By ANA SOFIA KNAUF
UW News Lab
If you thrill to the sound of bagpipes, you’re in luck — there’s a band of talented performers right here on the Eastside.
The Eastside Firefighter Pipes & Drums band is a registered nonprofit and was founded in 2009 by Capt. Don Turner and Jon Parkinson to resurrect the firefighter traditions of bagpipe bands. Historically, firefighter pipe bands were formed to play at fire department functions, including memorial services for fallen members.
Currently, the band has nine “kilted” or active bagpipers and a section of drummers, five of whom are on snares, three on tenors, and two on bass.
Kyle Wailor, 35, is one of the tenor drummers and has been with the band since its inception. As a firefighter, his department serves Issaquah, Sammamish, North Bend and Carnation.
Though he did not have any prior musical experience, Wailor chose to become part of the band because he enjoyed the traditions of firefighter pipe bands. Eventually, he achieved a “kilted” level of playing.
“At first, I wanted to learn the bagpipes, but then I found out I had no musical ability,” Wailor said with a laugh. “It is an extremely technical instrument that would have taken me forever to learn. Learning to play music is like learning a foreign language. Drumming ended up seeming like a good fit for me.”
According to Wailor, the band had humble beginnings and grew very slowly. Despite being the newest band on the scene, it was welcomed into the large Pacific Northwest firefighter band community, which includes Washington, Oregon and Idaho. Eventually, the band began traveling to the national meet-up for firefighter bands across the country. There, firefighters work to streamline the music that is played by the bands while remembering their fallen friends.
“Wherever the memorial is, we go,” said Marc Hallen. “We just form one big band and put on the event.”
Hallen, 46, has been with Kirkland’s fire department for seven years. When he first joined EFPD in February, he served as one of the band’s pipers.
“Getting your muscle memory to play the pipes is probably the most difficult part,” Hallen said.
For him, learning the music also was challenging because of the sheer amount pipers have to memorize.
However, after a back injury made it painful for him to play the bagpipes, he picked up the tenor drum last December. As a tenor drummer, one of Hallen’s tasks is to learn flourishes, which, in his words, creates “the flash and visual art of the band” by twirling drumsticks between beats.
Colleen Salmi, 22, works as EFPD’s private drumming instructor.
“I thought that they were a great group of guys who were really motivated and interested in learning a completely different type of instrument,” she said.
Salmi herself has quite a background in music. A recent graduate of UW, she minored in music while teaching the Northwest Junior Pipe Band and driving between Seattle and Portland to practice with her own band, Portland Metro Pipe Band. She has been teaching EFPD for about a year.
“The firefighters all enjoy socializing and having fun, but are also very hard working. I have yet to meet one that doesn’t put their body and soul into what they are doing,” she said.
Band members are not paid to participate in the pipe and drum core and joining is voluntary. EFPD members are required to purchase their own instruments and performance uniforms, which can run over $2,500. The group is funded entirely by private donations and also helps support fire department-related charities like the Northwest Burn Foundation.
To learn more about EFPD, visit eastsidepipesanddrums.com or check out the band’s Facebook page for photos, videos and more.
Ana Sofia Knauf is a student in the University of Washington Department of Communication News Laboratory.
Members of the Eastside Firefighter Pipes and Drums band along with Eastside Fire & Rescue chief Lee Soptich and deputy chief Bud Backer. Courtesy photo
