I have railed already about the dearth of good strathspeys among our bands. At Dumbarton, some pipe corps fought manfully against the 12/8 drumming tide, notably Inveraray, the Power, and Field Marshal, but the ‘band strath’ was in evidence throughout the Grade 1 contest.
The other great carbuncle on the handsome face of today’s bands is a form of tune soup, or melody salad, that we are hearing at the end of every Medley.
By Robert Wallace
What it consists of is a mélange of bits of tunes heard earlier in the presentation, all cleverly woven together in the hope of producing a climax lasting long in the memory of judges and audience alike. Unfortunately, most don’t.
Listeners are left wondering what the heck is going on. What tune am I meant to be following? Where and when is this going to end?
Now I applaud all efforts at creativity, but I can’t help feeling pipe majors are trying too hard to impress. They’ve lost the knack of simplicity, which, in the pursuit of excellence, is sometimes the most difficult thing to achieve.
Orchestral principles don’t work with the mono-octave bagpipe. We lack the dynamic flexibility that allows a conductor to bring to prominence a particular section of the orchestra at the most effective moment.
The piper playing the slow air over the jig is just as loud as the one playing the jig, or the one playing that bit from the reel. Yes, all very clever, but tune soup the result nevertheless.
For an effective Medley climax why not try accelerando, some tasteful counterpoint, a touch of seconds, fortissimo (drums), crescendo (drums) and a sharp cut off? Maybe next year?
The winners, Inveraray, were first in everyone’s book, mine included. Their tone had a bell-like quality, especially on the bottom hand. I couldn’t find fault with their technique either. That first strathspey was dancing and they showed incredible bag control in executing the highly-effective micro gap ending the first reel. A mix of reels at the end, but you could just about follow the melodic thread.
Field Marshal have a striking opener in Edinburgh Police PB but immediately spoil the effect with seconds on the second part. That aside, there was no finer pipe corps in Grade 1. Their technical prowess surpassed most of the others by a good bit. The only thing missing for me was a lack of conviction. Not sure if that comes from the drummers. Did the drones drift?
I liked Shotts to start with, in particular the way they handled their jigs. Just the right amount of lilt to take us away from the even quaver monotony. However, from about half way, melody disappeared over the horizon in the direction of Harthill, and the ending was a not very tasteful cock-a-leekie.
Fife Police gave a very bright, tight performance on well set instruments, but harmony heavy and I couldn’t hear the intricate fingerwork we should expect in G1 – and too much minestrone at the end.
A sparkling tone from Scottish Power, and the brilliant technique they employed contrasted with others – those darodos – so well together! A scotch broth finale unfortunately.
Johnstone – a good band, well drilled, tight, but they need better tunes if they are to catch the ear.
It was very hard to fault Dublin’s O’Tooles – melodic and musical (the Irish know how to play jigs, to be sure) with an alluring drone sound. The bass was John Dunne incarnate and that tells you how good this new chap is.
A dot and cut opener from World Champions Boghall! How refreshing was that; a lovely slow air; good rhythm and tempi throughout; like SLOT, serious contenders.
So three majors so far this season, and three different winners. It’s all to play for at Perth.
- Scottish Pipe Band Championships, July 27th, 2024, Levengrove Park, Dumbarton. Grade 1 result: 1 Inveraray 2 Boghall 3 Fife Police 4 SLOT 5 Field Marshal 6 Scottish Power. Read Part 2 tomorrow.
