Merrimack Valley Life

Scots’ music & spirit come to SHS

Fate & talent lead Salem bagpiper to NH Scottish Festival competition



The Pocono Highland Dancers drove from Pennsylvania to compete in Scottish Arts’ NH Indoor Scottish Festival held at Salem High.

The Pocono Highland Dancers drove from Pennsylvania to compete in Scottish Arts’ NH Indoor Scottish Festival held at Salem High.

If the horizon is awash in tartans and the mournful wail that could only be made by dozens of bagpipes fills the air, you might think you were at the New Hampshire Highland Games & Festival that takes place annually in September at Loon Mountain. Those games have been part of New Hampshire culture for 47 years. But if it is April, and you are among the hundreds of performers and viewers who need a mid-season recharge of Scottish tradition, you’ve arrived at the New Hampshire Indoor Scottish Festival held at Salem High School. This year, April 22 marked the 20th anniversary of the festival hosted by Scottish Arts.

The Indoor Scottish Festival focuses on the music and dancing of Scotland, without the athletics or, thankfully, the haggis. The festival includes group and individual competitions and lessons and heritage workshops. Vendors offered everything from regalia (it’s tartan, not plaid), and traditional instruments, to Scottish genealogy searches and college scholarships for anyone with even a wee bit of Scottish blood. The scholarships are offered through the Scots’ Charitable Society (scots-charitable.org), the oldest charitable organization in the Western Hemisphere!

Dale Capuano (shown) and her sister Dawn Cox played bagpipes as children. Dawn played for most of her life, while Dale gave them up for 51 years before being encouraged by her sister, the spirit of their father and a winning raffle ticket to try again. Dale plays with NH Pipe and Drums. Salem Life photos by Alison Colby-Campbell

Dale Capuano (shown) and her sister Dawn Cox played bagpipes as children. Dawn played for most of her life, while Dale gave them up for 51 years before being encouraged by her sister, the spirit of their father and a winning raffle ticket to try again. Dale plays with NH Pipe and Drums. Salem Life photos by Alison Colby-Campbell

Despite widespread interest in Scottish heritage throughout New Hampshire, only one piper at the event – Dale Capuano – claimed Salem as home. Capuano began piping at a young age. Her father brought daughters Dale, 12, and Dawn, 13, to watch a parade. Before the last piper in the band marched by, he told the girls he wanted them to take up the pipes. Dawn was far more enthusiastic about the idea, Dale more reticent.

Dale admitted, “I didn’t care at first, but I still put in time practicing one hour a day, five days a week. My sister taught me what she learned in her lessons. She was the better student.”

They played through high school, then headed off to college. Dawn picked a school with a pipe band while Dale chose a school without. Dale put her talent aside forever – she thought. Her sister continued to play and teach. Fifty-one years later, in 2018, fate stepped in. Dale went to the Highland Games at Loon Mountain and entered a raffle to win a jackpot of a few hundred dollars. Instead, her name was pulled to win a new top-of-the-line set of Gibson bagpipes, worth ten times the cash she might have won. Gibson is a New Hampshire company, touting itself as the creator of “North America’s Premier Handcrafted Bagpipes.”

These performers with the Stuart Highlanders look straight out of central casting for Scottish bagpipers. Their band took first place in the Grade 5 competition.

These performers with the Stuart Highlanders look straight out of central casting for Scottish bagpipers. Their band took first place in the Grade 5 competition.

Sadly, about this time, Dale’s sister was withdrawing from playing because she no longer had the lung capacity needed for the instrument. Lung cancer curtailed Dawn’s ability to teach and play. She told Dale that winning the pipes was a message from their father that he wanted to keep piping in the family.

Dale picked up the pipes expecting the worst: “It’s not like getting back on a bicycle. You have to be in condition to play the bagpipes. But that being said, it was less than a year later that I played my first competition and won second place in my category playing at the Highland Games.”

NH Pipes and Drums took second place in the Grade 5 competition, even though bagpiper Dale Capuano from Salem was sidelined with an injury.

NH Pipes and Drums took second place in the Grade 5 competition, even though bagpiper Dale Capuano from Salem was sidelined with an injury.

She is carrying on the legacy for both her father and her sister now. Dawn passed two years ago. Dale’s renewed interest in playing has grown ever since. She plays for a love of the music, for the memories of her father and sister, and for the community she finds within the NH Pipe and Drums band of Manchester.

Unfortunately, an injury prevented her from playing at this year’s Indoor Scottish Festival, so she stepped up and volunteered to man the raffle booth. She could never have stayed home. She had to come and watch her team, she said. Piping is in her heart and soul, and NH Pipe and Drums didn’t disappoint. They took second place in the Grade 5 competition. Dale was there cheering them on. And, she suspects her father and sister were there in spirit, too.

Information on Scottish Arts and their events can be found at Scottisharts.org.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *