Sea Island Life Magazine Fall/Winter 2013 | Page 28

AMAZING GRACE

The hum of the bagpipes has been uniquely tied to feelings of comfort and nostalgia for people
in the United States, despite the instrument’s Scottish heritage. The Marsh brothers—Geoff,
Robert and Tom—along with family friend, Ron Wells, shared a special moment of remembrance at The Lodge one fall evening while listening to the bagpiper’s song.
The brothers’ 80-year-old father, Bob, had been in hospice in their home state of Kentucky
for some time when the group found themselves at The Lodge at Sea Island, taking in views of
the Plantation Course. Geoff had won the Sea Island Fairways Foursome Sweepstakes, sponsored by Sea Island and the “Fairways of Life” radio program. He received a call from his sister
at 6 p.m., who said the hospice had notified her that their father’s time was short and she was
on her way to his bedside. “As I walked back to my seat … the song then being played was
‘Amazing Grace,’ ” Geoff wrote in a letter to Matt Adams, host of “Fairways of Life.” “I relayed
my phone message to my brothers, and we all acknowledged the circumstance of the hymn
to the occasion.” The brothers ordered a round of their father’s favorite drink, gin and orange
juice, and toasted to his life and memory.
They soon learned that their father had passed at the approximate time they heard “Amazing
Grace.” “We took this as a sign our father was with us and wanted to share in the atmosphere,”
Geoff wrote. “He was not a golfer, but would have been pleased that his sons were able to be
gathered together in such a setting when he crossed over.”

Children inevitably ask parents, and even
the piper himself when he wanders close,
about his intriguing instrument and the reason he’s wearing a skirt.
first, he tells them, it isn’t a skirt. it’s a
kilt made of pleated tartan-patterned cloth,
which scottish men have worn proudly for
centuries. then he describes his instrument’s odd and ancient arrangement of
bellows and pipes, explains how each part
works, and demonstrates by playing even
more tunes.
some songs are haunting; others are playful. some are by request; others are drawn
from his personal repertoire. each is played
emphatically and at full volume, as is the
bagpiper way.
soon the sky is fully dark. the piper drifts
off, disappearing from sight. He leaves the
evening air and marks a perfect ending to
another day at sea island.

The Pipers
Having a lone bagpiper serenade the sunset
has been a sea island tradition carried on by
a succession of pipers. three musicians currently take turns so that, barring extreme
weather, every sundown is covered.
Michael evers, a member of the local
bluegrass band Marshgrass, plays the bagpipes at sunset a little more than half of
the time. Patrick walsh, an attorney and
retired instructor at the nearby federal
law enforcement training Center, covers
most of the other half. danny shepard,

an instructor at the same training center,
rounds out the calendar by taking on the
few days the other two aren’t available.
the time they play changes with the
seasons, typically from half an hour before
sunset until half an hour after. that can
mean ending after 8 p.m. in the summer
and starting as early as 5 p.m. in the winter.
what tunes they play depends on the
piper, but all three of them know “amazing
Grace,” “scotland the Brave” and a few
other well-recognized bagpipes standards.
“i play those practically every night i’m
out here,” evers explains. “when appropriate, i’ll cover some non-standard songs,
Christmas carols during the holiday season and ‘Happy Birthday’ when people
request it. sometimes i’ll include a couple
of tunes that are unusual for bagpipes—the
theme music from ‘star wars,’ maybe, or
‘strangers in the night’—to see if anyone
notices. i’ve also written several bagpipe
tunes myself, and i add them to the mix.”
Bagpipes have a very limited range, so
not every tune can be accommodated. “i
play a set of Great Highland pipes that has
just a nine-note scale, so even some common requests like ‘danny Boy’ have to be
reworked to be playable and still recognizable,” evers says.
although fascinated with bagpipes since
childhood, evers only taught himself to
previous sea island piper was moving away,
creating an opening. “i had three months
to learn how to play the pipes, so i began a

year as a sea island bagpipes player.”

Crowd Pleasers

reactions to the sunset bagpipers are overwhelmingly positive.
“People are very complimentary,” evers
says. “they’re fascinated by the instrument
and its origins and how everything works.”
some show up nightly to listen. “Countless
people have told me that hearing th