Mike Seibert performs music in a band.
But his instrument isn’t the guitar or drums found in your
ordinary rock ‘n’ roll band. Seibert’s instrument of choice are the
bagpipes.
Mike Seibert performs music in a band.
But his instrument isn’t the guitar or drums found in your ordinary rock ‘n’ roll band. Seibert’s instrument of choice are the bagpipes.
Most Sundays, you’ll find the 17-year-old Live Oak High School senior in San Francisco practicing with other Scottish music aficionados in the Prince Charles Caledonian Pipe Band.
“I started the bagpipes when I was 14-years-old,” he said. “I learned that my family has Scottish heritage. For a while, I was looking for a musical instrument that I wanted to play. I remember as a little kid living in Virginia, I saw a bagpipe band and I thought it was cool.”
It wasn’t a passing fancy. Three years ago, Seibert entered a local music store in search of someone who would teach him to play the wind instrument that originated in Ireland 2,000 years ago. That’s how he met Brian Sowders, a Gilroy resident with an abiding passion for bagpipe music.
Seibert bought a set of Lawries bagpipes made in 1963 – they’re beautifully mounted with ivory – and he began learning how to play them from Sowders.
“I started taking lessons from him for two years,” Seibert said. “I took to it like a duck to water … It makes me feel good, you know.”
Learning to play such a complex instrument isn’t easy – a wrong note on the bagpipes can really wrench the eardrums. But with Sowder’s instruction, Seibert mastered the bagpipe basics.
“He was a really nice guy,” Seibert said. “He was my teacher and all, but I really thought of him as a friend. He was someone I could really sit down with and talk to. During practices, he made it fun to play.”
Sowders died about two years ago from pancreatic cancer. It was a sad loss for Seibert. At the funeral, the teenage boy played the song “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes – a touching way for the student to say goodbye to his friend.
“I felt like my emotions were numb,” Seibert said. “I really didn’t know how to react.”
He found another professional piper named Rob Boyd and continued to master the instrument. He’s also received special lessons from some of
the best bagpipe players in the world. He remembers a lesson from Jack Lee, a well-known piper from Vancouver, Canada, as well as John Wilson
from Glasgow, Scotland.
Wilson was a big guy with a deep Scottish burr, Seibert remembers.
“It’s awesome to practice with them,” he said. “They’ve played for 30 years, and they’re just awesome.”
Seibert enjoys performing with the Prince Charles band, which is associated with the Caledonia Club of San Francisco. Despite what some people might think, it wasn’t named after the current heir to the English throne, but Prince Charles Edward Stuart, a royal of the Scottish Highlands long ago.
Band members wear the full regalia: hose (the long socks), gillies (the shoes), jacket, tie, sporran (a small pouch in front), and, of course, a kilt.
In response to the age-old question of whether or not underwear is worn under the kilt, Seibert chuckled.
“A lot of the purists don’t wear them,” he says. “I do. It’s kind of windy around here.”
Last summer, Seibert traveled to the British Isles with the Prince Charles Band to perform in a world competition of bagpipes and Scottish drums. They won first place – quite a prestigious accomplishment.
“That was pretty cool,” Seibert says of the experience.
But he especially enjoyed traveling around Scotland, exploring Glasgow and Edinburgh, and meeting the people of the land of his ancestry.
“The people are really friendly there. They like talking to Americans,” he said. “They’re very interested in our culture as we are theirs.”
The band is preparing to return to Scotland for next year’s competition. Meanwhile, Seibert often performs with his group of musicians at various
events throughout the Bay Area. Locally, the Prince Charles Band has performed in various Scottish cultural affairs such as the Campbell Games. And it always gets a rousing round of applause when it marches down the streets of Morgan Hill in the annual Independence Day parade.
Seibert is so good at the bagpipes that he’s frequently hired to play them at special occasions such as birthday parties, anniversaries and funerals. He always dresses up in full Scottish uniform for these events.
“He’s a very good piper,” said Prince Charles band manager Bill Merriman. “He’s very quiet and very dependable. He’s well-liked in the band.”
Seibert says playing bagpipe songs – some of them written more than 300 years ago – helps him connect to a long Scottish heritage.
“Bagpipes are in their own world,” he said. “It’s totally different feel of music. It’s trying to keep the whole Scottish culture alive.”
For information about hiring Seibert to perform at special events, call 779-1351.
