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Many members of the band started on another instrument and then transferred the skills they learned to their study of the bagpipes. In Amanda’s case, she started playing the flute in 4th grade and added bagpipes in the 9th grade. Amanda’s sister also played in the Liberty High School band (in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania) and they often played duets in performances. Those are treasured memories for Amanda. Amanda and her sister even got to travel to England and Scotland with their high school band and played with the Grenadiers. Amanda then attended the pipe school at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania where she took lessons from seasoned pros. She considered this opportunity to have been priceless.
Amanda’s sister was the person who told her about the Charleston Pipe Band and Amanda joined our band in 2011. She frequently competes with the band and enjoys the camaraderie with her bandmates and other pipers and listening to the other bands at these events. Amanda also loves playing in parades (particularly the Westie Walk dog parade each spring down King Street), serving as a piper for weddings and memorial services, and teaching new pipers. Amanda credits the playing of the pipes with making her life much more fun and playing music is also a great stress-reliever. She also enjoys reading and gardening in her leisure time after her work as a clinical research coordinator.
Amanda acknowledges the support of her family by saying, “My husband is very supportive of me playing and I have 4 kids who think it's cool--unless I embarrass them at school.”