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Time for a decrescendo in pipes' boosters section

By DIANE STEINLE
Published April 6, 2006

Little League parents have a reputation for sometimes being pushy and unreasonable as they promote their little darlings' athletic pursuits.

Parents of some Dunedin High School band students are perilously close to sharing that reputation.

The Dunedin parents are in a snit over bagpipes, believe it or not, and whether high school band director James Dykes gives proper respect and attention to the band bagpipers. The dispute has now embroiled city officials and even the county school superintendent.

Bagpipe playing has a long history in Dunedin, a town originally settled by Scottish families. A bagpipe player adorned the city entrance signs, and there is a city pipe band. Dunedin has been home to the Highland Games since the mid 1960s, and bagpipe playing and Scottish dancing have been central to the annual games.

The Dunedin High School band, unlike any other Pinellas high school band, has long had bagpipe players and a program to teach pipe playing to interested students. The school's marching band students wear kilts during performances, and the band's halftime show each year showcased traditional Scottish music and bagpipes.

However, when James Dykes was hired in 2001, he wanted to broaden the band's musical literature and allow students to master different kinds of music. In marching competitions, the band had performed well for years, but was somewhat predictable. Dykes intended to mix it up a bit, but not to eliminate the pipes or Scottish music. He merely planned to vary the band's repertoire, introduce new instruments and encourage more students to join the band.

Some of the student pipers and their parents didn't like that. Their complaints that Dykes was killing the band program kept the band family stirred up, and when upset parents charged that the band's 2004 marching show did not contain sufficient emphasis on the bagpipes, the St. Petersburg Times wrote a story. Parents then said the pipers were being "tossed aside" and that the band was losing its uniqueness. They said they liked the band the old way.

The long-simmering feud blew up Saturday at Dunedin's military Tattoo, an annual kickoff for the Highland Games, which are Saturday. Parents attending the Tattoo, hosted by Dunedin High in the school stadium, brandished signs that criticized Dykes, urged that the band director be replaced and declared "Dunedin is bagpipes." Some of the band students who aren't pipers didn't like the signs and started talking back to the parents carrying the signs. Students who like Dykes were upset by what the parents did.

Dunedin High principal Paul Summa was so concerned about the size and tenor of the parents' protest that he said the pipe band, which has about 30 members and is separate from the 80-member marching band, could not represent the school at the Highland Games. He was concerned about his students' safety and about the director being subjected to public scorn.

Monday night some 60 people showed up at the Scottish American Society of Dunedin meeting and fussed about the piping issue, and parents and others in the community threatened to violate Summa's directive by digging up Scottish costumes and borrowed instruments so the pipe band could play at the games anyway. Superintendent Clayton Wilcox was contacted and even members of the City Commission got involved.

Late Wednesday, Summa reversed his decision and said the pipe band could play Saturday, but that isn't likely to end some parents' efforts to undermine Dykes.

It is time for a breather.

School band programs are supposed to be about music education, not personalities or politics. As a teacher following a countywide curriculum, Dykes is professionally obligated to teach a variety of musical styles and help students become proficient in those styles. He also should give all students, regardless of the instrument they play - and most Dunedin band students play instruments other than bagpipes - an opportunity to shine. He appears to be doing all that.

The band program has grown, not contracted, under Dykes. According to the Florida School Music Association, the number of Dunedin High students competing at the annual high school Music Performance Assessments has grown each year. The marching band consistently has won a superior rating, and the concert bands have won excellent or superior ratings. The marching band is a team, disciplined and hard working - a group to be proud of.

If parents had complaints about the band director, they should have organized a committee and taken their complaints to the school principal, who is the proper person to judge the educational merits of the director and the band program. Their public protest set a poor example for students.

Diane Steinle may be reached by e-mail at steinle@sptimes.com

[Last modified April 6, 2006, 10:21:55]