‘Competing against people my father had taught, people I admired, who were my peers, was great. I owe a lot to them for their encouragement’


It could be said that Murray was born to pipe.


Started at the age of eight by his father Donald, a piping legend in Australia, Murray would sit at the kitchen table of their farmhouse in the rural area of Warnambool in South West Victoria. A family of pipers, in a community of pipers, you could have easily transported the Blair clan back to the Outer Hebrides of Scotland. Until you realise that the Blair lineage is from Glasgow. James (Jimmy) Blair, Murray’s grandfather, was taught by Jack Laurie in Glasgow. A Royal Navy sailor, Jimmy left the service in Fremantle, West Australia. At the height of the Great Depression, Jimmy walked with his bagpipes across Australia in search of work, ending his travels in South West Victoria, some 2000 miles away. Jimmy settled in Terang, where Murray’s father


from deep roots


Donald was born and the Blair piping dynasty began. One the earliest Blair recording artists, there is still a recording of Jimmy piping where the gentle snoring of one of his companions can be heard in the background. Donald went on to teach his children Merran, Airlie and Murray, grandchildren, in-laws and the local youth, setting down awe-inspiring piping and pipe band roots for many years with the Warnambool and District Pipe Band. Donald instilled a strong grounding in the ba- sics, the foundations for all great pipers. Murray explained: “Dad would insist on teaching the fun- damentals correctly; doublings, 2/4 marches and instil in his pupils the importance of these as the foundation of any good piper. Dad was strict but only had to shoot you a look for you to know he wasn’t pleased. That was about as stern as he got. You always wanted to please him, and he wanted you to enjoy your playing. It was always fun. He always encouraged the learning and playing of good, fun tunes. We always had new music from Scotland coming into the house. Gordon Duncan and Angus Macdonald were staples.”


Murray was a keen competitor in his youth,


never beaten on the local solo boards until he reached Open grading. Such a formidable track record would be hard to replicate, regardless of the location or the competition. “I loved competition,” he admitted. “Compet- ing against people my father had taught, people I admired, who were my peers, was great. I owe a lot to them for their encouragement. They were all older, and of course I looked up to them, players such as Tim Macleod, Fiona Wilson, my sister Airlie, other members of the band. It was very competitive but we all got on very well.


It


never got to the stage of ruining the enjoyment of playing, though. Dad always had us playing in public. We played everywhere — Scottish dances, ceilidhs, Burns suppers, weddings, funerals and street parades. It used to drive us mad but I see the benefit of it now. It all helped to hone our skills. Competition is a great benefit for pipers but the camaraderie you get from piping is one of its greatest rewards.” Coming to join Victoria Police Pipe Band from


a country town, barely 17 years of age, had a very strong influence on Murray, and not just on his piping. “I moved to Melbourne after high school for further study, and joined this band of adult men from what was essentially a country town and a family-type band. I’ve only ever played in two bands, Warnambool and Victoria Police. So much was different about my early time with the Police. You didn’t have to car pool to get to competition; there was a bus provided! I learnt so much from that time; etiquette and protocol, learning new tunes, playing a different style. It was certainly a steep learning curve. I was given a lot of help in the early years, especially from Nat Russell.” The change Victoria Police helped to bring to so many areas of the pipe band idiom is well known. Much of what was brought to their competition circle by this band was a result


PIPING TODAY • 11


FESTIVAL PROFILE


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52