Lecture

Greetings, a tardy reminder - I was away visiting the Centre of the
Universe, i.e. Tofino, my old
home town. Regards, the other Ron

The Scottish Studies Centre is hosting a series of public lectures on
"Scotland Around the Globe." The first lecture in the series will be
by Professor Leith Davis (Director of the Centre for Scottish Studies
at SFU and Professor of English) on "Robert Burns in a Global
Context." This talk will be held Thursday, September 25 from 7-8 p.m.
in the Canfor Policy Room (Room 1600) at SFU Harbour Centre, 515 West
Hastings Street.

The talk is free and open to the public, but please email leith@sfu.ca
to ensure a seat, as seating is limited.

Piobaireachd Society

Greetings, here is a message I received from the Piobaireachd Society,
Scotland.
Thought some may be interested. regards, Ron

Message:
Greetings to all,
It is a wee while since I last emailed you all with an update on the
progress so far with the website, so I thought now was a good time to
get in touch again.
I am very pleased to see that users continue to register with us,
showing that they have an interest in what we are doing, this is most
encouraging.
A very big welcome to everyone who has registered since I last sent
out a report, I have emailed some of you if you were on line when I
was working on the site, at this time I see those who are logged in.
Once again I will point out that the main advantage to us is that we
have your email address, this is, of course, kept strictly private,
and it enables us to keep in touch.
The main changes since the last letter are in the manuscript section
where you will see that we have now completed both volumes of the
Campbell Cantaireachd as well as Peter Reid's Manuscript and all 7
volumes of Glen's printed Piobaireachd.
The tunes in Glen's 7 books are addressed in a single index. Where
applicable, these works are all linked up in the Concordance.
The work being progressed at the moment is the Angus MacKay
Manuscript, we have about a third of the tunes inboard at the moment
and hope to have the rest completed within the next Month. Although
this work has not yet been made accessable, the tunes that we do have
inboard are, in fact, linked up in the Concordance, these are
annotated K1 and K2 and can be viewed in the first 3 sections of the
concordance.
Another new feature of the site is the sound clips section and this is
proving to be most interesting and is constantly used. We have many
more recordings and as time will permit we will include more of these.
In the background there is also constant maintenance work going on
which, though unseen, is improving the site.
There is another website committee meeting due in September when
further developments will be discussed and actioned, we will be sure
to keep you up to date with any further progress.
Once again, Thank you for registering and taking an interest in
Piobaireachd.co.uk

My best Regards to All,
John Dow
Webmaster

SFU Pipe Band

Greetings, a bit of a background note about the SFU Pipe Band. Regards, the other Ron

World Piping Champions for the Fifth Time

For the fifth time in 11 years the Simon Fraser Pipe Band has won the World's Piping Championship. On Saturday, August 16^th, 2008 the Band competed against the world's best Pipe Bands at Glasgow, Scotland, and came away the winner.

Pipe Major Terry Lee and his brother Pipe Sergeant Jack Lee  founded the Band with Simon Fraser University as their primary sponsor. They proudly wear the ancient Clan Fraser Tartan. Lead Drummer Reid Maxwell later joined the Band to provide top professional direction for the drum section. In 1982, the Band began to shine on the international stage when it won the North American Piping Championship. In 1995, the Band won its first World Piping Championship in Scotland. Competing and winning in Scotland against the world's best bands fired up the Lee brothers and the lads and lassies in the Band. They won again in 1996, 1999, 2001 and now in 2008. In the intervening years, the Band was always a formidable contender, for the most part earning 2^nd or 3^rd place rankings. The Band is probably better known in Scotland, the ancient home of Clan Fraser, than in Canada.

In 1998 the Band played in concert at Carnegie Hall, New York City, to a packed house.  They have played with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Ogden, Utah, and put on piping and drumming seminars at Brigham Young University. They have  thrilled audiences in concert at the Sydney Opera House, Australia. They have performed before enthusiastic audiences in Melbourne, Australia, and Christchurch, New Zealand. They have given recitals in 13 Canadian cities from Halifax to Victoria and in 17 American States. The Band has been one of Canada's top goodwill ambassadors over the past two decades.

The Simon Fraser Pipe Band is not just a single Band. A core of 30 pipers and drummers form the nucleus of the senior Band. In all, there are six levels of bands, ranging from raw beginners to the senior Band. The Band's pipers and drummers teach  150 or more children year in and year out. Their ethic is work, work, work, learn, learn, learn. Their purpose is to refine skills and to develop the discipline it takes to produce a harmonious band. One of the SFU Juvenile Pipe Bands, the Robert Malcolm, has won their division in Scotland four times. 

Every two years, the Band presents a Highland Arts Festival at Simon Fraser University. Instruction is given in piping drumming and Highland dancing. As part of the 1988 Festival the Band piped for the world's largest Scottish Country dance where 256  danced their way into the Guinness Book of World Records.

In 1999, Pipe Major Terry and brother Jack Lee were each awarded Canada's Meritorious Service Award. Jack Lee, one of the piping world's great soloists,  was further honoured in 2004 when he was among the first British Columbians to be presented with the B.C. Community Achievement Award by Premier Campbell. This award recognizes "those exceptional individuals whose personal contributions to the good of their communities has the effect of enriching all of us as citizens of this fortunate province".

The Simon Fraser University Pipe Band is more than just another band. It is both a community and an international role model.

The SFU Pipe Band's website is www.sfupipeband.com

An interesting video clip can be seen at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=15NoXr0Q_D8

 

 

SFU Pipe Band

Greetings, an opportunity to hear the SFU Pipe Band before they leave for the World Championships in Scotland. Regards, the other Ron

What: Band Rehearsal

Where: SFU's Burnaby Campus in the centre grass section of the Academic Quadrangle below the Terry Fox statue.

When: Sunday, August 3, 2008

Time: 10:30 A.m. to 12:30 P.M.

Other: For details, go to the website  http://www.sfu.ca/pamr/media_releases/media_releases_archive/media_release07300801.html

Piping & Fashion

Greetings, another interesting column by John-Angus Smith. Regards, the other Ron

JOHN-ANGUS SMITH

piping scene

Fashion an issue at British Pipe Band Championships!

 

I was at the British Pipe Band Championships in Birmingham at the end of June — a competition which was won by the St Lawrence O'Toole Pipe Band from Dublin, following up their win at the Scottish Championships in May.  There were two things that made this performance special — a tremendous broad chanter tone, blended well into a deep drone harmonic, and an excellent mix between the different sections of the band, all playing together as one unit. This was an outstanding musical experience.

What was interesting from my perspective, and perhaps at this level somewhat surprising, was that very few of the top bands achieved a good overall sound mix between the different sections of the band. It was as if the pipe, snare drum and mid sections were functioning well individually, but not quite blending together as a unit.

I was standing at the top of each band, theoretically where the sound mix should be at its optimum. But frankly speaking, for some bands, the bass drum was overpowering, for others, far too light, and one band in particular, I could not hear the tenor drums at all, although there was plenty of activity as the sticks were swung in all manner of ways during the performance. Ironic, really, given the current debate about mid section contribution and prizes — I guess that for me, it brought home the point that the contribution of the mid section is critical to the overall pipe band performance, and getting it right is clearly very difficult.

The piping of the Field Marshall Montgomery Pipe Band from Northern Ireland was, as always, rather special — crisp, defined technique, controlled and musical playing but not with the same tonal quality that they have had in previous years — it seems as if this has gone south to their friends in Dublin. Their performance also provided one of the talking-points of the day — a first and last place in piping awarded by the two piping judges, caused by the band's Pipe Major virtually conducting the performance without playing, as one of his drone stocks had worked its way loose from the pipe bag, losing the airtight seal needed to manage the air regulation in his instrument. One of the judges stopped judging and retired for a few minutes to the judging tent, before coming out for the performance finale. There has been some debate on various internet sites as to whether he had a right to do this and whether he should have judged the performance on its merits, leaving the administration decision to the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association. It has never happened before, so this is something new for the association to deal with — I guess that some clarity will emerge on this issue over the summer.

 The other highlight of the day was the fashion style on display by the Shotts and Dykehead Pipe Band, with the mid section sporting pink heads on their drum sticks. It is only recently that some bands have moved away from bright white socks, with the Strathclyde Police leading the way in going green — very smart they are, too, and this certainly adds some colour to the day. A couple of years ago I did see an excellent up-and-coming piper deliver some prize-winning performances at the Aberdeen Highland Games in pink socks, yellow flashes and light brown hush puppies.

 On this subject, in Brittany pipe bands compete in matching t-shirts and jeans — and some of the bands are excellent. Check out www.  bas29.com for online performances at the recent competition at Menez Meur where you will see performances from perhaps the two best Breton bands — Bagads Cap Caval and Brieg. One very well- known Breton piper explained to me that they are more interested in the music than the dress that goes with it, and arguably it contributes to a more relaxed and informal style.  WHICH does raise the interesting question of why competition organisers insist on the wearing of the kilt in an increasingly international piping world, and will this ever be relaxed?

 Many allow the abandonment of the jacket, but many insist on pipers wearing one. Funny how we are interested in the music but require pipers to dress in a typecast manner.  I wonder what would happen if competitive pipers started appearing in tartan trews, or a suit, or even jeans and a t-shirt? In some parts of the world, and certainly in other musical idioms, this would be considered perfectly acceptable as the focus is on the music; in Scotland this would be a non-starter.  Personally, for competitive piping, I am in the "kilts on" camp — they do add a touch of style to the event and enable the presentation of the art form in a unique way. I wonder how for long this will last?  I thought I should clarify my comments on the pentatonic scale of A major that were made in my last column. If you are unfamiliar with the bagpipe scale, you will rightly be asking why, in the context of this scale, C and F are included and not C# and F#. The answer is that on the bagpipe scale C and F are natural sharps, but every note is just referred to by its note assignment. It is only in recent times, when pipers have tried to add more notes to the scale, mainly through playing natural Cs and Fs, that there has been a need to augment the notation — interestingly these C and F natural notes are assigned as flat notes in the bagpipe scale. You can see why a non-piper could get confused.

 Many of the leading pipers will be in Skye on 5^th and 6^th August playing in front of some of the most revered judges in the piping world.  The primary event, the Dunvegan Medal, is held on 5^th August, a unique competition in that it re- quires pipers to submit four piobaireachd either composed by, or very closely associated with, the MacCrimmon piping dynasty from Boreraig — honorary pipers to the MacLeods during the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries. One tune is selected by the judges to be performed, and the winner will qualify for the Masters' event in the evening, when the performers will play some of the great MacCrimmon compositions.

After the light music competitions on the 6^th, there is an invitational event at Dunvegan Castle when a select group of the world's top pipers will play MacCrimmon pieces in the main drawing room of the castle, a location where in years past, the hereditary pipers performed — a historically fitting climax to the annual Skye Gathering, certainly from a piping perspective. If you can get along to listen, or perhaps encourage young pipers to attend, this is a great festival of pipe music.

 

Superband

Greetings, an article of interest. regards, Ron

The following article by Fergus Muirhead was taken from the Glasgow Herald 03/07/08:

SOLO PIPERS IN FINE SPIRIT AS THEY TEAM UP FOR SUPERBAND

Some of the world's top solo pipers had spent the day at The Glenfiddich -- the World Championship of Solo Piping -- and had just finished playing a few tunes together at the post-competition ceilidh when the idea of the first Scottish "superband" was born. Roddy MacLeod, Principal of the National Piping Centre in Glasgow, explains:

"For a lot of us, our solo piping regime means that we don't have the time to play in pipe bands any more but we decided that we quite enjoyed playing at the World Pipe Championship at Glasgow Green and would like to be able to do it without the year-round commitment of a regular pipe band."

MacLeod was in charge of the hugely successful Scottish Power Pipe Band for almost 20 years until his retiral two years ago, and so it seemed natural that he would be chosen to lead this new superband, although it is not clear how democratic the process was. "It was my idea to be PM because, of all the guys involved, I had most experience as a pipe major of a grade-one band and the rest of the guys seemed happy to go along with that."

One of the first thing the band had to do was find a name and a sponsor. MacLeod had no hesitation in approaching Glenfiddich, "Because there are so many of us who have played at the Glenfiddich championship I approached them thinking that we might need a little bit of money. So I explained that the idea came from the championship and we would call ourselves the Spirit of Scotland Pipe Band."

Glenfiddich came on board straight away. "It's such an exciting and interesting  venture, we felt compelled to give some support," explained Liz Maxwell, organizer of the Glenfiddich competition. "The idea was conceived at Blair Castle during the 2007 Glenfiddich piping championship, so perhaps we felt just a little parental responsibility."

The band name comes from our successful and prestigious annual Spirit of Scotland Awards and, quite appropriately is led by Roddy MacLeod, who was awarded the Genfiddich Spirit of Scotland Award for Music in 2004.

"The value of being associated with the piping and drumming elite forming the Spirit of Scotland Pipe Band is immeasurable and, although band sponsorship is a new venture for us, I am sure it will fit very nicely into our existing piping commitments."

Of course, the whole idea in the first place was that these guys didn't have time to practice with a band, so how will MacLeod cope with imposing discipline on people used to playing on their own? "So far we have had a few small practices and its going well. One of the reasons we're doing this is that we all get on together. We've been playing in competition against each other for years and are all very close. There is no sense of egos running riot or not being able to take instructions. The others all know what it takes to run a band and all know someone has to give direction. If people don't subscribe to that, then it won't work."

Dr. Simon McKerrel agrees. McKerrell, until recently head of piping studies at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, but who has recently taken up a post as a lecturer in ethno-musicology at Sheffield University, is one of a new breed of competing solo pipers who also has had a successful career as a piper in traditional folk bands, such as Back of the Moon. "I know all of the pipers and I don't see any of them having big egos - well not the size of mine anyway. They are all such good players in their own right that they are not troubled by ego."

McKerrell's background with folk bands has meant that he has been given the task of arranging the tunes that the band is going to play for the medley - a mixed selection of tunes that all of the grade-one bands will play in the final of the world championship. "Over the past couple of months, Finlay MacDonald and I have been trying out tunes, and arranging harmonies. I've tried to inject a bit of non-piping traditional music into the set.

"For instance, we're playing a tune by John McCusker, who is not a piper. His tune, Friday Harbour, is a slow air and I have arranged it more like a vocal three-part harmony arrangement than a standard pipe band setting. I'm hoping people will be impressed by the music and our settings. It's not all about syncopation or new tunes. It's about good quality tunes that combine well."

To complete the Spirit of Scotland Band for their performance at the world championship MacLeod has enlisted the services of a drum corps largely based in Canada, and will not arrive in Scotland until the week before the event, so truly the band will not have its first full practice until just before the championship itself.

MacLeod is cautiously optimistic about the band's chances. "We all have our pride and we don't want to go and sound anything other than really good. We all go into competition wanting to play well and wanting our pipes to sound good. We've all played at grade one level before so the first hurdle is to try to qualify in the morning and compete in the afternoon's final round. If we do that, then we will be competing with the best in the world and it will be a real endorsement of our standard."

He did go on to say that even if the Spirit of Scotland superband doesn't make it to the final, the audience at Glasgow Green won't be deprived of hearing them. "Of course, if we don't qualify for the final we'll just have to play our medley outside the beer tent so that everyone can hear it anyway."

Pipe Tuning

Greetings, an interesting article from the West Highland Free Press. Regards, Ron

JOHN-ANGUS SMITH

piping scene

The solo piping competition season really gets going in July. It is an art form which can be somewhat confusing to those unfamiliar with piping competitions, so I will try to explain what goes on.

 When the piper enters the stage or the competition platform, he will not immediately launch into the performance piece but will spend some time retuning the pipe. Why, you may ask, hasn't this been done before stepping on to the performance platform?

The Great Highland Bagpipe is a "warm wind" instrument — by this I mean that the instrument is fuelled by breath exhaled by the piper through a blowstick into the pipe bag. This is moist air, and changes in atmosphere experienced by the performer as he moves from perhaps a cooler tuning location to a warmer performance area, or vice versa, will affect the instrument. So the piper will need to stabilise and retune the

instrument which, if it is to be done properly, is not an immediate process.

 At major piping competitions, the piper is given anything up to five minutes to adjust the instrument, depending on the length of the performance piece. So what happens? Does everyone switch off while this is going on? It is understandable that those unfamiliar with competitive piping find tuning infuriating, but without it we would experience a pipe that

perhaps stays in tune for a short period of time before the drone harmonic starts to become discordant, or the piper has been unable to reset the pitch of a note that has

changed. So a little "pain" at the start pays dividends for the long-term enjoyment of the performance as it enables the piper to settle and properly tune the instrument.

Everyone familiar with solo piping competitions is listening from the time the piper strikes up the pipe — the top pipers have a process that they go through, and you can hear this in the phrases that they use as they listen for stability of sound and concordance of the drone with the chanter. Many pipers will deliberately set a dissonant sound, particularly on 'B', which can add tension depending on the performance piece.

It is interesting that less experienced performers are more likely to play a cacophony of notes — lots of fast fingering and retuning of the instrument. I would recommend that

young pipers study the tuning process of the great pipers — you won't hear too much fast fingering, but you will hear lots of melodic sequences as the piper tests the stability of the drone harmonic against the chanter sound. Let's say that the piper will be performing a piobaireachd that is predominately in the pentatonic key of A major, with

the primary notes A, B, C, E, F and high A — he will not spend any time tuning D and G, but he will continuously play the key notes until he is satisfied that the tuning is stable.

The concordance of the harmonic will amplify the sound and the piper should be able to feel this in his fingers on the chanter.

Judges will be watching this from the word go, as will the other competitors — and as long as they see a progressive process, this will

keep their attention. There is nothing more frustrating than an absence of process — it is not exactly good preparation for the performance if judges and audience are unsettled at this stage.

Only when the piper is satisfied that the drones are "locked" in to the chanter sound will he begin. By this stage, if the process has been progressive, there will be a sub- conscious feeling in the air that the performance will be about to commence, and perhaps after a rest on the low A tonic the piper will start the performance proper.

So that is tuning! Now on to the performance. There is a lot going on in the piper's head — setting tempo, remembering the music, drawing out the nuances of phrasing, listening for the continuance of the drone harmonic against the chanter and marching or moving around the stage.  Getting through a performance in musical and technically faultless fashion on a well-tuned and toned instrument takes a lot of work, most of it done well before the competition day. Proper planning and preparation certainly minimises the risk of poor performance, allowing the piper to stride confidently on to the com- petition platform and maximizing his chance of delivering a prize-winning tune.

Here is a list of key piping com- petitions and festivals around the region during the summer, with associated website information where this is available.

6-11 July Ceolas Music Festival, South

Uist — www.ceolas.co.uk

19 JulyLewis Highland Gathering, Tong

— www.lewishighlandGathering.co.uk

22 July Inverary Highland Gathering —

www.inverary-Gathering.co.uk

23 July South Uist Highland Gathering

24 July Young Highland & Islands Piper

of the Year, Liniclate School, Benbecula

24 July Mull Highland Gathering,

Tobermory

25 July North Uist Highland Gathering

30 July Arisaig Highland Gathering

3 August Mallaig Highland Gathering

5,6 August Skye Highland Gathering,

Portree — www.skye-highland-

games.co.uk

6 August Silver Chanter Invitational,

Dunvegan Castle

11-17 August Piping Live Festival,

Glasgow — www.pipinglive.com

16 August World Pipe Band

Championship, Glasgow —

www.rspba.org

16 August Glenfinnan Highland Gathering

23 August Glenurquhart Highland

Gathering, Drumnadrochit

27, 28 August Argyllshire Gathering,

Oban — www.obangames.com

4,5 September The Northern Meeting,

Inverness — www.northern-meeting.org

 The main events for solo pipers are in Skye, at the Argyllshire Gathering and the Northern Meeting, and this is where you will see some of the best pipers in the world perform.  ON 6^th July the Ceolas Music Festival returns to South Uist, a week full of music, song and dance. This festival brings a totally different style of piping to the fore, one based around dance and entertainment. I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone who has a spare week and, from a piping education perspective, those who are advanced players would find the piping style of Nova Scotia's John MacLean very different to what we have in Scotland today.

Many would argue John's piping style was how it was back in the early 1900s, when South Uist was isolated and the pipe was the main form of music in the island for entertainment (reference FG Rea's book "A School in South Uist" where he recounts his experiences as headmaster of Garrynamonie School between 1890 to 1913). John's driven style and repertoire is very reminiscent of what this might have been like.

Finally, the answer to last month's picture competition — the judges were Iain MacFadyen and Archie MacLean. Well done to Tommy MacLellan, Tigharry, North Uist, and James MacKenzie, Back, Isle of Lewis, who will be receiving copies of "Orfeid Uibhist" in the next week.  Congratulations also to young Jamie MacLean from Gairloch — whilst not quite getting the answer right, this was a very good attempt and we will send you a copy of the CD as well.