This week, Grade 3 St Andrew’s Prep pupil Megan Wienekus progressed from the chanter on to a full set of bagpipes, making her the youngest Preppie in the history of the 133-year-old school. Megan is also the only girl to take up the bagpipes at Prep.
Because she is so young, a specially made mouthpiece and chanter had to be fitted to the set to enable to her to play comfortably. “Megan is self-driven and extremely enthusiastic,” her music teacher and Old Preppie Murray Roodt said. “She progressed quickly through her tunes to make it possible for her to qualify to start working on the pipes. She has learned six tunes by heart already.”
Historically the bagpipes were an instrument mainly played by men marching off to battle. A difficult instrument to master because of the weight of the bag and drones, as well as the exertion needed to keep the bag inflated while marching has made learning the bagpipes a daunting task, but one she is happy to take on.
