It was standing-room only for a musical tribute in Hamilton, Ontario, for the late Scott MacAulay, the well known piper and Director of the College of Piping in Summerside, Prince Edward Island.
More than 300 of MacAulay's friends and family turned out for the event, which featured solo Highland piping, Highland dancing and numerous reminiscences and tributes.
"If this room were three times the size and there weren't the miles between us it would still be filled with Scott's friends," Johnnie MacLeod, MacAulay's cousin said in his comments.
The Musical Tribute was organized by Don Forgan, Ken Eller and Bob MacCrimmon, long-time piping friends of MacAulay. Highland piping performances by Rob Crabtree, Michael Grey and Jim McGillivray highlighted the afternoon, as did a prelude performance by Bob Worrall and Ruth Sutherland on smallpipes, whistle and clarsach.
Sutherland later performed a poignant a cappella rendition of the Gaelic song "MacCrimmon Will Never Return," a reprise of a popular track on a 1980 Clan MacFarlane Pipe Band record. Scott MacAulay was a member of Clan MacFarlane for many years.
Speaking on behalf of the MacAulay family, Scott MacAulay's sister, Chris Bateman, said, "The future wasn't some place where Scott was going to, it was some place he would always create."
The tribute finished with Crabtree, Grey and McGillivray playing MacAulay's air, "Home At Last," as a trio.
Donations to the not-for-profit College of Piping & Celtic Performing Arts were accepted at the event. The College is currently holding its annual fund-raising drive.
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Quality reed selection is a pre-requisite to obtaining a good tone in a pipe corps. Four criteria to consider when testing reeds are balance, vibrancy, volume and strength. Check the High A Low A balance against a single sounding tenor drone - if these two notes are in the ballpark chances are the rest of the notes can be tuned.
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