Church Music

I recently played in a very large, old church in Northeastern Connecticut. Pillars throughout the church reached up to a very high, arched ceiling. There was no organ music, only the bagpipe. I played at the beginning, during and at the end of the ceremony. Candles flickered behind the altar, sending smoke to plume up within the vacant space below the ceiling, lost beyond the lights. The entire ceremony seemed to be removed from time and circumstance and transported to a sacred realm. The bagpipes, which operate as a result of air flowing rapidly through long and short spaces, are similar in concept to a pipe organ. Human ingenuity, trial and error, a love of beauty and a sense of awe have worked together to produce instruments perfectly suited for holy moments.