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Oral History Interview with Andrew McDicken and Bruce McKay
Audio from Oral History Interview conducted on January 6, 2000.
Transcript of Audio
Nancy: What was the first name?
Andrew: Clan Gordon Highlanders Pipe Band.
Nancy: Of Locust Valley or...
Andrew: Well, it’s all Locust Valley, we still call it Locust Valley.
Nancy: And where did you rehearse?
Andrew: First place was in Locust Valley in the American Legion Hall, then we moved from American Legion Hall to the Glen Gove Fire Department and then the fire department to where we are now, St. John’s Episcopal in [inaudible].
Nancy: How long have you been rehearsing at St. John's?
Andrew: Mumbling [unknown]
Bruce: That’s when I first came up with it.
Andrew: So it has to be 15 years I think.
Nancy: You mentioned originally there were eight founding members?
Andrew: Yes.
Nancy: Where did you perform?
Andrew: Anywhere that wanted to listen to us; our first performance really was the Memorial Day parade in 1971 in Locust Valley, then from there the fire department asked us to play and then we did parties; we opened the Hard Rock Café, we played in Lincoln Center, and we’ve also tuned up in Carnegie Hall.
Nancy: Wow.
Andrew: So that’s [unknown, low talk not audible] we play for a few people…we would play for anyone who would like to hear us.
Nancy: What has, as a newcomer, relative newcomer, what were the hardest steps in learning how to play the bagpipes?
Bruce: Learning to read music, like I said before rhythm.