Harbor Country Living

Andrew Beck plays the bagpipes in front of Pobocik Funeral Home Connelly-Noble Chapel during the Sept. 18 Art and Gallery Walk in Three Oaks. - photo by Sharon Dettmer

Teen-age bagpiper learns from the best
By Sharon Dettmer, News staff writer

THREE OAKS - Andrew Beck learned how to play the bagpipes from a real Scotsman.

"He had an instructor - Bill Smillie - who was strict, but very good," says Andrew's mother, Theresa Beck. "And, if you can take the guff from a Scotsman, you can surely make it on your own. Mr. Smillie taught Andrew well."

The Beck family's love of Celtic music comes as naturally as the clouds hovering over the Scottish Highlands. And Andrew is the champion supreme - the Midwest Champion Supreme, that is. He captured the title this year in the Grade 2 division for horn and pipe jig at the Midwest Pipe Band Association competition. In fact, he has been the Champion Supreme in various divisions of that competition every year, his mom said.

You might say that he was born to be a piper. "My dad's side of the family is Scottish, and my mom's side is Irish. I have the best of both worlds," Andrew said. In his first bagpipe competition debut, sponsored by the Chicago Irish American Center, Andrew walked away with a first-place finish in the Junior Novice Division. These days, the young bagpiper continues to climb his way up to the top of the moor. It's been an investment of time on his part, and a financial investment, as well.

"We had to put the bagpipes that Andrew has now on lay-a-way in order to get them for him," Theresa said. "The sellers don't normally do that. But they listened to Andrew play, and they said, 'Sure, it will be OK'." The cost of the bagpipes was $3,700, and it's all been money well-spent, according to Theresa.

The first time the 15-year-old River Valley High School junior heard bagpipes being played as a wee lad, his ears perked up and his interest in the instrument piqued. Beck was visiting a South Bend trucking company, where his father, Don, worked when he first met Alex Fisher, a Scottish bagpiper from Mishawaka, Ind.

Fisher cast a musical spell on the youngster with a flurry of bagpipes tunes. Andrew then began to learn fundamental bagpipe techniques on a chanter, which is a beginner's instrument. Learning how to inflate the bag and produce good sound quality on four reeds takes practice and skill, Andrew said.

These days, the two bagpipers practice and perform with the South Bend Metropolitan Police & Fire Pipe Band. Andrew also performs with the world-renowned Midlothian and Metropolitan Pipe Band along with South Bend bagpiper Sean Meehan. Meehan performs too with the South Bend Metropolitan Police & Fire Pipe Band. Midlothian is comprised of about 14 pipers and seven drummers, mostly from the Windy City area, Beck said.

Whenever pipers gather together, there is revelry. Taking the stage during an open mic session at the Fiddler's Hearth in South Bend, (owned by the Meehan family) is always fun, according to Andrew. "Sometimes we perform there and have a good time on stage," he said.

Last Saturday evening Beck was a soloist piping outside of the Pobocik Funeral Home Connelly-Nobel Chapel in Three Oaks. His performance was just one of the highlights of the Sept. 18 Three Oaks Gallery and Studio Walk.

Chris and Linda Pobocik welcomed the public into their 100-year-old home to view the artwork of local artists, who want to share their work in an atmosphere of comfort and healing. Visitors enjoyed the blue pottery crafted by Dave Demske, shadowbox art by Chad Hamel, oil paintings by Erik Heward, paintings and sketches by Marilyn V. O'Bryant, black-and-white photography by Kelly Moore, and pop-art paintings and landscapes by Hal Higdon. Guests were wooed in by the Gaelic music riding on the wind. Jon and Jenifer Vickers, along with their children, followed the Celtic music to Pobocik's during the gallery walk. "We heard you playing all the way from Vickers Theatre," Jenifer told Andrew, smiling.

Dressed in a kilt reminiscent of the Tartan fabric of the clans of Caledonia, Scotland, Andrew played one of his favorite tunes, "Cosmic Cascade," to the gathering audience at Pobocik. "I like the fast stuff, like the horn and pipe jigs. I enjoy practicing those more," he said. Whether Andrew is performing a jig or playing forward or left mid-field for the River Valley High School varsity soccer team, the tempo for his success is set on fast forward.

September 23, 2004 -Sharon Dettmer
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