Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, August 10, 1995                   TAG: 9508100024
SECTION: NEIGHBORS                    PAGE: S-6   EDITION: METRO  
SOURCE: MARY JO SHANNON SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

PLAYING BAGPIPE IS MORE THAN HOBBY FOR PROFESSOR

``My wife thought it would be a decoration to hang over the mantel,'' Robinson said. ``I don't think she considered I would learn to play it.''

But that purchase from a small Scottish shop made substantial changes in Robinson's life - particularly in the use of his leisure time.

The Robinsons were living in Salt Lake City at the time. ``I called around, located a nearby bagpipe band and began to play with them,'' he said.

Absorbed by his new hobby, he ordered a full-size bagpipe from a Canadian importer. At that time, he recalled, ``there was a great open pasture behind our apartment building. I would go out there and practice. I really got into pipe-playing.''

The Robinsons moved to Roanoke, where he became the center of a school tradition.

``Our neighbor, Bernetta McGuire, was active at St. Andrew's [Catholic Church]. She got the idea for bagpipes at Roanoke Catholic High School graduation, and the school staff went for it,'' he said.

Since the late '70s, seniors at Roanoke Catholic have followed the bagpiper on one last trip through the school and into the church where they receive their diplomas.

For 15 years, Robinson, who teaches geophysics at Virginia Tech, played by himself at an occasional wedding or festival - and at the Roanoke Catholic graduation.

In 1982, Dr. John Harris, organizer of the Scottish Society, called to see if Robinson would be interested in starting a bagpipe band.

``We started the Virginia Highlands Pipes and Drums with three [Robinson, Harris and Ken Swisher] playing pipes. Now we have 12 pipers and seven or eight drummers - they come and go,'' Robinson said.

When first organized, the band practiced at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in Salem, where Harris worked before his retirement. Through arrangements made by their drum major, Chief Harry Haskins of the Salem Police Department, they now meet at the Cardinal Police Academy in Salem. Members from West Virginia, Waynesboro and Marion, as well as the Roanoke Valley, come to practice.

``We have full band practice every other week,'' Robinson said, ``and the pipers practice alone on alternate weeks. We do a couple of performances a month.'' The band has also played for graduations at Hollins and Sweet Briar colleges.

The Scottish Society has helped out financially, giving the band money to purchase kilts, Robinson said, but fees are necessary to cover costs of travel and music. There are separate fees to hire the full band, a miniband and some members who perform solo. Robinson has performed solo at funerals, weddings and the Arts and Crafts Show in Blacksburg. His last performance was in June - for the funeral of a friend, Charles Farrelly.

``He was a former neighbor, and he loved the pipes. It was quite fitting,'' Robinson said. ``Farrelly is a good Irish name.''

Memo: story ran in Current on August 15, 1995