Posts Tagged ‘pipe band’
A Healthy Bagpipe Band: It’s About Feeling Good
Bagpipes
We’re entering the time of year (in the northern hemisphere, at least) where pipe bands experience a drop in consistently good attendance. For as long as I have played in bands this has been a truth. From January through to March a good whack of the band, a sizable group of people (usually the same), fail to attend, or attend sporadically, due to “busy-ness” – or whatever. Excuses are legion and, to paraphrase Dorothy Parker [she of "I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy"], they run the gamut from A to B. The reasons may be unique to those “busy” but to core membership – and every band has a hardcore group of members that keep the ship afloat – they bore.
To be in a constant state of busy, well, that’s a life choice. Playing in a band is a life choice, too. Is the installation of hardwood floors in the new house on a Sunday practice day (instead of a jaunty Wednesday night) a life choice? It’s a choice, for sure. How many family gatherings coincident with practice day can any one person have? Is core membership so devoid of humanity, or personal commitment, that sees them with no family that calls on their absence from band practice? I imagine members of the scary Duggar family have more free time than some people I know who claim a desire to play in a pipe band.
Anyway, I say you can either play in a band – or not. A band is a fragile thing. A band is a crazy little ecosystem. An ecosystem: a system formed by the interaction of a community of organisms with their environment. Yep. That’s a pipe band. When it comes to a healthy pipe band and a membership that’s firing away on all cylinders I say it’s chronically crappy attendees that are the global warming to the pipe band “ice cap”.
In the reality that is the pipe band world of the 21st century there will always be valued members of the pipe band “ecosystem” that have been granted by membership sporadic attendance status due to distance, or, some seriously extenuating situation. These are exceptions to the rule. A funny thing, from my experience: these exceptions would be “core members” should they reside closer to the pipe band home.
Anyway, in the end, it’s really simple: you can do it – or you can’t.
As I trudge forward, gain a bit of what I hope is wisdom, it seems to me, more and more, that the true definition of a good pipe band differs very little from that sometimes said of a good friendship: one feels better after having spent time with a good friend. So true of a good pipe band, regardless of experience level.
If you avoid pipe band practices – or anything – or anyone – for that matter … time to make a change. If it really is worth doing, it’s worth doing right.
Making good music with like-minded people is a very special thing.
One to be treasured – not avoided.
M.
by Michael Grey
A New Kind of Pipe Band
Bagpipes
The last couple of weeks have seen a surprising spike in the disappearance of drum corps leadership around the world. I know it’s a temporary moment of change for all affected bands and a coincidence that so many top bands have experienced big drum corps change but…I wonder.
Should the trend continue – unlikely, I hope – some pipe bands will be put in an unpleasant spot.
What to do with a gap in the snare section?
Greatest opportunity comes from times of change, said the wise man; so maybe that’s what happens. If Highland bagpipers are hard-wired to compete – and I sorta think they are – just maybe that is what happens.
I wonder if the day will come where we see pipe band competition on offer where there’s no requirement to include percussion? A band of pipers. Skirlin’ stylin’. A band of peeps.
Crazy.
M.
by Michael Grey
Top Secret Trip For Drum Corps
North Lanarkshire Council held a civic reception in the Hilton hotel in Bellshill, North Lanarkshire on 3 September, 2010 to honour the band on reaching it’s centenary year.
The band was delighted to have been invited to such an occasion to recognise the achievements of members past and present over the last 100 years.
The Provost of North Lanarkshire Council, Tom Curly presented Pipe Major Gavin Walker with an inscribed crystal rose bowl to commemorate the occasion with band members, partners and friends together with Chief Executive Gavin Whitefield and Councillor James McCabe and other civic representatives all present at the event.
Scots Trad Music Award Nomination The House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead Pipe Band has been nominated for a top Scots traditional music award.
The band; in its centenary year, is on the shortlist for ‘Scottish Pipe Band of the Year’ at the annual MG ALBA Scots Traditional Music Awards 2010, the ceremony of which will be held at a gala concert in Perth Concert Hall on 4 December, 2010.
Voting has commenced online and you can vote for the band now until 18 November, 2010.
Please cast your vote for one of the finest pipe bands in history and help bring an eventful year for the Shotts band to a happy end.
World Solo Drumming Championships The World Solo Drumming Championships took place in Glasgow Caledonian University on Saturday 23 October, 2010, with a strong international line up of drumming competitors in attendance.
In Juvenile Section 2, Grant Cassidy won a fifth successive world title. In Section 3, Steven Shedden took 2nd place overall, with two of the three judges placing him first.
The remainder of the Shotts drum corps played in the Adult sections of the event. David Ross reached the semi-final while Jim Kilpatrick MBE qualified for the final, where he took fourth place overall.
Congratulations to all of the drummers for participating and on their respective accomplishments and thanks too to their pipers for supporting their performances.
Shotts Invited To Indoor Showdown The House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead Pipe Band will have the opportunity in 2011 to defend their 2010 success at the Lomond & Clyde Pipe Band Invitational Indoor Competition on 19 March, 2011.
Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia, Cullybackey, Dysart & Dundonald, Fife Constabulary, Inveraray & District, Robert Wiseman Dairies Vale of Atholl, ScottishPower, Strathclyde Police and Torphichen & Bathgate pipe bands will contend with the Shotts band for a superb ?2000 prize, which is the largest known pipe band prize fund in the UK.
Tickets are on sale now from Tickets Scotland.
Shotts Go On Autumn Charity Drive The Shotts band has a busy night lined up on Saturday 13 Novemeber, 2010, having agreed to perform at two high profile charity events on different sides of the country.
A segment of the band will be performing at a Piping Hot Ball in aid of Maggie’s Cancer Caring Centres in the Alona Hotel, Strathclyde Park, North Lanarkshire. The event is organised by Janet Cathro, who has strong family ties with ScottishPower Pipe Band.
At the same time, a mini band will appear at the Assemble & Leap show at the Alhambra Theatre in Dunfermline, Fife. The show celebrates 60 years of the Scottish Official Board of Highland Dancing and all proceeds are shared equally between Action Duchenne and the MS Society Scotland.
The band’s members are looking forward to contributing their efforts to both events.
End Of Season Round Up The House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead Pipe Band achieved 5th place at the 2010 World Pipe Band Championships held in Glasgow on 14 August, 2010. The band sounded well and the event had a fitting audience for Pipe Major Robert Mathieson’s last performance in charge of the band.
The final championship of the season was held at Cowal Highland Gathering in Dunoon. The band played the same medley selection as the one performed at the World Pipe Band Championships two weeks earlier, however a disappointing 8th place was what the band had to settle for.
As ever, thank you very much to all of you who followed and supported the band this year and a special thank you to everyone who sent messages with warm wishes to Robert Mathieson on his retirement from the Pipe Major’s position.
The band will be working hard over the winter months on some exciting new musical challenges under the direction of Pipe Major Gavin Walker.
Shotts Appoints New Pipe Major The House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead Pipe Band is delighted to announce the appointment of current band member Gavin Walker to the post of Pipe Major with effect from Thursday 5 August, 2010.
The appointment comes as the band’s long serving Pipe Major Robert Mathieson announced his retirement from the position after 24 successful years in post.
In a letter read out to the band’s members by Robert, he stated “I feel the current team in place are in a position to continue running the band without causing any disruption in moving forward. In the short term I would like to continue as a player within the ranks or even perhaps play a minor role with the key players or management of band in the future. I would however take a back seat and distance myself during the start of the winter schedule to allow my successor total clearance to run the band in their own style. I am fully aware that all of this is easier said than done but I do think the transitional period can be carried out in such a way that the band enjoys continuity and develops further in the coming months and years.”
He continued “I feel the hand over could be done over the next two contests to allow my successor to hit the ground running when the band is fully operating allowing him to pre-plan winter practices… I am looking forward to competing at the Worlds and hopeful that we can deliver top performances. I have had long talks with Jim and I am happy to report that he will be staying in the band to work with the newly appointed pipe major. I hope all members will endorse that full support.”
During his tenure as Pipe Major, Robert led the band to win 5 Scottish, 9 British, 6 European, 5 Cowal, 5 World Championships and 9 Champion of Champions titles. In Robert’s own words “what more could a PM ask for?”
Pipe Major Gavin Walker joined the band in 2010 from Strathclyde Police Pipe Band, where he has previously served as Pipe Sergeant. Gavin has impressed everyone in the band since joining and has the unanimous support of the band’s rank and file, as does Robert in remaining in the band’s pipe corps.
Gavin and a team from within the current pipe corps are now working together and looking forward to continuing Robert’s exemplary leadership of the band.
The band’s members are sincerely grateful to Robert for his contribution to the band over the years and wish him well.
Gavin will lead the band in competition for the first time in the March, Strathspey & Reel performance at the World Pipe Band Championships next week and Robert will give the ‘By the right’ command for the last time in the Medley performance, before joining the ranks of the pipe corps.
Don’t miss the band during Worlds Week in Glasgow.
Attachments:
Read Robert Mathieson’s letter to the band members
Associated Press:
College of Piping Editor’s Blog
pipes | drums
Scorcher At The Scottish Cloudless skies, hot temperatures, ice cream, paddling… all things we don’t usually associate with the first major pipe band championship of the calendar, but they were all there in abundance as The House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead Pipe Band competed at the Scottish Pipe Band Championships at Levengrove Park, Dumbarton on Saturday 22 May, 2010.
The band performed first in Grade 1 to a large audience there to hear and see the best pipe bands new medleys. Breaking new ground for the band, the drum corps competed for the first time with a dual bass drums, consisting of two bass drums tuned and played independently.
The band retained 3rd place overall, while the drum corps were delighted with their first in drumming, Jim Kilpatrick’s 10th Scottish Championship title with the corps.
The band will be competing next at the British Pipe Band Championships in Annan on Saturday 26 June, 2010.
Centenary Ties Go On Sale To mark our centenary, we have created a new, special edition, The House Of Edgar Shotts and Dykehead Pipe Band Centenary tie.
To make these ties even more special, there will only be 100 available for sale representing each of the band’s 100 years, so act now and get your piece of Shotts history from our official Centenary Online Store while they are still available.
Shotts Hits Lomond & Clyde Jackpot The House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead Pipe Band made its first competition appearance of 2010 as one of seven invited bands at the Lomond & Clyde Pipe Band 10th Anniversary Invitational Indoor Competition on Saturday 20 March, 2010.
The band took first prize of ?2,500, beating three other finalists from earlier qualifying heats in a four-way play-off of both March, Strathspey & Reel and Medley performances. The prize pot is the biggest known to have been awarded to a pipe band in the UK competition under RSPBA rules.
The competition was held in the comfortable surroundings of Glasgow’s Radisson Blu hotel. A large audience attended and the general feeling amongst competitors and spectators alike was that the event was a great success.
The band fielded many of its new pipers and drummers in the competition, which has been great preparation for what lies ahead in the upcoming outdoor season.
For those who were unable to attend the event, the performances of every band will be available for download from Lomond & Clyde website from 24 March, 2010.
The band would like to extend its thanks to everyone in Lomond & Clyde Pipe Band for including us in their fantastic event.
Pipe Band Music Does Matter Radio 3′s flagship classical music magazine programme ‘Music Matters’ will feature The House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead Pipe Band in a broadcast to be aired on Saturday 6 March, 2010.
The weekly programme presents topical in-depth interviews, features and discussions on the big ideas driving today’s music world. The show produced a special Scotland Week episode and took particular interest in how the Great Highland Bagpipe has helped identify the nation.
The band’s practice session was recorded and a number of band members were interviewed for the show.
You can find out more about the show at the Music Matters micro site.
Shotts to Play College of Piping Sell-out The House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead Pipe Band will take to the stage for a short concert at the College of Piping in Glasgow to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the venue.
The concert is to be held on Saturday 30 January, 2010 and is a sell-out. Joining the Shotts band for the celebrations will be the newly promoted Inveraray & District Pipe Band and their Pipe Major, Stuart Liddell.
The band looks forward to performing in the college for the first time since its renovation and would like to thank the College for extending their invitation for the band to perform.
Hogmanay Live 2009 BBC One Scotland’s ‘Hogmanay Live’ programme will be on TV for viewers in Scotland, on the red button for digital TV viewers in the rest of the UK, and on the web for New Year revelers across the world!
Just visit www.bbc.co.uk/hogmanay on Thursday 31 December, 2009 from 2345 to 0045 hours GMT on New Year’s Day – watch the programme live or, if you’re too busy partying, catch it on demand for another 24 hours on demand.
Scotland’s the best place in the world to celebrate Hogmanay so why let geography get in the way of your New Year party?
This year, Jackie Bird and Phil Cunningham will be inviting everybody to come in and join in the celebrations. Treats in store include:
The House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead Pipe Band,Phil performing with Aly Bain,Pearl and the Puppets,Scots Singer of the Year 2008/9 Emily Smith,Seth Lakeman,”All-star” houseband – featuring John McCusker, Michael McGoldrick, Ross Hamilton & James McIntosh andThe bells live from Edinburgh at midnight, and the capital’s spectacular firework show to bring in 2010.So come in and join the Hogmanay party, wherever you are!
Top Secret Trip For Drum Corps The House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead Pipe Band’s Champion of Champions drum corps led by Jim Kilpatrick MBE took part in a very special drumming event recently in Basel Switzerland. The corps was invited to perform in Top Secret – Die Show, a stage show concert celebrating the 10 year history of the world famous Top Secret Drum Corps.
Jim Kilpatrick and Top Secret director Erik Juliard are good friends and both drum corps met up in the summer while Erik’s Top Secret corps was in Scotland for the Edingurgh Military Tattoo, where Top Secret always heads the cast list. When Jim received the invitation to play in the concert from Erik, he was naturally delighted to accept and he had no problem pulling together a full corps of 16 drummers to play in 4 shows.6,000 people formed the audience for each of the shows in Basel’s St Jakobshalle, paying around 90 Swiss Francs (?60) for the cheapest seats per head to watch a highly visually and audibly pleasing programme full of stick tricks, drum fanfares, costume changes, lighting and video displays and indoor pyrotechnics. The Shotts drum corps performed some typical Scottish drum scores before showcasing the individual skills of Jim Kilpatrick and Tyler Fry and the collective talent of the full drum corps, which the partizan audience appreciated just as much as their Swiss counterparts.Jim and the drum corps described the event as probably the best drumming event they have participated in and are extremely grateful to Erik Juliard and everyone in the Top Secret organisation who went out of their way to make the corps comfortable and welcome during their visit. A special thanks is also due to Pearl Europe and Hardcase, who supplied the corps with drum bags and limited edition red cases for the trip.
World Title For Cassidy The World Solo Drumming Championships took place in Glasgow Caledonian University on Saturday 24 October, 2009 in front of a busy audience of keen pipe band drumming enthusiasts.
The majority of the Shotts drum corps participated in the event and various levels, including 16 Years & Under, 18 Years & Under and Adult. It was in the junior events that the band’s drummers were to fair best, with Grant Cassidy taking first place overall to Steven Shedden. Both tied for first place and had to be separated by an Adjudicator Preference, with Grant emerging as winner of his fourth world title as many years.
Tenor drummer Neil Bruce competed in the 18 Years & Under section and took third spot with a 1st, two 2nd and a 12th place from the four adjudicators.
In the Adult section, both Jim Kilpatrick MBE and Jake J?rgensen qualified for the final, but missed out on the prizes.
Many congratulations to Grant, Steven & Neil on their well deserved prizes.
What Makes a Good Pipe Band Score Sheet?
Bagpipe Music
Having been around the game a while it sort of stands to reason that I will have seen a whackload of pipe band “score sheets”; you know, those near-impossible to read pages (sometimes due to penmanship) passed to bands following the announcement of results. And yay, reason prevails: I have.
It’s on these pages that bands usually learn what adjudicators thought of their competitive performance – and, by the way, it’s from these pages that pipe band people generally judge adjudicators. I’m a sentimental sort, believe it or not, and have, truth be told, quite a few pages dating back to my earliest times with bands laying around the old archives – and some recent artifacts, too.
As I came to the very end of this past contest season I came to reflect on what made up a good adjudicator’s sheet.
Sheets are always passed around the band and it struck me that not all members value the same comments. Yeah, drummers tend to focus on percussion [hello!] and pipers on piping. But when I thought about it, it struck me that really, it was the overall band comments that most often caught the attention of pipe band people – generally speaking.
When I say “overall” I mean comment that either provided insight on ensemble, the overall ability of the band to engage the listener, or comment that somehow came across in a way that pulled the band — or “tribe”, if you will — together. I’ve observed that should comment from any one judge be viewed by band members as patently unfair the outcome usually sees the band pull together in a sort of collective indignation. Bad sheets can be a weird sort of team-builder.
“Bass drum destroying the ensemble”, “snare phrasing completely undermines melodic line”, “a completely dispassionate performance” and “musically devoid” are possibly imagined examples of “bad sheet” that effectively team-builds.
I like sheets that reflect the personality of the assesor – unless, of course, s\he’s an unhappy, miserable, unhelpful sort, then, not so much. In my part of the world, at least, it’s not completely out of the ordinary to read a comment from a piping judge that goes something like, “Bill missed the attack” or “Jenny’s harmony effort really worked for me” or “I thought Bruce was going to hyperventilate by the end of the performance”. It’s a small world and I’m good with judges naming names when comment is passed along in a collegial, fair and respectful way. These sample comments are all fictitious, for the record – but, I assure you, I’ve seen variations on all of these sorts of comments – and then some. I’m sure you have, too.
Anyway, just what makes good pipe band score sheet comment? The kind of comment that connects with bandspeople?
I suggest comment most valued by pipebandspeople has characteristics that include:
First and foremost, jargon-free notes around fundamentals, the “media”, the instrumentation and technique used to create the music: Impartial comments that assess the objective mechanics of the performance: Did we play unanimously [oops, jargon-alert, I mean, did we play together]? To what degree were we tuned? Did we sustain that tuning? Judges that have the ability to clearly and unambiguously portray an assessment around these elements score big-time with pipe band folk. Should they miss this – and they do – and have – they are usually summarily proclaimed incompetent (to put it in a PC way).
At the same time – I hesitate to say “secondly” – judges that have the courage to state a musical bias while stating informed musical reasons for that bias are usually appreciated – or – at the very least, remembered. We’re talking an assessment of music, after all. A good judgey comment in this department, to my mind, might go something like this: “march unsettled-feeling; pipe corps lacking unison due to phrasing ahead of the beat, especially at PM’s side of band”. This would fit in a sort of primary musical comment category. A secondary category might be around a melody or musical passage: “on first listen the repetitiveness of ____ tune’s phrasing left me cold”. Or, better yet, a positive musical comment: “the surprising minor-major key change to the second melody moved me – love it”. If comment is stated respectfully it really is hard to fault.
So what makes a good pipe band score sheet? Considered, fair, balanced and, I say again, respectful comment around mechanics and music. I think that’s it. To somehow portray listener engagement would be fantastic but really, for now, I suggest pipebandspeople would be happy with a fair and respectful shout out around mechanics and music.
And by extension? What makes a great pipe band adjudicator? A person who not only capitalizes on their experience but rises above that sphere of experience and reflects, processes and considers a result in a way that demonstrates intellectual and personal integrity. A person who has demonstrated a love for the music by being a life-long student of the music and not a self-proclaimed life-long authority on the music. It’s a tall order and, happily, most of the adjudicators I have encountered around the world fit this category.
It’s the very few who fail miserably. To those few I point to Van “the Man” Morrison for inspiration: “You can’t stay the same. If you’re a musician…you have to change, that’s the way it works”.
Give me the argument against that.
M.
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