Music has always been an integral part of my life. My great-grandmother was a professional jazz pianist, and my grandfather, was a great musician He played brass instruments in the Salvation Army Band in Calgary and later as a boy soldier in the Calgary Highlanders. He was a founding member of the Red Deer Music Society and played in concert bands his whole life. His influence played a crucial role in my development as a musician. From a young age, I was exposed to a rich variety of music, including classical, film music, marching and military bands, and, of course, pipes and drums. Thanks to my father’s vast collection of vinyl records, I also explored rock, blues, and pop music.
My first instrument was the harmonica. I would make up simple tunes to play at recess in elementary school. I enjoyed creating raps and rewriting song lyrics, finding music to be an escape and a constant source of discovery.
In 1986, everything changed for me when my father took me to see the movie “Top Gun.” I became fascinated with the military and aspired to become a pilot. I joined Navy League at age 10 and, at 12, I joined 7 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Cadets.
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When a piper in the squadron inspired the formation of a pipe band, I became a snare drummer. After a few months of waiting for other cadets to progress on the practice chanter, I decided to learn bagpipes myself. With a practice chanter and the Green Tutor book, I began to teach myself. I progressed rapidly, prompting my parents to buy me a set of Gillanders bagpipes, which I still play today. Within six months I was good enough on the instrument to join, the then grade 3, Red Deer Legion Pipe Band under Pipe Major Frank Neelands. At the same time, I switched cadet corps to 1390 Army Cadets in Red Deer, which had an established pipe band. In my first solo competition I took first place in the Grade 4 aggregate, and earned several other awards over those first years.
I began writing pipe music pretty much as soon as I was able to play the scale and a few grace notes. Often for the rest of my junior high and high school years, you could find my sitting quietly in the back of the classroom with sheets of manuscript, writing melodies out of my head.
Although I enjoyed the military tradition, my dreams of becoming a musician overshadowed my desire to become a pilot. At 17, I picked up the guitar, initially playing punk rock and surf music. By the time I entered the music program at Red Deer College in 1999, I had fallen in love with jazz, its rich harmonies, and irresistible swing. I majored in Performance (Electric Guitar) and Music Composition.
For over 20 years, guitar was my primary instrument. I became a skilled jazz player and wrote numerous jazz and related pieces. I also began teaching music lessons, and have now been an educator for over two decades. My interest in orchestral scoring eventually led me to become a film composer. A significant achievement was winning Best Original Score at the Sydney Australia Film Festival for the documentary “Poetry, War, and the Dance of Life.”
In 2022, I began sorting through and reworking my old pipe music, which inspired me to write new tunes. My dream of having my compositions performed by other pipers was realized in 2024 when my tune “The Empty Helmet” was performed at the Nova Scotia International Tattoo.
In 2023, I started working with the youths of the 1390 Army Cadet Pipe Band, my old unit. This brought my life full circle back to the bagpipes. In 2024, I competed in solo piping for the first time in 25 years, taking first place in both my events at the Red Deer Highland Games.
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Now, I am more dedicated than ever to playing pipes and writing pipe music, with plans to release recordings and a book of my compositions in the future. Music, for me, continues to be full of discovery.
Cheers,
Josh Rickard, July 2024
