A View of Pipe Band Ensemble

A couple of weeks ago I attended the Pipers’ & Pipe Band Society of Ontario’s annual adjudicator’s seminar. The theme of the day was the always-befuddling topic, “pipe band ensemble”. As you should expect, there was lots of interesting discussion. I was pleasantly surprised to find that there was a high degree of dislike for the word “ensemble” – I’d never thought much of the word, either; in fact, it was a possible majority who thought the word could be replaced with something better.
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Pibroch Piobaireachd

We know there’s politics everywhere. And, when given the option, the way we choose to spell words is no exception. A Canadian, say, living in the United States, might exert quiet subversion by hanging on to Canadian spelling of any number of words. A note to his boss might read, “…followed up on the neighbourhood initiative; successful in addressing the signage colour controversy; local employees in good humour…”. That Canuck is implicitly saying to his American boss, “I’m Canadian, I’m not like you, I spell bigger, better…”. He’s also implicitly proclaiming to his boss he’s an asshole. But that’s a tangent of a different colour.
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A Fresh Look at Delivering a Clean Performance

The Swedish golder, Henrik Stenson, stole some of the shimmering glow around Tiger Woods’ return last week. You’ve probably seen the story, a quirky breath of fresh air amongst all the gloomy stuff. From Reuters, “Stenson’s wayward drive on the third hole landed in muddy terrain near a water hazard and he decided to get down to basics rather than play the rest of his round in muddy clothes”.
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Online Music Directory

I have a few hard copies of various tune directories.  They are all out of date, though the oldest is not more than ten years old.  Directories are handiest for tracking tune sources, but interesting reading, too, for getting a sense for the printed proliferation of any one particular tune.   According to Iain Millington’s “The Complete Bagpipe Tune and Drum Score Index” (Montreal: Concordia University, 1992) , the strathspey “Mony Musk” is available in no fewer than 35 printed sources.  Who knew?  I find that impressive number interesting, especially for a tune that is not hugely popular (though, for what it’s worth, one of my favourites to play in solo competition). Continue reading Online Music Directory…

Scotland’s Year of No’ Coming?

Like the rest of the pipe band world (minus the marketing maestros leading the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association) I was pretty shocked to read that the international judging team was kicked off Scotland’s judging panel.   When the facts as we know them are laid out it’s impossible to understand the reason behind the decision. Continue reading Scotland’s Year of No’ Coming?…

The Days Come and Go …

Here’s a little quote courtesy of the 19th century American poet and transcendentalist, Ralph Waldo Emerson.
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The Last Day of the Year

A beautiful, crisp, clear, cold winter’s day here in Dundas, Ontario.  For lovers of winter, this is a perfect winter’s day.  I’m more a “liker” of winter.  But today is a shiny, bright punctuation point for the run-on sentence that was 2008.
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Blind Justice

To the deaf person in an audience competition pipe bands in full flight must seem pretty dull.  Backs to the audience, motionless but for flying fingers, wrists and the odd twirling tenor stick, bands at play are starchy stiff.  To some extent, the military roots of the pipe band might account for some of the undertaker’s demeanor.  Mostly, though, I think the real reason is the intense physical and mental focus needed to present pipe band music at its best.  Contrary to a well-kent youtube video that has made the rounds, I say it really is hard to do the “hokey-pokey” and deliver a technically and tonally unanimous musical performance.   
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Money for Nothing

One of the most remarkable changes in the piping world in the last twenty years is the commercialization of the game.  When I say “commercialize” I mean just that, “1. To apply methods of business for profit.  2. a. To do, exploit, or make chiefly for financial gain or, b. To sacrifice the quality of for profit.”  

I suggest to you piping commercialization has grown above the natural levels associated with population growth. 
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One of My Motivators

November through to January have traditionally been my fallow practice months.  In part,  because I’ve been fed up with piping and needed time away and, part because I know time away from practice is a very good and healthy thing, especially when that practice is regular and intense.  I’ve always felt better about piping after a good break.  That’s got to be a good sign of a good “training” regimen.   I recommend planned time away from piping – or drumming – or any crazy intense pursuit.
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