Wednesday, December 30, 2009

2009: A Great Year to Be in the CRPB
The end of the calendar year is upon us, and 'tis the time for reflection on the year just past. I usually venture down this blogging path alone, and this time I asked the current band "What about 2009?" I have my own thoughts, of course, and I was happy hear that band members agreed: it was a great year to be in the band.

I have been pipe major of the band since the fall of 1992, and in that time, I have played with some amazing people in this band, had a wide range of great people come and go as members, and had many happy and successful times with the band. I would have to say, however, that 2009 stands out as the most satisfying year so far, from my perspective. In part, that likely has to do with the seasons just before—not competing in 2007 due to a lack of members, and just barely competing—with no success—in 2008. In large measure, though, this is due to the great mix of people we have in the band at this moment, and how much they are willing to do to make the band fun and successful.

2009 saw the band steadily develop, starting with some fun music at the Mid-Winter Celtic Festival, and then a performance at Winnipeg that held some promise, but was far short of what we needed to get past another Grade 2 band. Throughout the early part of the season, the band was not able to deliver the sound that was there, and we paid in the results. The first time that turned around for us was at Selkirk, Manitoba in June, We had two pretty solid plays, and it was no longer "straight 2nds." The coolest part of that was that the band members understood immediately that we came close, and rather than saying "cool, let's keep doing this" they said "can we add another night of practice?"

The days of practice in Maxville ahead of the big day were the best I have experienced with the CRPB. We had good sound every day, and it got better, and the playing was getting tighter, and then...something came loose at Maxville, and we gassed the medley. Badly blown, mistakes, etc., and the band's "big day" inexperience showed. We were so downhearted after the medley, that we dropped the ball getting ready for the MSR, and showed up at the line not in tune, and not really excited to play.

Montreal, as the record shows, turned out to be a pretty good play for the band, and hearing the band announced "Best Pipe Section" was many band members' favourite moment of 2009. For others, the beer tent and the bus ride back to the hotel was a key memory. One of the best moments for me was that we decided play some tunes in the beer tent before massed bands, just to have fun and blow off steam. Ot turned out to be THE medley performance of the season, and we heard nothing but positives afterward.

September long weekend, a smaller band went to Calgary/Canmore games weekend, where we played well both days, delivering the sound we had set-up, and finishing the season with a performance in the Canmore Beer Tent, and then hours of fun to follow.

We've been working hard all fall, and have learned new music, worked in some new members, and are planning some big things for 2010. But before we get there, good to look back on a superb year for the band. Here's what some others thought:

Karen's Highlights:
- Getting lost in Minot following the Google map to the lodge
- The Pouring rain in Montreal - deciding not to leave and have fun playing in the beer tent then a good performance
- Then Ruaridh missing the bus
- Racing to catch the plane in Montreal with Pat and Stacy (lesson learned)
- Getting new tenor drums and the Bass drum just at competition (after the head mishap)
- and just working hard, getting out there to competitions and the improvement we made throughout the year.

Scott:
Best pipe section in Montreal was the highlight of the year for me

Richard:
being a "part time member" seeing the tremendous improvement from Winnipeg in February to Canmore in September

John LL:
This piping thing, like this life, takes hard work. And just like this life, giving up is simply not an option. For me, it's one of the wonderful things about Regina and CRPB. It's great to be in a place with a really good organisation of really nice people who genuinely enjoy the hard work, and a beer afterward. I remember Barb mumbling some crap about the pursuit of excellence (I'm just kidding, it's not crap), at Maxville 1 1/2 years ago, and that's how I felt about this year. I am still in the pursuit of excellence in piping, and I enjoy it, even with it's setbacks. I feel that the nicest thing about this year for me in the band has been the feeling that we are all in this pursuit together, and it's good to feel that you're good at something that you enjoy (or at least improving, growing, learning), and a part of something bigger, the competitive piping world. I guess I've always been in the world of piping, although on the peripheral edge in a sense as a non competitor. That said, playing the solo at police funerals is still a great honour, and to me central to what the piping world is, or should be, but I wanted at this point in my life tro get closer to the other world of piping and improve my playing for the uniform world, too: To pursue excellence. As Pipe Major Sam Scott said, "Practice has it's own reward - Find it!". This year has helped me find that reward.

Graham:
2009 was definitely a highlight just to be able to play back in the ranks again.
- First Selkirk performance, gave that instant feeling that we're definitely competitive and can produce a good sound. Plus everyone was a solid performer
- Maxville practices...producing consistently solid sound
- Montreal result...winning best piping was probably the best result I've ever contributed to while in the band.
- Montreal bus ride/hotel after party...can never go wrong making up new song verses to the tune of booze!
Overall, was a great experience to come back to the band after an absence playing in Scotland.

Stacy:
High: Hanging out with the band in the Canmore Beer Tent
Why: The people - the realization that the entire band enjoys playing together as well as hanging together at the end of the day.

Meg:
I really loved the band practises leading up to events-those were the biggest laughs throughout the year and where the best ideas came from. I hope for even better times in 2010!

Aaron:
One of the best moments was hearing the results in Montreal. It wasn't first place, but it was exciting nonetheless to be in the top three of a bigger competition. The even more exciting moment of course was getting first in piping. Another great time was in the Canmore beer tent. An awesome end to an awesome season.

Sienna:
I'll start with one downer so I can end with the positives:
1. Playing the medley in Maxville: marching off the field with a general sense of "what the hell" because our practices leading up to that moment were great, especially the one the night before the big day. The dissappointment of knowing we blew it (or more specifically under-blew it) during and after that set. : (
2. Our split decision on whether or not to play in Montreal: go back to the hotel, play for a bit in the beer tent, or just go for it? After most of the band threw back a pint in the beer tent, the sun made its first appearance of the day and before we knew it we were tuning up for what would become a great win of the season.
3. Standing in massed bands in Montreal and hearing our name come in 3rd out of how many? And then months down the road finding out not only did we place 3rd, but 2nd due to a disqualification. Again another ironic twist of fate that inspires our members to believe we are competitive.

Jordan:
... getting straight firsts in drumming at Calgary/Canmore





Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Blackwood Cracks in the Cold
The weather has been frightful here on the Canadian prairie in the last couple of weeks, and it seems like "not" bagpipe weather. In fact, it's the perfect time to play. If you don't, you can almost hear blackwood cracking in the boxes. Despite the cold, we've been having good practices, and have had a couple of excellent band weekends.

A couple of weekends back, we had trouble getting a regular location for practice, and we ended up renting the hall at the First Presbyterian Church which has been the home of the Fraser Pipe Band in Regina since the 1960s. So, it was "deja vu all over again" for a few of us, pictured [L-R]: Alex Rasmussen, Pat (Clemence) Luchenski, Iain MacDonald, Barb (McDougall) MacDonald, Arlene (Clemence) Kary and Karen (Hastings) Hala—all former members of the Fraser Pipe Band. We all spent a lot of time in that church hall, and it was fun to be there.

It was also at that band weekend that the members decided on a contest and travel schedule for the 2010 season. Despite some strong interest to return to Maxville and Montreal games, we did not have enough members who could make it that weekend, so instead we have launched a much more ambitious project: returning to the UK in August 2010 for competitions and events. This is a far cry from a couple of years ago, when the band had neither the members or the ability to make such a trip happen. So, 2010 should be an exciting year [again] for the band.

Watch for the band to make a major uniform upgrade in the new year, and we are also going to soon have some [more] exciting news about the Mid-Winter Celtic Festival. In the meantime, if you live in Regina, come out to Arthur Guinness' Birthday Party at O'Hanlon's Pub on December 23rd. We'll be there.