It was at a Christmas Eve service six years ago that a 7-year-old Matt O’Brien first became enthralled with the bagpipes. The distinctive sound grabbed his attention and didn’t let go.
“They sounded very cool, with a sort of eeriness I really liked,” said O'Brien, now a 13-year-old seventh grader at Dickerson Middle School. “They weren’t like anything I’d ever heard before.”
At the time, O’Brien was looking for an instrument to learn, and he immediately began pestering his parents for pipes.
“But we were told he really needed to be 10 years old to play,” recalled his mom Lynne O’Brien. "You have to have the lung strength to blow and the upper arm strength to pump the bag, so it’s usually something you study when you’re a little bit older.” “
But Matt O’Brien wasn’t deterred. He took up the chanter, the flute-like part of the pipes that involves intricate fingering to find the notes, and as soon as he was old enough, he began bagpipe lessons. He stuck with the weekly classes and also attended a bagpipe camp last summer.
After realizing that their son wasn’t going to give up the pipes, O’Brien’s parents ordered his first set from a company in Scotland last fall. Three weeks ago, the pipes finally arrived, and O’Brien showed them off during his first public performance on March 6, in a concert that packed the sanctuary at St. James Episcopal Church in Marietta.
“Remembering the music wasn’t the hard part,” said O’Brien, who played songs from memory. “The hardest part was trying not to laugh; it was so weird having all these people staring at me.”
Hitting the right notes is a small part of playing the pipes; it’s a concerted effort that involves breathing, fingering, squeezing and supporting the instrument.
“It doesn’t matter how much strength or wind you have; without the coordination, you can’t play,” said O’Brien. “Getting started is often the hardest part; you have to breathe into them keep the bag full while squeezing it. And they’re actually not too heavy, but the long pipe often throws them off balance.”
Along with the debut of his bagpipes, the concert marked the first time O’Brien wore a kilt. Since his family's heritage hails from Ireland, he sported the Irish National Tartan, a blend of dark olive green with black, yellow and white stripes.
“I only had it for about three days before the concert, and I didn’t know how to wear it,” O’Brien said with a laugh. “I actually had it on backwards the first time I put it on. You don’t necessarily have to be Scottish to play the bagpipes, but the dress is traditional.”
O’Brien often adds another accessory to his Scottish ensemble: a set of earplugs. Since the pipes are loud and meant to be played outdoors, it’s not unusual for even the musicians to stop up their ears while playing.
“You can really screw up your hearing if you don’t!” said O’Brien.
Lynne O’Brien said her family didn’t mind investing the $1,600 in her son’s set of bagpipes, since it’s clear that the enchantment isn’t wearing off.
“He’s really stuck with it,” she said. “I don’t think anyone would take up the bagpipes unless you really like them; they’re almost impossible to play.”
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