NICK KIPLEY | staff writer


Ty Tuin's unique musical ability melds his passion for music and media.

If you walk by Trinity at night you will recognize Ty Tuin as the bagpipe player. This talented freshman not only plays the bagpipe, but five other instruments as well, and he wants to make movies.

Tuin is a cinema broadcast arts major whose musical repertoire consists of guitar, violin, the hammer dulcimer, the Irish tin pennywhistle, and in his own words, “anything you can hit,” along with, the bagpipes.

Freshman cinema and broadcast arts major Corey Dupree said Tuin’s bagpipe playing is best described with the phrase “Miruto cho sugoi tou amou” which translates from Japanese to, “When I see it, it amazes me.” Dupree has taught Tuin a few Japanese phrases which they often exchange.

Freshman undeclared major Dan Stevenson described Tuin’s piping on a similar note.

“If you were to mix Russell Crowes Maximus from the movie Gladiator and Mel Gibson’s William Wallace from the film Braveheart you would not quite have the effect of Ty’s bagpipes,” Stevenson said.

Tuin picked the pipes his freshman year in high school, and learned to play the complex instrument in only a year and a half.  While he took piping lessons, he gives most of his credit for learning to play the pipes so quickly to his “musical knack,” which he discovered when his dad bought him “a cheap, used violin” for his fourth grade orchestra.

“The day I got that violin, I sat down for three hours and started figuring out little songs like Mary had a Little Lamb and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star and I realized that I loved creating music,” Tuin said.

As a self-proclaimed filmmaker, Tuin makes no separation between his musical and cinematic passions.

“I love the collision of music and images- that’s why I love making movies,” he said. “In a movie, the music is not there just to fill sound.  Sometimes it conveys what the characters are feeling inside. The juxtaposition of the images and the sounds are used to create a powerful message.”

By developing an eclectic taste in music and by learning more complex and unique instruments, Tuin feels he can develop a deeper and more multi-faceted quality of filmmaking.

Tuin’s pipes have three drones, a 40 inch bass drone and two shorter tenor drones made of blackwood. His pipes are McCallum highland bagpipes from the Highlands of Scotland.

“My pipes are pretty straightforward, with a good tonal quality. Nothing too fancy, but they sound nice,” he said. “There is a huge variety of bagpipes, there are pipes from mainland Europe; German, French, Romanian, Bulgarian, even Turkish and, of course, the Spanish bagpipes. Then there are the pipes of the British Isles, the Scottish and Irish pipes are world famous.”

The type of pipes Tuin has requires the musician to keep the bag inflated with the action of blowing. This type of bagpipe, known as mouth blown bagpipes, require the same upkeep as any other kind of wind instrument.

In the bag of a mouth blown bagpipe there is a rubber tube called the water trap which keeps condensation from ruining the reeds found in the drones and chanter. The mouthpiece is used to inflate the bag, and the chanter has finger holes much like a recorder and is used to play notes.

“The highest quality pipes need good cane reeds, blackwood drones and chanter and an elk hide bag. Elk hide works better than almost any synthetic material because it releases moisture without releasing air,” Tuin explained. “Never, never buy pipes that are less than $800 new. I went to a parade and saw some pipes and got excited, so in eighth grade I bought some pipes for $200 on eBay—they were bad.”

But since that day, Tuin has improved in not only his bagpipe selection, but also his bagpipe playing ability.

So next time you’re near Trinity Lawn, listen closely and you might be able to hear the sweet, sweet pipes a-callin’ to the faraway misty highlands of scotl’nd. And if you follow your ears just ‘round the bend near the sleepy ol’ shire you might be able to shake hands with Mr. Ty Tuin, Trinity’s own resident bagpipe-playing filmmaker.