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PEOPLE
aj verdin
the pied piper of the central coast By Susan Stewart
W
hile most teenagers are rocking out to songs with titles like “Heathens,” “Stressed Out,” “Unsteady,” and “Sucker for Pain” (on BillBoard’s list of Top 10 rock songs this week), AJ Verdin’s favorite tunes are “Molly Connell,” “The Curlew,” and “Jenny Dang the Weaver”—written for the bagpipes in the first half of the 18th century. But AJ is not “most teenagers.” This last weekend, he donned his MacKenzie tartan kilt, slung his set of Great Highland bagpipes over his shoulder, and competed with the Monterey Bay Pipe Band—who won 2nd Place among the Grade 4 bands during this year’s annual Monterey Highland Games. AJ explained that there are five grades of bagpipe bands, with 1 being the most highly regarded (there is only one Grade 1 band in California), and 5 being the lowest on the scale. To have achieved a top position among Grade 4 bands was exactly what AJ was hoping for in this early part of his life as a bagpiper. “They were very happy with this result,” said AJ’s mother, Mary Verdin. “It was the first competition for three of their pipers. … They’ll be going to the Pleasanton Games next, on Labor Day weekend, one of the oldest and largest Highland Games events in the U.S.” Smart, articulate, and enthusiastic, AJ speaks easily and happily about how he came to pick up this unlikely instrument. He was first drawn to it when he was just 6 years old. “I saw someone playing them on TV and I liked how they sounded, so I wanted to learn how to play them,” said AJ. “I asked my parents to show me some videos on You Tube … I liked the tunes and I wanted to learn some of them.” He started playing the pipes when he was eight. Born with a naturally good musical ear, AJ is also gifted with a strong work ethic and what his mother calls “stick-to-it-ness,”— qualities that serve him well as he practices two hours each day; takes lessons from local piping teacher, Catherine Pearce; performs
with Central Coast Pipes and Drums led by Pipe Major, Paul Dunn; and teaches himself new tunes (they are not songs, he points out, but tunes, in proper bagpipe parlance). And, he continues, there are many kinds of tunes, including the reel, the march, the slow aire, and the strathspey. It’s an arduous process, learning to play the bagpipes. What makes the instrument appealing to AJ’s unique make-up (what his mother calls his engineering, problem-solving mind), is its complicated requirement to do many things at once: With its multiple parts, players must blow, breathe, press on the bag with an upper arm, and use both sets of fingers to play the melodies—all at the same time. The Monterey Bay Pipe Band
The Bagpipe Boys S E P T E M B E R
2016
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