The County Cork Pipe Band

At the last practice of the season, this resident could hear the pipes and drums of Tim, Kevin, Danny and Tim from a block away. They had waited for a third piper, Anne, but she was running late, so it was just the four of them, two pipers and two drummers, and together they made a sound of a band of ten.

They were to open for the Irish punk band, The Drop Kick Murphy's, out on Long Island that weekend. It would be their last gig of the season.

The piping season runs mostly from winter through spring, with every weekend day in February and March booked, because everyone wants a St. Patrick's Day parade, no matter what the date, with at least one piping band, whether in Bayside, Nutley, Tarrytown, Rockville Center, or Rockaway. Who can say whose job is harder, a piper or a drummer? Piping requires breath, but drummers can never stop.

And this band is a volunteer band, earning only an honorarium which goes toward uniforms and instrument care. For the guys, this is more than enough. Free beers! Free dinner! And even better, attention from women.

The County Cork band is one of the oldest piping bands in the city, not quite a century old. Started in 1932, it grew under the sponsorship of The County Cork Benevolent Patriotic and Protective Association, founded in 1884. Like the other Irish societies of its time, a person from the old county would not arrive alone. The association would find the newcomer a place to live and a job.

They were the Corkmen and the Cork Ladies, and they used all of their influence -- which was once considerable -- to ensure the newcomer's success. But those times are gone, according to John Murphy, the band's historian who arrived wearing a suit and a fedora.

This resident noted that Tim, Kevin, Danny and Anne all teach in the city's schools. Perhaps today the Irish have a different kind of influence.

Anne has played the pipes since she was in third grade. Her parents hired a piper for her confirmation party, and they fell in love with him. When September came, they asked him to teach her. He was just fifteen himself.

He died this year. Now Anne carries his legacy, by teaching pipes to young people or anyone who wants to learn.

Not everyone in the band is of Irish origin, and even the Irish among them are at least several generations removed from County Cork.

County Cork lies in the southwest corner of Ireland. It's a rural county of hills and coastline. Yet despite its location, it has played a leading role in the country's liberation. McCurtin (shot by the British), McSweeney (died from a hunger strike) and Murphy (Audie) are its heroes.

But this is the history the band will pass down for the next generation.