Alex Duthart (7 October 1925 – 27 November 1986) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drums. Most contemporary western music ensemble, bands that play Rock music, rock, Pop music, pop, jazz, or Contemporary R&B, R&B music include a drummer for purposes including timekeepi ...

. He is widely regarded as having revolutionised

pipe band A pipe band is a musical ensemble consisting of pipers and drummers. The term pipes and drums, used by military pipe bands is also common. The most common form of pipe band consists of a section of pipers playing the Great Highland bagpipe, ...

snare drum The snare drum (or side drum) is a percussion instrument that produces a sharp staccato sound when the head is struck with a drum stick, due to the use of a series of stiff wires held under tension against the lower skin. Snare drums are often u ...

playing.

Life

Duthart was born on 7 October 1925 in

Cambusnethan Cambusnethan is a historic parish in North Lanarkshire in Scotland. The largest settlement in the parish is Wishaw, and Cambusnethan now appears on maps as a village almost contiguous with Wishaw. The village is approximately long, straddling ...

, near

Wishaw Wishaw (; ; ) is a large town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, on the edge of the River Clyde, Clyde Valley, south-east of Glasgow city centre. The town is part of the Motherwell and Wishaw (UK Parliament constituency), Motherwell and Wishaw c ...

North Lanarkshire North Lanarkshire (; ) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders the north-east of the Glasgow City council area and contains many of Glasgow's suburbs, commuter towns, and villages. It also borders East Dunbartonshire, Falkirk (co ...

. His father John Duthart was an

Ulster Ulster (; or ; or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional or historic provinces of Ireland, Irish provinces. It is made up of nine Counties of Ireland, counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United Kingdom); t ...

man who worked as a blacksmith, and had played both the bass and snare drums for the 8th

Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders (Princess Louise's) is a light infantry company (military unit), company (designated as Balaklava Company, 5th Battalion, Royal Regiment of Scotland) and was a line infantry regiment of the British Army tha ...

during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. For most of his life Duthart lived in

Newmains Newmains is a village and former mining community on the eastern edge of Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, Scotland, south-east of Glasgow. Although it is considered by the local authority to have a town centre in its own right. History The story of ...

, near where he was born, and worked as a blacksmith in the steel works at

Motherwell Motherwell (, ) is a List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, town and former burgh in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, United Kingdom, south east of Glasgow. It has a population of around 32,120. Shires of Scotland, Historically in the p ...

. With his wife Cathie he had three sons and one daughter. Two of his children are drummers; Drew Duthart is the leading drummer of the 78th Fraser Highlanders Pipe Band and John Duthart is a kit drummer. Duthart was awarded the title of Drum Major by the

Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association The Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association (RSPBA) is an association aiming to oversee pipe band competition, and to promote and encourage the development of pipe band culture worldwide. It was founded in 1930. Overview The RSPBA sets the rules ...

for being the principal drumming instructor in the association.

Band career

After being taught by his father from a young age, Alex joined the

Craigneuk Craigneuk is a suburb of Wishaw, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The original village of Craigneuk was located in the area where Meadowhead Road meets the A721 at Craigneuk Street. It was originally part of Dalziel parish, along with the other ru ...

Parish Church Juvenile pipe band at the age of 12, and then the Home Guard Pipe Band (later known as the

Dalzell Highland Pipe Band Dalzell can refer to: Places * Dalzell, Illinois * Dalzell, Ohio * Dalzell, South Carolina * Dalzell, South Dakota * Dalzell House, Motherwell, Scotland People * Andrea Dalzell, American nurse * John Dalzell (1845–1927), U.S. Representative * J ...

) in 1942. His elder brother John also played the pipes in the Home Guard band. Alex became leading drummer of the Dalzell Highland Pipe Band in 1949, and led the Dalzell band to first place for drumming at the

World Pipe Band Championships The World Pipe Band Championships is a pipe band competition held in Glasgow, Scotland. Overview The World Pipe Band Championships have been staged since 1947, although the Grade 1 Pipe Band Competition winners at the annual Cowal Highland Gat ...

in 1953. Later that year he left Dalzell to focus on playing the

drum kit A drum kit or drum set (also known as a trap set, or simply drums in popular music and jazz contexts) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and sometimes other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one p ...

for local

big band A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...

s. In 1957, John K. McAllister,

pipe major The pipe major is the leading musician of a pipe band, whether military or civilian. Like the appointment of drum major, the position is derived from British Army traditions. During the early twentieth century, the term sergeant piper was used ...

Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band The Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band is a grade 1 pipe band from Shotts, in the North Lanarkshire region of Scotland. The band has won the World Pipe Band Championships sixteen times. The current pipe major is Emmett Conway. Histo ...

, approached Duthart to request assistance with the formation of a drum corps, with the World Championships twelve weeks away. Duthart managed to create a drum corps that won the drumming title at the Worlds that year, and Shotts also won the overall title, as it did in 1958, 1959 and 1960. Duthart stayed with Shotts until 1982, with the exception of the years 1964 to 1967, when he led the

Invergordon Distillery Pipe Band Invergordon Distillery Pipe Band was a pipe band associated with the Invergordon Distillery. The band was characterised by the extremely high calibre of the individual players. History The idea of forming a band was put forward by a production ...

, and 1968 to 1969, when he led the Edinburgh City Police Pipe Band. With both of those bands Duthart won the drumming title at the World Championships, in 1966 and 1967 with Invergordon Distillery, and with Edinburgh Police in 1968. Duthart was succeeded as leading drummer of Shotts by Willie Stevenson, who led the Shotts drumming corps to first place at the Worlds in 1969. After this, Stevenson invited Duthart to return as leading drummer, with Duthart leading the band to first place again in 1970. In 1982, Duthart joined the British Caledonian Airways Pipe Band, while playing for this band he suffered a fatal

heart attack A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when Ischemia, blood flow decreases or stops in one of the coronary arteries of the heart, causing infarction (tissue death) to the heart muscle. The most common symptom ...

while lined up to play in the

Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade is an annual parade in New York City presented by the American-based department store chain Macy's. The Parade first took place in 1924, tying it for the second-oldest Thanksgiving parade in the United States ...

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

on 27 November 1986.

Musical style

Duthart pioneered a new style of pipe band drumming at a time when pipe bands were becoming more adventurous in their musical selections. Duthart was also known for his drum salutes, introducing elements such as back-sticking and stick clicking to pipe band drumming. He cited as musical influences Alex D. Hamilton, a drum major in the

Seaforth Highlanders The Seaforth Highlanders (Ross-shire Buffs, the Duke of Albany's) was a line infantry regiment of the British Army, mainly associated with large areas of the northern Highlands of Scotland. The regiment existed from 1881 to 1961, and saw service ...

, Jimmy Catherwood, leading drummer of the Dalzell Highland Pipe Band at the time Alex joined, Paddy Donovan, a pipe band drummer from Dublin, and Alex McCormick of the

Glasgow Police Pipe Band Glasgow Police Pipe Band was a Pipe band#Grading system, grade one pipe band from Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1883 as the Burgh of Govan Police Pipe Band, the band enjoyed its greatest competitive success as the Strathclyde Police Pipe Band. It ...

. Duthart met Dr. Fritz Berger from Switzerland, embracing the Basel style of drumming as well as the Swiss-style snare drum notation, utilizing non-mainstream notation of using only one line, with right hand stickings written above and left hand stickings written below that line. He also listened to jazz, and met and exchanged ideas with

Joe Morello Joseph Albert Morello (July 17, 1928 – March 12, 2011) was an American jazz drummer best known for serving as the drummer for pianist Dave Brubeck, as part of the Dave Brubeck Quartet, from 1957 to 1972, including during the quartet's "clas ...

Teaching

Alex was engaged in teaching all around the world, giving classes and demonstrations as well as co-authoring two tutorial books on pipe-band drumming under his own name, containing many drum scores, variations of which are still played today. Among his pupils was Jim Kilpatrick, former leading drummer of Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia and sixteen-time winner of the World Solo Drumming Championships, and his son Drew Duthart, the current leading drummer of 78th Fraser Highlanders Pipe Band.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Duthart, Alex 1925 births 1986 deaths Scottish drummers Scottish male drummers 20th-century Scottish musicians Pipe band drummers 20th-century British drummers 20th-century Scottish male musicians People from Cambusnethan