Earlier this week the Eastern United States Pipe Band Association revised its list of judges for both pipe bands and soloists. Individuals on the list were graded either ‘A’ or ‘B’. ‘A’ grade judges can judge all grades; ‘B’ grades can do Grade 1 and below in solos and Grade 3 and below in bands. The man driving the change, EUSPA President Bill Caudill, has written about the changes which were not without controversy…
This concept is not a new one for us. It’s been around for probably 30 or more years and was really first introduced to the association by Jimmy McIntosh, writes Bill Caudill.
He saw that some American players were starting to excel on the world stage and that we needed to have judges on this side that were qualified and able to help those pipers reach their aspirations.
Grading of judges became something that our membership had asked for repeatedly, and it’s sort of been kicked down the road a little bit by some previous administrations. But, you know, our Music Board really wanted to try to address it at this point.
I felt like their approach was a very fair one. I felt the assessors were certainly absolutely top flight individuals with no biases with no axe to grind. I feel that as a result, what’s come out is perhaps a pretty benign interpretation of where we stand these days.
I think there could have been perhaps some more conservative separations between the two lists. But we’ve had a lot of people who have served for a lot of years that really deserve credit for what they’ve done in raising the standard of playing within the eastern US.
And just because they’d never had the opportunity to play in a Grade 1 band, or haven’t competed in solos on the world stage, doesn’t necessarily discount what they bring to the table. And I feel very strongly about that. You know, we didn’t want to lose anyone over this.
I was very concerned that the lists did not create a divide or a rift within our judge’s panel. We’re on the same team, and we’re all looking to advance the cause of piping and the standards of piping within our eastern United States.
But that said, we knew there was the danger that some people might be offended, might take this in a negative way. But I feel the outcome is fairly benign. It’s not eliminating anyone.
I feel that the calibre of our examinations to even qualify for our panel are as high, if not equal to, any in North America, if not beyond, and that everyone on our panel certainly has something to offer.
I respect them all for all what they have done in the past and what they will continue to do, hopefully, in the future. We need to look forward. We can’t be complacent. We have to continue to respond to the demands of a membership whose standards are advancing. We have several people who are going across the pond and having success in solos. We’ve got bands that are having success in the upper grades as well.
So we’ve got to have the people here in the eastern US who are best prepared to help groom these bands and individuals to help them achieve their highest aspirations. This should be the goal of all of us as leaders and members of the association. I don’t feel this initiative has been a negative thing at all; it’s truly for the good of our association.
Check out the lists of graded EUSPBA piping judges below. Full lists on the EUSPBA website in due course:
