BAY RIDGE — On March 6, the lower church at St. Patrick Parish hummed with a cacophony of reed instruments called “practice chanters” and a staccato of drum-sticks hitting practice pads, all to Celtic melodies and beats.
Sixteen parish youth — most attending St. Patrick Catholic Academy, also in Bay Ridge — ranged from second grade to a high school sophomore, yet, despite the age gap, their intensity showed signs of a cohesive pipe-and-drum corps in the making.
One might surmise they were rehearsing for the 30th Annual Bay Ridge St. Patrick’s Day Parade on March 25. However, while future parades are the goal, the kids at these early-evening lessons did not have bags attached to their chanters to form complete sets of bagpipes. Those will come later, said their teacher, parishioner Cornelius McCarthy.
The group began learning on pads and practice chanters only a few months ago, according to McCarthy, an experienced piper. Still, he added proudly that this group is making tremendous progress. “They’re phenomenal,” he said. “They’re getting into the circle now, and they’re starting to sync up with each other.”
McCarthy, the son of Irish immigrants, played the bagpipes competitively at Manhattan University and for the Knights of Columbus. He and his wife, Elizabeth, have three children, and two of them — Mac, a fourth grader, and Maeve, who is in third grade — are learning the bagpipes themselves. They’ve been around their dad’s bagpipes all of their lives, so they wanted to learn how to play, he said.
That process began on Thursday nights last summer, but soon, other kids from the neighborhood and the parish also wanted to learn the instrument. As a result, McCarthy had a class too big for the family’s dining room, so he approached Father Brian Dowd, the pastor of St. Patrick Church, and Romeo Petric, the parish’s athletic representative for the CYO program.
McCarthy then got permission to teach the lessons at 5 p.m. each Thursday in the lower church. The fee is $300, which covers practice instruments and sheet music. McCarthy said parents will have to buy complete instruments once their kids are ready to move beyond practice charters. A good set of pipes starts at about $1,200, he added.
“I figured not everybody’s going to dunk a basketball or hit a homerun,” McCarthy said. “And the CYO has so many other things to offer. But, if I could catch the kids that want to be a part of something, to do music, I was, like, ‘let me give them a chance.’ ”
Joining McCarthy, who said the group is open to kids from other parishes, are experienced assistants from the parish — Joseph Marciano and Billy Woods on the pipes and Dennis Scanlon on drums. The growing group inspires McCarthy’s daughter, Maeve.
“I felt like I would really enjoy the bagpipes,” she said. “It looked fun, but when I actually first tried it, it was not just fun it was fun-tastic! I liked being in the group and playing as a band. This is the first instrument I learned, so it’s really fun.”
Shea McQuade, a fifth grader at the academy, said she always enjoyed watching professional drummers perform, and now she aims to be as good as any of them. Learning teamwork also excites her.
“I like meeting new kids my age or even younger,” Shea said.
Uniforms will be made from the Irish National Tartan, which has shades of green similar to those of the Catholic academy uniforms. McCarthy said with a laugh that the darker green conceals a “multitude” of stains when kids spill food or drink.
Shea said she looks forward to actually being in a parade with the big drum but noted she might “have to get some muscle to carry it.” McCarthy said he isn’t too worried about that.
“Fourteen pounds — that’s the weight of a snare drum,” he said. “But they’re definitely working up to it.”
Still, he noted, it is important not to overdo the lessons.
“I’m not going to go too crazy because they’re young,” said McCarthy. “Next year, obviously, we’ll do the Bay Ridge parade, and maybe something else close to the area. “I don’t want them traveling too much yet, until everybody’s confident.”
