Published in the Current
Despite concerns that there would be a light turnout, 26 people attended the visioning meeting for the Oak Hill, Eight Corners and Payne Road neighborhoods July 9.
Frank O’Hara of Planning Decisions, the South Portland company conducting the visioning study, introduced the project, saying, “you’re here at an early step in a process that’s going to go on in the next nine months or so.”
The topics discussed at the neighborhood meetings will eventually form the basis for a new comprehensive plan for the town, in what O’Hara called “a bottom-up decision process.”
O’Hara began the group discussions by asking whether the Oak Hill, Eight Corners and Payne Road area was a single neighborhood or a group of smaller neighborhoods.
While the discussions revealed that residents tend to think of the region as many smaller areas, the definitions and sizes varied, from the Scottow Hill area down to individual developments.
Other sub-neighborhoods were the Bessey School area, Imperial Drive, Oak Hill, Green Acre, Sawyer Road and the schools, Evergreen, Juneberry Place, Commerce Drive, Green Needle, Aslan Drive and Eight Corners.
Resident Marjorie Rosenbaum asked if Eight Corners was really considered a neighborhood. “Is that where we want kids to walk dogs?” she asked. “I don’t see how we can call places ‘neighborhoods’ that have eight corners.”
Resident Harvey Warren said there is a school and a church at Eight Corners, and the site of the current store also used to be a church, he said. “It’s one of the oldest neighborhoods in Scarborough,” he said, adding, “It’s a landmark name. It’s not a ‘residential area,’ so to speak.”
Meeting attendees were then asked to list natural and cultural areas they want preserved. Places listed were the Nonesuch River, the Scarborough Marsh, the conservation area between Sawyer Road and Scarborough Downs, the Eastern Road, the ponds off Haigis Parkway, Leighton’s Woods, Willowdale Golf Course, the elm tree at the corner of the Gorham Road and U.S. Route 1, and the Bessey School. Also on the list were the Portland Farms, Evergreen Farms, Flaherty Farm, a Native American stone calendar, the Libby family cemetery east of Route 114, a small cemetery on Arbor View Lane, Scarborough Downs, Beech Ridge Speedway, the town/school campus, churches, the Widow’s Walk, Hunnewell House, the stream behind the Mobil Mart in Oak Hill, the area that used to be the Port of Maine Airport and the old Danish Village.
Residents were asked to think about what their fears were for the future of the area. Reponses were over-development, loss of greenspace, zoning changes, mall sprawl, crowded schools, taxes, loss of character and special places, more and faster traffic and wider roads. There also was a fear of “Route 1 will look like Saugus,” strip malls, poor-quality businesses, no relationships between the town and developers, no buffers between business and residential land, casino gambling, noise pollution and hunting in residential areas.
Hopes for the future were senior housing, community center, performing arts center, a master plan for the Haigis Parkway, a leash law, narrow roads, a sidewalk on Gorham Road, architectural and design standards, a good office building on Haigis Parkway, sidewalks and trail links between neighborhoods. Residents also wanted neighborhood activities, no tractor-trailers on Route 114, mailboxes on the same side of the road as the house, crosswalks, more greenspace, the best school system in the state, a park in Oak Hill, seasonal town-wide cleanups, additional schools, a “facelift” of Route 1, regional planning, revamped zoning laws, diversion of traffic from Route 1 to the Maine Turnpike and a downtown-like town center.
“We can control what happens to us in the future,” said resident and developer Gavin Ruotolo, recommending building design standards.
Resident and developer Elliott Chamberlain recommended improving the partnership between the town and developers, to achieve town and development goals more effectively.
Because the idea of a “town center” came up in this and previous discussions, O’Hara asked the residents what their thoughts were on the subject, and what a town center would consist of.
“The term itself is an oxymoron,” Warren said.
“Scarborough is unique, having many small individual communities,” said school board member Carol Rancourt, suggesting that other nearby towns would be better homes for people who want a Main Street feel.
Resident Fred Kilfoil, owner of the Millbrook Motel, suggested making more than one town center, one in each neighborhood or section of town. He pointed out that if there is to be a single Main Street-type road, that is not Route 1. However, he said, there are “Main Street” roads in the neighborhoods.
Town Planner Joe Ziepniewski said that town parks were located in each neighborhood for reasons similar to Kilfoil’s. He also pointed out that while Black Point and Pine Point are a very short distance apart on a map, it’s a very long drive from one to the other.
Ruotolo recommended that the developers make small neighborhoods and leave to the town the task of connecting them together.
The discussion then moved to residents’ wishes for areas to be preserved throughout the whole town. Areas listed were the beaches, the fishing boat harbor at Pine Point, the Cliff Walk on Prouts Neck, the Libby Farm, the Rachel Carson Wildlife Refuge land, the site of the mastodon excavation, the Fuller Farm, the Nonesuch River and the shipwreck at Higgins Beach.
Residents also had hopes for the town as a whole, listing jobs in town, quality of employment, pedestrian-friendly streets, a guide to places of interest, use of the drive-in property as recreational space, public transportation, a town pool and recreation center, safer traffic, controlled and balanced growth and regional planning. They also wanted high-paying clean industries, good town services, good schools, connections between neighborhoods, having neighborhood gatherings or “mini-Summerfests,” a biotechnology research center, 90 percent recycling rate and a footbridge or ferry from Ferry Beach to Pine Point.
Chamberlain said the best part of this process is the fact that people sit down together and talk to each other, working out problems face to face.
The next visioning meeting was scheduled for July 11 for North Scarborough.
The remaining two neighborhood meetings in this series are Tuesday, July 16, at 7 p.m., at the Beech Ridge Farm, for the neighborhoods of West Scarborough and Broadturn Road; and Thursday, July 18, at 7 p.m., at the Blue Point School, for the neighborhoods of Pine Point and Blue Point. All meetings wrap up at 9 p.m.
Stephanie Cox, chair of the town’s Conservation Commission, said all Scarborough residents are welcome at all meetings, and that people who have missed their own neighborhood meetings should attend other gatherings.
There is also a web site chronicling the process so far and providing opportunities for comment. It can be found at www.scarborough.me.us/vision.
Thursday, July 11, 2002
Two businesses burglarized in Cape
Published in the Current
Two Cape Elizabeth businesses were broken into and robbed in the past week. The suspects in both cases are still at large, and police are investigating.
On July 6, just before 3 a.m., two or more suspects used an axe to chop a hole in the roof of the Cape Variety. They stole cigarettes and sunglasses, and gained access to the store’s safe and ATM, said Detective Paul Fenton. He did not disclose the amount of cash stolen.
“It appears as though they were interrupted by the owner of the building, who was returning from out of town,” Fenton said. The owner apparently stopped by to bring a sign in from outside. “There was evidence left behind,” Fenton said.
The department is operating out of a new station, and not all of the evidence-processing equipment is set up yet, Fenton said. As a result, he may ask the Scarborough and South Portland police departments to assist him in analyzing items retrieved from the break-in.
Police also tried to track the suspects, who fled the scene on foot, by using a dog, but the closest available tracking dog that morning was in Windham. The time delay may have aided in the escape of the suspects, who have not been apprehended.
That crime appeared to be organized, Fenton said, unlike the July 9 break-in to the Crescent Beach Snack Shack, which was discovered early in the morning of July 10. Fenton said the beach break-in was likely the work of drunk teen-agers returning from a party.
“It’s all connected to kids partying and drinking,” Fenton said. “Anything that’s in their path home will be destroyed.”
The people who broke into the Snack Shack kicked in a window and got away with some cash, a five-gallon tub of ice cream and several items of candy. Fenton said there was a line of candy and wrappers on the path from the shack to Richmond Terrace, as if the people were just eating it along the way.
That break-in, he said, is a class C felony, punishable by up to five years in prison. “The problem with the kids is getting worse,” Fenton said. “They’re committing felonies for candy.”
Fenton said the beach incident is reminiscent of the vandalism at the Little League shack at Lions Field, in which drunk teens have done damage to property they pass. He recommended residents call the police if they see unknown teenagers in their neighborhoods after dark.
“People don’t call us,” he said, but vandalism is almost a given if parties continue.
“If kids party and drink in your area, there will be criminal mischief in your area,” Fenton said.
Two Cape Elizabeth businesses were broken into and robbed in the past week. The suspects in both cases are still at large, and police are investigating.
On July 6, just before 3 a.m., two or more suspects used an axe to chop a hole in the roof of the Cape Variety. They stole cigarettes and sunglasses, and gained access to the store’s safe and ATM, said Detective Paul Fenton. He did not disclose the amount of cash stolen.
“It appears as though they were interrupted by the owner of the building, who was returning from out of town,” Fenton said. The owner apparently stopped by to bring a sign in from outside. “There was evidence left behind,” Fenton said.
The department is operating out of a new station, and not all of the evidence-processing equipment is set up yet, Fenton said. As a result, he may ask the Scarborough and South Portland police departments to assist him in analyzing items retrieved from the break-in.
Police also tried to track the suspects, who fled the scene on foot, by using a dog, but the closest available tracking dog that morning was in Windham. The time delay may have aided in the escape of the suspects, who have not been apprehended.
That crime appeared to be organized, Fenton said, unlike the July 9 break-in to the Crescent Beach Snack Shack, which was discovered early in the morning of July 10. Fenton said the beach break-in was likely the work of drunk teen-agers returning from a party.
“It’s all connected to kids partying and drinking,” Fenton said. “Anything that’s in their path home will be destroyed.”
The people who broke into the Snack Shack kicked in a window and got away with some cash, a five-gallon tub of ice cream and several items of candy. Fenton said there was a line of candy and wrappers on the path from the shack to Richmond Terrace, as if the people were just eating it along the way.
That break-in, he said, is a class C felony, punishable by up to five years in prison. “The problem with the kids is getting worse,” Fenton said. “They’re committing felonies for candy.”
Fenton said the beach incident is reminiscent of the vandalism at the Little League shack at Lions Field, in which drunk teens have done damage to property they pass. He recommended residents call the police if they see unknown teenagers in their neighborhoods after dark.
“People don’t call us,” he said, but vandalism is almost a given if parties continue.
“If kids party and drink in your area, there will be criminal mischief in your area,” Fenton said.
Wednesday, July 3, 2002
Conserve Prouts Neck Black Point, residents say
Published in the Current
About 40 residents from Prouts Neck and Black Point gathered at Camp Ketcha June 27 to express their wishes that natural areas in the neighborhoods be preserved forever.
Most were senior citizens, but the youngest resident in the room was only one month old. Her parents, John and Ruth Hughes, were there, Ruth said, to make sure their opinion was heard in the town’s visioning process.
Erik Hellstedt of Planning Decisions, the South Portland firm hired by the town of Scarborough to conduct the visioning program, explained the process. The town is accepting input from residents and will use that information to update the town’s comprehensive plan, Hellstedt said.
“This is a process where the town is really trying to get ahead of the curve,” he said.
Residents were asked to create lists of features they wanted to keep, and their hopes and fears for the future of their neighborhoods and of the town.
Natural features residents wanted preserved included: Scarborough Beach, Ferry Beach, the Libby River, the Cliff Walk at Prouts Neck, Camp Ketcha, Massacre Pond, bird refuges, clam flats, Scarborough Marsh, the Nonesuch River, the Winslow Homer area, and the Eastern Trail.
Some residents were concerned about Dale Blackie’s proposal for a 92-foot tall condominium building on Pine Point, which they could see from their property or beaches nearby.
“I don’t want towers. No one wants towers,” said one resident.
Many residents were especially adamant about protecting views and natural areas. “It’s a pretty unique little place,” said Liz Maier.
Also of concern were traffic and congestion issues. Jake McFadden said the group he was working with at the meeting, “didn’t want the roads expanded to four lanes.”
Development and taxes were the most commonly listed items in the “fears category,” with other issues including jet-skis, lack of beach access, special exemptions to zoning, lack of strong protection for the marsh, limited school capacity, commercialization of the marsh, and improper use of existing structures.
“We hope we do not lose what we have because we have what we want,” said Margaret Wise.
Residents expressed hope that there would be limited growth and more walking and biking trails, as well as conservation and preservation of more land throughout the town. Many people spoke about a town center, but were divided on what that would mean.
Frank O’Hara of Planning Decisions asked a series of specific questions that illustrated the differences of opinion. Some people wanted an activity center that could serve teens, senior citizens and all residents, which might include a pool and other recreational space.
Others wanted a “Main Street” area, with shops, apartments, churches and a real pedestrian-friendly atmosphere.
Looking out about 20 years, residents wanted many changes throughout he town, but few close to home. They hoped to see continued and strengthened environmental protection, increased volunteerism throughout the community, clean businesses, controlled growth, affordable taxes, connections between the different sections of town, and a town transportation system. Some also mentioned the idea of ethnic and economic diversity.
Affordable housing and specific areas for business development were also suggestions residents made.
The next neighborhood meeting will be held Tuesday, July 9, at 7 p.m., in Town Hall for the areas of Oak Hill, Eight Corners and Payne Road.
Following that will be a meeting, at 7 p.m., Thursday, July 11, for North Scarborough, at South Coast Community Church on Route 11 4 .
The final two meetings will be held the week of July 15 for the neighborhoods of West Scarborough and Broadturn Road, and Pine Point and Blue Point.
About 40 residents from Prouts Neck and Black Point gathered at Camp Ketcha June 27 to express their wishes that natural areas in the neighborhoods be preserved forever.
Most were senior citizens, but the youngest resident in the room was only one month old. Her parents, John and Ruth Hughes, were there, Ruth said, to make sure their opinion was heard in the town’s visioning process.
Erik Hellstedt of Planning Decisions, the South Portland firm hired by the town of Scarborough to conduct the visioning program, explained the process. The town is accepting input from residents and will use that information to update the town’s comprehensive plan, Hellstedt said.
“This is a process where the town is really trying to get ahead of the curve,” he said.
Residents were asked to create lists of features they wanted to keep, and their hopes and fears for the future of their neighborhoods and of the town.
Natural features residents wanted preserved included: Scarborough Beach, Ferry Beach, the Libby River, the Cliff Walk at Prouts Neck, Camp Ketcha, Massacre Pond, bird refuges, clam flats, Scarborough Marsh, the Nonesuch River, the Winslow Homer area, and the Eastern Trail.
Some residents were concerned about Dale Blackie’s proposal for a 92-foot tall condominium building on Pine Point, which they could see from their property or beaches nearby.
“I don’t want towers. No one wants towers,” said one resident.
Many residents were especially adamant about protecting views and natural areas. “It’s a pretty unique little place,” said Liz Maier.
Also of concern were traffic and congestion issues. Jake McFadden said the group he was working with at the meeting, “didn’t want the roads expanded to four lanes.”
Development and taxes were the most commonly listed items in the “fears category,” with other issues including jet-skis, lack of beach access, special exemptions to zoning, lack of strong protection for the marsh, limited school capacity, commercialization of the marsh, and improper use of existing structures.
“We hope we do not lose what we have because we have what we want,” said Margaret Wise.
Residents expressed hope that there would be limited growth and more walking and biking trails, as well as conservation and preservation of more land throughout the town. Many people spoke about a town center, but were divided on what that would mean.
Frank O’Hara of Planning Decisions asked a series of specific questions that illustrated the differences of opinion. Some people wanted an activity center that could serve teens, senior citizens and all residents, which might include a pool and other recreational space.
Others wanted a “Main Street” area, with shops, apartments, churches and a real pedestrian-friendly atmosphere.
Looking out about 20 years, residents wanted many changes throughout he town, but few close to home. They hoped to see continued and strengthened environmental protection, increased volunteerism throughout the community, clean businesses, controlled growth, affordable taxes, connections between the different sections of town, and a town transportation system. Some also mentioned the idea of ethnic and economic diversity.
Affordable housing and specific areas for business development were also suggestions residents made.
The next neighborhood meeting will be held Tuesday, July 9, at 7 p.m., in Town Hall for the areas of Oak Hill, Eight Corners and Payne Road.
Following that will be a meeting, at 7 p.m., Thursday, July 11, for North Scarborough, at South Coast Community Church on Route 11 4 .
The final two meetings will be held the week of July 15 for the neighborhoods of West Scarborough and Broadturn Road, and Pine Point and Blue Point.
Littlejohn neighbors meet to control speeding
Published in the Current
Several residents of Littlejohn Road met with Cape Elizabeth Police Chief Neil Williams last month to discuss the problem of speeders on the residential street. About 20 residents had signed a petition asking the police to help with the problem.
Meeting organizer, Peter Hollingsworth, said he has seen people go by at speeds up to 50 miles per hour. The street’s speed limit is 25 miles per hour.
“It’s just a matter of time before something serious happens,” Hollingsworth said, though he noted that no people have been hit on the road. A dog was killed a couple of years ago.
“I don’t want to be here saying, ‘I didn’t do anything,’” Hollingsworth said.
Hollingsworth put up a sign in his truck, parked near the street, asking drivers to slow down.
Williams said it was a productive meeting, and the police will cooperate.
“As in most neighborhoods, the people there did understand that it was an issue because of their own creating the speeding,” Williams said.
And, he said, “it’s not kids in this area. It’s adults.”
Williams said the department will continue to do speed enforcement patrols in the area, and perhaps pull over more speeders to warn them they are going too fast.
“Speeding is an issue” throughout the town, Williams said, and no law enforcement agencies have come up with ways to control speeding permanently.
Williams commended the residents’ willingness to work together to solve the problem, but noted that people with complaints about traffic in their neighborhoods don’t need to petition the department for action to be taken. “Just come in and see me,” he said.
Several residents of Littlejohn Road met with Cape Elizabeth Police Chief Neil Williams last month to discuss the problem of speeders on the residential street. About 20 residents had signed a petition asking the police to help with the problem.
Meeting organizer, Peter Hollingsworth, said he has seen people go by at speeds up to 50 miles per hour. The street’s speed limit is 25 miles per hour.
“It’s just a matter of time before something serious happens,” Hollingsworth said, though he noted that no people have been hit on the road. A dog was killed a couple of years ago.
“I don’t want to be here saying, ‘I didn’t do anything,’” Hollingsworth said.
Hollingsworth put up a sign in his truck, parked near the street, asking drivers to slow down.
Williams said it was a productive meeting, and the police will cooperate.
“As in most neighborhoods, the people there did understand that it was an issue because of their own creating the speeding,” Williams said.
And, he said, “it’s not kids in this area. It’s adults.”
Williams said the department will continue to do speed enforcement patrols in the area, and perhaps pull over more speeders to warn them they are going too fast.
“Speeding is an issue” throughout the town, Williams said, and no law enforcement agencies have come up with ways to control speeding permanently.
Williams commended the residents’ willingness to work together to solve the problem, but noted that people with complaints about traffic in their neighborhoods don’t need to petition the department for action to be taken. “Just come in and see me,” he said.
Piping for pleasure
Published in the Current
Doug Campbell may have the most understanding neighbors in all of Cape Elizabeth. He is a bagpiper who practices at home.
Sometimes – rarely – he plays the instrument in the back yard. His neighbors tell him they enjoy it, but he worries that could come to an end.
More often, he practices inside, where his family has become so accustomed to the loud noise that nobody bats an eye when he starts to play.
Sometimes, Campbell practices at Fort Williams, but he finds that can be more trouble than it’s worth. When he’s practicing, people come by and consider it an impromptu performance.
They wonder why he’s not wearing his kilt, or why he’s playing one section of a song over and over.
But repetition is the key to perfection, and “it’s hard to do that when you’re outdoors,” Campbell said.
The bagpipe is a deafening instrument indoors, by design. “It’s intended to be played outdoors,” Campbell said. “It demands attention.”
The bagpipes, he said, have a connection to the spirit somehow, and instruments with an air reservoir can be found in many cultures across the globe.
As a result, bagpipes have a unique role at ceremonial functions, including funerals and memorial services. “I played at services after 9/11,” Campbell said, including a service in front of Portland’s City Hall. He also played at Cape’s Memorial Day celebration this year.
His playing started at age 13. And though his last name is Scottish, he wasn’t raised with an appreciation of his Scottish heritage. Instead, he learned about the bagpipes from a friend of a cousin and fell in love with the instrument.
“It sort of came up unbidden,” Campbell said.
He also played guitar at the time, and that ended up taking more of his time. He stopped piping for about 20 years. When his family moved to Maine about 12 years ago, he picked it up again.
“I’d always regretted having stopped,” Campbell said. Though it wasn’t easy, starting over wasn’t as hard as he had feared. “The fingers remembered the patterns,” he said.
He called around and found a teacher in Winchester, Mass., who comes to Maine every two weeks.
“It’s very important to find a good instructor on a bagpipe, because it’s about your technique,” Campbell said.
Breathing to fill the bag, squeezing to create sound, and fingering to make the music are all important and complex. And they have to be coordinated – any error can make a bagpipe squeak and squeal.
“So few people hear (bagpipes) played really well,” Campbell said. “You have four reeds going simultaneously. ”
There are three drones, which make constant tones that serve as the background to the medley, which is played by the chanter.
Keeping the airflow out of the bag steady is the especially difficult part of playing the bagpipes, he said, because it involves keeping pressure on the bag when blowing into it.
In most wind instruments, breathing is crucial to the music. “Your phrasing is connected to your breath,” Campbell said. Not so in a bagpipe. A piper can choose to take short breaths or long ones to keep the bag full. The key is to keep air flowing out of the bag consistently.
If there is too little pressure on the bag, the music starts to sound bad.
Other factors can also affect the quality of the sound, including temperature and moisture changes in the air either inside or outside the bag. When the instrument is not being played, the reeds can dry out.
At most services, Campbell said, the piper plays at the beginning of the service, waits through the rest of it, and plays at the end. After all that idle time, the instrument can sound very strange when it first starts up again.
Practice is the best way to learn to control the bagpipe, which Campbell called “an organism.”
Pipe bands are often a good way to get experience in a group and learn from other pipers, he said, but “there’s nothing in Portland, which is kind of surprising.”
“I enjoy playing solo,” he said. When he needs a group, he can call on his three sons, who are also studying the bagpipes.
For a couple of weeks each summer, the whole family travels to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, to intensively study music and dancing.
The island, Campbell said, is a truer representation of traditional Scottish culture than in Scotland, because it is an isolated island to which whole communities transplanted themselves in the 17th and 18th centuries to escape English persecution.
Doug Campbell may have the most understanding neighbors in all of Cape Elizabeth. He is a bagpiper who practices at home.
Sometimes – rarely – he plays the instrument in the back yard. His neighbors tell him they enjoy it, but he worries that could come to an end.
More often, he practices inside, where his family has become so accustomed to the loud noise that nobody bats an eye when he starts to play.
Sometimes, Campbell practices at Fort Williams, but he finds that can be more trouble than it’s worth. When he’s practicing, people come by and consider it an impromptu performance.
They wonder why he’s not wearing his kilt, or why he’s playing one section of a song over and over.
But repetition is the key to perfection, and “it’s hard to do that when you’re outdoors,” Campbell said.
The bagpipe is a deafening instrument indoors, by design. “It’s intended to be played outdoors,” Campbell said. “It demands attention.”
The bagpipes, he said, have a connection to the spirit somehow, and instruments with an air reservoir can be found in many cultures across the globe.
As a result, bagpipes have a unique role at ceremonial functions, including funerals and memorial services. “I played at services after 9/11,” Campbell said, including a service in front of Portland’s City Hall. He also played at Cape’s Memorial Day celebration this year.
His playing started at age 13. And though his last name is Scottish, he wasn’t raised with an appreciation of his Scottish heritage. Instead, he learned about the bagpipes from a friend of a cousin and fell in love with the instrument.
“It sort of came up unbidden,” Campbell said.
He also played guitar at the time, and that ended up taking more of his time. He stopped piping for about 20 years. When his family moved to Maine about 12 years ago, he picked it up again.
“I’d always regretted having stopped,” Campbell said. Though it wasn’t easy, starting over wasn’t as hard as he had feared. “The fingers remembered the patterns,” he said.
He called around and found a teacher in Winchester, Mass., who comes to Maine every two weeks.
“It’s very important to find a good instructor on a bagpipe, because it’s about your technique,” Campbell said.
Breathing to fill the bag, squeezing to create sound, and fingering to make the music are all important and complex. And they have to be coordinated – any error can make a bagpipe squeak and squeal.
“So few people hear (bagpipes) played really well,” Campbell said. “You have four reeds going simultaneously. ”
There are three drones, which make constant tones that serve as the background to the medley, which is played by the chanter.
Keeping the airflow out of the bag steady is the especially difficult part of playing the bagpipes, he said, because it involves keeping pressure on the bag when blowing into it.
In most wind instruments, breathing is crucial to the music. “Your phrasing is connected to your breath,” Campbell said. Not so in a bagpipe. A piper can choose to take short breaths or long ones to keep the bag full. The key is to keep air flowing out of the bag consistently.
If there is too little pressure on the bag, the music starts to sound bad.
Other factors can also affect the quality of the sound, including temperature and moisture changes in the air either inside or outside the bag. When the instrument is not being played, the reeds can dry out.
At most services, Campbell said, the piper plays at the beginning of the service, waits through the rest of it, and plays at the end. After all that idle time, the instrument can sound very strange when it first starts up again.
Practice is the best way to learn to control the bagpipe, which Campbell called “an organism.”
Pipe bands are often a good way to get experience in a group and learn from other pipers, he said, but “there’s nothing in Portland, which is kind of surprising.”
“I enjoy playing solo,” he said. When he needs a group, he can call on his three sons, who are also studying the bagpipes.
For a couple of weeks each summer, the whole family travels to Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, to intensively study music and dancing.
The island, Campbell said, is a truer representation of traditional Scottish culture than in Scotland, because it is an isolated island to which whole communities transplanted themselves in the 17th and 18th centuries to escape English persecution.
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