Pipe and drum band wants you!

Daniel McLain plays the bagpipes during the 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony on Patriot Day at the Ocala/Marion County Veterans Memorial Park in Ocala on Saturday, Sept. 11, 2021. [Bruce Ackerman/Ocala Gazette] 2021.

Have you ever wanted to learn to play the bagpipes or drums? 

The Marion County Sheriff’s Office Volunteer Coordinator, Wendy Holland, announces a new Pipe and Drum Band is being organized and anyone who is 14 years old or older is encouraged to apply. 

 You do not have to already know how to play the instruments.  Free weekly classes are given to potential band members. Classes are one to two hours long, with an instructor for bagpipes, and one for the drums.  They are held at the Sheriff’s Dept. Complex at NW 30th Ave. in Ocala.

The band began about 20 years ago, but has been closed in the last year for lack of participants.  One large family with home-schooled children made up most of the band for many years, but as the students grew up and aged-out for home schooling and went on to other endeavors, the band ceased to exist.

Holland said six bagpipes and three drums…one each of bass, snare and tenor…make up a band.  “This is a great service that the Sheriff’s Office would be able to provide to the community, and we are always looking for volunteers.  We will take as many as we can get!” 

Uniforms will be provided by the Sheriff’s Dept.

The band would be used at memorial services for law enforcement officers, in the Ocala Christmas parade and public requests for bagpipes at funerals, for example.

A video was placed on the Sheriff’s Office Facebook Page on Feb. 23 in regard to the Pipe and Drum Band.

Applications are available at the following website: www.marionso.com/volunteer-services. Scroll down to find the Pipe and Drum application.

Questions may be directed to Holland at wholland@marionso.com.