One August afternoon before the beginning of the school year, Dr. Druggan briefly popped into a meeting with Campus Lantern editors, not knowing he would leave with a brand new goal. Beyond that, Dr. Druggan walked out of that discussion (and into the new school year) with a journey: learn how to play the bagpipes.

Druggan’s interest in bagpipes began years ago, when the graduate school he attended in London hosted a bagpipe camp during the summers. “Every night as we went to dinner, we were serenaded by the bagpipers who were learning to become experts,” Druggan said. “Ever since then, I’ve had a special love for the instrument.”

When Dr. Druggan first came to SCH, he learned of the old bagpiping tradition carried over from CHA. As far back as anyone can remember, bagpipers have led processions for several events during the school year, including Convocation, Blue & Blue Day, and Graduation. Druggan also mentioned that CHA once had a bagpiping club, which is thought to have ended sometime around the 1970s. 

Being asked about the songs our bagpipers play, Dr. Druggan showed some of his bagpiping wisdom. “I know that a big part of it is marches, so I’d guess we probably follow some kind of march,” he said. Along with his knowledge of the music, Druggan knew quite a bit about the physical instrument itself, which is much more complicated than it may appear. “There’s a smaller piece you start with, you need to learn the finger placements and how to install reed before anything else.” The Head of School also mentioned how it is only once you have this aspect down, you can attach the bag that gives the instrument its signature look

After Convocation, Druggan hopes to begin lessons with SCH’s own bagpiper, Colin Drummond, who also teaches others how to play the bagpipe. Drummond says that learning basic bagpiping skills normally takes around two months, but even professional bagpipers always work to improve and refine their art form. The first step to learning the instrument is purchasing and training with a “practice chanter”, the smaller piece Dr. Druggan referred to. “Once proficient in playing the practice chanter, you then move to the full bagpipes and begin to learn how to master the full instrument,” Drummond said. 

Hopefully, before long, we can see Dr. Druggan leading our school not just with speeches, but with iconic and historic Scottish music.