Te Puke District Highland Pipe Band pipe major Hector Couper.
Te Puke District Highland Pipe Band pipe major Hector Couper.
He may have been raised in Scotland, but Hector Couper, 19, is looking to strengthen one of Te Puke’s long standing institutions.
Hector arrived in Te Puke in 2022 and his prowess with the bagpipes saw him seek out the Te Puke District Highland Pipe Band. What he found was a band struggling to survive.
Although still in his teens, wanting to play a part in rebuilding the band has seen him take on the role of pipe major.
It is unusual for someone his age to have the position.
“They are usually more mature pipers, older and more experienced,” he says.
Hector was born in Scotland, but his mum is from Te Puke.
He began learning to play the pipes when he was 8 with tutors coming into school in Ullapool to teach.
“I watched my cousin playing. He played all his life in the youth band and then played grade one with a band called Triumph Street. My auntie was a drummer, my dad started chanter when he was younger but never made it onto pipes, same with my grandfather. So we’re not much of a piping family.”
Seeing the band march through the streets and play regularly for tourists made Hector and many of his peers say to themselves “I want to do that”.
“By the time I got into the band, the band was massive back in Ullapool.”
Although he was part of the development band at the time, 2016 was the start of a golden age for the band. That year it placed in every competition entered and won the world pipe band championships in Glasgow.
In 2019, by which time Hector was a member, it placed sixth in Europe and fifth at Cowal (the world’s largest Highland Games), under the leadership of Cameron MacDougall, who is one of the world’s best pipers.
Arriving in Te Puke in 2022, Hector was surprised to discover there was a local pipe band.
“I went along and met everyone - by that time they had lost a lot of members for various reasons, but I played with them on Anzac Day and we played outside New World.”
The Te Puke District Highland Pipe Band leads the 2023 Anzac Day parade in Te Puke.
When the previous pipe major left, Hector took on the role to help out.
The pipe band was formed in 1951 and gave its first public performance at the Capitol Theatre on September 5 that year.
“It’s a band with quite a lot of history ... and we don’t want a band like that to die.”
“The plan was, with having such a young pipe major, it might encourage more young people to take up piping through our tutoring programme.”
Several people keen to learn have already joined, but more are needed if goals are to be met.
“We want the band to be as big as possible. People absolutely love bagpipes, especially people with Scottish ancestry.”
There is also the attraction of being in a band.
“I think there’s a difference between solo piping and a band where you all come together as one big group - you are all in it together. There’s drills and there’s a hierarchy but we all come together to show who we are.”
“What we want is to get to the level of competing, to get people in, build them up and if they are ready to compete, then we’ll go to Auckland this year to show them how good we are and have a good time
“New Zealand has one of the biggest piping communities in the world. New Zealand has five grade 1 bands, so of the best bands in the world, five of them are here.”
It is also a community that is diverse in both age and background.
While previous musical experience is an advantage, it isn’t essential to learning the pipes.
“When you first start off it can be frustrating, but after a time and after a wee bit of practice, it comes naturally. It’s mostly just getting your fingers sorted nice and straight. You build up the stamina in your lungs. Honestly, it’s not a hard instrument to play if you put in a bit of the work.
“It’s a skill you can use later on in life - it’s an instrument to play at cèilidh or Burns nights, St Andrew’s Day, weddings, funerals. You can make quite a bit of money off it and it looks pretty good on your CV. You can also immerse yourself in the culture or just go out and play solo or play in a band.”
