Readers of pipe band news may have seen the pipes|drums story about the band making a change in lead drummers from Ian Aastrom to Blair "Buz" Brown. Ian Aastrom has been the L-D since Fall 2007, when the band had just finished a year off competing [no drum corps] and he had decided to leave the Grade 3 Winnipeg corps he was then leading. Ian had played with the CRPB for our Scotland trips in 2005 and 2006, so he had a pretty good sense of what the band was like at the time.
For our part, we were pretty much "done" as a band. After 2006 we lost a few veteran pipers and drummers. Players departed to the Clan Gregor Pipe Band, Alberta Caledonia, Toronto Police, Rocky Mountain Pipe Band, Winnipeg St Andrews, Fredericton, and just out of bands. Of the 22 people standing in the band photo at North Berwick Games in 2006, 16 had departed by the 2008 season.
So, when Ian offered to be "Lead Drummer," there was very little to lead. We had one tenor drummer, a bass drummer who hadn't played in over 25 years, and one snare player remaining from the 2006 corps. We brought in players from Grade 4/5 bands: the Conservatory and Estevan, and set to work as best we could. The entire band was very rough, but actually quite a bit of fun, and Ian helped make it so. Constantly enthusiastic, always willing to try, change and learn, Ian did a fantastic job working with what he had, and he built a very young and inexperienced group into a decent unit: one that regularly took firsts and won "Best Drum Corps" against regional bands.
Last year, Ian's corps won Best Drum Corps at the Canmore Highland Games [Sept 09] Winnipeg Scottish Festival [Feb 10], and Regina Highland Games [May10].
And now, with the opportunity to have Buz lead the corps, Ian was part of the decision making in that choice, and is looking forward to playing in the corps. So,"thanks" barely covers it. Ian has been an outstanding contributor to the rebuilding of the band, and to whatever modest success we've had. He contributes to the esprit de corps whenever he's around, and has stick handled all kinds of issues on behalf of the group: from drums and music to uniforms to camp sites to steak dinners.
I know that the entire band joins me in extending our thanks to Ian AND Stephanie for their contributions to the band so far, and we look forward to the next chapters!
