Association Leadership Spotlight: Barbara MacDonald, Saskatchewan Pipe Band Association

The Saskatchewan Pipe Band Association has officially operated for over thirty years but traces its roots back to 1969 when the Prairie Pipe Band Association started with three branches: Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan. In 1992, the branches formed distinct associations.

Piping and drumming have been part of Saskatchewan’s culture for hundreds of years. Early settlers brought piping and Scottish cultural traditions to communities throughout the western Canadian province, and local pipe bands continue those traditions today.

As the umbrella organization for Saskatchewan pipers, drummers, and pipe bands, the SPBA aspires to the familiar aims of promoting piping, drumming, pipe bands, and competitions.

However, since day one, the association has differentiated itself by advocating a bond of fellowship with all pipers and drummers, and to assist organizations wishing to form or maintain pipe bands, help incoming players locate bands, and help bands locate players.

It’s no surprise that the SPBA has run Sound Advice, its highly successful summer school, for decades, bringing in some of the best and most famous instructors on the planet. The one-week school in July continues a long tradition in Saskatchewan that started in the 1960s by Jim McWilliams in Moose Jaw. The “Fort San” school regularly brought in the legendary Donald MacLeod as an instructor, and today, the likes of Richard Parkes, Keith Orr, Bruce Gandy and Reid Maxwell are frequent instructors.

The SPBA organizes scholarships for deserving Saskatchewan pipers and drummers to attend Sound Advice. The summer school includes women instructors, an attribute that influenced many students’ decisions to attend.

Last year, Barbara MacDonald was elected president of the SPBA. She is currently one of only two women, and one of only a handful in history, to head a significant piping and drumming association. (Jacquie Troy is president of the neighbouring Alberta Pipe Band Association.)

Her involvement with the SPBA goes back to the 1980s, and her background in piping and pipe bands is stellar. A member of the Grade 1 Simon Fraser University for many years, pipe-sergeant of Grade 2 City of Regina since the 1990s, she is concurrently a member of the Grade 1 78th Highlanders (Halifax Citadel).

Her voluntary contributions as a piping teacher are renowned. Over the last 40 years, she has taught hundreds of novice and experienced pipers, organized countless events, and stepped up for piping and drumming at every turn.

Under her leadership, the SPBA has continued its commitment to promoting, attracting and retaining women in piping and pipe bands. MacDonald has coordinated think-tank discussions with a small group of like-minded women from across North America, exploring ways to increase awareness and provide guidance for piping events, pipe bands, associations, schools, and competitions regarding the equitable involvement of women and girls.

“Our goal is to develop a sustainable approach that fosters inclusivity and opportunity.”

“Our goal is to develop a sustainable approach that fosters inclusivity and opportunity,” MacDonald said about a core philosophy of the SPBA

Professionally, she is a diabetes nurse consultant and co-founder of IDEA Diabetes Inc., which strives to influence health and quality-of-life outcomes for people with diabetes. She devotes considerable time to working virtually and travelling throughout Canada to Indigenous communities where diabetes is prevalent and, like most places, access to care is challenging.

The communication and negotiation skills she uses in her sensitive role with Indigenous communities and government benefit her efforts as head of the SPBA.

As part of our continuing Association Leadership Spotlight series, we got a few minutes of Barbara MacDonald’s day to discuss her work with the Saskatchewan Pipe Band Association.

Here’s a transcript of our discussion:

pipes|drums: We are really pleased to be with Barb McDonald. She is the head of the Saskatchewan Pipe Band Association out in the prairies of Canada, and really pleased that you could do this, Barb.

Barbara MacDonald: Thanks for inviting me to join you. I’m really proud to be able to represent the Saskatchewan Pipe Band Association today.

p|d: Well, we’re glad to have you. You were elected president of the organization about a year ago now. How have things been going?

BM: Great. It’s really a great group of people with a real community spirit and willingness to figure out how to drive things forward in a really good way in Saskatchewan. I’m really pleased to be the president.

p|d: We’ve noticed people are really into piping and drumming in Saskatchewan. What are some of your objectives for the SPBA?

BM: We’re looking forward to protecting and preserving what’s here and growing and developing new and young players to ensure a legacy has existed over time and continues to grow and develop.

It’s a unique spot in the middle of the country. We’re a small province, population-wise, and I think that there’s quite a strong legacy of Saskatchewan players worldwide who are still playing today and continuing to protect and preserve the art.

p|d: People who might not know the geography. It’s a massive province, an area of only about 1.2 million people, maybe two people per square kilometre. What challenges do you have in the region for piping and drumming?

BM: The existing challenges are pretty much consistent wherever people strive to have piping and pipe bands and drumming continuing to grow and develop. It’s often recruitment retention. It takes a while to grow pipers and drummers, but we’re very hopeful. And COVID had an impact in terms of participation and the rate at which people are progressing in piping and drumming. Still, it’s starting to come back, and we’re looking forward to continuing to develop those young players and keep the art going.

p|d: Being a woman in piping for many years, you’ve got, obviously, firsthand experience, but women in piping and drumming has been a topic close to your heart for a long time. You’ve been doing things to promote women in piping and drumming, both coming into it and staying in it.

BM: Thank you. It’s been interesting to be a woman in piping and pipe bands for as long as I have. I started when I was around 10 years old, and I think this speaks a little bit to the population in Saskatchewan as well that you took all the kids to play and make the pipe bands go, including the daughters and the sons.

But there was a vision for it. Some people said, Let’s make this happen. And so it was an environment that was quite inclusive. The first time I experienced, “Oh, you’re not a male piper” was when I was asked to pipe for the queen, and I was all set to go, kilted and everything, and then I got a call saying, “I’m sorry, we’re looking for a male piper.” So that surprised me, and my mom was livid: “What’s going on with this? This is not acceptable!” Her response informed my participation, too, in terms of let’s go and be the best I can be.

Creating that environment for others has been an important thing, but always well supported here in Saskatchewan, and of course, well supported by my husband, Iain McDonald, to keep going and ensure that excellence is part of our plan.

When we moved to Vancouver in the 1980s, that opportunity became possible through playing an SFU. There were two sort of designated spots for women in the circle, and I was fortunate enough to earn that one of those spots. I don’t know if it was intentional, but it was progressive in the 1980s. I had the good fortune to be able to do that, not taking it for granted.

Here’s this young piper from the Prairies. Who am I? No gold medals, no nothing, except for some real drive to do it and maybe some good ability. I pinched myself at the time: I was in a circle with Jack and Terry Lee, and I still feel that today when I’m in a circle with Alex and Bruce Gandy. It’s like, What? How did I get here? How lucky am I? And a certain element of luck and privilege goes along with that.

So, let’s examine the environments to ensure that they are accessible to all women and girls worldwide.

p|d: Many top female pipers and drummers have been in and are in the ranks of SFU. It’s a band with an open-door regarding equality—a meritocracy. We look forward to seeing the initiatives you’re doing to attract and retain more women and girls in piping and drumming in Saskatchewan and worldwide.

What are you most looking forward to with the SPBA?

BM: We just had our AGM a few days ago. We’re really grateful to be able to play and continue our music through the lens of the people who were custodians of the earth. We make sure to acknowledge Indigenous peoples from the lands that we are on, focus on growth and sustainability, and protect the legacy.

There’s an excellent SPBA site where Iain has been the curator of everything from history in our pipe band environment, including having a very sound piping and drumming school each summer. Our Sound Advice school has been a big draw with all kinds of notable instructors, and that goes way back to the Saskatchewan Summer School of the Arts when Donald MacLeod came out, and we had exposure to him—so, making sure that that legacy continues.

This ties again to the women in piping and pipe bands. I’ve had students say how grateful they were to have an environment that welcomed women and girls in piping and drumming, with instructors who were there as well—keeping that legacy going and acknowledging the vital work of all the bands in the association. When they’re in northern regions like Prince Albert, for example, they’re out doing two gigs per month and are in high demand, but they need some support as they age, having teaching and keeping that going, so strategizing to figure out how to retain and recruit and have excellence in terms of playing. The school definitely plays part of that role.

And one other notable thing is that we have youth coming along. A new band in Moose Jaw started from the ground up. It’s that kind of dedication and leadership to get kids out. They marched in the parade with their chanters last year. They weren’t ready for pipes, but they marched down the main street with their chanters proudly displaying that they’re learning, so that that kind of thing we wouldn’t have dreamed about necessarily. You couldn’t get in the parade until you had bagpipes on your shoulder. But changing the world in meaningful ways, and making sure that we’re relevant and growing and developing in really positive ways.

p|d: Even in a smaller piping and drumming community like Saskatchewan, you’re doing some of the most progressive things in the world regarding piping and drumming. We look forward to watching what happens in the next few years and beyond with the SPBA.

BM: Thank you so much. Your support has been great for us, and thank you for making us known through your work.

This interview was edited for clarity.

Stay tuned to pipes|drums for the next installment in our ongoing Association Leadership Spotlight series.