Bagpipe program and memories highlight seniors’ meeting
By Carole Kelly
The sound of bagpipes has been described as emotional, unique and haunting. Lady Piper Zoe Brumfield, dressed in traditional Scottish attire, recently presented an informational and entertaining program to the Forever Young senior’s group at First Baptist Clinton that revealed the uniqueness and challenging aspect of playing the bagpipe.
Brumfield played familiar songs and hymns for a green-clad audience at the meeting, giving an authentic Celtic touch for the traditional March St. Patrick’s Day observance.
Originally from Casper, Wyoming, the Brandon resident comes from a home filled with music and a family with many musicians. Learning to play the piano when she was four, she had a special rapport with her father, who was a music professor and conductor.
Father and daughter were gifted with perfect pitch, the ability to identify any musical note by name after hearing it. She can envision the notes in her mind when she hears them.
At age seven, she was asking to learn to play a “real” instrument.
“I wanted one that I could place in a case,” she said, with a smile.
Any instrument that her father brought home, she learned to play, including the clarinet, bassoon and string bass. When he needed someone to play any instrument in an orchestra or band, he called on his daughter.
“I love music,” she says. “I serve through music. It touches so many aspects of our lives.”
When she graduated from high school, she wanted to study veterinary science; but, offered a scholarship, she opted to study biology at the University of Southern Mississippi. Medical research was her career at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis and the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson.
She met her husband, Robin Brumfield, retired electrical engineer, pastor and author, in a singles class at First Baptist Church, Jackson. Parents of two sons, their home was in Forest for thirty years; family and work took precedence over music, although she occasionally played her clarinet for church services and civic groups.
The year 2000 was a turning point for her when, at a Fourth of July event in Lena, Mississippi, she was intrigued by a bagpipe band performance. Hearing the sounds coming from this instrument that she did not know how to play led her to attend the band’s next practice session at Belhaven University.
She was hooked and, by 2001, had acquired a bagpipe.
“The bagpipe can take a year to learn, and it is not a self-taught thing,” she says. “The fingering system on the instrument’s nine notes is complex. The player has to supply the bagpipe with air, coordinating the perfect amount of pressure with the arm. Valve control and timing are factors. Temperature and humidity can affect the sound. It’s a constant process. Twenty-five years and I’m still learning.”
The bagpipe’s melodic possibilities are limited, particularly in the rap and country genre, she explained.
“Maybe a little rock and roll,” she added.
Welcoming spring and Zoe Brumfield to a festive observance are (l to r) Larry Keen, Debbie Keen, Brumfield, Teresa Bellah and Lester Bellah.
Many countries have bagpipe musicians, and she is in touch with contacts in many of them. She transcribes and shares songs with fellow pipers throughout the world.
Her discussion on bagpipes transitioned into poignant sounds echoing through the church halls, as she played songs such as “Danny Boy” and hymns like “Amazing Grace.”
She recently played for a sunrise wedding in Madison and plays all over the state, in Louisiana, her husband’s home state, and in Alabama, sharing the bagpipe sound and story at churches, libraries, memorials, graduations and funerals.
She states: “I really believe that God gives every person certain talents, but we are ultimately responsible as Christians to use those gifts given to us. If we don’t use them, we don’t get the blessings we deserve, and our abilities to glorify Him are not used to their potential as He would desire. Everyone has a talent, something that one can do for God. It’s about serving others.”
Dennis Daniels, senior-adult pastor, in thanking Brumfield for sharing her talent and story, also expressed thanks for the faith and support of members, reminding them that March marked the one-year anniversary of the church’s facing gas leak repairs in the older part of the building. Presiding over the Forever Young senior group’s second-Monday lunch, he recalled the challenge of having meeting areas unavailable because of flooding with the loss of power. Cooperation and faith among the church staff, members and repair crews saw the church through adjustments that included trailers for temporary meeting sites. By September, the activities and locations had returned to normal.
