Publications - Alex Duthart

Alex Duthart was born on October 7th, 1925, in the village of Cambusnethan, near Wishaw in the county of Lanarkshire, Scotland. He was the son of John Duthart, a blacksmith by trade, who played both the bass drum and snare drum in the 8th Argyle and Sutherland Highlanders during World War I. Alex took up drumming around the age of eight, taught by his father who at that time was himself a noted figure in pipe band drumming in the locality.

At the age of 12 Alex joined his first band Craigneuk Parish Church Juvenile Pipe Band. At first he walked beside the band as there was a shortage of drums then, but went on to play both bass drum and snare drum for the band. In 1942 he joined the Home Guard Pipe Band, which was later to become known as Dalziel Highland Pipe Band. His elder brother John also played pipes with the band. Whilst playing in the band Alex entered solo drumming competitions, his first in 1948 when he won second place. Thereafter he won the coveted drumming award on countless occasions until eventually he decided to stand down to allow other drummers a chance.

Alex's last solo event won him the supreme honour as Champion of Champions. In the early 50's Alex took over as leading drummer of Dalziel and in 1953 won the World Championship for drumming. It was later that year he left Dalziel band and directed his interest in drumming down a different path, that of playing the dance band kit. This was indeed to influence Alex's style and ideas later in his pipe band career and in other fields of drumming in which he became interested.

Alex played with local big bands in such venues as the Salon and Trocadero Ballrooms in Hamilton and in Glasgow's Locarno Ballroom with the Harry Bence Band. Kit drumming stayed with Alex for the rest of his life playing with many other groups and bands, he even adapted one of his drum salutes for the kit at some of his many drum seminars.

In 1957 Alex was approached by John K. McAllister of Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia Pipe Band to help them out of a predicament when they were only a few weeks away from competition with no leading drummer nor drum corps. Alex agreed to help them out. This was indeed a challenge to get ready a new drum corps with new material seven weeks before major competition, no mean feat but it was achieved and they went on that year to win the World Drumming Championship. He and his corps won countless other drumming honours, not to mention the contribution they made to the success of Shotts Band during his period of stay. Alex ended up staying with Shotts for 29 years with the exception of two years with Invergordon Distillery Pipe Band and two years with Edinburgh City Police Pipe Band. After leaving Shotts in 1982 he was invited to join British Caledonian Airways Pipe Band and played with them until his untimely death in November 1986.

The Duthart household has always been open to drummers and other musicians from all fields in music and has had many a visitor throughout the years. One in particular from Seattle, USA arrived at the front door and when Alex opened the door the visitor said, 'I'm here on a pilgrimage to the Great White Chief' and of course Alex was only too pleased to exchange thoughts and ideas with him. Another visitor was a gentleman by the name of Dr. Fritz Berger of Basel, Switzerland, who was a leading exponent of another style peculiar to Switzerland. This meeting, indeed, generated great interest and ideas and again influenced Alex's style of drumming in later years. It has been said that Alex's drum compositions are a picture of himself as they 'swing'. He listened to all types of music and succeeded in merging some of these non traditional fields into his own particular style and ideas and the result is that many of today's drum corps play a great deal of Alex's material in one form or another which is a tribute in itself to this great man of music. Over the years many of Alex's drummers have moved on to become leading drummers in their own right, some going abroad taking with them his techniques and spreading them further afield.

In his lifetime he was a kind and generous person and was always eager to give his time and skill especially to young drummers. Alex worked during the day as a blacksmith in the steel works in Motherwell, played in dance bands at night and in pipe bands at weekends. He was also drumming principal of the R.S.P.B.A. and found time with Willie Sloan, John K. McAllister and Alex Hamilton to compile the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association Tutor Volumes 1 and 2. Alex also did a great deal of travelling all over the world exhibiting and teaching his techniques, especially in Canada, USA, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Denmark, even Alaska.

They say behind every great man there is a great woman and in Alex's case it was his wife Cathie without whose support he could not have accomplished his ambitions. Of Alex and Cathie's four children John, Kay, Alistair and Drew, only John and Drew have continued in Drumming, John with the kit and Drew following in his father's footsteps currently with the Metropolitan Police Pipe Band of Toronto. Drew previously played in his father's corps in Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia and British Caledonian Airways and is continuing in the Duthart tradition.

Alex was famous for his drum salutes and the new dimensions he brought into pipe band drum corps work such as the back-sticking, stick clicking, and the application of drums to the piobaireachd when he played with the Invergordon band. With his skills and experience he helped develop the pipe band snare drum as we know it today and also latterly a drum stick which he designed and manufactured to produce better tonal qualities from the drum. Prior to his death he completed a number of book projects.

Alex suffered a fatal heart attack while playing in Macey's Thanksgiving Day parade. He died at 10.45 hours New York time at the corner of 42nd Street and Broadway on November 27th, 1986. Alex was brought home to his family and friends in Scotland and laid to rest in the village of his birth on December 3rd, 1986, to the sound of the pipes and finally to the sound of his own drum corps led by his youngest son Drew playing his father's drum fanfare. A befitting send off to the man it was said was 'A legend in his own lifetime'. The name of Alex Duthart will live on for generations to come in the pipe band world.