The Price of Fun
Band members are likely in a bit of shock over the cost of air tickets to Glasgow. There's no question that it is a more expensive proposition than it was last year. We are bound by the fact that we spent lots of band money on badly needed new drums, and have less to play with than last year, and can't afford to pay down a portion of everybody's fare in advance.

"How can I afford this?" you might be asking. "How can you not?" I would reply. For those of you early in your school/work cycle, money is hard to come by, and $600 more is a lot. The good news is this: it won't ever be easier. Add home and family commitments, spouses with less interest in pipe bands than you, kids to pay for, mortgages, loans...and even if you have a totally committed spouse [like me] and kids deadly keen to go, try scraping together airfare times 5!

This is going to be a good trip, and it's also going to be the best CRPB so far. Last year's trip improved the band a lot, and the band has continued to develop and improve since then. It isn't cheap, but it's going to be a lot of fun, and a lot of good playing.

We'll find ways to make it possible for everyone, but here's what has to happen first: open the door to allow in all the possibilities. To paraphrase Henry Ford: If you say you can't, or if you say you can, either way, you'll be correct.

Back Soon
This weekend I missed band because I was in Winnipeg. I did a workshop with the Winnipeg Police Pipe Band, and one with the Cameron Highlanders. Both of these bands are great Winnipeg traditions, and both have a unique culture and history. The Winnipeg Police have had many excellent pipers in the ranks over the years. Perhaps the best-known was Neil Sutherland, who was equal to many of the great players of the day, and who also founded the Regina Piobaireachd Society when he was in the police here in the late 1920s. Don Morrison was P/M of the Winnipeg Police for years, and they have had many fine players from the top bands in the area. They still have a good band, and we had a great day of working on their sets and music, and getting into the pipes.

There have been Cameron pipers active in Winnipeg at Minto Armoury since 1913, before there were any houses around the Armoury! There is a great photo on the wall in the band room taken in aboout 1917, with a fully kitted pipe band--12 or so pipers, tenors, bass and several snare drums. The guys in the band joke that they can recognize pieces of their uniform in the photo, and there's not a little pride in the history. The band is making strides in Grade 4, and will be challenging up soon. They have a strong program, good leadership, and intensity.

Both of these bands made me think a little about our band, and where it will be in 5, 10, 20, 50 years. In the 14 years the band has been around, we have done some amazing things. We have built, developed, and maintained an organization that turns out good bands year after year [yeah, some years better than others], finds the money to do things, and makes an impression on the larger pipe band world. This is all good, but maybe it's time to do some long-range planning and development? There will be a "post-Iain" band. What will it look like? Might be time to start thinking about that.

Thanks!

Thanks to all the band members for their long hours and relentless vigour over the past week or so of Brier performances, St. Paddy's Pub Crawl, and Glendive. The band looked and sounded well at all times, and it was fun (albeit tiring) to do so much with the band in such a short time. If you brought someone along on the Friday night, please thank them from the band.

Thanks also to the Friends of the Library Committee in Glendive, and especially Pat and Brenda Mischel and Meneely Townsend who do so much to make it a great weekend for the band, and for the people of Glendive. And, thanks to all you folks in Glendive for coming out to the concert, following us on the pub crawl, and for going out of your way to say "welcome" and "thanks for coming."

There were some nice moments over the past week. It was great to see the size of band we can put out for things like the Brier, and to hear how well the Conservatory of Performing Arts Pipe Band blends with our own. It was good to hear some of the very good tone we were getting in the Glendive concert, and good to see the development of the snare line since Christmas. I'm sure we all have our own favourite moments...

On a completely unrelated note, I ended up at Buzz Brown's Image Event Site and there's our Kate Rennie, practising and playing with the 78ths. Good on you Kate, we all wish you the best of luck with the band, and we know you'll contribute. May all the pint glasses you fill be beer! : )

Tim Horton's Brier Meets St. Paddy's
Get some sleep while you're able...it looks like a big week ahead. OK, first there was the Saturday morning Opening Ceremonies for the Brier, followed by pipers at the draws three times a day, all week. Add to that the annual St. Paddy's Tour on Friday night, and then the bus trip to Glendive and back...full concert, bit of parade, and pub crawl...and THEN the bus home on Sunday to close out the Brier Sunday night at about 9:00 p.m. I'm thinking you'll all need any extra sleep you can get. And in case it's not obvious: save a clean shirt for the closing of the Brier...that one is going to be on TV. I'll be honest: I love St. Paddy's Day and the Glendive thing. I really like the pure fun of playing where people think it's great [even when it isn't always] and of course it meets some needs that keep us in reeds and drum heads and other good stuff. Did I mention that it's fun? I think the thing I really like is that while we are trolling through pubs and halls like every other band on the face of the planet, we are actually doing some good playing, and every now and again, there is a patron sober enough to appreciate that through all the green glitter. So, get the tunes ironed out, the bags seasoned, and the green glitter ready to go.

Time Again?


Today a retail store in Dunoon purchased six CDs from our CD Baby sales site. Got me to thinking, for the 2n time in as many weeks, that maybe it's time to do it again. Imagine a late spring weekend, where we spend a couple of days doing it in a "live" environment, but with the chance for re-takes when needed. I could see it. Might mean a bit more music work, but the preparation in terms of blowing tone and playing the right notes might be just what we need.

Competitive Challenges
Went to the Winnipeg Scottish Festival for some judging, and also playing with the Conservatory Pipe Band. Very cool to see the kids in the band do so well across the boards in their various solo events, and also the band itself played very well, given that it was the first time for a number of them. Pretty good progress. While there, got to hear the Winnipeg St. Andrew's, which was big and impressive. They will provide good competition for us in Grade 2, and I wouldn't want to compete with them in the tug-of-war...

We have to start making firm travel and accommodation plans for Scotland, which means booking air flights, and we have a whack of stuff to look after in March with the Brier, St Paddys, Glendive...but let's not forget that it's still pretty satisfying to kick ass at home, and no fun at all when you don't.

Another Sad Loss

Learned today about Bruce Cooke's sudden and unexpected death this past Saturday. It's been a bit of a year for things like this. I first met Bruce when I was a teenager. He came to Regina to teach at the university (I think) and he was very proud of his Queen's University pipe band experience. Over the years, Bruce proved himself to be a real student of bagpipes and pipe bands. Although he was no Gold Medallist, he was very keen to discover what makes things work, and his engineering background and piping interest often overlapped with experiments in sound, theories about reeds and tuning, and other items. The photo here was taken last summer when we did the Legion parade. Bruce sent me a very nice colour copy of the photo, showing the massed bands and Legion colour party on parade. As well as being a long-time member of the Wa Wa Shrine Pipe Band, Bruce served a couple of stints as pipe major, and was the P/M at the time of his death. As well, he played in the Regina Police Service P&D, and was a member of the 10th Field Regiment RCA Pipe Band when it was active. He was always supportive of the City of Regina Pipe Band, and just a week back was at the Ceilidh, and in the fall was at the Pub Krawl. I really appreciated Bruce's support of the Summer School here, and his enthusiasm as a student. It was not always easy for a man so accomplished in academic and professional life [Phd in Engineering; Professor; Dean of Engineering; professional credentials] to be a student of piping, and he took it on with passion and energy that I admired. I'll miss Bruce at the school this summer, and whenever the local bands get together to play. Our condolences to his family, and to the members of the bands of which he was such a great member.

Gale Turns 40

Here's a milestone that you don't reach everyday. Forty years old. It doesn't seem like long since you were a teenager Gale, walking around with glazed eyes after summer school with Colin MacLellan, and we had 3 years of "Colin says..." Well, who knows, likely Colin was right. Got him a Gold Medal.

And there you are: still the avid student of bagpipes, learning new tunes, competing, and being the runner-up for the big World Championship CLASP event last summer. If only there were classes for staying cool! Ha. On top of that, you have this whole career thing happening. Math up the ying-yang, the incredible story of "0" and the years of teaching and generally enthusing about math. And then there's the MA thesis, the multiple auto mishaps, and the muffins that would sink a fishing trawler. Tai Chi this Gale, and there you are chopping concrete blocks in half and cutting the ears off opponents with your mighty sword. All that, and we still can't get a friggin' band jacket that makes you happy!

Well here are 40 great wishes for your birthday Gale. You are one special person, and we are all happy to know you, and happy to have journeyed in your odd company these many years. You have brought so much to the band, and that only covers a small corner of the people you reach in your life.

So have a great day, and we look forward to your contented middle age!

Another Ceilidh for the Books
Well, that was one good weekend. Can't say enough about how people pitched in to assist in various ways, whether buying and picking up food, supplies, helping in the kitchen, at the door, setting up, tearing down, working in all those ways. Very cool to have dedicated volunteers doing the bar and silent auction, and on top of it all the music was great. Note for another time: we need a pre-appointed band photographer for these events! Anybody get any pics? That would be good. Good tunes for the most part. We need to get some reed stability, and I'd like to get people's mechanical level (tuning slides that work, etc.) back to the top of the tree. We'll keep picking away at the concert stuff, and put some real energy into getting everyone's sound better. So, thanks for all your energy, cooperation and great companionship over the weekend. And, if you hadn't heard, sounds as though all bets are off for us continuing to use the Legion. In truth, it might be time for us to finally put that behind us, although, it has been a good building for us. Not sure we can count on that in the future, though, and if anyone has hot ideas, now would be the time to explore them.

One week to go to the Big Event and band today was a marked improvement on last week, except maybe for my knowledge of a couple of tunes. TIP: refresh yourselves on "The Big Ship"...thanks for screwing that one up for me Alex. There are so many details to be sorted, and as any event organizer can tell you, things seems to snowball in the last week. Apart from the time spent watching Morgan and Bryde cut foam for the drums today, it was a good practice. And, well that wasn't so bad either. This week a CD arrived in the post all the way from South Africa with video and mid-section materials from Kenna. Kinda warms your heart to know that on the other side of the world, someone is working away in their grass hut, fighting off lions, spiders and water-born parasites for the good of the pipe band! Thanks Kenna. We'll miss you at the Ceilidh. It will be good to have Dave Hicks and Ryan Sullivan coming from Calgary. Ryan is a Ceilidh veteran, of course, and Dave will be making his first appearance since leaving "the front row of Nirvana." Welcome to the front row of hell, buddy! And the rest of you, keep working on the music, and get baking. Next summer, when you're standing at the Park Bar ordering a pint, it will all seem worth it.

Band today was kind of amusing. We are cramming to get concert material ready for the The Mid-Winter Celtic Festival and combining learning tunes & scores with figuring out breaks & intros, and making decisions on accompaniment, harmony....

In truth, I really like this time of year. You can feel the band machinery start to work. New music happens, new people step up, and this year of course, we have shiny new drums, and the prospect of another Scotland trip in the works. Band fees are being collected, and people are already surfing the net looking for fares. It's all good.

I think this is going to be fun.

Prairie Bagpipes

I often read a traditional Scottish music forum at "Foot Stompin Celtic Music." There are a lot of performers who log in to banter back and forth. It is sometimes rude, but usually pretty funny and informative. Many of the regulars posters are also regular performers or enthusiasts on the Scottish music scene, so the banter and chat can be good.

Today, I read a post about "Stage Fright," which has been a subject at band for years, and which was a major factor in our crappy play at the Worlds last year. I wanted to refer you to the post, because it covers lots of ground, and there is one particularly good post from Margaret Stewart [a well-known Gaelic singer]. http://www.footstompin.com/forum?threadid=47721

Of course, I am an expert on stage fright. Or in other terms, maybe you could say, "I'm in recovery." There was a time [pre-1978...you know, before most of you were born] when I couldn't compete without throwing up somewhere. I would routinely dry heave while tuning up. What happened? I simply decided to stop. When I went to Scotland, and got the chance to play with a really good band, I knew that I either had to do it, or not, and that there could be no middle ground.

Since then, I still get nerves, but I can channel that into play, and it has become an enjoyable experience. At the recent Kansas City contest, I was nervous as hell all day, but knew I was well prepared, and I really enjoyed playing.

So why am I telling you this? I think a few band members need to make a decision about how they want things to go on the field, and then make it real. But maybe start with the forum postings above, and see that you are not alone, and that there are lots of ways people try to handle it. In the end, of course, we can't be successful as a band until you sort it out.

Was at the Winter Storm weekend in Kansas City, and while there was pondering what a great thing we have going here in Regina (and area, I know....sometimes a wide area, eh Dave?). So many of people at that event would absolutely love to play in a band like CRPB, or even hear one regularly. Yeah, we're not likely to "take out the Worlds" [as Seumas Coyne used to say in his SFU days] but we sure as hell have some advantages. The one thing that struck me was how much money seems to be available for some very basic bands in the USA. While we have a band rich in people with skills and dedication, we could surely use that USA ability to conjure cash. All those sparkly new pipes, drums, band chanters, uniforms, and TRAVEL. Sponsors needed. Apply within.

[Here's post #1 on the CRPB blog. Thought this might be a fun way to trial this, create some interaction, and develop ideas for the band.]

Sunday band was cancelled because the roads were too icy for people to get to band from outside regina, and we even had people in regina not wanting to make the trip because of the weather. Does band in Scotland ever get cancelled because of weather? It gets cancelled due to lack of sponsorship, but weather?