St. Paddy's Postscript

Sure another year has come and gone, and things have been hectic, since we got back, so not a lot of time to be blogging about all that fun and music south of the border. Suffice to say we had a great time [and have photos to prove it] and we played a lot of tunes.

Thanks to the Celtic Committee headed by Pat Mischel in Glendive, and to the staff at the Missouri-Yellowstone Confluence Interpretive Centre. We had a great time, and it was very fun to play for such good crowds. A big thank you to the various establishments that kept freely oiling the mighty wheel of the band thirst on the pub crawls! Madhatters was mad indeed, and there were far too many Clan MacGregor drams!

It was great to have Andy Rogers with us on the trek. Andy played some great tunes, and we had more than our share of fun. Thanks to band members, and especially the rookies, for coming down for three days of madness. When I was at the border crossing on the way home, the Border Guard said, "OK, that last car of people looked pretty green around the gills!"

Must'a been something they ate...

Anyway, here are the photos we'll share:
Click here!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

For a few years now, the band has been making good fun on St. Patrick's Day. We started a few years back doing the American thing: going bar to bar on St. Paddy's, raising free drinks and spare change, and having good fun and banter along the way. Of course, every so often a puzzled and likely sober bar patron asks what's with all the Scottish pipe bands playing on St. Paddy's, and we simply smile and shrug. There is no answer, except that it's fun and accepted.

Our tradition on St. Paddy's has had two strong focal points for the last few years, one being O'Hanlon's Pub in Regina as the start and finish of the crawl, and for the last five years the people of Glendive, Montana have welcomed the band each year. We perform in a concert on Saturday afternoon at their beautiful High School theatre, and often play at locations in the town. Some years there has been a parade, some years Seniors' Homes, the Library, businesses...and it finishes with a fantastic pub crawl through the eight or so bars and clubs on the main strip in Glendive. It's great fun, social, and the people couldn't be friendlier or more welcoming.

Every year, there is a great band of older guys who crank out the classic rock tunes in one of the bars, and we end up dancing long into the night after the pub crawl is done. When the weekend is over, we always have a boatload of stories, jokes and one-liners to last the season.

This year we have new bass drummer in [our] uniform for the first time, a dedicated djembe player, a bass guitar player, and some new band members, plus special guest Andy Rogers from NB, who will be bringing his considerable piping and social skills to Glendive with the band. Stay tuned for the full report.

And wherever you are, have a great day Saturday.

Bring on the Kids
Last weekend a number of us were in Winnipeg at their Scottish Festival. They have a good turn out of bands, a great location for a contest, and a very good team of people working on the event. It is usually the "first brush" with the season for prairie bands. Nobody is in top form in February playing indoors, but it's always fun to see who has what kilt on, etc.

I did come away from the event a little bit perplexed at the state of—for lack of a better term—juvenile pipe bands. Most of the "kids" bands are not kids bands any longer, and those that are active have small numbers, including our own Conservatory Pipe Band. An examination of the solo entries and results also shows a lack of numbers. Many of the soloists heard in all grades are adults, and the largest bands are adult bands.

Contrast that with the scene years back, when Saskatoon had two junior bands, Moose Jaw had two, Regina had one very large one with an "A" and "B" band, and Winnipeg had several. These days, the biggest bands are those Grade 4 and 3 bands full of enthusiastic adult learners or what I sometimes call "re-treads," the people who come back to piping in their 30s and 40s after years away.

Now, I'm all for people of all ages coming back to piping, or taking it up at any age, and it's great to see them out at Games and entering contests. Take a casual glance at the photos from workshops, summer schools and other events that you can see online. You'll find the majority of people to be adults. The winningest Grade 4 band at Winnipeg? An adult band.

The adults are great. They are fun to teach, buy lots of stuff from retailers, enter contests, and contribute a lot, but they aren't the future of good piping and drumming. As always, the people who start as children, have solid teaching and good experiences, will be the future of good music in our band and solo music. I have huge enthusiasm for kids working hard and raising their level, while having a lot of fun with their friends and the music, and frankly, I don't see enough of it. Bands in this part of the world need to focus on youth and building musicians with skills. We need a culture of fun and an attitude that strives for excellence.

If the trend continues, there won't be junior bands on the prairies. There will be Grade 4 bands and Grade 5 bands which have some kids in them learning, but which are mostly adults. That might be good for the retailers of piping gear, but bad news for the future of good piping and drumming in this area.

What are the solutions?