Touching the Past
I recently had the opportunity to purchase an interesting old bagpipe. It is a set of "reelpipes" made by Thomas McBean Glen at #2 North Bank Street, Edinburgh. Based on the maker's stamp—which appears twice on the chanter—the pipes were made about 1843. In recent years, there has been a resurgence of interest in older sets of pipes, and most bagpipe stores now offer "vintage" bagpipes for sale as part of their service. Jim McGillivray may well be the leader in this field, and I have more than a few times browsed the sets on his site to learn more about the sets on offer.

Another excellent way to spend some time is browsing the National Museum of Scotland's online collection of bagpipes and related items. In there, you can see more work by Thomas Glen, including the name stamp that likely marked this particular set of pipes!

I've had the chance over the years to play and examine some really old bits of piping history, not the least being Angus MacKay's practice chanter. Once, years back, I played a set of Donald MacDonald pipes that belonged to piper Thomas Standevin, and he also had old sets of uilleann and other European pipes.

I'm not exactly sure what it does for me, except that maybe I feel more connected to ages past through these various sets of pipes. Handling a reelpipe made in the 1840s, feeling the imprint of the maker's stamp...it all holds a bit of mystery for me. What was on Thos. Glen's mind the day he made these pipes? What could he see out the shop windows? Who bought them, and what use did they get back in the 1800s?

Thomas Glen died in 1873, aged 69, and here are his pipes, still circulating all these years later, and still the object of admiration. I'm certain he would be surprised to know that his pipes and tools formed part of the collection of the National Museum of Scotland. How could he conceive that a piper in the middle of the Canadian prairie would be staying up later than he should, thinking about Edinburgh in the 1840s, and wondering about the man who made them?

And So, It Begins Again

Truth be told, band never really ends for many of us. Since our last competitive performance at Montreal Highland Games [2nd place, thanks] some of us have been turning things over in our minds, discussing, playing lots of tunes, and sending emails about the season that begins now.

As soon as the instruments go away for a few weeks, all bets are off, and we are all back to the starting line. Then it's about seeing who's in for the season, and who thinks they need a break, who wants to play, and who might be convinced to join.

We say farewells to those leaving, and make a warm welcome for those coming. Band is always a revolving door, and it's great to see both new and familiar faces come through the door.

We look at the music we played last year, and try to get rid of the weak links, and find some new/old gems to strengthen what we did. We have been re-assessing the snare and mid-section parts, and thinking about what could be done better [and by whom].

There is also a mountain of organizational stuff to get done, web site, financials, AGM,planning for 2012 finances and travel, potential instrument and uniform upgrades...

We had an excellent season in 2011, and we are looking forward to solidifying some of the gains we made musically, and also shoring up the areas where we needed more strength/consistency. Have been on the Facetime to Buz, and sending emails, leaving sheets of music where Barb will find them and start thinking harmonies. The hall is booked, fresh sheepskin is on the way, and reeds are ready to go.

Band starts this Sunday, and if you want to play, time to get the music, find the gear, and start making the time. The City of Regina Pipe Band had it's very first practice in October, 1992. The 20 years since have seen a lot of changes to the band, and the way we do things, but one of the pieces that never really changes is the uncertainty the start of a new season brings. The other thing that stays constant is the hope, that this will be the best year ever.

See you at band.

Piping Live! and the World's: Some Observations

Piping Live! has grown in eight years to be an absolutely outstanding week, and full credit must be given to Roddy MacLeod, M.B.E. and the hard-working staff and volunteers at the National Piping Centre. There is no question in my mind that the Piping Centre has been THE driving force behind the development of the week we now have, and even the RSPBA [which does an excellent job managing and promoting the World Pipe Band Championship] has picked up the cues left by the early Piping Live! to develop the World's "package."

It was impossible to see and hear everything at the Festival, and the range of experiences available has grown enormously. There were solo piping concerts, contests and recitals; band practices, concerts and sessions; and piping music from many cultures. There were talks on history and traditions, language, song and museum tours. In George Square there were many kinds of bands, whisky tasting, Scottish food market, crafts and lots of marching!

A highlight of the week for me was the ScottishPower Pipe Band concert on Wednesday. Not only did the band sound great as a pipe band, but the orchestral pieces they did were outstanding. Part of what made them outstanding was the significant risk involved in trying to pull such elaborate music together with limited [cost factors] rehearsals. The band's success in the concert was inspirational, and it also provided some really great moments, such as during the encore when P-M Chris Armstrong started solo into a slower arrangement of "Castle Dangerous," and the audience joined in and sang along to the tune. When the pipers joined him for the next-higher tempo, the audience carried on singing. You could tell from the reaction on stage that it was a great moment for them, too.

At the World's on Saturday, I took the opportunity to listen to bands warming up for the MSR final, and then see them in final tuning. You can learn a lot about the way bands operate by watching them in the final moments before they compete. There are lots of different approaches, and seeing the top Grade 1 and 2 bands preparing to go on was [as always] food for thought about how to modify what we do at the CRPB.

Some point-form highlights overall:

• hearing the Armagh Pipers Club group - outstanding
• uilleann piper Cillian Valley
• ScottishPower concert
• Anxo Lorenzo
• hearing Dowco Triumph Street PB in the George Square performance, and then in the medley final at the Worlds. This band has developed tremendously [as you would, having to compete regularly with SFU] and they have really made a mark in the Grade 1 class.
• watching SFU, Power and Inveraray tune up.
• FMM's medley performance: absolutely brilliant in every way
• Michael Grey's recital of his compositions at the Piping Centre.
• Seeing that the World's Grade 1 results were overall about right, despite some questionable individual judging decisions

Maxville/Montreal - The End of a Great Season

This weekend the band competed at the North American Pipe Band Championships in Maxville, and then at the Montreal Highland Games the next day. There were quite a few highlights, and it was a great week with the band in Ontario and Quebec.

The good news is that the band finished into the prizes at Maxville, being 5th overall and including two 3rds in piping in the medley. The good AND bad news was that our Maxville performances in no way represented our best performances. Good in that we still made the prizes on relatively weak performances, and bad in that we did not meet out own expectations for the weekend.

The positive news out of this is that the band is developing in the right direction. We had plenty of feedback about that from judges, spectators and fellow competitors, and we are eagerly looking forward to next season. Part of the equation is how many new players we incorporated in the season, and the inability to prepare as a complete team as much as we would like/need.

Among the positive aspects of the Maxville games were solo results logged by CRPB soloists in the Grade 1 solos. All four CRPB players took prizes in one of the three Grade 1 heats. Eilidh MacDonald won the piobaireachd and marches, and was 3rd in 6/8 marches, narrowly missing the overall prize. Raphael Mercier won the strathspey/reel in his section, and was 3rd in piobaireachd. Eva Rennie was third in her piobaireach heat, and Alex Rasmussen took 4th and 5th in marches and strathspey and reels in his heat. Sadly, both Alex and Raphael missed events due to erratic scheduling of events at the same time. The band is extremely proud of the efforts of the soloists, and the results they obtained.

At Montreal Games, the band was able to pull together an excellent medley performance, and on the strength of it's 2nd place in ensemble, finished ahead of former CRPB member Gord Perry's Fredericton Society of St. Andrews Pipe Band. This was a very good performance for the band, and a well-deserved result. We followed this with a prolonged and happy celebration in the Montreal beer tent, visiting friends from across the continent, hearing and playing tunes, and also celebrating the success of friends in the New Westminster Police Pipe Band from British Columbia, who were deserving winners at both Maxville and Montreal. The NWPPB includes former CRPB members: Bryde Whelan, Aaron Malcolm, Cam Dodson [our first L-D in fall 1992], and Ann Gray, and many other friends.

So ends another season, and a great one for the band. We pulled together a whole new competition repertoire, incorporated a number of new members, made some very smooth changes in leadership and roles, continued to develop our events and programs, supported a number of worthwhile local and national events, and managed to have a lot of memorable times playing the music we love with friends we cherish.

Can't wait for the start of band in September.

Making Your Mark in the Piping World

This week I had the phone call that, at some level, I had expected. A good friend called to tell me that Darleen [Miharija] Milloy had died, after many years of living with MS. In the 1980s, when I first met Darleen ["Dar-Mi-Har"] she was about 20, a piper with the SFU Pipe Band, and an up-and-coming pro piper on the solo scene in BC and in Scotland. Darleen would go on to win both the BC Pipers' MacCrimmon Cairn and the Silver Medal at the Northern Meeting. Great prizes for any piper, and Darleen was over the moon with them, as was her instructor, Jim McMillan. "She has a touch for the piobaireachd" he used to say, with obvious pride.

Darleen also played in the SFU Pipe Band, and although she never fully liked the change to brogues for the ladies (!), she was a proud member of the band, and did a lot locally to support the band's many projects.

I was lucky to know Darleen pretty well at a very happy time in her life. She was a member of one of the best pipe bands in the world, she was a successful solo competitor with major prizes on her shelf, and she had a wide range of friends in the piping world...well before the days of email, web sites, and Facebook. At that time, Darleen also made a special connection with a young piper who had come from Minnesota to play with SFU: Derek Milloy. Derek and Darleen would eventually marry, and together they have been part of the piping scene all these years, Derek as a stalwart, long-serving member of the band, and Darleen as a supporter of Derek and the band.

Darleen made a point of connecting with people: asking their names, what tunes did you play, who taught you, where are you going next week, did you hear so-and-so's tune......and so on. Without a doubt, Darleen was strategic and competitive, and she was also engaging, inclusive and fun. I have many happy memories from those years of Darleen at solo contests, with the band in Scotland, and generally enjoying the fun and social atmosphere of the band.

Darleen and Derek have done a lot of living since those days. Both have made their mark in the piping world, and while there are many great results, recordings and records to show—the mark they have made is reflected in the comments of the many friends world-wide who have been affected by the inspiring example of their lives together.

Brandon Highland Festival

This weekend the CRPB launched it's 2011 contest season with a trip to Brandon, MB and the Brandon Highland Festival. The Brandon contest is always on the edge of spring—sometimes fully indoors, and sometimes solos indoors in the morning, and bands outside in the afternoon. This year, the heavy rain started Friday, the temperatures dropped, and 15cm of snow blew in through Saturday and into Sunday, preventing some people from getting to the games, and almost keeping us in Brandon an extra night.

Regardless, the games went on, and the CRPB put in two solid performances, with one drumming win and one piping win against a very well rehearsed competitor. Given that this was the first time out with the new drum corps [about half the snare line, as it turned out], and three new sets, there was a lot to be happy about. One of the really cool moments for me personally was getting to the line, turning to start the band, and seeing two very old friends standing ready in the drum line. The last time that I played in a band with these guys was in 1991, in another lifetime! In the months since Blair "Buz" Brown and Roland Reid have joined the band, they have both worked tirelessly and with humour to bring their significant skills and experience to bear on the band, and we're all better for it.

Sunday morning was a 9:30 start for a great band practice in Brandon [after fighting through several inches of snow in the school parking lot], and we worked on some bits and pieces, played through the material, and made note of things to work on individually.

In short, a great start to the new year, with a very refreshed band, and a successful first run with the new team.

Get a Front Row Seat
Canadian piping master Bruce Gandy has recently released a great new CD of live performances taken from some prize-winning outings around the piping world. Bruce is a native of Victoria, BC, and grew up there surrounded by pipers and piping of the highest calibre. His father, Ray Gandy, started him off, and then he spent many years going to Jamie Troy, then Bill Livingstone and Jimmy McIntosh. Bruce has won both Gold Medals, the Bratach Gorm, and a host of other prizes.

Perhaps most importantly, Bruce has been an inspiration to many good pipers, and he has encouraged and developed some first-class talent himself, and always gives freely of his time and expertise.

This CD is part of that effort. Bruce has recently established the Bruce Gandy Bagpiping Development Society, whose goals include establishing a fund to help young players take advantage of opportunities to travel and compete.

The CD packaging and notes are excellent, the price is good, and the playing is fantastic. The Big Spree alone is worth the price of the CD, and the money is going to a very worthy cause.

So, get over to Bruce's site, buy the new CD, and maybe pick up a book or two while you are there.

The Light at the End of the Tunnel [Not a train]

This weekend was the annual Mid-Winter Celtic Festival organized by the band, and it was also the first time out for the entire band. We have been working "in committee" for a number of months, choosing tunes, learning them, writing scores for snare and mid-section, learning those, and not writing harmonies and working out consistent approaches to tempos and breaks.

When you don't hear it all together, it starts to feel like it might not exist, but last night we finally got to the light, and it wasn't a train after all. Friday night we sat around a table with pads and chanters and worked on some details with a small group, and then passed that on to a larger group Saturday, played at the Ceilidh, and then had a long practice Sunday morning.

There are some really exciting signs of a much improved musical product. The experience gained in Scotland last summer seems to be settling in. With limited facilities and time for tuning, the pipers were able to put together and deliver a very good sound at times, especially for February. The huge experience gained in the back end with the addition of Buz Brown and Roland Reid is having a positive effect on all sections of the band, and their ideas and leadership are helping to make a substantive difference in the way the band sounds.

Of course, it's February still, and there is a lot still to do, but it was exciting to take this first step out into the light.

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Mid-Winter Celtic Festival
Another festival is safely behind, and many thanks to all those who came out to support the band and the events. It was great to once again have the support of Alexander Keith's as the primary sponsor, and this year we were very proud to add Beam Global, Canada as a Festival sponsor. We couldn't do it without all the community groups and single performers who sign up to perform over the weekend, and as usual, O'Hanlon's Pub played a huge role in making it all go.