Glenn Walpole earns Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal at Glengarry Highland Games

Glenn Walpole (above, right) of Underwood has earned the Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal at the Glengarry Highland Games, held in Maxville, east of Ottawa, in July.

 

The 23-year-old son of Frank and Debbie Walpole, has been playing the bagpipes since he was eight years old, starting out with the Kincardine Scottish Pipe Band.

 

“David Hamilton was my first instructor, and he grounded me in the basics of technique and the instrument,” says Walpole. “Soon after, I began working with Bill McLeod of Kincardine who continues to mentor me to this day.  He started me in solo competitions at the Grade 4 amateur level in my first year and I was hooked on competing immediately.”

 

Thanks to McLeod, Walpole learned the importance of being well-rounded in all forms of pipe music in order to excel as a solo competitor.

 

“Bill introduced me to Archie Cairns of London to begin tuition. Archie started me from scratch on piobaireachd, a traditional form of pipe music that is considered the 'Big' music of the Highland Bagpipe. To be a champion solo piper, you must be a proven piobaireachd player which is the most challenging and skillful of all music we play. For this past summer’s solo competition season, I also received coaching from Ian K. MacDonald of Whitby and Jim McGillivray of Aurora.”

 

Walpole began competing as a professional solo piper in 2011 at the age of 18. He was upgraded by the Pipers and Pipe Band Society of Ontario (PPBSO) after his 2010 season as a Grade 1 amateur competitor where he was Champion Supreme in Grade 1 Light Music (No. 1 ranked in Ontario) and Champion Supreme in Senior Amateur Piobaireachd (No. 1 ranked in Ontario) as well as the North American Amateur Champion at the Glengarry Highland Games. 

 

“I was fortunate to earn a number of prestigious amateur contests before being upgraded,” says Walpole. “However, the true test is at the professional level and the following are a few of the professional accolades that stick out in my mind because of their importance to me:

 

• Professional Piobaireachd Winner (Cobourg Highland Games, 2013 – my first professional piobaireachd win)

• Professional Piobaireachd Winner (Fergus Highland Games, 2013)

• Professional Piobaireachd Winner (Highlands of Durham, 2015)

• Professional Strathspey and Reel Winner (Kincardine Highland Games, 2016 – my hometown games so always important to me!)

• 6^th place, Professional Piobaireachd (Glengarry Highland Games, 2014 North American Championships – Bob Worrall judged the event in the top professional field of the year)

• 4^th place, Professional Piobaireachd (Glengarry Highland Games, 2011 North American Championships – Ed Neigh judged the event)

• 5^th place, Professional March, Strathspey and Reel (Glengarry Highland Games, 2013 North American Championships – Ed Neigh judged the event)

• Professional Piper of the Day (top ranked professional piper at the highland games):

• o   Fergus Highland Games (2012, 2013)

• o   Highlands of Durham Games (2015)

• 2013 Invitee, Livingstone Invitational Senior Piping Competition (one of the most prestigious invitational competitions for professional pipers in North America)

 

Despite these many championship wins, Walpole says that earning the Gold Medal at the Glengarry Games was the best yet.

 

“The idea for the Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal and the Bar to the Gold Medal (Canada), came from Major Archie Cairns,” he says. “The contest was extremely meaningful to me because Archie was my first piobaireachd instructor and remained my instructor until he passed away April 1 of this year.  I have to stress (on the request of Archie) that the Gold Medal is not won, but is earned and can be withheld if the performance is not worthy of being awarded the Gold Medal.

 

According to the history of the Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal and the Bar to the Gold Medal (Canada):

 

“In 1972, Major Archie M. Cairns, M.M.M., C.D. (Ret'd.) co-ordinated the City of Ottawa Highland Games and, at that time, initiated the concept of a meaningful Canadian Gold Medal for a Piobaireachd contest. The idea was to ask the Piobaireachd Society in Scotland to lend its name to such a medal. He sought the assistance of the late Capt. John MacLellan, who was then the Honourary Secretary of the Music Committee for the Piobaireachd Society.
 

“When permission was not granted, Cairns then devised a unique change whereby a winner of the Open Piobaireachd would be declared but the Medal would be awarded only at the discretion of a judge who must be a Senior Judge of the Piobaireachd Society, who would serve as a member of a panel of judges or as the sole judge in the contest. That judge, alone, would weigh the merits of the winning performance to ensure that it was deserving of being awarded a Gold Medal.
 

“Based upon this premise, the Medal could be withheld by the Judge. In this way, no one could gain the Medal by default. Thus, no one can "win" this Medal - it can only be earned. Supported by Capt. MacLellan, this revised proposal won the approval of The Piobaireachd Society. In three decades, the Medal has never been withheld. This is a testament to the high standard of performances by the participants during that time.
 

“In 1982, with the approval of the Piobaireachd Society, a separate piobaireachd contest was established for those who had already earned the Gold Medal. The winner of this Gold Medallist Competition was then awarded a Gold Bar to the Medal. The first winner was P/M William Livingstone of Whitby. Anyone who is awarded the Gold Medal is eligible, on the same day, to compete in the Gold Medallist Competition.
 

“In addition to the honour of being awarded the Bar to the Gold Medal, the winner of the Gold Medallist Competition is considered for invitation to the prestigious Grant's Invitational Contest in Scotland, sponsored by William Grant & Sons Distilleries of Scotland.”

 

Walpole earned the Gold Medal, for his performance of “In Praise of Morag.” Later, Andrew Hayes of Ottawa was awarded the Bar to the Medal.
 

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Glenn Walpole (right) earns the Gold Medal, while Andrew Hayes of Ottawa was awarded the Bar to the Medal at the Glengarry Highland Games in Maxville, east of Ottawa, in July; photo by Jacob Dicker, another competitor in the Bar to the Gold Medal
 

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“I find that this particular competition is very difficult to play well in because, as a solo competitor, you know that you must play at such a high standard to contend for a prize,” says Walpole. “I played the tune ‘In Praise of Morag’ to earn the Gold Medal, a song that is around 14 minutes in length. The technical difficulty increases substantially as you proceed through the tune. 

 

“At the same time, I was quite aware of how well the tune was going during the performance and how well my instrument had been sustained to that point which made focusing on the music that much more difficult. After completing the final phrase of the tune, it was without question an emotional rush. To me, the moments at the end of the performance, when you are able to appreciate your own performance, are far more important than being awarded a medal to recognize the performance.” 

 

He plans to travel to Scotland during his piping career to try his hand against the top professional fields in the world at both The Northern Meeting (Inverness, Scotland) and the Argyllshire Gathering (Oban, Scotland).

 

“If you truly wish to be a champion piper, you must prove yourself against the fields that compete at these events. In the meantime, I plan to continue to play consistently and ‘crack’ the top tier of professional pipers competing in North America.”

 

Walpole always enjoys coming home to Kincardine and bringing his pipes to join the Kincardine Scottish in the Saturday Night Parades through downtown Kincardine.

 

“I have so many good friends that I made through the Kincardine Scottish. I admit that competitive bagpiping is an odd hobby to say the least, but you cannot beat the people that you will meet in the piping and drumming community.”



Audio recording of "In Praise of Morag," by Elizabeth Sheridan

 

Walpole is currently in his second year of a combined MD/PhD program at the University of Toronto, with the goal of becoming a clinician scientist – a medical doctor who spends the majority of his time when not with patients, performing research on mechanisms of disease, making the discoveries needed to develop new treatments for patients and helping to push those treatments forward into hospitals.

 

“The training for this career path will keep me very busy outside of piping but I am an avid golfer as well. I am also a member of the Paris Port Dover Pipe Band (Grade 2) under Pipe Major Dylan Whittemore."