The moment it clicks: Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band’s initial reaction to the announcement that they have won the World Pipe Band Championships in 2011. Ian Lyons is pictured celebrating second from the right in the back rank.
FMM, however, represents only a brief pe-
riod in an impressive piping career; a career that is not yet over. Two Grade 1 World Champion- ships — Victoria Police in 1998 and FMM in 2011. Seventeen top six finishes at the Worlds, five Australian Championships, four North American Championships, Ulster Champion- ships twice, the British Championships, the European Championships and the Champions of Champions Title in 2010 and 2011. Add nine years as a guest player with 78th
Fraser Highlanders and a 20-plus year career with Victoria Police Pipe Band and their nu- merous recordings; solo success in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, teaching, judging, bagpipe development and innovation, jointly starting successful piping businesses with the Bagpiper Case and Moose Products you get more than just a glimpse of a “Piping Life” which started off in Northern Ireland. Ian was initially taught by his father, Wil-
liam Lyons BEM. William, being a strong personality and former Pipe Major of the 1st Battalion Irish Guards in the same era as Pipe Majors Angus MacDonald, Dixie Ingram and Jimmy Banks, would enforce a solid grounding on the chanter. Ian said: “Alan Gourley from Banbridge Pipe Band pretty much took me under his wing. He let me get on with it in my own way, in my own time. I was actually quite a slow starter on the chanter, and it wasn’t until I
‘I learned everything I know about setting up a pipe band and getting good tone from my time with Victoria Police and then perfected those skills during my time with 78ths. The time we spent at Victoria Police as a group, talking about it; talking about tone, was just mad. Years of it’
was nine that I progressed to a sheepskin goose, corks in the stocks, that sort of thing. I spent a year or so on that until my first parade at the age of ten. My practice at home was, on occasion, very strict. Rattling across the knuckles kind of thing. There were a few tears…” In many ways the strictness of Ian’s early
tuition informed how he starts young pipers. He doesn’t force his younger students to prac- tice. Part personal philosophy, part experience, part being a father. “I don’t force or pressure young kids to practice,” he explained. “They’ve got such a good grasp these days of learning; computers, games, all these things help them. Unlike 25 years ago, when we were learning, they pick new skills up so easily, they hardly have to do the skill and they’ve got it. The last
thing I say to a young student, even with Zeb, my son, is, ‘Go home and practice this!’ “I have always emphasised the need for a
strong grasp of the scale. I teach it thoroughly focusing on learning and developing three par- ticular skills. The development of good habits, excellent basics, is the key. Progressing to the next level for the student is almost a ‘moment of clarity’ for them. The student will almost always tell you when they are ready. Force them to do anything and they will probably walk away. You can set goals for them but they have to be nurtured in the pursuit of those goals. There is a time where actively encouraging a student is important, especially as they grow older and the desire to improve and develop becomes stronger.”
PIPING TODAY • 11
Photo: John Slavin@Designfolk Ltd FESTIVAL PROFILE
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