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COMMENT(S): How to quit a band: a pipes|drums primer
Published: September 23, 2009
Author: Bagpipermann | (report inappropriate content) |
| Gotta question rule #3. I understand the commitment angle, but if the player doesn't want to be there or the band doesn't want the player there, then prolonging the breakup through honouring commitments just causes everyone to suffer needlessly. Every practice and contest would become tense. Can't see how that helps........ |
Published: September 23, 2009
Author: RWilson | (report inappropriate content) |
| It's just like breaking up with a girlfriend:
"You know I really like you Pipe Band and think you're really special, it's just that I'm not ready for a relationship right now. It's not you Pipe Band it's me. I still care about you and want to be friends. Can I call you sometime, or stop by your band practise?"
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Published: September 22, 2009
Author: StephenMacNeil | (report inappropriate content) |
| We had a guy leave the Windsor Police after the Montreal beer in the middle of the night. After we loaded up the bus this guy announced he was going back to school to get his PhD in mathematics, stripped down to just his hose and brogues. He handed his kit to the PM, walked down the aisle shaking everyone hands and walk off the bus. While the bus pulled away, he remember that his pipes were still in the bus cargo hold. So he ran after the bus for a block or so yelling to stop. After we stopped he got his pipes and walked off into the darkness bar **** ......No dry cleaning but we got his kit. SMacN |
Published: September 22, 2009
Author: Hendys | (report inappropriate content) |
| Funny this should come up as I am at this moment trying to think of the best way to change bands. The old Band have become like family to me. The other band is much more promising. I have actually lost sleep over this...
Not sure how to handle this.....on one hand I can play at at 4 or 5 comps...(in Germany/Belgium)
Or, on the other, I can play all Majors in the UK and possibly the North American Champs......
Oh what to do, what to do.........I hate being in this position....
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Published: September 22, 2009
Author: Lawrie | (report inappropriate content) |
| Good advice....but often from people sitting atop the tree, who have people aspiring to play in their bands, or a well-established infrastructure/monopoly on young players in their area.
The more common account might be of the balancing act that bands have to manage between their objectives and motivating people who 'earn' a spot simply because the band lacks the numbers. I'm sure many bands would talk of 'compromise', for want of a better term.
This article reminded me of a former member of a band who, in a bid to fire a parting shot, sent the Pipe Major an essay on Maslow's "Hierarchy of Needs". The scribe of the essay conveniently overlooked his own numerous failings, caused mainly by inaction and the view that it was all going to just 'happen' for him, perhaps by osmosis. The truth soon came out when this person quit the band he moved to, which was a social band, and hasn't played in a band since. |
Published: September 21, 2009
Author: JoelKimball | (report inappropriate content) |
| Good stuff, good advice, and particularly appreciate the imput from all the pipe majors. In 30+ years with bands, I've only moved a few times, usually when a band didn't have a drum corps or broke up - I'm a "loyal guy". I think the most important "rule" is the first one - be up front. While I've never left a band due to "hard feelings" or a dust up or some such thing, I can't imagine not offering any band the courtesy of at least a call (better yet a face-to-face discussion w/the PM/DS), even in those circumstances. I do think things have changed considerably over the years, and it's much more common in Ontario to see people go from band to band - anyone else remember the days when you were a "Clan guy", a "McNish guy", a "Guelph guy", a "T&D guy"....and perish the thought you'd ever play with another Gr 1 band :) Nowadays, there's pretty clearly no "stigma" to moving around - at least as long as you provide the courtesy of letting your bandmates know your intentions and not surprising folks. | |
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