Declan Corrigan, Piper

Origin story

I started at eleven in a pipe band my grandfather founded on the far South Side, and I have piped at every funeral in my own family since I was nineteen. It became work in 2006 when two departments asked me in the same month.

Why families choose us

One piper, in the doorway or at the graveside, and it is over in four minutes. That is nearly always the right amount. I play families in and out of the church, at the committal, and at the end of a wake if that is what someone asked for while they could still ask. I have piped for police and fire funerals for nineteen years and I know the order those run to, including where to stand and when not to play. Amazing Grace, Going Home, The Minstrel Boy, Flowers of the Forest — and if there is a tune your father sang that I do not know, send it to me and I will have it by the day. I wear the kilt and the tunic unless you ask me not to, and I am happy to play from outside the doors in bad weather.

Ownership