in how they play” explains John, but he still describes the event as a lot of fun and worth attending.
Another invitation was extended to John, his Dad, and his brother to play at an upcoming Brass Band of Minot concert on November 17th at Ann Nicole Nelson hall on the campus of Minot State University. “The Brass Band and the bagpipes will join for a couple of familiar tunes including Scotland the Brave” says Brass Band Conductor Wayne Schempp “and how can you have brass and bagpipes without playing Amazing Grace?” Last summer John performed with the City Band of Minot at the Arts in the Park presentation in Downtown Minot.

A familiar quote found in bagpipe circles is “you either love ‘em, or you can’t stand the sound of them. But bagpipers really don’t care. They play on….”