Piping and Drumming
Piping and Drumming Competitors: Click Here For Contest Info

This year come witness the most pipe bands in Festival history! 23 bands will be competing and performing, including 6 bands from Canada - The Grade 1 Dowco Triumph Street, Grade 1 Alberta Caledonia, the Grade 3 Robert Malcolm Memorial, Grade 3 Edmonton and District, and the grade 4 Robert Malcolm Memorial and Edmonton and District pipe bands. These bands along with the Western United States Pipe Bands led by the Grade 1 LA Scots and we've got a fabulous contest brewing.

You don't want to miss this one!

The pipe band contest consists of pipe bands in one of four grades, grade 1, the most experienced grade, through grade 4, the least experienced. Grades 1 through 3 play two different types of contests, the harder MSR (think Figure Skating compulsories) and the Medley (think Figure Skating freestyle program). In the MSR, each band must play a March, a Strathspey, and a Reel to demonstrate their technical skill. In the medley, each band can play what type of tunes they like, from marches, reels and hornpipes, to slow airs and retreats to display not only their technical skill, but artistic skill as well. In Grade 4 bands play the medley and the Quick March Medley instead of the MSR, which consists of a collection of marches in any time signature.

The band's performance is judged by three separate judges, a piping judge, a drumming judge, and an ensemble judge. The piping and drumming judges in their respective areas will listen for mistakes as well as listen to each corps' unison playing (several players playing but sounding as one). They will listen for tone, tuning and musicality. The ensemble judge will listen to how both the pipers and drummers sound together, as a whole unit.

In solo piping and drumming, a piper will play by himself in front of one piping judge, and a drummer will play with 1-2 pipers in front of one drumming judge. The judge will listen for tone, musicality and mistakes. When tenor drummers compete solo, they will play with 1-2 pipers and a snare drummer and will be judged on how their music fits both the pipe and snare scores in terms of musicality and the artistic flourishment.

The pipe band is made up of four separate instruments. The piper, the bass drummer, the snare drummer and the tenor drummer. The pipes provide the melody and harmonies of the pipe music, while the bass provides the beat, and the snare drummers provide the dynamics to the music. The tenors add not only musical quality to the scores but visual as well with the flourishing performed with the mallets.

A tenor drummer (center) competes in the solo contest with a snare drummer and piper.

scotsfest@yahoo.com