Excited chatter roars from the stands. The smell of pretzels waft through the seats and in the distance a slight hum of the melody and accompanying overtones begin to grow. Heads turn to the field as the bagpipe band marches stoically and in unison to the beat of the drum sergeant. The pipes’ bright tone fills the atmosphere.

For Helix Charter High School students, this is just another Friday night under the lights, but the tradition of the bagpipes goes back way before the flood lights ever shone on star-studded football players like Reggie Bush and Alex Smith.

For Winter Sitz, a senior student and pipe major of the bagpipes band, getting to perform on the field, like football, is an essential facet that helped her establish community at Helix.

“That’s like, really where I fell in love with bagpipes,” Sitz said. “It’s just like the thrill of performing and, you know, getting to know the ins and outs of the instrument and the culture of being in a band.”

Helix’s bagpipes teacher, Travis Neal, said the program was started soon after the school was founded in the 50s-60s, and the tradition of the bagpipes has become an integral part of recruiting students to the school. Helix operates under a lottery system; approximately 650 freshmen out of the lot that apply are accepted. Neal said roughly 1,000 students apply every year. Joining the bagpipes program is one way to increase the odds of acceptance.

“We do give a preference to those who want to participate because it’s such a unique program to our school,” Neal said. “I don’t know the exact numbers for those who apply through the bagpipe pipeline, no pun intended. I do know it is like a pretty serious selection though. We only have 10 to 15 spots typically every year for new freshmen.”

Sitz joined the bagpipe “pipeline” to increase her chances of being accepted to Helix when she applied from out of district, but the instrument has become much more to her during her almost four years at Helix.

“There’s so much stuff that you have to learn before just being able to go grab a set of bagpipes and play them, which is interesting,” Sitz said. “It’s really challenging, but it’s also so fun to be able to play it, and people around you always want to ask questions about it. I love being able to talk about it. It’s really fun. I became very passionate about it over the last four years.”

Likewise, Ella Smith, a junior student and the pipe sergeant, said she’s enjoyed the opportunities to try something new and make friends.

“I thought it would just be like a good way to get into something new and also maybe like build a little bit of community because I was looking for something like that as well,” Smith said. “It’s just [been] a really fun experience.”

New opportunities for growth

This year, the program is navigating new opportunities for growth now that their instructor is in a full-time credentialed position.

In previous years, the program was spearheaded by instructors who worked part time with students. Neal was in the bagpipes program when he attended Helix; once he got his teaching credential, he said he was excited to see this program hire a full-time faculty member.

“There’s going to be a big change with this program because of my new position in a way. And the main thing is since I’m a credential teacher on campus, I’m here every day I teach other classes. I’m involved with other teachers more so than any previous [bagpipes] instructor, in my opinion,” Neal said. “It’s been a change that is super unique to this time, but I think is gonna be super beneficial for the band going forward.”

This year the bagpipes program is hoping to expand their avenues of outreach to performances at basketball games and more competitions and gigs, according to Neal. Neal also said he’s hoping to do a mini Highland Games at Helix.

These proposed changes are exciting for students like Guillermo Alfaro, a senior student and the drum sergeant, who stuck with the bagpipes program through the global pandemic. He said now that things are back in person, the journey was worth it.

“It was initially difficult actually over Zoom; I learned [the chanter] on the wrong hand. I did learn the songs, but when I got back into the actual swing of things and [in] person, that kind of thing, I had to completely relearn how I did it,” Alfaro said. “It’s a long journey, and it just requires lots of heart and effort. It’s not that you really have to love it, it’s something that you start to get to enjoy, and you want to do it more.”

Teaching students the history and cultural significance of instrument

One of the things Neal said he is intentionally trying to do, in addition to building community, is teaching the students the history and cultural significance of this instrument.

“I tell students, especially like the new students coming in, this is an instrument that is so embedded into Scottish culture that you can’t take it out,” Neal said. “As much as you want to play this instrument individually of Scottish culture, it’s so ingrained so there’s different aspects to it. First off is the music will tend to be in reference to a lot of Scottish or Irish or Celtic things, such as [the] Bluebells of Scotland, the Green Hills of Tyrol, Highland Laddie, things like that.

And then, a lot of the music and some of the terminology in the music is actually derived out of Scottish Gaelic.”

There are two sections of bagpipes: new students/freshmen students entering the beginning bagpipe program and the advanced band. The beginning course gives students the space to become familiar with the instrument and reading music.

“I didn’t really know music as well as I do now, especially this year,” Dalise Jartu, a sophomore in the advanced band, said. “But it was just something that I became passionate about, actually, throughout like the end of my freshman year.”

Jartu said the group work has allowed her to experience community and teamwork.

“When I joined the advanced pipe group, that’s when I really saw how we work together. And there’s like a lot of people in the band, so that was a good community, and it’s good for us to be with them,” Jartu said. “I feel really close with people that are in my bagpipe group right now.”

The advanced band is for students who will actually participate in the band at performances. Neal said there are usually about 20 students in the advance band. A typical class period includes chanter work, a practice version for the instrument where students can play indoors and focus on learning the music. And then, they usually bring out the full bagpipes, take them outside and either play individually or work on getting ready for football games.

Looking forward to what’s ahead for the group, students like Smith are excited to see how Neal will lead the band this year.

“Because he’s been able to have this opportunity, [he’s] definitely, like, putting more of himself into this one project, and it’s really positive. I’m really excited for where it’ll go,” Smith said.

The bagpipes band will be performing at football games, and they have two competition events tentatively scheduled for the spring.

To learn more, visit: helixinstrumental.org/pages/calendar.

Photo credits: Manorack Sukhaseum