The next set of items I found are my Musicians’ union membership cards. I started paying dues as a professional musician at the age of 14 in April of 1975. I remained a member until July 1980. The other union pipe bands in Toronto were the Toronto Police Pipe Band and the 48th Highlanders Regimental Pipe Band. We often marched together in big parades.
With membership in the union came the ability to take on paying jobs and many of the items I saved, and will write about relate to my experiences on the job. I worked as a musician or bandsman throughout high school. Best part time job ever.
When I look back at that time I’m still amazed by the number of experiences I had. The parades and shows I performed in included Remembrance Day, Eaton’s Santa Claus parade(6), Grey Cup parade (2), 5 years of the Canadian National Exhibition Scottish World Festival, many corporate gigs, festivals and performances in both Canada and the US.
One of my more memorable jobs was as part of a small group hired to perform at a Polish/ Scottish wedding. You haven’t experienced music without enduring a mash up of pipes and polka. All this before I turned 20, pretty cool.
Being a musician is a lot of hard work though. You need to practice regularly to stay on top of your game.
I’ll always remember marching into a sold out CNE exhibition stadium for the first time. There were thousands of spectators watching.
You didn’t want to be the one that screwed something up. I remember at least a couple of times when some poor soul kept playing into the complete silence after the tune ended and everyone had stopped – never want to be that guy.
Next: the circuit.