Adjusting to the Situation

I was invited to participate in the Remembrance Day Service at Westminster House, a retirement home in White Rock, BC. As there wasn’t a trumpet player, I volunteered to play The Last Post as well as The Lament. The latter selection follows a one-minute’s silence. For The Last Post, I played “The Bugle Horn March,” accented, as a trumpeter would play it. The lament was a medley of two familiar selections, “The Minstrel Boy” and “Danny Boy,” because they would be familiar to this group of people. Afterwards, an Irish couple spoke to me saying how much it meant to them to hear those two beloved Irish songs. A year ago, I also played for the same group of people, and elected to play as the lament, “Dark Island,” which has the sadness and reverence suitable for remembering our veterans of many wars. I made the choice between it and “The Lament of the MacDonalds.” Whenever I play the latter selection, I imagine the bitter winter winds through which the Scottish clan escaped from those at Glencoe who wished to annihilate them in the middle of the night. Thank goodness they didn’t, because I’m a MacDonald. For years, in services in which I played at cenotaphs, war veterans expected to hear their piper play the prolonged strains of “The Flowers o’ the Forest,” while they remembered their comrades. I respectfully complied. Later on, however, at a businessmen’s banquet in Winnipeg, I substituted a beautiful hymn. The speaker was a veteran of the Dieppe landing. Many of his friends were killed and he was certain he would be too. As he waded into shore with bullets flying past him, he looked up and prayed, “God, if I should get out of this alive, I promise to honor You for the rest of my life.” God saved him, and people of the underground assisted by bringing him back safely to England. Since then, he gladly accepted invitations by groups such as the one to which he spoke that day, to tell of his experience and his thankfulness to God. Immediately after this dear veteran soldier completed his story, it was my responsibility to play the lament. I heard that still small voice inside me saying, “Play a tribute to God with, ‘When I Survey the Wondrous Cross.’” As I played this fine old hymn, in this intimate setting, slow-marching around the dining room, I distinctly heard individuals saying aloud, “Yes, Lord, yes, Lord.” Truly, they recognized the miracle that saved this soldier’s life when all around him his friends were cut down before they made it to shore. Once, in Winnipeg, I was invited to play for a Remembrance Day service in a retirement home. While planning the program, the social director still needed a pianist. I offered to play the piano too, if she couldn’t find one. The hymns would be familiar, such as, “O Valiant Hearts,” “O God Our Help in Ages Past,” “Faith of our Fathers” and “God of Our Fathers.” She was relieved, and we agreed that if God should send someone better qualified, we would both be thankful. It was our good fortune that a few days later, a new resident moved in, who was a musical director in one of the churches. Already, she had formed a choir and was preparing them to sing in the service. The Remembrance service in that Retirement Home was a definite tribute to our military people. The color party was led in and out by the pipes, and the choir performed beautifully. The people sang under skilled direction and the pastor delivered an honorable address. A well-practiced trumpet player played, “The Last Post" and "Reveille," and there was a minute’s silence before the pipes reverently broke in with “The Flowers o’ the Forest.” I often think how God did the exact thing for us by having that lady director move into the retirement home just when we needed her. Even though I could have played the piano, her contribution allowed me to concentrate on doing my best, playing the lament. In a month or so, I will have published the 15th volume of The Church Piper. The music book is “Patriotic Music and Familiar Folk Songs for the Church Piper.” In it are included 84 beautiful selections arranged for the pipes. Several arrangements have been written for “The Last Post” and “Reveille.” For the enthusiastic piper who would love to have the music for these selections, they will be there for practice. It is a lovely challenge to learn these pieces as well as to know other suitable laments for this sacred occasion. I hope other pipers will experience God’s presence too, as they help others to remember the great contribution our soldiers have made towards our freedom.