In 1975 Ken Sutherland won the Campbell Naismith Amateur Pibroch Award. Below are some of his remarks from that day as well as an image of the score sheet he received that day.
The tune I played for the competition was “Lament for Mary MacLeod”, a tune given to me by Captain John A. MacLellan, who at the time was the head of the Army School of Piping in Edinburgh. In the 1970’s he came out to Northern California each summer to teach at a piping school hosted by our Band. This tune, composed by Patrick Og MacCrimmon in the 17th Century, remains one of my all-time favorites; its melody and unusual variations in my opinion make it a masterpiece. And while 40 years later much of what Captain MacLellan taught me still comes through when I play the tune, my interpretation of the piece has certainly evolved over the years with influences from James MacColl, Donald MacPherson and Andrew Wright.
The attached scoresheet rescued from a dusty box in the attic indicates that the judge, Iain MacFadyen, enjoyed the tune though took some exception to my youthful and probably somewhat off-the-mark rendition of Variation II and the Crunluath Doubling. I’m pretty sure I know what he is referring to, and I’ll be sure to pay attention the next time I play the tune!
Later in 1975 I won the Amateur Piping Championship at the Santa Rosa Games, then the same at the Santa Monica Games in 1976. I entered the professional (open) piping ranks later that summer, competing every year until taking a break in the mid-1980’s from both solo and band competition. Returning to the boards nearly 15 years later, I’ve worked my way back to a very successful solo career as well as taking over leadership of the Prince Charles Pipe Band.
