Wednesday, November 12, 2008 6:03 AM EST
By CAROL HOPKINS
Of The Oakland Press
Waterford Township firefighter Gene Butcher sometimes practices his bagpipes standing outside the Fire Station No. 4 on Williams Lake Road. “I get an odd look from neighbors sometimes,” he said. “But no one has said a whole lot.” Butcher, 34, is a member of two pipe and drum bands in the area — the Metro Detroit Police and Fire Pipes & Drums band and Shrine Highlanders Pipes and Drums. The Metro Detroit band, established in 2002, plays to honor police officers and firefighters killed in the line of duty. All of the band’s members are sworn police officers and firefighters. The Shrine band goes back to 1959. It is a parade band that supports the Shrine Hospitals for disabled and burned children. Butcher — a drummer since he was a Waterford teenager — started playing the big bass drum with the Shrine band in 2004. “It weighs about 25 pounds,” he said.
“It kind of throws you off balance and pulls you forward. It’s not unbearable, not like wearing fire gear.”
He began playing the drum in the Metro Detroit band in 2007.
Last fall, he began taking bagpipe lessons from Todd Wyber of Farmington Hills. Wyber has been playing since he was 14. Butcher worried he might not have the patience for the pipes. “You start on a chanter, which is like a recorder,” he said. “You learn the fingerwork on that.” He practices for hours each day, he said. “It’s difficult, but doable. What’s tough is making the time to practice and memorizing the music.” Butcher — Waterford Fire Department’s training officer and a firefighter/engineer — works out of fire stations No. 1 and No. 4. A firefighter since 1994, he practices with the Metro band every week in Berkley. Gary Marchetti, a detective sergeant with the Dearborn Police Department and a pipe major with the Metro Detroit band, has known Butcher about four years. He said Butcher is “coming along really well” with the bagpipes. Marchetti, who has been playing bagpipes for 12 years, said learning to play the pipes is like “walking backwards, chewing gum and rubbing your stomach at the same time.” He said Butcher is a “very dedicated and loyal” participant in the band. “He’s real big into charity work,” he said. When performing, Butcher wears a kilt and stockings. “Last year in the Chicago St. Patrick’s Day parade, it was about 30 degrees outside,” he said. “It was cold.” But being in the bands allowed Butcher to travel. “I’ve been to Colorado, Indianapolis and Chicago playing at events and meeting new people who do the same thing,” he said. He’s proud to perform. “It’s a way to honor the memory of the people who have fallen,” he said.
To learn more about the area’s pipe and drum bands, visit http://metrodetroitpolicefirepipesdrums.org, and www.shrinehighlanders.com.
Online Article can be seen here
