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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Beating Their Own Drums Scottish Percussionists Use Pointed Humor To Deflate Bagpipers During North Idaho College Program

Of the 90 students at the annual Piping and Drumming School here, only 15 are drummers.

But what they lack in numbers they make up for in confidence. Or is that humor?

They love to take jabs at the bagpipers.

“The musicians show up, and then the pipers come,” said Ron Groff with a bearded grin.

He and his wife, Bonnie, came from Hawaii for a week to learn how to be better bass drummers. They consider themselves beginners, having been at this rum-pa-pum business for only three years.

Bonnie Groff is inspired by the talent of teacher Mike Fisher.

“You could take him down to the morgue and the cadavers would get up and dance,” she said.

Fisher laughed at the compliment as he lounged in a North Idaho College dorm with his students. He’s 40. They’ve all put a few decades behind them. But age has nothing to do with interest in drumming, he said.

“I’ve had kids as young as 5 and as old as 75,” he said.

Fisher lives in Vancouver, British Columbia. He was infected with drumming fever early on.

“I was a little kid watching the drums go by in a parade. After that, I was pretty much sold.”

The other drumming instructor, Rob McKendrick of Portland, started at age 7.

“My mom made me,” he said. “She put me in a kilt and marched me around.”

His interest took off when he finally saw a drummer who was very good. That happened to be Fisher, who then was 17.

Bagpipes are an ancient Scottish military tradition. Drums have begun to complement their sound only in the past century or so, Fisher said.

“Our job is to accompany the melody, to supply the rhythm - which is the lifeblood of the music, if you want to get dramatic about it.”

A good drummer has technical skill and musicianship, which Fisher described as feeling or awareness.

Pipe bands usually have at least one bass drum, one tenor drum, and as many as nine snare drums.

The snares are the small drums always pictured in the hands of ragtag Revolutionary War soldiers. They’re among the hardest instruments to learn, Fisher said.

Played rapidly, the snare drum can sound like the rhythm of a hard rain.

“The other morning I heard one and it was like coffee perking,” said Marilyn Giese, who plays the tenor drum.

She’s another Hawaiian who journeyed to Coeur d’Alene for the instruction. She likened drumming to a heartbeat. Fisher calls it “life’s original music.”

The drummers know that not everyone - especially not bagpipers - shares their drum-centric view of the musical world.

“Let’s put it this way,” said Ron Groff. “The drummers have to sit in the back of the bus.”

Added Californian Tom Blackwood: “If they get in the bus!”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 Photos (1 color)

MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: PIPE AND DRUM CONCERTS For the 26th year, North Idaho College is filled with soulful and lively sounds, thanks to the Summer School of Piping and Drumming. The two-week school continues through Friday. Listening opportunities include: The prestigious solo bagpiping competition, held from 7 to 10 p.m. today at the Lake City Senior Center. Admission is $3. A Sunday musical parade as pipers and drummers march toward the docks on Lake Coeur d’Alene to board a cruise boat. They’ll leave the NIC campus at 6:30 p.m. A free concert at Coeur d’Alene City Park, 7 p.m. Wednesday.

This sidebar appeared with the story: PIPE AND DRUM CONCERTS For the 26th year, North Idaho College is filled with soulful and lively sounds, thanks to the Summer School of Piping and Drumming. The two-week school continues through Friday. Listening opportunities include: The prestigious solo bagpiping competition, held from 7 to 10 p.m. today at the Lake City Senior Center. Admission is $3. A Sunday musical parade as pipers and drummers march toward the docks on Lake Coeur d’Alene to board a cruise boat. They’ll leave the NIC campus at 6:30 p.m. A free concert at Coeur d’Alene City Park, 7 p.m. Wednesday.