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 16th, 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 2nd or 3rd 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
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