February 01, 2007

The matter of size

The news of the Scottish Lion-78th Frasers’ plan to 28-to-30 pipers and 14 snare drummers resurrects the question of size. It’s been debated for years now, probably ever since Davey Barnes’s Polkemmet competed successfully with 18 or 19 pipers back in the early-1990s.

I predict that 2007 will be the year when the issue is again formally addressed by the RSPBA? Why the RSPBA? Because that organization is the only one that realistically can. If the PPBSO or BCPA legislated something first, bands competing in the UK would create so much uproar that they probably wouldn’t even play in those areas, since they wouldn’t be able to prepare for the blessed event in Glasgow.

But I’ve been through all that before.

I like a big band as much as the next person. But it is increasingly difficult to keep a level playing field when one band has 12 pipers and the next has 22, let alone 30. We have minimum requirements for this exact reason, so it seems to me that maximum limits should be put in place – not necessarily on how many can compete, but on how many can be on the roster. Those limits don’t have to be static; they can increase as bands naturally and uniformly push the boundaries.

The RSPBA has to be watching this closely. I can count at least seven Grade 1 or 2 bands that have gone out of business in the last two years due to loss of personnel. Survival of the fittest and de’il tak the hindmost, you might say, but the increasingly open-door policy that some top bands are implementing is encouraging people to leave their Grade 2 and 3 bands for a shot at the top.

January 29, 2007

You too

Ever since I saw U2 at the 200-seat Graham Chapel at Washington University in St. Louis in 1980 I have been a fan. It wasn’t until 1990 or so when I realized that they were the world’s biggest religious-rock band, putting acts like Pat Boone, Cliff Richard and the redoubtable Stryper to shame.
Bono and company have been preaching the gospel in so many words in almost every one of their songs. “Mysterious Ways” is of course about the Virgin Mary; “I Will Follow” about JC; “Elevation” – religious salvation or the resurrection itself. I could go on. It’s all subliminal (or subliminable, as some would say) lyrics under a barrage of usually sensationally creative music and structure.

The beauty of the lyrics is that they can be interpreted in different ways. One person’s heavenly elevation is another person’s acid trip, and the “she” in “Mysterious Ways” could well be about a high school crush. U2 understands that to keep fans and evangelize newcomers you have to be subtle, and let ambiguity take its course. Even the band’s name is ambiguous: a high-flying spy-plane, or maybe “you too” can join the team.

I don’t really care; I just like the music.

But I wonder whether there has ever been any subliminal messaging in pipe music. Has a band ever tried to sway judges by enveloping in its medley musical directions to give them the benefit of the doubt? Are there any instances of using a single tune to win a prize because of the tune’s non-musical significance?

January 26, 2007

Drums vs. pipes

The news that Field Marshal isn’t playing Pearl drums any more got me thinking again. It’s a rare day when a band communicates that it’s changing bagpipe stuff. Top bands get free chanters, just like they get free drums, but, for whatever reason, bands don’t like to talk about what chanters or reeds or bags or whatever they play.

Maybe there’s far less risk to a band that announces that it’s dropping one make of drums for another. Perhaps judges who are drummers don’t seem to care that much what you’re playing, but maybe many piper-judges take brands into account before the band plays a note.

Not sure what the answer is, but, being on the receiving end of news from bands, talk of chanters or reed changes are few and far between.

Comments please!

January 22, 2007

Favourite 2006 movies (fillums)

  1. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
  2. V for Vendetta
  3. An Inconvenient Truth
  4. Thank You for Smoking

Note: With a six-year-old, we don’t tend to go to the movies a lot. We prefer intsead to wait for DVDs since the viewing and sound experience is much better at home. The ones we do go see are often kids’ movies. Case in point: thought seriously about putting Charlotte’s Web on the list.

What are your picks?

January 18, 2007

Cap in hand?

So polls show that most Scots and most English would like to see an independent Scotland. Freakin’ right, I say.

If you don’t have your independence and a right to a national identity, what do you have? I’ve admired Ireland forever, well before the whole Celtic Tiger phenomenon. The Irish were proud enough to fight for their independence, and they won it. They paid dearly through 60-odd years of economic squalor, but a happier and prouder race you’d never meet, money or no.

My Dad was a card-carrying Scots Nationalist (even though he didn’t live there and was way more Russian than Scottish). When I went to Stirling University for a year in the 1980s and was disappointed to find there wasn’t a local chapter of St. Louis Cardinals supporters, I of course signed up with the University SNP Club.

Bizarrely, within a few meetings they tried to draft me as President. I shite you not. It was then that I decided I could use the time better practicing pipes not politics, so I quietly stopped attending meetings and all the whistful student reminiscing about the time the Queen was pelted with eggs when she visited Stirling Uni in 1972.

I still believe in Scottish independence. I also believe that, economically, it would bring a lot of problems. But some things you just have to stand up for on principle, dang the consequences.

Fareweel to a’ our Scottish fame,
Fareweel our ancient glory!
Fareweel ev’n to the Scottish name.
Sae famed in martial story!
Now Sark rins over Salway sands,
An’ Tweed rins to the ocean,
To mark where England’s province stands —
Such a parcel of rogues in a nation!

January 16, 2007

Depth of vision

The December issue of Piping Today, the quarterly print magazine of the National Piping Centre, arrived today. It’s by far the best publication that comes out of Scotland. (Price is $9.25 per issue for Canadians.)

In it is a puff piece about the Competing Pipers Association and its president, Simon McKerrell. Simon’s a really smart person, a lovely piper and a nice guy, but he says something that caught my attention. Talking about the always contentious selection process for the Northern Meeting and Argyllshire Gathering. The contentiousness usually revolves around non-UK pipers not getting in to the big events.

“Major prizes from overseas are taken into account,” McKerrell says in the article, “but the depth of field in Scotland ensures that the emphasis is placed on the Scottish track record. The depth of field in the other countries is just not great enough.”

To generalize that the Scottish games circuit is better than those of British Columbia or Ontario is, in a word, uninformed. I’m not sure if Simon has ever competed in these places, but I believe he has not. A quick browse of some of the Scottish games results from last year, and one will quickly see that the “depth of field” at most events is not that great. And the judging can be mysterious, if not downright laughable.

Scotland has no system for judging. Scotland has no unified grading system for competitors. Scotland has no set requirements from one competition to the next. Scotland does not even provide formal feedback to competitors. And from this rather haphazard approach comes superiority?

Simon’s sweeping statement essentially says that where you live has a great deal to do with whether you get to play at the big events (which, by the way, have become much bigger than they ever could have been exactly because of the interest of foreign players).

You only have to look at the rapid popularity and sound organization of events like Winter Storm to see that other non-Scottish options to Oban and Aviemore will be a reality quicker than these places may realize. But strangely, it seems that many of the Scottish events would be fine with that.

January 12, 2007

Just thinking . . .

. . . since the new Triumph Street band is looking for a sponsor, they should approach “The Donald.”

It’s a perfect fit: he loves building things, has no trouble getting rid of things he doesn’t like (“SFU: you’re fired!”), and won’t mind currying favour with a few judges along the way.

Call it “Trump Street.”

January 11, 2007

Favourite CDs of 2006 (in order)

  1. The Information – Beck
  2. Show Your Bones – Yeah Yeah Yeahs
  3. The Greatest – Cat Power
  4. Scotland: The Music & The Song – various
  5. Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not – Arctic Monkeys
January 09, 2007

Disguise that blessing

The long-rumoured news of the remaining RMM2 members creating a new Triumph Street (Harry Tung reported on it weeks ago in “Trailing Drones,” by the way) has got to welcomed by all – including the SFU organization.

For years, the BC scene has been dominated by the SFU bands, and it still is. It’s a remarkable piping and drumming machine that people want to become part of, and with which they want to remain, and full credit goes to Terry and Jack Lee and Reid Maxwell for leading such a successful program.

But there have been detractors. Where the British Columbia circuit used to boast three of four Grade 1 bands and a good number of Grade 2 bands, the numbers had dwindled to only SFU in Grade 1 and three bands in Grade 2. The fact that Maple Ridge is now linked with the SFU organization indicates that that band will remain in Grade 2 as long as the relationship continues.

So breaking away to form what is essentially a new band from familiar personnel, independent of the SFU system, has got to be considered a positive move and a good thing for BC piping and drumming – and, I daresay, for SFU’s Grade 1 band. Healthy competition is always good, and no one in any jurisdiction likes a monopoly, no matter how beneficent it may be.

I would hope that the players who now make up Triumph Street remain on good terms with the SFU organization, and indications are that they will. It could be the close to a remarkable series of events, but the start of a new era for piping and drumming in British Columbia.

January 05, 2007

Piping life-experiences

The number of funerals I’ve played for in the past decade I can number on one hand. When the mother of a good friend died and he asked me if I would add some piping to the memorial I of course said yes.

It’s an honour to be part of an important ceremony connected with a friend or family-member. At least in Toronto, the pipes seem to be an essential aspect of weddings and funerals, memorial services and awards ceremonies. I haven’t met anyone here who does not just like, but love the pipes. At least that’s what they say to me.

But playing yesterday I found to be as pressure-packed as a pipe band competition, when you want to do well for others. I always found solo competitions less stressful than band contests: the only person you can let down is yourself in the solos. I couldn’t help thinking that making a mess of my friend’s mother’s memorial service would let everyone down.

Even though it was just “The Mist Covered Mountains” at the beginning and “Lochanside” at the end, insane thoughts ran through my head: what if the bag failed? What if a reed drops in the bag? What if the chanter falls out? None of those things has ever happened to me, but I didn’t want to wreck one of my friend and his family’s biggest life-experiences.

Ian Whitelaw wrote a great article a few years ago in the print Piper & Drummer about preparing for a performance. I felt a bit sorry for the Michigan piper who played at the late-President Gerald Ford’s funeral. I’m sure he’s better than the insufferable sounds that came from his frozen instrument, but it served as a lesson for all pipers: have a back-up plan, and prepare for the worst.

The service that I played for went fine, thankfully, and I was happy that the pipes could once again make a positive mark on a life-long memory for many.

January 03, 2007

Stu-stu-studio

Over the last 10 years you can count the number of studio-only pipe band CDs on one hand. Bands far prefer the concert recording now, but I think there’s a real creative hole that’s missed.

Where “solo” studio CDs like those from Chris Armstrong, Michael Grey, Stuart Cassells and RS MacDonald are using engineering and mixing to extend the art, creativity on most pipe band CDs stops at the ubiquitous conga drum and perhaps a Celtic-folk-rock combo between drone-tunings. Solo pipers are doing much more with recordings today than bands.
Yes, “live” pipe band CDs are easier to make; they’re cheaper, safer, and more quickly completed – but the end-products are getting repetitive and boring.

It’s time that a band went into the studio for a good long spell and made something that turned the band idiom on its ear. Okay, so it might not be a product that can be entirely recreated on the stage, but, if done well, creativity in the studio will trickle down to live performances, including the contest field.

December 30, 2006

Art with a difference


The Daniel Liebeskind extension to the Royal Ontario Museum under construction, Dec 2006.


Toronto, like many North American cities, is experiencing a building-boom just now. Fortunately, a lot of it is by really well known architects, including two Frank Gehry ventures and a couple of Daniel Liebeskind projects. The most prominent of Liebeskind’s is the very controversial extension to the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) that I pass every day that I bike to work. I’ve been following its progress over the last two years.

A lot of people don’t like it. The ROM is this hoary neo-Romanesque pile that houses the requisite and predictable mummies and dinosaur bones, and which has suffered from declining attendance over the years. So they raised private and public money, finally, for Liebeskind to do his thing, which is to shake things up and get people talking. Liebeskind has relatively few completed projects, but those that have been erected, like the Jewish Museum in Berlin, get a lot of tongues wagging. Positive or negative, his buildings get a reaction.

Which it seems to me is what the best art is originally all about. Bland and safe buildings, paintings or music may play to the masses and generate income, but no great artist became great by playing it safe. I like Liebeskind’s ROM extension because it’s a jarring mass of angular glass and steel jutting dramatically out of this familiar, “museum-like” structure. The very art housed in that museum is there because at one time it too was dramatic and jarring, and that’s the statement Liebeskind makes. It’s unsettling to those who eat roast beef and Yorkshire pudding every Sunday afternoon and wish Toronto would be made up once again of only WASPs.

You know where this is leading: competitive piping and drumming. Our greatest, most memorable and highest-impact exponents are those who do things differently. The Strathclyde Police under Iain MacLellan were one of the greatest competition bands ever – maybe the greatest. They certainly set a new benchmark for tuning and tone, but did they advance the art? Will it be remembered for more than having its name engraved on a lot of major trophies? Conversely, there are bands and soloists who may have paid a competitive price for challenging the art.

For my money, give me quality with a difference. Give me Liebeskind, Calatrava and Gehry. Who do you think are the bands and pipers and drummers today who are making a lasting artistic contribution?

December 27, 2006

Game on

My wife always delivers the goods, and this Christmas was no exception. Under our tree for me was double boxed-set of St. Louis Cardinals DVDs just released. There’s every game of the glorious 2006 World Series in one set, and the other is a group of about 10 discs with Cardinals’ greatest hits, starting with Bob Gibson‘s 17-strikeout masterpiece in Game 1 of the 1968 Series with the Tigers.

I suppose I should have been working on the next pipes|drums feature or readying the next exclusive interview, but yesterday I spent two hours watching Game 3 of the 1987 World Series against the Minnesota Twins. I started with this because I never actually saw any of the ’87 Series. Why? Because I was living in Scotland as something of a bagpipe bum at the time.

Back then you had to rely on the International Herald Tribune to get scores about two days after the games. I sometimes would splurge to buy a rare copy of USA Today, which one newsagent on Edinburgh’s High Street carried, and my Dad used to mail wads of clippings from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. There was no internet or satellite TV, and the 1984-’87 baseball seasons are pretty much a big void. I’ll always remember sitting in my room in Andrew Stewart Hall at the University of Stirling‘s halls of residence when I learned of Bob Forsch’s September 1984 no-hitter via one of those clippings envelopes.

Game 3 of the ’87 Series was a pitching gem by John Tudor, who for three years was unbelievably good. This was a game that I listened to, along with all of the others, on a little short-wave radio, barely catching the Armed Services Network as it whistled in and out. Back then, between stints of busking on Princes Street, I worked at Mama’s, a restaurant in the Grassmarket then owned and operated by a couple of Canadian actors, Angus MacInnes and Phil Craig. (It’s still there, even though they sold around 1990 and returned to very successful careers in film and TV.) I would work until closing, and then stayed up until 3:00 or 4:00 a.m. to listen to the games.

Missing that Series was particularly hard. I graduated from Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1985, followed the Twins and went to a lot of games at the Metrodome. I got to know the Twins as well as the Cardinals, so the two teams meeting the World Series was a personal convergence.

I guess I’ve given up a lot of “normal” things in preference of abnormal piping pursuits. But at least one of those absences was finally filled yesterday.

December 22, 2006

Tie one on

Iain MacDonald (Saskatchewan) is always good for ideas, and his response to Bruce Gandy’s response to my recent blog on autographs got me thinking about my collection of pipe band neckties.

To be honest, I ‘m not sure whether the tradition of trading band ties still happens much. Used to be (and perhaps still is) that, like footballers after international matches trading shirts on the pitch, pipers and drummers would often swap ties with members of rival bands in the beer tent or on the ferry home.

My vintage Duthart-Shotts tie.There are two types of people: collectors and non-collectors, and I am definitely in the first group, whether baseball cards, pipe-music books or vintage British railway posters. When I played in Scotland I amassed quite a collection of ties from Grade 1 bands. I never did attain a Strathclyde Police tie, since back then they seemed far too grown up to do that sort of thing. I always wanted to acquire a Muirheads tie, and wonder actually how many of those exist.

It wasn’t until the 1970s and the rise in popularity of non-number-one-dress that band ties became prevalent, of course, and I’m a proud owner of ties from now-defunct bands: Monktonhall, Woolmet & Danderhall, Toyota, the RUC, ScottishGas. I often wear the Eagle Pipers Society tie I scored from Martin Docherty, the former Fear-an-Tigh of that erstwhile organization.

But by far my most prized tie is the 1979 Shotts & Dykehead model given to me straight off of the collar of Alex Duthart. Like the autograph hound I used to be, I probably brashly hinted that I liked his tie and, like the altogether brilliant guy Duthart was, he thought nothing of presenting it to me.

I have maybe 30 ties in my collection, but I wonder who out there has the largest assortment of pipe band ties. If you think you might have a collection worthy of a feature article in pipes|drums, drop me an e-mail message and let’s talk!

December 20, 2006

Autographs

I posted a poll recently asking if readers had ever asked a piper or drummer for an autograph. Being an
avid baseball fan as a kid (and now), I kind of just thought that when you meet famous people you ask for
their autograph. (My Dad used to counsel me that a handshake is worth a lot more, and he’s right, but try
telling that to a St. Louis kid in the 1970s who meets Lou Brock.)

I’m not ashamed to admit that I went up to Bill Livingstone in 1979 at Maxville and asked him to
autograph a Piobaireachd Society Collection book that I had handy. Bill had recently won one of
the Medals, so I figured he was a World Champion. I remember him, in his very Bill way, finding “Lament
for Mary MacLeod” in the book and saying that it made perfect sense for him to autograph that page. My
Dad, of course, had his omnipresent camera and telephoto lens trained on the scene, and now I have the
pictures to prove it, Bill with jet-black, Harry Reems-esque moustache; me with middle-parted blond hair.

But I also recall a piping school I attended in 1981 where there was a young, very cool snare-drummer
from Houston. Can’t remember his name. We were sitting around and other drummers were talking about
what kind of sticks they used. The drummer I mentioned said he wasn’t sure what sticks he played, but he
thought they were a “Mex Dumphy” model.

Mex Dumphy? people asked. He took them out and showed the autograph on them: “See, Mex Dumphy,”
he said, and pointed to the embossed autograph that he somehow deciphered as Mex Dumphy, which of
course was Alex Duthart’s signature. (I also remember him insisting that in the AC/DC song, “Dirty Deeds,”
Bon Scott wasn’t singing “done dirt cheap,” but “thunder chief.”) It wasn’t so much his misreading the
autograph as it was not knowing who Alex Duthart is, which is like a budding ballplayer being unfamiliar
with Babe Ruth.

I haven’t asked for an autograph in quite a while, but I will say that one of my prized possessions is a
poster of the 78th Fraser Highlanders’ 1988 concert at Massey Hall in Toronto signed by every member of
the band.

December 18, 2006

The minor fall, the major lift

Annabel, Julie and I went to the Toronto Symphony’s rendition of “The Messiah” (the best parts, that is) on Sunday at Roy Thompson Hall. It’s meant to be a Christmassy-type-thing, and I had heard that lots of families attend and some even make it an annual thing.

It was very nice and all, and few things are more musically impressive than a 130-member choir gi’in’ it laldy over top of belting brass and full strings playing like the clappers.

Annabel, who’s six, held up well and only fidget-kicked the old dear in front of her a few times. Just one glare from the hard-core symphony-files, at least that I noticed. She kept busy counting choir-members and eating mints by the handful.

But I also noticed how old the audience was, even for this performance that’s supposed to cater to the masses. I scanned the audience at one point in one of the mournful bits (it’s not that pleasant a tale, of course), and I could have sworn I was back at Eden Court Theatre listening to the Clasp. Every other auldyin seemed to be dozing off, mouth agape, while the music – exquisite as it was – droned on.

It was comforting, though, that MacCrimmon and Handel seem to touch people in similar ways and attract an exceedingly, um, mature audience.

“Classical music” of the pipes, indeed.

December 13, 2006

My-land dress

Here’s a thing: if Breton pipe bands can compete at the World’s wearing their national costume, and Pakistani bands can wear the yellow and red satin tunic and trousers, and Spanish pipe bands are allowed to wear the ornate ensemble of their homeland, why do New Zealand, Australian and Canadian bands have to wear the cultural dress of the Scots?

Shouldn’t Canadian bands be able to wear toques, Hudson’s Bay coats, and boots from Roots?

Shouldn’t bands from the United States be allowed to compete wearing the uniform of middle-America: Dockers, Oxford shirts and tasseled loafers?

Given the Ali G. / Borat analogy below being at least partly true, then New World non-Scots bands wedging themselves into Scotland’s ethnic dress – while Old World bands are allowed to play Scottish bagpipes, drums and music in their national attire – is even stranger.

I say New World pipe bands are allowed to compete in Scotland wearing blue jeans, t-shirts, baseball caps and Nike training shoes. What sort of inter-continental discrimination is this?

December 12, 2006

Borat & District

I’ve been a fan of Sasha Baron Cohen’s comedy for a while. It’s just plain funny when someone of a completely different culture tries to become something he’s not. Ali G. is ridiculously hilarious because the character is all London Eastender, but pretends he’s some “West Coast” rapper with a penchant for world events. Borat is a Kazak dropped into Americana chasing the all-American Canadian blonde bomb-shell.

It’s no wonder so many Scots think non-Scots trying to adopt their piping and drumming culture are daft. I mean, the whole piping thing was ethnic music and entrenched in the Scottish culture for hundreds of years when suddenly the rest of the world started becoming, in effect, a hoard of Ali G’s trying their damnedest to fit in.

Borat is looking for the “authentic” American experience, and it’s instant comedy. Aren’t non-Scottish pipe bands competing at the World’s also pining for the authentic Scottish culture experience? No wonder the Scots so often don’t know what to make of all the over-zealous, over-earnest outsiders hilariously determined to fit in to a culture that just is not their own.

December 07, 2006

Tartanistas

Every year it seems that some fashion pundit predicts that tartan is in. It’s been going on forever, and, outside of Catholic girls’ schools and Britney Spears fan clubs, it’s never, ever true.

Same thing with kilts. For at least two decades, people have been predicting that men will wear kilts frequently. Dreary articles about “utili-kilts” quote fashion industry shills saying how “comfortable” a kilt is.

What a load. They are not comfortable, and anyone who’s been to a pipe band contest will know that pipers and drummers, if they can get away with it, wear the thing as little as possible.

Tartan and kilts as fashion must-haves? Hasn’t been true since Queen Vic was frolicking with John Brown in between her stag (the deer, that is) parties. Never will be true as long as good taste and common sense prevail.

December 05, 2006

Anonymously yours,

It continues to confound me why so many pipers and drummers have such strong opinions but are either unwilling to express them in public, or, if they do, sign their name to their thoughts.

Jim Roberts has frequently and quite rightly voiced his disappointment that so many pipes|drums articles have anonymous sources. While journalists tapping sources who will speak only on condition of anonymity is as old as journalism itself, it’s frustrating that after all these years pipers and drummers are still deathly afraid of the very organizations to which they belong.

No matter how miserable conditions might be, the thought of them being even more miserable because of political – which in our domain generally means judging – retribution because they rocked the boat is far worse. In effect, the population is afraid of the monarchy. The body of the church is afraid of the archbishop. The comrades fear the Kremlin. What in God’s name kind of antiquated situation is that?

The only way to effect change is to be heard in numbers, and for recognized leaders in the art to stand up and set an example. Question authority.

December 01, 2006

Updates

I’m trying to figure out how readers might be better notified when new content is posted on the site that isn’t linked to the Home page but, for now, I want to be sure that people see a couple of new pieces:

By The Left . . . is a really humourous bit by the redoubtable Bill Livingstone. Hope you enjoy it.

And I put together a new Editorial based on thoughts jangling in my head for a month or so. I work in a marketing and communications world, and I tried to make it not too obscure.

Enjoy.

November 29, 2006

The foggiest idea



Just a recent shot of my street on a foggy November morning.

November 27, 2006

Behind the time

I’ve done a few seminars on timing and playing on or around the beat, particularly as it pertains to band ensemble. I find it a fascinating subject.

Mentioned The Who’s new CD, Endless Wire, a few posts ago. I’ve always thought that the band’s legendary, late drummer, Keith Moon, was a master at playing just a shade behind the beat. Moon was just about always fractionally late with everything, and it actually did wonders for The Who’s sound. They were able to evoke great control and reserve in the midst of thundering guitars and vocals, and Moon’s overly-busy brand of drumming.

After Moon’s death, The Who made a few recordings with Kenny Jones, who unfortunately played “in the pocket,” as they say: right on the beat. I thought the group’s music suffered as a result, and became overly poppy.

The new CD has Ringo’s son, Zak Starkey on drums, and on almost every tracks he plays just a shade behind, and I’m sure it’s intentional. The recording has been compared more closely and favourably with the group’s Moon-era stuff.

The 2006 World’s DVDs are great for analyzing ensemble. It’s interesting to me how leading-drummers can dictate a band’s energy. Shotts’s ensemble is always familiar, with the Mathieson/Kilpatrick combination never failing to fall right on the beat. These guys play solo that way, so it follows that together they produce on-the-beat rhythm.

SFU I always find full of energy, mainly because Reid Maxwell is naturally accomplished at playing just slightly on top of the beat. It creates terrific excitement and momentum, and Reid delivered that same forward style when he was with the 78th Frasers.

What’s remarkable to me are the bands that have fairly recently changed leading-drummers. Some, like Zak Starkey and The Who, have been able to maintain their previous ensemble style, while others are completely different. There are several top-of-the-heap bands that to me evoke a different (not necessarily better or worse) feeling because the leading-drummer has a different sense of the beat. If an L-D is slightly behind the beat while the pipe section is on it, it can work well.

But when the P-M naturally plays at the front of the beat and the L-D naturally plays behind (or vice versa), it can change the whole appeal of the band. It’s a very difficult thing to identify, but it’s a feeling that’s created – a pipe band intangible that is often reflected in crowd response.

November 20, 2006

Resistance is useful?

The Robert Malcolm Memorial II story keeps unfolding, hopefully not to the point of the band folding.

Without doubt, the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band system is a teaching and competitive success probably unrivalled by any other organization in the world, except for maybe the Scottish Schools piping program. But going back longer than a decade it has had detractors, accusing SFU of cornering the market on piping and drumming in the Pacific Northwest. Even SFU-organization members jokingly refer to the system as The Borg, maniacally consuming all around it.

With recent RMM2 developments, the situation may have come to a head. It would appear that members of RMM2 did not fully understand the band’s role: to feed SFU, but never to compete with it. It’s an unfortunate situation, but perhaps necessary to the evolution of piping and drumming in that area.

My prediction is that this will result in more diversity and a livelier competition scene in that part of the world. SFU is still one of the world’s three mega-bands. That won’t change any time soon. But what will change will be the be-all-and-end-all attitude with which the band tends to be considered by many in BC.

I’m a big believer in blessings in disguise, and I believe that this may well be one.

November 16, 2006

ReMeMber 2 much

The news that Robert Malcolm II has applied to move back to Grade 2 after being upgraded by both the BCPA and RSPBA is at once alarming and not surprising at all.

Alarming: isn’t the band’s reason-to-be competition success? If a Grade 2 band wins just about everything at home and abroad, and the overall standard in both regions is good, then it follows that it should make the leap.

Not surprising: RMM2 is a “feeder band” for SFU. It’s not supposed to compete with the big band, but instead groom and supply members so that the ultimate goal of SFU winning the World’s is realized. At least, that’s what I understand.

Other bands have faced the same dilemma, where their feeder bands were potentially competing with and threatening the parent band, rather than nurturing it. Boghall and Toronto Police’s solution was to dissolve the feeder band and let the players go where they may. Seems to me that that solution was overall better for their pipe band scenes.

So, if RMM2 goes back to Grade 2, what will its mandate be? Will it still be competitive success, even knowing that there’s not much point in trying to dominate Grade 2 since it will never stay in Grade 1? If competitive success isn’t the core goal of RMM2, how would players be groomed for the Grade 1 band?

If it were me (and stop here if you don’t give a toss what I think), I would either dissolve the band or break away from the SFU organization. Anything else doesn’t seem to make much sense.

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