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.

Missing Maxville AND Montreal

Been watching all the Maxville preparations online this week. As the largest and best Highland Games in North America, the Glengarry Highland Gathering attracts top bands from across North America, and sometimes event the UK. The CRPB has been a semi-regular band at Maxville since our first trip, in 1996.

That year, we had a new lead drummer, a young guy from Moose Jaw who had experience with Alberta Caledonia since he was 13. Ryan is a wee bit older now, and with years of experience in Grade 1 and 2, and now he's leading his Rocky Mountain Pipe Band drum corps in its first attempt at the Maxville Games. In the drum corps are ex-CRPB members Dave Roth and Andy Kopciuch, and the pipe-major is another guy who made that first CRPB Maxville trip in 1996—Sean Somers. We had some good years in Maxville and Montreal, placing well in the Grade, to not a few people's surprise.

At the other end of the country, Gord Perry is leading an excellent Fredericton Pipe Band toward Maxville. Gord also gained his first Grade 2 experience at Maxville with the CRPB. For a couple of seasons, we had Gord Perry and Brad Clyde join us from Winnipeg for the big summer contests. Gord has been working hard to build the Fredericton band, and Brad Clyde is still with us.

Maxville is a fantastic contest, and quite spectacular in many ways. The gathering of bands from so far, the judging panel, the Maxville solos, the large entry, the great grounds, the PPBSO's fantastic organization of it all, and the more than 30,000 people who come to take it all in. We'll miss being there to compete, and we'll miss hearing the Grade 1 bands do their thing.

Best of luck to former CRPB members taking the field in various bands, and especially to Rocky Mountain Pipe Band, going for the first time.

While bands are hard at it in Maxville, the CRPB will be having a last weekend practice before we leave for Scotland. We have a pretty full playing schedule, which takes in North Berwick Games, Bridge of Allan, The Piping Festival, Pipes of Peace Festival and Concert, the Worlds, and Perth Games. Watch here for updates.

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

Coming Up for Air
The last couple of weeks have been tremendously busy with preparation for Maxville, and also the annual SOUND ADVICE summer school, which took place last week. We had a great group of instructors and students working and playing hard at the University of Regina, which was a fantastic location and environment for the school. Excellent accommodations, good food, great teaching facilities, all on a modern and beautiful university campus. It was great to see and hear the progress students have made in a year, and also to meet new students. As well, local pipe bands [Fraser, Wa Wa Shrine] took up the offer to have a band workshop at the school, so it was great to involve some more local faces in the school.

Thanks to the CRPB and Conservatory band members and parents, who once again were the stiff underside to the school, holding it up with their volunteer work taking tickets, getting water, driving, airport runs and a hundred other details. Couldn't have done it without you.

Paying for the Bus, and Learning Along the Road

Part of the job of getting the band to competitions is raising the cash to get there, and paying for accommodations and ground transportation while there. Without a full-on sponsor, the band relies a lot on event fundraising, member inputs, and performances. Our Maxville/Montreal trek involves five nights of hotels, a bus from the airport to Cornwall, buses to the Games, and transport from Maxville to Montreal. Not cheap.

This past weekend, we took a parade job in Moosomin and it was a great day. Up at six a.m. for the 2+ hour drive, arriving in time to meet other band members from Estevan, Brandon and [surprise!] Winnipeg, tune for about 20 minutes, and then go on the parade. Not the most fun kind of piping, but greatly appreciated in the town. For many Saskatchewan pipers, this is the main activity.

When we got back to the starting point after the parade, one of the organizers was there with a cooler full of ice cold beer and pop. Now THAT was a treat! We later played for about 30 minutes for a group of people assembled to hear us in the town memorial park, dedicated to the memory of local veterans.

Once re-tuned, the band started with a couple of 3/4 marches, the first being Major Gavin Stoddart's brilliant tune On the Road to Passchendaele. When we were all done, and having lunch provided for us by the local sandwich shop, one of the local guys came to point out that next to the spot we played was the grave of Passchendaele veteran and hero George Harry Mullin VC MM (August 15, 1892 - April 5, 1963). Altogether a fitting way to start, and well noted by the locals, who are very proud of his memory.

It's not easy putting together the money for a trip to Maxville, and sending a mini band to Moosomin is one way to make ends meet. At the end of the day, it turned out to be a day that was worth the effort. We had laughs as a band, got some practice in, had some fun playing old marching tunes in the parade, entertained quite a few people, made some cash for the Maxville trip, and learned something about a Victoria Cross winner of long ago.

Not a bad day out for any band.

Advice You Can Take to the Bank

Today I listened to the Toronto Police medley from last summer. I thought it was pretty cool when I first heard it on YouTube, and then it was great to hear it live in the rain and I especially love the crowd reaction. Anyway, there I was earlier, listening again to that, and thinking what great enjoyment I got from the Grade 1 medleys at Maxville, and I happened on the YouTube above, for Melodeon John. Wow. You could spend hours listening to the way this guy uses language, and I love his turn of phrase. His bonnet collection is gallus.

If you have the time to listen to a few of his rants, you'll discover an amazing tangle of contradiction, humour, half-truth, wisdom of the ages, misinformation, sentimental remembrance,and some interesting renderings of auld sangs, ken?

Anyway, there isn't much of a point to this, except to say that if you wonder why I never talk about TV shows, it's because I don't really watch any...too busy seeing this "reality" stuff online.

Enjoyed the band weekend, and thought in particular it was a lot of fun to play the new Gord Taylor tunes. Looking forward to the Ceilidh.