Donald Patrick Sargent

A celebration of 70 years of composing – by Geoff Hore

Donald Patrick Sargent 2013

‘Composing is the easiest thing in the world, if you can do it. Pipe Major Donald MacLeod’

THE FIRST ARTICLE in this series about New Zealand Composers of Bagpipe Music was published in the New Zealand Pipe Band magazine August 2001 and the composer who featured was Donald Patrick Sargent. The article coincided with the publication of The Muckle Dram Collection that contained 95 of Donald’s tunes. Since that milestone in New Zealand bagpipe music publishing history, he has continued composing and recently a number of significant events have occurred that warrants the retelling of his life story as well as updating recent developments.

Donald Patrick Sargent was born in Dannevirke, a small provincial town in the lower part of the North Island of New Zealand on 11 July 1925. He was the youngest of five children by nine years and had three brothers and a sister. During his childhood he lived at Matamau, a country district a few miles north of Dannevirke where his parents had a small farm. His father was New Zealand born with parents from Lincolnshire in England, whilst his mother’s family came from Tipperary in Ireland. Oddly enough it was his father who had a passionate fondness for the music of the Highland Bagpipe and saw to it that Donald was taught the pipes at 10 years of age.

His first teacher was George Rose who was a member of the Ruahine Highland Pipe Band. George used to call at the farm on his way to band practice at the Matamau country hall. Later Donald joined the main group for chanter practice. He had a natural talent for music and could play the mouth organ, tin whistle and melodeon before he started on the pipes. The neighbours used to say, ‘Young Sargent could get a tune out of a seven-wire fence.’

When Donald was 11 the family sold the farm and moved to Dannevirke where he attended the local High School. In 1939 a pipe band was formed at the school of which he became the Pipe Major. The following year the Ruahine Band won the New Zealand Championship for the first time.

At the conclusion of his secondary schooling, Donald moved to Wellington and there he met Bruce McCann who became his tutor for three years and friend for life. He always maintained ‘McCann was a good piper but a great teacher’. He learned a piobaireachd or two from Bruce McCann but after he returned to Dannevirke there was no source of tuition available, so he concentrated on small music, both band and solo. It was during this time that he started composing and has continued up to the present time. In 1946 Donald played with the Ruahine Band and later became Musical Director of the Dannevirke and District Pipe Band and in 1953 they won the New Zealand B Grade Championships. Later the Band competed strongly in A Grade until 1960 when loss of members forced it to retire from competition. In 1961 Donald was appointed to the New Zealand Pipe Band Association’s Panel of Judges on which he served for 27 years until his retirement in 1988. He was also in demand as a solo judge and retired from that panel in 1996.

Throughout his personal life he was involved in accountancy and secretarial work; the last 21 years of his working life were as secretary to the Woodville-Pahiatua Racing Club based in Woodville. Donald spent a couple of years in Ireland in the 1950s and has been back twice on holiday to Scotland and Ireland in 1992 and 1998, both times in the company of his old crony Willie Anderson. Donald was married in 1959 and had three children, Ewan, Terry and Margaret. Terry died accidentally in 1982 at the age of 18 and wife Mary passed away in January 1993. All his family are remembered in the tunes that bear their names.

Donald lived in Woodville for 51 years where his main interest, apart from piping and pipe music, was in holistic healing work. In 2006 he moved from Woodville, over the Ruahine Ranges to Ashhurst, a small town closer to Palmerston North and is still actively involved in holistic healing.

Donald is now 88 years old and although generally in good health his eyesight is failing. In 2006 he could no longer accurately record the tunes in manuscript so purchased a computer and installed the bagpipe music-writing programme Electric Pipes by Andrew Baker of Auckland, New Zealand. He admits that without this, and assistance from Andrew, none of the tunes composed over the last seven years would have been recorded. Since then, the problem has worsened, and Donald has ‘hung up his 1 quill’ and ‘invited his Muse to find a new scribe’.

There are many from the older generation who openly admit they have no desire to get involved with computers, but not Donald. He very quickly learned the basics and rapidly became quite deft at emailing, surfing the internet and setting up his newly composed tunes. He was not aware of the power and speed of converting files to pdf and still sent copies of tunes via 'snail mail'. However, once told about the availability of internet downloads he located a pdf programme, installed it, and then emailed his latest tune - all within the hour.

In the eight years following the publication of the The Muckle Dram Collection in 2001 Donald composed 25 new tunes that were published in Cuth Selby’s Pipe Tunes by Valda & Ewen McCann in 2009. The following four years have probably been the most prolific of Donald’s 70 year composing marathon and a further 31 new tunes have appeared. Also, another five previously lost or forgotten tunes have surfaced.

During the 1950s, 60s and 70s Donald was actively involved in the competition scene, as a soloist, in pipe bands and judging, and the desire to emulate compositions like those that had become the standard fare in these events was foremost in his mind. Most of the tunes in The Muckle Dram Collection are similar in style to the existing classics and often their quality is not too far away from the mark. As he got older Donald’s mood changed and over the last decade and a half many tunes have moved away from the heavy competition style to a more ‘user friendly’ means of creating good music. Pipers who wish to play simpler more melodic tunes at a ceilidh or for themselves will find many from the last 15 years that will appeal. Donald created a number of high-quality tunes in his early years, but many believe that all those from the last decade or so are amongst his best compositions.

Interest has been expressed from within New Zealand and overseas for a reprint of the The Muckle Dram Collection but the cost of producing just a few copies would be uneconomical. However, by the end of 2012 there were so many new compositions it did seem that publishing a new book would be financially viable and to reprint the original book at the same time suddenly became a reality. The writer mulled over the logistics of producing two books but kept putting it off ‘until he had more time’. The prod came after the Waipu Highland Gathering on New Year’s Day 2013 when the writer was having a quiet dram with Allan Cameron and the subject of a new book was discussed. Allan, in his forthright manner, said ‘…you should get off your arse and do it!’ It took just overt six months but in August the The Muckle Dram Collection Books 1 & 2 were published.

The content of The Muckle Dram Collection Book 1 has the same 95 tunes, but the book has undergone a few changes. It is now in portrait shape and the page layout has been altered. In the earlier landscape format, there were a number of six parted tunes that went onto two pages; each tune is now on one page. There were also some tunes at the end that were added at the final stages of production but in the new publication these have been included with other tunes of the same genre. The preliminary material has been retained except for the photographs and a new Preface has been added. The Frontispiece of Book 1 has a photograph of Donald at the early part of his composing career and Book 2 has a photograph taken in 2013. Both books have been formatted in accordance with the principals laid out in The Oxford Guide to Style by R M Ritter, published by Oxford University Press 2002.

The Muckle Dram Collection Book 2 is a collection of 56 tunes composed since 2001 and a further five from earlier times that have only recently been discovered. One of the older tunes is a hornpipe composed for the flute in 1974 and is called Irish Hornpipe for Barbara. Anyone interested in listening to the tune can access it in the sound file at the bottom of the front page of the www.silverchanter.com website. It is a delightful tune but, alas, does not fit the Highland bagpipe scale.

The first seven tunes are slow airs and laments. The Green Glade was composed in about 1950 and although intended to be played in the Test Selection it never was. In the mid 1950s a number of members of the Ruahine Pipe Band lived in very close proximity and they nicknamed the area ‘The Glen’. In 1956 Donald composed a lovely slow air called Return to the Glen. In late 2009 Donald was feeling a little nostalgic in his 85th year and composed a tune called Of Times Long Gone that 2 reflected this. Donald experienced a sad moment when Kalene Macleod, wife of the late Bill MacLeod of Rotorua died in 2006. A haunting Lament for Kalene MacLeod sums up his feelings at that time.

Another lament, Four Cold Winds, acknowledges that those at the Army Officers Cadet School of New Zealand, (OCS) come from four corners of the globe to train in a harsh and uncompromising environment before scattering to the utmost ends of the earth. It recognises the sadness of those who farewell cadets when they leave OCS and the chill felt sometimes by those who farewell graduates deploying overseas during their service after graduation. The tune was first played publicly at the November 2008 Beating of the Retreat by Major Greg Wilson, ONZM, NZRE.

During his trip to Scotland and Ireland in 1998 Donald met a number of delightful people with whom he has maintained a long-lasting friendship. Margaret Dunn (nee Houlihan) and her husband Alastair, both top class pipers, are two and there are a number of tunes in this book composed for them and their family. A Lullaby for Rory Dunn is for their second son and Donald considers it the best slow air he has composed. Morag Melville is a delightful slow air composed for another of his close friends.

Richie McCaw is the first of six two parted 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4 marches. Named after one of the best Rugby Union players this country has ever produced but we should not forget that he is also a piper. Jim Logan was the District Grand Master of Lodges of Hawkes Bay and a lover of the pipes. James Logan D. G. M. (Hawkes Bay) was commissioned by other Lodge members as a tribute and is played frequently when ‘piping in’ dignitaries on Lodge nights.

Margaret and Alastair Dunn took their first-born son Callum back to their homeland for Christmas 2009. Donald composed another melodic march to celebrate the occasion and called it Callum Dunn’s Welcome to Ireland. Roy ‘Bo’ Callanan is an alumnus and official piper of the Shenandoah University, Virginia, USA. In 2011 he commissioned the tune The Shenandoah University. Another commission, this time from the Dannevirke Pipe Band and called R. J. Mackenzie’s Farewell, commemorates the late Roly Mackenzie’s 70 plus years as a member of the band, many of them as Pipe Major. The last of the two-parters is called The Grey-eyed Nymph and Donald’s comments ‘This was a trout fly I tied for the Manawatu River. At least that’s my story and I am sticking to it.’ This tune was composed in 1955.

The next section of the book has 13 four parted 2/4 marches and many of them will find favour as they have very musical melodic lines. The first, Mrs Jenny Mair, is named after a well-known lady who has been active in the Manawatu Scottish Society, Palmerston North, for many years. She also served as Chief of the Society. When Margaret Houlihan married Alistair Dunn, Donald composed the march Margaret Dunn of Glasgow.

During their visit to UK in 1998 Donald and Willie Anderson stayed for a week at the Quirang Guest House in Portree, Isle of Skye, owned by Hugh and Christine (Toots) MacFarlane. Hugh took them to many parts of Skye, including Boreraig, the ancestral home of the MacCrimmons. The tune Hugh MacFarlane of Portree although named for Hugh, was dedicated to both of them.

Robert Gladstone Bell was born and raised in the Hawkes Bay area and was a piper in the City of Hastings Pipe Band. In 1980 he migrated to USA where he still lives; he inherited an hereditary title and is now known as Sir Robert. Donald composed a tune for him called Sir Robert Gladstone Bell.

On 21 April 2011 one of New Zealand’s greatest pipers, Lewis Turrell, died and as a tribute to the great man Donald composed Pipe Major Lewis Turrell MBE. Margaret Ellyn’s Wedding March is named for his only daughter and ‘…carries along with its melody a heart full of good wishes for a lifetime full of happiness.’ Colin and Christine MacKenzie of Stornoway are friends of the composer and he composed Colin MacKenzie of Stornoway and a 6/8 march called Christine MacKenzie as a token of the high regard in which he holds them.

Willie Anderson spent the last few months of his life in a hospice and Donald visited him once or twice a week to play some tunes on the electronic bagpipe. On the afternoon of 26 August 2006 Donald played him a few tunes and one was a new composition that Willie had not heard before. Despite his frail condition Willie opened his eyes, turned his head, smiled, closed his eyes and listened to the remainder of the tunes. Ten minutes after Donald left the hospital Willie died; the tune now has the title Willie Anderson’s Farewell – a fitting tribute to a lifelong 3 friendship.

At the age of 25 Stewart McKenzie became the youngest Pipe Major to win the Grade 1 New Zealand Championship and under his leadership the band has won that title on seven occasions. The band has also been placed in the top ten on three occasions at the World Championships and has won recognition as a strong competitor on the world scene. The tune Pipe Major Stewart McKenzie is Donald’s way of acknowledging his success.

The Right Honourable Sir Ian McKay had a distinguished career in law and was also a fine piper. He held many high positions in the organisational side of piping and is a noted authority on Ceol Mor. The march Sir Ian L McKay has a pleasant melody and is of sufficient merit to be played in a 2/4 march competition.

Donald has composed many tunes for members of his family and in 2001 Craig Keenan’s Welcome celebrated Craig’s induction into the family when he became engaged to Donald’s daughter Margaret. Allan Cameron is an expat Glaswegian but has lived in New Zealand since the mid 1960s. During that time, he has played in the percussion section of a number of bands, particularly Auckland and Districts Pipe Band. Allan has been actively involved in Management Committee of the Royal New Zealand Pipe Band Association and also for seven years was editor of this magazine. Earlier this year Donald composed a new tune and it seemed very fitting to call it Allan Cameron.

In 1998 Donald and Willie Anderson stayed in a B & B in Tobermory that was run by Hughina and Blair Spence. When he composed the tune Hughina Spence of Tiree he summed up the long-lasting friendship in these words ‘What a wonderful week it was and what marvellous hosts they were. When the time came for leaving there were tears all round. But a great friendship was formed and Hughina and I still keep in touch by email. This tune is in memory of those unforgettable days and nights in lovely Mull.’

Prior to the 1980s one of the major events at the New Zealand Pipe Band Championships was the Quickstep. In this event the bands played 6/8 marches at 120 paces per minute and over a set course carried out a number of prescribed drill movements. Donald has composed tunes in many time signatures, but the compound time signatures (both marches and jigs) have become a favourite and reveal some of his best melodies. In this book are eight marches and seven jigs in compound time. The Duke of Hamilton’s Welcome to Greenville is the first of the 6/8 marches and was commissioned to commemorate the Duke’s appointment as the 2012 Chief of the Greenville, South Carolina Games.

Donald has taught many people throughout his long life and one of the latest was Georgia Morrison when she was in her early teens. She was a first-class pupil and also very good at judo and Donald ‘…was mindful about what he said at the teaching’. He composed the tune Georgia Morrison for her.

Margaret Dunn is a tutor at the National piping Centre in Glasgow and one of her pupils six years ago was a young Hungarian lad called Danny Rab. When this tune was composed Margaret suggested it be named after him and it is now called Danny Rab’s Farewell to Hungary. Ciaran Keenan was written to celebrate the birth of Donald’s third grandchild Ciaran Donald Thomas Keenan, Craig and Margaret’s son. Donald describes this as a ‘jaunty little 6/8’ and it is sure to catch the ear of many pipers. Donald composed a tune in 2007 that brought back nostalgic memories of his 1950s stay in Ireland. He called the tune The Banks of the Nore and added the comments ‘A memory of long ago. A river in Kilkenny and a fine trout I caught, a girl leaning over the gate to whom I gave it and her father who brought me a cool drink. A pleasant morning's work.’

In 2010 the National Piping Centre and R G Hardie Ltd conducted a composing competition promoted by the Greenville Scottish Games, South Caroline, USA. Donald’s tune won the competition and was named Greenville’s Salute to the Earl of Wessex in honour of HRH Prince Edward’s visit to the games.

Most composers find the strathspey the most difficult method of bringing good music to the piping fraternity, but Donald has managed to achieve some success. Five such tunes appear in this book, and they all have merit. Sutherland’s DancingShoes commemorates William Sutherland of Thurso and Aberdeen who migrated to New Zealand in 1922. He is acknowledged as one of the greatest Highland dancers of all time.

The reason for a tune called The Happy Dram speaks for itself and is a ‘…simple Fling tune for young dancers, juvenile pipers and fiddlers of any age.’ When Cuth Selby’s Tunes by Valda and Ewen McCann was published in 2009 The Final Fling was the last of Donald’s tunes in that book. He comments that it is ‘…rather a happy one – a tune to dance to. That said, I believe it will keep an honest piper gainfully employed’.

Earlier this year a new strathspey was composed called MacLeod’s Wee Dram and it is appropriate the composer should tell the story behind it: ‘I have a photo taken after the Argyllshire Gathering in 1998 of the late Bill MacLeod of Rotorua offering the late Willie Anderson a ‘drop of the craythur’ from a bottle he had in the boot of his car. But Bill had forgotten to put in the glasses and the only thing available was the little screw top from the bottle itself. The photo shows Willie reaching for the wee dram and on his face a look of sheer disbelief! People leaving the Grounds and taking in the scene would have thought MacLeod to be a canny man indeed. Later on, we caught up with Bill again in Stornoway up in Lewis and the drams that followed while not 'muckle' were a huge improvement on that bad day at Oban.’

When we reflect upon the titles of some of the older tunes we often wonder if the stories associated with them are correct. This time we have the documentary evidence:

The final strathspey is Pickett’s Post. The late Jim Picket was a member of the Dannevirke and District Pipe Band and after a hard day’s work would often lean against a post in the band room during practice.

There are only three reels in this book, but they are all quality tunes. Crazy Donald was named when his daughter Margaret took a photo at his 80th birthday. He had a ‘….sly maniacal look’ and Donald says the tune ‘…is a self portrait’. Ewen McCann was taught Highland dancing by Willie Sutherland. He remained loyal to his teacher’s style, but this was not acceptable to the New Zealand Academy of Highland and National Dancing, and he never won any dancing competitions after the Academy prevailed. Nevertheless, he was a fine dancer and in 2012 Donald composed the tune Ewen – The Dancer. Ewen was also taught to play the pipes by his father Bruce.

The reel The Muckle Dram is considered by many to be Donald’s greatest composition. In 1969 when the late Pipe Major Donald MacLeod visited New 5 Zealand, he heard the tune played and remarked that it was the best reel composed since John Morrison of Assynt House. The tune has been played in competitions by many New Zealand bands and soloists but one of the biggest boosts it received was when the Canadian band 78th Frasers played it at the World Championships. Then one night in 2009 he awoke in the early hours and a new reel emerged from the depths. He named it Noeleen Thompson’s Reel after a friend who is ‘…a kind and caring person who has been a wonderful help to me in my senior years, especially since failing eyesight ended my driving days. This collection would not be complete without my tribute to ‘Tommo’ – a very special friend’. The writer considers this to be one of the best tunes he has composed.

Hornpipe and jig competitions have been played in solo competitions in New Zealand for many decades and it is not surprising composers from this country have come up with many of these tunes. Donald is no exception and has eight hornpipes and nine jigs. Farewell to Mull tells of the magical time he spent on the Hebridean isle and the sadness of leaving. The late Julie Appleton-Seymour was a well-known Highland dancer and judge from Hawkes Bay and shortly before she died Julie’s Hornpipe was composed. Another very good tune is Young Nick’s Hornpipe named for his grandson Nicholas Craig Keenan when he was born in April 2006.

Many New Zealanders still revel in the glory of the time in 1995 when we won the America’s Cup. The late Sir Peter Blake was the leader of an excellent team who saw the famous NZL32 ‘Black Magic’ beat the best in the world. The occasion excited Donald as well and hence another delightful hornpipe called Black Magic. When Donald won the composing competition with the tune Greenville’s Salute to the Earl of Wessex his prize was a Henderson blackwood chanter donated by R G Hardie & Co Ltd. He states, ‘As the composer is well past his use-by date, the chanter was passed onto a delighted Paul Turner…’ and then composed a tune and called it Paul Turner’s Delight.

In the Pohangina Valley in Manawatu is the Waterford Café and Bar where Donald has spent many hours in the company of the host Greg Drohan who hails from Co. Waterford. He is renowned for the quality of Guinness he will draw for you and it will, therefore, come as no surprise that Donald would compose a tune and call it The Waterford Hornpipe. From his mother Donald inherits Irish ancestry and one can hear that influence coming out in many of his tunes. One tune in this book is an Irish Hornpipe called Canna Bhan and he insists the tempo of this tune should be down as low as 60-70 bpm rather than the 90 for the Sailor’s Hornpipe.

Con Houlihan’s Jig is named for the father of Margaret Dunn. Con is from Cullen in Co. Cork and was Pipe Major of the Cullen Pipe Band in 1976 when he was 21 years old. The Dog and the Magpie is a musical jig that tells the story of son Ewan’s family pet (a Kelpie pup) and a magpie. When the pup is taken for exercise battle ensues between the pup and a magpie that lives in nearby trees. The maggie dive bombs the pup which tries to grab it as it goes past. If the pup needs a spell it flops on the ground and the magpie lands and waits about 10 metres away. After the pup has recovered it jumps up and the circus starts all over again. Hopefully this merry tune 6 captures the spirit of the battle.’

Photo by Ewan Sargent

In 2006 Donald moved from his home in Woodville where he had lived for 51 years, over the Ruahine Ranges, to Ashhurst. Four years later he marked the event by composing Donald Came Over the Hill. When Willie Anderson was active in the band he would rush home at lunch time, bolt his meal and then get in half an hour’s practice. He would usually warm up by playing a few jigs but one day his mother was in the next room and cried out, ‘Son, can’t you play something else. How can I iron your good shirts carefully and you playing those damn jigs!’ - hence the inspiration for Willie’s Good Shirt.

Another incident in Donald’s life that inspired a tune was a battle of wits he had with a female blackbird. She had a ‘sharp eye for ripe a tomato’ Donald was growing and complained ‘She usually won by not playing fair.’. She will be remembered forever in the tune The Thieving Hen Blackbird. 7

Now for a piece of ‘sweet and sour’. The Girl from Cullen was composed for Margaret Dunn before she was married. It is a grand tune but is very complex – particularly when it came to setting it up for printing in this book. It will tax the memory of many pipers. The last two jigs are named for Vivienne and Tony McGlynn. Vivienne is a New Zealander who travelled to the Isle of Skye to take her violin playing to a higher level. Her husband Tony is from Co. Donegal and he often accompanies Vivienne on the guitar. Both tunes are simple melodic slip jigs, one named Vivienne’s Jig and the other Tony McGlynn.

Donald’s Dream is a waltz composed away back in 1958 and the band used to play it at Inglesides. It is a very musical little tune that many will enjoy playing. When Donald purchased his computer and loaded a music writing programme, he had a few difficulties. He would ring Valda McCann who, as Donald put it, ‘came to my rescue time and again when the computer had me hanging on the ropes’. As a thank-you to Valda he composed Valda’s Waltz.

Earlier in this article mention was made of the New Year’s Day discussion with Allan Cameron. He suggested that maybe the book could be called One for the Road but the decision was made to stay with the Muckle Dram Book 2. However, it does not take much of a suggestion for Donald to come up with a tune and within a day or two along came a cracking good 6/8 march called One for the Road. This has been deliberately placed as the second last tune in the book.

As the publication date of The Muckle Dram Collection Book 2 approached Donald realised that it was becoming more difficult to record the tunes – even on the computer. He made the decision that once this book was published, he would not compose any more tunes, but he still had one tune in him. It is a 3/4 retreat called Farewell My Muse and one that bands will be playing in Street Marches in the not-too- distant future. Donald’s comments are rather poignant: We have had a long, long love affair of seventy years and now it is time for me to lay aside the pen and for you to seek another scribe. I thank you for the music you have given me that has been passed on for others to enjoy. It is our legacy to the world of piping. And now our work is finished - farewell my Muse.

And with that we have reached the end of an era stretching to 70 years. Donald composed his first tune H. M. S. Achilles in 1943 and 2013 marks the 70th anniversary of that momentous occasion in New Zealand piping history. There are many notable pipers who have composed some mighty tunes for the Highland bagpipe, but none have had the creative longevity of Donald. We often wonder what other gems these great composers of the past would have produced had they lived longer but we are in no doubt that Donald Patrick Sargent, like a single malt whisky, has become better with age. The Muckle Dram Collection Book 2 book is the proof.

Having researched and written about many New Zealand composers there is little doubt that Donald Patrick Sargent has produced such a prolific array of high-quality tunes that he can safely be accorded the accolade of being New Zealand’s best composer of Highland bagpipe music. It is unlikely we will see any more new compositions but if a miracle does happen the writer hopes he will be around to compile The Muckle Dram Collection Book 3.

Special thanks are extended to Donald Patrick Sargent for his indulgence in allowing the writer to publish his two collections of pipe tunes. Also, for the many dozens of phone calls and the stories he has shared over the last 15 years. The first book took as many years as the second one took months – it was a huge learning curve for both of us. Allan Cameron is also thanked for his proof reading and advice during the production of the two books and this article. Brom Breetveldt of Words Incorporate, 557 Blockhouse Bay Road, Blockhouse Bay for printing this book.

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