PIPE PERFORMER LYRIC TODKILL

an interview by Mark Warford

The CRA is proud to report another local hero from this year's Grandfather Mountain Highland Games. Lyric Todkill, a senior at Oak Ridge High School and an occasional player in the Knoxville Seisiun, won first place in the bagpipes competition. He plays for Knoxville Pipes & Drums and an Oak Ridge group, Dundrennan, which features a new generation of Celtic talent.

MW: Can you tell us a little about yourself & how you first got interested in the pipes?

LT: I'm a 17 year old Oak Ridge High School student. I got interested in the pipes by going to the highland games at Grandfather Mountain and took my first lessons with the Knoxville pipe band.

MW: Do you consider yourself a purist or do you like to take the tradition in new directions?

LT: I think that tradition is a foundation. It always will be. Personally I like many of the tunes today which are written by piping greats along with the older traditional stuff. I also enjoy playing lots of tunes that are rather unorthodox with the use of false notes and bends. I like it all: marches, strathspeys, reels, jigs, hornpipes, Piobaireachd... I love it all old and new. Not too much of a purist, I guess.

MW: Is your enthusiasm for Celtic music shared by your peers? how would you characterize your generation's assessment of the genre?

LT: The only peers that I know of that are interested seriously in Celtic music are those in Dundrennan and my cousin, Matt McNeely, also a piper (Uilleann). Those my age don't think much of Celtic music but are usually quite excited about the pipes- which is quite a shame. I've come to the realization that they like the noise and sound rather than the music. This is not saying that they don't appreciate the music or what I like to do. I think this music is growing on my generation though. The movies have been exposing the Scottish culture (as inaccurate as it may be) which is exciting to my genreation. I think that the whole Celtic scene is growing quite rapidly.

MW: I know you have a band, Dundrennan. How do the pipes--which are known to be quite loud--work into an ensemble setting? are there other instruments you play, in the context of the band?

LT: ...I don't play the pipes (yet) with the band. I do a separate piping solo at every concert. We are working up a pipe set with guitar, and fiddle x 2.

MW: As you look ahead to your last year at Oak Ridge High School, have you thought about where piping will fit into your post-graduation academic/career plans?

LT: I'd like to go to Vancouver, B.C. (home of the Simon Fraser University Pipeband, two time world champions) or Carnegie Mellon, in Pittsburgh, where I can major in Bagpipes and become a piping teacher. I just want to go where I can pipe in a band at my level and have a better band to progress up to.

Note: Look for an article in the next newsletter on the Uilleann piping of Lyric's cousin Matt who, in addition to backing Evan Carawan, leads a group presently called "The Mystic Highlanders."