Former RSPBA Adjudicator Alistair Aitken concludes his excellent look back over his three decade career as a pipe band judge. Piping Press wishes to express its gratitude to Alistair for sharing his highly entertaining and informative reminscences with the international pipe band world via our pages. One year I was judging at the Melrose local competition the day after the World Championships.  The Harwich Pipe Band from England competed at…

Around 2004 there was concern among some members of the RSPBA Adjudicators’ Panel about the positioning of adjudicator tents.  The main concerns were about placing them in a position which would reduce the amount of time necessary to walk to and from the tent, and thus maximise the limited time available for completion of critique sheets.  There were also concerns about more than one adjudicator being in each tent to…

Many years ago I was judging Grade 4 at Cowal Games in the days when that grade could have over 40 competitors.  It was one of the wettest days I ever encountered at Dunoon – and there were many.  The rain was coming down in sheets and I was standing on the grass in about three inches of water.  The second band to play was Ashbourne from Derbyshire in England. …

The factors outlined  in my last article regularly affect adjudicators but there are others which are totally unexpected.  Some examples of both types of these situations I encountered during my adjudication career are as follows. All of them are true. Perception or fact? The first time I judged the Grade 1 World Pipe Band Championships I was on the MSR drumming competition.  The potential winners being talked about beforehand were…