Musician performs in exchange for inlaid work done on instrument.

LIVERMORE – The age-old custom of bartering crossed international borders when world-renown bagpiper Alan Jones, a native of Monmouth, Wales, United Kingdom, gave a presentation at Livermore Elementary School in exchange for pearl inlay work done by artisan Dick Pelletier.

The circumstances that brought the two men together began at Wellscroft Lodge Bed and Breakfast, an 1890 arts and crafts mansion in the Adirondack Mountains in Jay, N.Y., where Pelletier’s daughter, Julie P. Robinson, is employed.

Jones was a guest at Wellscroft while attending the Scottish Highlands Games at nearby Whiteface Mountain. During his visit, he saw instruments Pelletier had inlaid with abalone and mother of pearl.

Jones expressed a desire to meet Pelletier and have inlay done on a set of French bagpipes. The barter agreement was made, and Jones and Mrs. Robinson traveled to Musicale Place, the home of Dick and Becky Pelletier in Fayette.

The students and staff at Livermore Elementary School, where Mrs. Pelletier works, were given a presentation by Jones.

During Mrs. Robinson’s introduction, the distant strains of the bagpipe grew louder and louder as Jones marched into the gym. He entered the gym wearing a traditional Fraiser tartan kilt of orange, green and blue plaid. Upon his shoulders he carried the loudest of all mouth-blown bagpipes from the Scottish Highlands, whose sound can be heard for two miles.

Jones said that, contrary to popular belief, the bagpipes did not originate in Scotland. The early Romans had a bagpipe-type insturment called a “Tibia Utricularis,” which they played in a similar fashion.

He demonstrated two bellows-blown bagpipes, the Northumbrian Small Pipes and the Border Pipes, from the border region of England and Scotland. He then played the mouth-blown Spanish Geaita, the French Musette Ducour (the smallest bagpipe) and the Grande Bourbonnaise (the largest bagpipe).

During a question and answer period, a student asked what family of insturments the bagpipe belonged to, which is the woodwind family.

At the conclusion of the program, Assistant Principal Jeannine Backus, in keeping with school tradition, presented Jones with a birthday sticker and pencil, and all the students wished him a happy birthday for the following day.

While at Musicale Place, Jones gave several impromptu concerts and demonstrations to guests who visited. He traveled to Monmouth, where he and his hosts visited Cumstom Hall and the historical society.

Jones played the penny whistle on the video “Voices of Scotland” and the bagpipes on the upcoming mini-series “Napoleon.” He also has CDs available.