Review: European Pipe Band Championship, Grade 1

Can we talk bass drums? Why are they being thumped so hard? On Saturday at the Euros you would have thought some of these stick people were preparing for the 12th of July!

I listened to all of Grade One and there was only one mallet man who produced the soft-stroke musicality, the sort of purr that blended with the bass drones. That was the chap from St Laurence O’Toole. Inveraray weren’t always over-strident in this department but there were several booms shattering the peace.

By Robert Wallace

For the rest, please show some restraint. Give dynamic emphasis yes, but not to the extent where you can be mistaken for the midday gun at Edinburgh Castle.

Can we talk ensemble? I stood at the head of the circle for every band, not too far from the action and as close as any audience member was allowed. From this position I was able to give an assessment of each performance from exactly the same spot, drums through pipes.

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I cannot think why an ensemble judge would do otherwise. Wherever you move you will get a different sound mix. Therefore surely it follows that the adjudicator must pick his spot and stick to it giving each band an equal hearing from the same locus.

The ensemble judge on Saturday was Robert Worrall (twice announced as Robert Wallace!). Bob is an ensemble judge of long standing and an expert in the field. He moved all around the circle listening from various vantage points, including from behind the drummers. He must have good reason for doing so. And to his credit he did the same for every band. Would make a good article Bob!

Can we talk harmony? Seconds are everywhere these days, surely overdone. We even hear them as a backwash of sound at the break into the strathspeys thus diminishing the impact of what is usually a dramatic shift in rhythm during any medley.

They are there in the opening tunes, the jigs, the reels. I would like someone who has the time to listen to Saturday’s performances and add up the moments of melody that were clean, ‘harmony’ free. I would be surprised if we reach more than 60%.

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Can we talk medley construction? What Grade 1 bands are doing these days is staggeringly complex. We can have three, maybe four bits of tunes all going on at the same time. The problem for this listener is that I often have difficulty in picking out which one to follow.

Drum corps play in unison and they follow one set theme trying to accommodate the various strands of melody as they go. More aural confusion. The work bands do in achieving all of this is phenomenal, but I sometimes wonder if the result is worth the effort.

Another problem for me is in trying to absorb all of this melodic intertwining in seven minutes. The listener has one chance. If you don’t get it straight off, it can leave you cold. Maybe bands should record their new medleys before the season begins, put them on YouTube, explain what it is they are doing, then judges and audience will be properly prepped for the first medley major.

You could not but be impressed by the winners Field Marshal. The superb execution and sound, and the way they controlled their Gordon Duncan set displayed a level of musicianship we have come to expect from them. That said, I was surprised there was so little strathspey content, and such was the complexity of what they did that I got lost at times.

Second-placed Boghall had the sound, the fingering, the unison, and the timing they showed was a credit to P/M Calum Watson and his team. This intricate medley might grow in stature with more listens, but for me it was too complex to fully absorb on one hearing.

St Laurence were the only band who had the ideal balance, drums to pipes – and complementary tones to boot. Counting against them was a lack of precision and snap in the strathspeys and a few nondescript tunes early on. All told, this was clearly a top three performance.

A plainer medley than many of the others came from Inveraray (at least until the slightly anti-climactic ending). Good pipes, brilliant technique, and mostly good tunes nicely put together for fourth. A shade ring-rusty after their travels?

Fife Police proved that a strong finish can lift a performance from a slough of disinterest to invigorating heights. The execution of those top to bottom hand moves with cracking birls at the finale seized your interest just as it was drifting off. This phase of their medley was in contrast to some of what had gone before: a slow air drowned in seconds and an iffy opener.

Fife had good strathspeys too, but the best of the day were from Shotts. The Doune of Invernochty was never assailed by a more sprightly bunch than Emmet Conway’s band. Unfortunately some of the other tempos in the medley were on the down side and the bass section needs to seriously cut back on the Red Bull.

The other two bands in the grade, Scottish Power and Police Federation, both played enjoyable sets and were guilty in varying degrees of a lot of the above. But they looked and sounded smart and they will get better. Their pipers have two majors left to sharpen up their technique and unison.

Overall an enjoyable afternoon of pipe band music in Perth. From the spectator’s perspective this was a well run contest, well up to RSPBA standards just more separation needed with final tuning. The results service on Saturday was a credit to the Marketing and Media department.

Apart from the parking issue, the North Inch is a good venue, handy for all town centre services and transport. The Euros will be back there in 2027.

Result: 1 Field Marshal 2 Boghall 3 St Laurence O’Toole 4 Inveraray 5 Fife Police 6 Shotts. Full results here.

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