P.E.I. piper offers a daily dose of vitamin B(agpipe) during pandemic

A P.E.I. piper found a unique way to lift spirits during the COVID-19 lockdown.

James MacHattie offered a daily dose of vitamin B, as in bagpipes, virtually of course.

The videos started in mid-March as the College of Piping and Celtic Performing Arts of Canada in Summerside, P.E.I., shut down.

"We were thinking first of all about the emotional health of our employees,as everybody was going home," said MacHattie, who's director of education at the college.

"Then we started thinking, at the college we're not front-line workers, we're not first responders, nurses but maybe we can make a difference by bringing some cheerfulness to people near and far."

MacHattie filmed the first episode in the empty theatre at the College of Piping.

"I had no idea what I was getting into, I said I'm going to do this every day for the foreseeable future," MacHattie said. 

"I was thinking, well maybe it'll be 25 or so, but we were all so naive back then." 

'Please keep it going'

The videos, more than 100 of them, have been viewed around the world. 

"We started getting private messages sent, a family in Uruguay for example saying we love this, please keep it going," MacHattie said.

"There's a police officer in Brussels, he and his squad watch it before they go out and he's offered us a private tour of the city of Brussels next time we're there, if we ever get to travel again."

MacHattie said the number of viewers and shares increased quickly. 

"That just showed us pretty quickly that it wasn't just a little local thing," MacHattie said.

"It's not even people who play bagpipes, it's people who just wanted something happy."

The sidekick

MacHattie's four-year-old daughter, Briar, who he calls his sidekick, also became a key part of the videos.

"One day, she just insisted that she was going to be in it," MacHattie said. 

"It's been fun watching her ever since then, get more used to the camera but even off camera, her confidence is really growing too."

Eventually the entire family was involved, including Kylie MacHattie, who also teaches pipes at the college.

She was involved behind the scenes, writing captions for the videos and creating unique hashtags for each one. 

"It's pretty insane, even trying to figure out tunes to play for certain episodes, like, have you done that?" Kylie said.

 "As James said, it has connected with people all over the world, Briar's even got a little fan club and she's had people send her stuff in the mail."

'Brings cheer'

Mary Beth Campbell and her family are friends with the MacHatties.

She started watching the Vitamin B videos in March, after her mother showed her the first one.

"Going on social media, there's a lot of hard stuff to look at," Campbell said. 

"Seeing such positive videos, and music is just therapy to so many people, seeing those videos and a sweet little girl dancing just brings cheer into everyone's lives."

Family marching band

There was even a family marching band in the kitchen, which is Briar's favourite episode as she bumps into both of her parents. 

When the weather warmed up, the MacHatties headed out on the road, filming episodes at different locations across P.E.I.

"We just thought well if we're doing the whole staycation, let's make that part of the video so that people can see how lucky we are to live here," MacHattie said.

"And if they want to come visit, that's also great."

MacHattie stopped the daily episodes at 105, but still posts occasionally.

He will be back teaching at the college in the fall, but admits he will look back fondly over the 100-plus videos.

"I think it'll be a great source of embarrassment for Briar later, but when she gets beyond the teenage years, I think she'll look at it really fondly," MacHattie said. 

"I'm already nostalgic about it because those few months felt like a short time, but they also felt like years, and watching my daughter grow, it means a great deal to me personally."

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