A lone piper on the sands of Swanage has been entertaining – and intriguing – evening visitors to the Dorset town on long summer evenings.
Retired lecturer and Swanage resident Peter McCarthy took up playing the bagpipes as a personal challenge in April 2024 and almost fell at the first hurdle when he discovered that the instrument was like no other he had ever played.
As the sun sets, Peter McCarthy begins a lonely lament on North Beach
Banished from practising at home
He was also banished from practising at his home by wife Sally because of the noise the bagpipes made – but fortunately, Swanage Beach at sunset has proved to be a viable alternative.
In fact, his nightly serenades and laments played while walking along North Beach and Ocean Bay to Banjo Pier, frequently ending up in Swanage Bandstand, have gained an appreciative audience who applaud every number and often ask for requests.
Peter McCarthy’s ultimate aim is to become proficient enough to play at events such as Remembrance Day services, Burns Night gatherings, weddings and funerals.
Piper to Queen Victoria, an oil painting from 1840 showing the tartan which Peter McCarthy has adopted
“I imagine I’ve taken on a 10 year project”
He has also invested in full Scottish regalia – although as his family didn’t have their own tartan, he looked to the historic McArthur clan as the closest option.
Peter McCarthy said:
“I wanted the kilt to be authentic and meaningful, so because my surname has connections to the McArthurs I looked into that and found out that they were a piping clan, the hereditary pipers for the McDonalds.
“I also found out that there’s a painting in the National Galleries of Scotland showing a piper to Queen Victoria in precisely the same tartan, so I know it was ancient.
“I’m not superstitious, but there have been all these little coincidences which just seem to happen and I wonder whether it was meant to be.
“My aim is to be a competent player, but it is really hard going. I’ve met people who have been going for years and still say there’s a lot to learn from their teachers.
“From that sense, it is a journey – I do have a fairly clear vision of what I would like to be playing like over the next couple of years, I imagine that I’ve probably taken on a 10-year project.”
The Glengarry hat worn by the McArthur clan bears the legend ‘Fide et Opera’, Faith and Words
“Piper at a funeral provides a real goodbye”
Peter added:
“I would like to play at events, though I have no intention of charging any money, but I do feel that when you have a piper at a funeral it provides a real goodbye and I believe a lot of people like that.
“I’m very moved by The Mist Covered Mountains, the piece of music that was played at the late Queen’s funeral, though it is a very hard tune to play.
“I have found that some of the hymns which are famously played on the bagpipes, such as Going Home, might seem a fairly basic tune – but if you watch a piper do it properly, it is well out of reach for me at the moment.
“Some of the tunes I’m learning I play a lot, so people on the beach might be getting a bit fed up with the same songs – but if they ask me for Scotland the Brave or Auld Lang Syne, I will just throw those out.”
Peter will often end up playing at the bandstand, especially if it is raining
‘Difficult or near impossible’ to play
An accomplished musician, Peter has been playing woodwind instruments since the age of 18 with an emphasis on folk tunes, Scottish music, Irish music, jigs and reels.
With retirement on the horizon, he decided that he needed a challenge and decided on learning the bagpipes as he had always believed them to be either ‘difficult or near impossible’ to play as an instrument.
It didn’t disappoint him – within hours of having a set of pipes sent down from Edinburgh, Peter realised why traditionally Scots spent three years learning the chanter alone – the part of the pipes which produces the melody notes.
Only once they had mastered that would they graduate on to using a blowpipe, bag and drones to produce the full bagpipe experience.
Peter found the bagpipes were like no other instrument he had tried before
“Patting your head and rubbing your stomach”
Peter McCarthy said:
“I felt that I was going to fall at the first hurdle, as I could do nothing with the chanter. When you look at a pipe with holes in, to me I thought I knew what to do with it – but it’s nothing like any other wind instrument.
“It will get you nowhere to treat it like a recorder, the fingering is really odd. I was used to playing a saxophone or a flute, making the music from my mouth – you can sing into the flute, you can trill it, the form of the music is coming from lips and tongue.
“With the bagpipes, you have to build up pressure in the bag and then try to maintain that pressure.
“When you breathe in, the pressure will go and you have to press the bag, but as soon as you start blowing again you have to release the bag – it is a bit like patting your head and rubbing your stomach at the same time.
“But at the same time you are also trying to make music with some very counterintuitive fingering systems on the chanter while adding embellishments from the drones.”
The sound of the pipes, a fitting memorial to the fallen
“I think Sally secretly likes the bagpipes”
Peter added:
“It’s an outdoor instrument really, that’s why I come to the beach. My wife Sally is watching the Olympics and it seems a bit remiss of me to start playing the bagpipes in the living room.
“When my friend Ben came round and we started playing The Mist Covered Mountains inside, the volume in a small room was tremendous, it almost burst my eardrums!
“I think that Sally secretly likes the bagpipes, although it wouldn’t be her go-to instrument, she is more into George Benson and George Michael.
“Most evenings I will walk from North Beach down to Banjo Pier then up to the bandstand, where I will play if it’s raining.
“People have got used to me and want to talk. No-one has yet told me to keep the noise down, which I take as a positive, and people have been clapping and filming me. It must be a good thing, I guess.”
Peter McCarthy in full Scottish regalia playing at the D-Day 80th anniversary service in Swanage
Watch Peter in action
Further information
- Discover the unexpected story of the bagpipes at Historic UK
