Michael John Rogers has been piping
since 1980 and has recently risen to the very highest ranks of the
competitive solo piping world by winning the prestigious Highland
Society of London Gold Medal at the Argyllshire Gathering at Oban,
Scotland, in October 2000. He confirmed his enviable status by
winning the Piobaireachd Society (Canada) Gold Medal at Maxville,
Ontario in August, 2001. I was fortunate enough to have been at the
latter event and to hear his prize-winning performance before judge
Tom Spiers, of Edinburgh.
Mike was the second son born to John & Sarah Rogers in Cape
Girardeau, MO on January 27th, 1966, but grew up in the
Baltimore/Washington metropolitan area. After graduating from Laurel
High School in 1984, Mike attended Virginia Tech where he obtained a
Bachelors Degree in Civil Engineering in 1988. He went on to receive
his Masters from Johns Hopkins University in 1995, and now works as
a Project Manager with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, working on
environmental clean up of former military sites. Currently, he
manages the cleanup of a WWI-era chemical warfare research and
development center located in Washington, DC. and makes his home in
Silver Spring, Maryland. He likes to ski and fish.
“I had no special interest in piping before I starting taking
lessons,” Mike recalls. “Some distant relatives on my Mom's side
of the family emigrated from Scotland in the 1800s, but that is
about the only connection I had with things Scottish. I Really don't
have any piping roots to speak of. I'm the only piper in my
family.”
So, how does someone with little or no Scottish background become
one of America’s top-ranking pipers? Mike got his start in piping
with Robert Mitchell, of Columbia, Maryland. “He was my first
teacher,” Mike reminisces, “and he was one of the top solo
competitors in the Eastern U.S. in his day. He still plays, but not
competitively. He gave me a solid foundation as a piper and got me
started competing. He started me out in Grade III. He put me in
Grade III because I hadn't yet learned a 6/8 march, which was the
tune requirement for Grade IV. I got a second and a third my first
time out.”
He then studied with Jimmy McIntosh (See Celtic Heritage, Feb/March
‘96 ). “I first met Jimmy at the Balmoral School held in
Norfolk, Virginia in 1981,” recalls Mike. “I attended the same
school for four more years at Guilford College in Greensboro, North
Carolina. I only had one piobaireachd when I started in at these
summer schools, and so I have had most of my piobaireachd
instruction from Jimmy. I still see Jimmy for lessons in Pittsburgh
several times each year.”
Mike also studied with Murray Henderson. “I met Murray at the
summer schools. Later, when Murray lived in Maryland in the
mid-1980's, I had some regular private tuition from him. In addition
to top-notch light music instruction, he gave me several
piobaireachds and was a very generous teacher.”
Alasdair Gillies (see Celtic Heritage, June/July ‘99) also had a
hand in transforming Mike into a top competitive piper. “I started
getting instruction from Alasdair after he came to Pittsburgh to
teach at CMU,” says Mike. “I see him several times each winter
at a series of workshops that he and Jimmy teach. Alasdair is, in my
opinion, one of the most natural light music players I have ever
heard. He makes the hardest tunes sound easy. I enjoy every minute
of instruction I can get from him.”
The list does not stop there. “I only had two weeks of instruction
from Pipe Major Angus MacDonald one year when I won a scholarship to
the Piping Centre in Glasgow, Scotland,” Mike continues, “but he
had a huge impact on my piping career. He was an enthusiastic
personality, and he could instantly make you feel like you were old
friends. He treated me, a stranger from the USA, with a great deal
of respect for how I was already playing tunes. He also took me with
him to the Glenfiddich when he had an extra ticket, and through him
I made a lot of new friends on that short trip to Scotland.
“I also met Roddy MacLeod during my two weeks at the Piping
Centre. I had less time with Roddy than with Angus because of his
busy schedule, but I enjoyed the lessons immensely. You could never
meet a nicer guy. And then there’s Michael Green, of Bethesda,
Maryland. I never actually have had formal lessons with Mike, but
I've played in his band, the City of Washington Pipe Band, since
1995. He is one of the most musical players I know and playing in
the band with him is a tremendous learning experience. You can't
help but become a better piper just by trying to learn to play tunes
the way he wants you to. I am sure that I owe a lot of my success to
him.”
Pipe Major Green is quick to offer praise for the accomplishments of
his band mate. “Mike is a real inspiration to all good pipers in
the US”, he says. “He took several years off (basically the
decade from 1985-1995) but came back with a vengeance! Unlike many
former pipers who have done well in Scotland, Mike did it all from
here - instead of living in the Highlands for a few years to get
(his piping) up to speed.”
Regarding those off years, Mike confesses “I guess I stopped
because I was busy with other things - college, work, and graduate
school - and I didn’t feel that I could maintain the level I had
reached. I decided I’d rather not play then be mediocre, so I
stopped. The City of Washington Pipe Band is really what brought me
back.”
Mike’s rise in solo piping has been meteoric. Though he had
already established his name in Open competitions in the North
Eastern United States, and had placed second in the Silver Medal in
1998, it was his first place finish in the Cameron Gillies
Championship at the Dr. Dan Reid Memorial Invitational Piping
Competition held in San Francisco, CA in May, 1999 that brought him
international notice. That summer, he returned to Scotland where he
won the Silver Medal at Oban, and the next spring once again took
the Cameron Gillies Championship in California. These victories set
things up for his victory at the Gold Medal at Oban in 2000 and that
brought him the opportunity to compete at the Glenfiddich Piping
Championship at Blair Castle, Blair Atholl, Scotland in October
where he vied for prizes in a field of the ten top competitive pipes
in the world. It also brought an invitation to compete in the Donald
MacLeod Memorial Piping Competition in Stornaway, Isle of Lewis,
Scotland in April, 2001. Mike’s first place performance which I
had heard at the Piobaireachd Society (Canada) Gold Medal in August
was quite simply the frosting on the cake.
Mike has twice been awarded the EUSPBA President's Award, once for
his work on the VOICE, the quarterly magazine published by the
Association for which he served as co-editor since 1995, and a
second time after winning the Gold Medal at Oban.
“I’ve been involved in the VOICE since 1995,” Mike remembers,
“I’ve always enjoyed writing. Paula Glendinning, who was a
member of the City of Washington Pipe Band and was working on the
magazine, asked if I’d be interested in helping out. I did, and it
just grew from that start. It’s a lot of work, but it’s
something that I still get excited about. It’s very much a
collaborative effort, and Paula and Charlie Glendinning deserve the
lion’s share of the credit.”
Paula Glendinning speaks very highly on Mike. “He’s a true
student of piobaireachd,” she says, “and his successes have been
the result of hard work combined with his ability to make a bagpipe
sound absolutely beautiful. A good friend is one who inspires you to
do your best. Anyone who is in the same contest with Mike Rogers has
to play well to get a prize, and Mike will be the first one to cheer
you on. He brought his academic and piping skills together in his
work with the VOICE. As editor, he sought out articles of value to
beginning pipers and drummers as well as the most advanced players.
His knowledge of band and solo material is key to the success of the
magazine, as well as his familiarity with professional journals in
other disciplines.”
Mike’s musical endeavours have not been limited to solo piping.
Over the years, he has been very active in the band scene as well.
His first pipe band was the MacAlpin Pipe Band which became the Clan
Campbell Pipes and Drums, Columbia, MD, a grade III competition
band, which he joined in the early 1980's. He joined the City of
Washington Pipe Band in 1995, and currently serves as the band’s
Pipe Sergeant.
The City of Washington Pipe Band was formed in 1961 as the Denny
& Dunipace Pipe Band, partly composed of personnel from the
famed U.S. Air Force Pipe Band. By 1976, the band had risen to the
top of Grade II when it won both the Canadian Championship and the
North American Championship. In the early 1980s the band operated
under the name of the Scottish & Irish Imports Pipe Band and was
upgraded to Grade I in 1986 and won first places in Scotland at the
Inverkeithing and Bridge of Allan Games. Dropping back to Grade II,
the band reverted to is former name, Denny & Dunipace until it
became the City of Washington Pipe Band in 1992 under the direction
of Pipe Major Michael Green. The band captured the Grade 2 North
American Championship in 1995, the year Mike Rogers joined them. The
next year, the band finished in second place at the World Pipe Band
Championships, and in 1999 won the event.
“Among the highlights of those latter years,” says Mike, “was
our trip to Nova Scotia to attend the Antigonish Highland Games. The
Antigonish games were marvelous and fun experiences. It was
something different than anything our band had done previously. It
was great to see that part of the world, and to meet the people. It
was also hard work of course - we did quite a bit of playing,
including competitions on both days, a parade and a tattoo. I
remember especially hearing two pipers there that really stood out -
Ann Gray (See Celtic Heritage, April/May and June/July ‘96) and
Colin Clancy.”
The City of Washington Pipe Band’s performance for actor Sean
Connery during the Kennedy Center Honors in the Kennedy Center Opera
House on December 5, 1999 was later televised nationally on CBS. The
band also performed to a sell-out crowd in A Scottish Christmas with
Maggie Sansone and Bonnie Rideout at the Kennedy Center Concert Hall
on December 26, 1999. The band held a CD release concert for it's
new CD, Scottish Rant, at the Washington Masonic Temple, Alexandria,
VA, September 23, 2000, and performed on January 29, 2001 at the
Washington Area Music Association (WAMA) annual awards ceremony,
where it received a "WAMMIE" for Best Duo/Group in the
Irish/Celtic Category. The band was a featured performer on Garrison
Keillor's Prairie Home Companion during a live radio broadcast on
July 7, 2001, from Wolf Trap Farm Park in Virginia.
Mike is currently playing a set of c1930 Lawrie Drones. “I usually
play one of several D. Naill chanters in solos,” he says, “but
the band plays the excellent new Shepherd wood chanter.”
Mike serves on the EUSPBA judges panel for light music, bands, and
piobaireachd, and judge 4 or 5 times a year, limited mainly by time
constraints. “I give a lessons to a few students, and really enjoy
it. I hope to do more in the future. Besides enjoying the music
itself, probably the most attractive thing about this hobby is the
people you meet and the places you travel. I've been fortunate in
the last few years to have memorable encounters in both categories
(solo and band).”
