Name: Martha Davis
Started playing: In 1971, when I joined the University of Iowa Scottish Highlanders.
Awards: I’m not sure how many, maybe 20. I haven’t actually counted them! One of my instructors once said, “You’re going to lose way more than you’ll ever win over a lifetime of piping.” You could play really well on the day, but someone else plays just a little bit better. It’s affirming when you do win.
How do you practice? With ear protection, always. I practice about two hours a day. One hour is on the practice chanter (a small instrument like a recorder) to work out the tunes, and the other hour is on the pipes. My teachers have taught me to practice with intention, so I have a specific goal for every session. It might be playing a certain fingering better, or it might be testing myself to see if I have the tune memorized.
What do your neighbors think? I’m very careful. I love my neighbors. If I’m playing outside, I consider it a performance. I wouldn’t be out there trying out a new tune for the first time. And it’s all about perfecting the art of performance and making good music. I also don’t play more than five or 10 minutes outside. I don’t want to overstay my welcome.
Favorite song(s) to perform: “Scotland the Brave” and “Tam Bain’s Lum.”
Bagpipers you admire: Gail Brown, the first female bagpipe player to play in the World Pipe Band Championships.
Going deeper
Davis started as a trombone player as a student at West Branch High School. She wanted to continue when she enrolled at the University of Iowa, in 1971, but Big Ten schools still kept women from participating in marching bands. So instead, Davis joined the Scottish Highlanders, a student group that featured traditional Scottish bagpipes, drums and dancing. A year later, Title IX ended sex-based discrimination in schools, but by then Davis was already in love with the bagpipes.
With the Highlanders, she spent two weeks in the British Isles and another four weeks traveling through Europe, where bagpipe tunes have been handed down through generations. “There’s so much you can understand about the music if you understand the culture,” Davis said.
For example, songs called piobaireachd (pronounced pea-brook in Gaelic) are classic Highland bagpipe music known as ceòl mór (big music). Learning the context around a piobaireachd is imperative to playing it well. A piobaireachd might tell the story of a battle, for example. “It’s a historical record,” Davis said, with sections that symbolize the clashing of swords, the resolution and the long march home.
After Davis graduated from the University of Iowa, she earned a doctorate from Columbia University, became a college professor and eventually taught high school Advanced Placement English. She’s kept playing the pipes over the years, earning a Level 5 (out of 6) certificate from the Scottish Qualifications Authority, and has traveled through Europe and Canada for various workshops and concerts. She even competed in the annual Glenfiddich Piping Championship at a 13th century castle in central Scotland.
These days, she plays with the Kansas City St. Andrew Pipes and Drums. She travels often to Kansas City for practice and performs with the group at festivals, parades and military balls.
As she put it, “You can pipe for any occasion” — even an ordinary day in her own yard.
As told to Hailey Evans
Photographer: Duane Tinkey
