When Jake Kwiatkowski teaches bagpipes at the Hochstein Music School, he does so across the room from his younger self. Two decades ago, Kwiatkowski was a jazz saxophone student in the same basement where he teaches — now, a photo of him from that era is tacked up on one of the walls.
“I swear, the guy who teaches in this room, he was my old teacher,” he said. “I think he put it up there after I started teaching just to mess with me.”
This intersectionality between historic and modern is one Kwiatkowski straddles regularly as a bagpiper. He teaches students across greater Rochester, from nine years old to past retirement, both at his home studio in Irondequoit and downtown at Hochstein. He gigs at Irish and Scottish events alike, including festivals, birthday parties and weddings. But his favorite gig is one that, unlike the majority of his work, addresses something more somber.
“A funeral brings back to everyone what’s actually important,” he said. “It strips everything away, and people are their true selves.”
Kwiatkowski’s true self is tied to the bagpipes, which he picked up at the precocious age of four. He started taking lessons from Scottish pipe band Feadán Òr founder Kevin Angus in Penfield. Throughout high school, he traveled from Spencerport to Toronto to play with one of the four professional pipe bands in North America.
This intense commitment led Kwiatkowski to set the pipes aside for 15 years, only returning seriously to the instrument after being laid off in 2022. He is now the only full-time piper in the area, which makes him a monolith and pioneer for Celtic musicians in Rochester.
“I just think it is the most beautiful, lilting type of music, and there’s so much expression,” said McKayla Jenkins, a fifth-year student at Nazareth University, which is also Kwiatkowski’s alma mater. A music education major, Jenkins decided to pick up the bagpipes a couple months ago for a needed break from classical Western music. She encountered Kwiatkowski giving a Tedx talk at Nazareth, and was glued to his 15-minute presentation. Jenkins is looking forward to improving her skills enough to play with other students; Kwiatkowski hosts a circle every other Friday for his students to play informally and get to know other musicians.
As a young boy, seeing a female bagpiper was rare — but now, Kwiatkowski is an agent of change in the diversity of the bagpiping scene. Now, with the help of Irish and Scottish musicians alike, he hopes to make the craft more accessible for those without familial knowledge that goes back for generations.
“I’m teaching a Tolomeo, and my last name’s Kwiatkowski,” he said. “Most of my students found their way into the bagpipe scene through Google — and then, me.”
Because bagpipes only play in one key and have a buzzing, unmistakable timbre, they do not mix well with other instruments. Bagpipers play while marching (which dates back to the British military influence on Scotland) or in a circle with other pipers. This is very different from the Irish “sessions,” where anyone is welcome to join and jam (or, at least, dance). Kwiatkowski has been invited many times to join in on the fun. This sociability, he said, is reflective of the Rochester Celtic music scene overall.
In the future, Kwiatkowski plans to pop in on an Irish pub session or two and continue bringing the Celtic music community together, leading by example. He currently teaches the bassist of the local band the Irish Lassies the bagpipes. In the future, Kwiatkowski wants to set up a youth pipe band in Rochester — the kind he would have benefited from in high school. Maybe in another 20 years, one of his students will have their photo on the wall of the Hochstein basement, next to his.
“The next generation is starting to take the mantle, and we’re bringing this Celtic culture into the 21st century,” he said. “We’re all just starting to, kind of organically, lift all ships because we realize that we’re two sides of the same coin here.”
Alyssa Koh is CITY’s intern. She can be reached at alyssa@rochester-citynews.com.
This article appears in Dec 1-31, 2024.
