The North American season end is drawing near for Northwest Junior Pipe Band.  The Grade 4 band went to the Portland Highland Games at Mt. Hood Community College on July 19th.  The drum corps placed first, the ensemble judge placed the band first, and the band tied with White Spot Pipe Band in another close contest between these bands this year.  The points were tied, but NWJPB won on ensemble preference.  The victory at Portland makes 4th straight first place finish for Northwest Junior Pipe Band.

Two competitions remain before the band leaves for Scotland.  NWJPB’s Grade 4 and 5 bands will perform at a free concert on Friday evening at 7:00 PM at the Pacific Northwest Highland Games in Enumclaw Washington, then both Grade 4 and Grade 5 bands will compete both Saturday and Sunday July 26th and 27th.  The band has signed up two bagpipe quartet competition groups, the Grade 5 drum corps drum salute and a bunch of solo competitors as well. 

Here’s a shot of the band leaving the competition circle in front of the packed grandstands at Portland:

Last year, pipers in NWJPB, their parents, and pipers around the world were teased by the idea of a video game featuring bagpipes. It certainly got people in our community talking…and a bit disappointed to discover it was a joke.

Here’s a video:

Well, this one isn’t a joke.  Nintendo is coming out with “Wii music” where you can choose from up to 60 instruments.  Among those are the bagpipes.  Check out the GameSpot article.  You play the pipes by holding the remote upward and pressing the “1 and 2 buttons”.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any pictures of the game with a bagpiper, but it sounds like it could be fun.

Northwest Junior Pipe Band started off the week learning they are the only youth bagpipe band from the United States scheduled to compete at the ultimate competition for pipe bands, the World Pipe Band Championships on August 16th, 2008.  33 youth pipe bands from around the world will compete, with the young band from Washington as the only US entry.   The recent draw listing the order of play for the two qualifying competition heats puts NWJPB up first at 9:00 am.

Northwest Junior Pipe Band Grade 4 then went on to wrap up a two day competition at the sunny Skagit Valley Highland Games in Mount Vernon, WA on July 13th, winning the title “Washington State Grade 4 Pipe Band Champions.”   The band placed 1st of 5 bands on Saturday and 1st of 3 bands on Sunday, winning best drum corps both days. 

The Grade 5 band performed very well Saturday, turning in one of their best ensemble performances of the season and finishing with a first place award.  The beginner drum corps wowed and surprised the crowd Sunday, winning the drum salute competition in a field of 3 drum corps entries from Grades 3, 4, and 5.

Solo competitions were a great success for band members as well, with many top placings in both piping and drumming. 

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Posing with the Grade 4 Trophy at the BC Highland Games.

Northwest Junior Pipe Band Grade 4 won best drum corps and first place of seven bands at the British Columbia Highland Games on Saturday June 28th, 2008.  2008 marks only the third season of competing at this level after receiving a promotion from Grade 5 in 2005, and this is the first first place victory in a BC Pipers’ Association sanctioned Highland Games.

The band Saturday consisted of 8 side drummers, 3 tenor drummers, a bass drummer, and 10 bagpipers.  The age range is from 9 to 18, and includes the adult band director Kevin Auld.

The Northwest Junior Pipe Band - Grade 4 members will be the first youth band from Washington State to ever compete in the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow, Scotland in August, and only the second youth band from Washington to travel to Scotland for any competition since 1969.  The band is growing to a crescendo of membership and talented bagpipers and drummers 18 and younger.

Seven pipe bands competed, three focused on youth pipers and drummers, and four bands either focused on adults or largely or with a majority of adult members.  Two Canadian youth pipe bands; Robert Malcom Memorial, and White Spot Pipe Band Grade 4 joined the Keith Highlanders from Bellevue, the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada- a Canadian military pipe band founded in 1910, the Kamloops Pipe Band Society from British Columbia, and the Bellingham Pipe Band from Washington.  During bagpipe band competitions, four judges critique piping, drumming, and ensemble, or how well the pipes and drums perform and sound together.

In the Northwest (British Columbia, Washington and Oregon) pipe band competitions are based on skill rather than age.  Youth bands compete against adult bands, and are judged by the top pipers and drummers in the world who provide valuable feedback to the bands to help them improve their skills.  Northwest Junior Pipe Bands; Grade 4 and 5 travelled north to Coquitlam British Columbia, into the heart of piping and drumming in the Northwest, where the largest numbers of talented pipers and drummers hone their skills, supported by a long tradition and celebration of Scottish culture and pipe band competitions.  Northwest Junior Pipe Band Grade 4 won first place overall and received recognition for fielding the “Best Drum Corps” at the British Columbia Highland Games on Saturday June 28th, a major milestone for the Seattle - area youth pipe band founded in 1995. 

Northwest Junior Pipe Band youth were enthusiastic about their performance on Saturday, but are maintaining laser like focus on their ultimate goal of performing well during their August trip to Scotland.  The band will compete in 4 competitions throughout their two week stay, but the World Pipe Band Championships is the biggest challenge for any bagpipe band, attracting the most talented bagpipe bands in the World, who travel to Scotland every year for this event.  

Band Director Kevin Auld is a full time performer and instructor of the Great Highland Bagpipe, and begain working with the band in 2002.  After Saturday’s performance Kevin told the band “Regardless of the outcome, you performed your best today, and that’s what makes me proud of our performance.”  Mid Section Director Marcie MacRae was one of the founding instructors with the band, and was thrilled with the performance.  Drumming Director Steve Roy leads a large snare drum corps of 8 members, who performed in near-perfect synchronization Saturday. The youngest snare drummer in the Grade 4 band is 9, and the oldest is 16. Steve is a full time percussionist and instructor who has been volunteering with Northwest Junior Pipe Band for four years.  Other volunteer instructors include Rick Rich, working with our Grade 5 snare drummers, and Ben Little, who graduated from the Northwest Junior Pipe Band in 2007 and has been working with the Grade 5 competition band as leading the band as Pipe Major at Highland Games competitions this year.  Former band members often return to help teach the members of Northwest Junior Pipe Band.

The next competition for the band is in Mount Vernon at the Skagit Valley Highland Games on July 12th and 13th.  The band’s full schedule is available on www.nwjpb.org/schedule.

Northwest Junior Pipe Band has been rapidly growing and steadily improving over the past few years since gaining a promition to Grade 4 from the beginning Grade 5 class.  With over 50 members and the second season fielding two pipe bands, The first competition of 2008 started out strong for the band.  This is a historic year for what was once a struggling youth pipe band from Washington, and band members felt a lot of pride in their musicianship and teamwork when they completed the first event of the year with the highest ever combined ranking of bands in our history.

Grade 4 competed in a class of 5 bands, three youth and two combined adult / youth organizations, placing 2nd overall, with first and second rankings from the two piping judges, 2nd in drumming and 3rd in ensemble.  Watch the video of the best performance in the band’s history:

The brand new Grade 5 band for 2008 performed incredibly well placing first of three youth bands.  The majority of them have been playing for less than one year, and one member just started on pipes in April after learning the music on the practice chanter.  This is a truly remarkable feat.  The band gained first place rankings from three judges and “Best Drum Corps”, continuing the string of 1st place finishes that an almost completely different beginning band won last year before most of that band worked hard to gain the promotion to our Grade 4 band.  See the video here:

NWJPB at the Bellingham Highland Games in Ferndale, WA

5/3 Update:  Sold Out!  

Northwest Junior Pipe Band members are building a new future and history of competitive youth pipe bands in Washington State. They have worked feverishly over the last year to raise over $24,000.00 to travel to Scotland while honing their skills to compete in the World Pipe Band Championships this August.  With less than $10,000 to reach their goal and fly to Scotland in August, the band can almost hear the crowds at Glasgow Green urging them toward the finish line.

The community is helping these prize winning young musicians join 200 bands from all over the world in Scotland this August.  Help them meet their goals by attending a benefit dinner with entertainment, dancing, drink and auctions.

Entertainment will include Northwest Junior Pipe Band, Pipers’ Creek Celtic Ensemble, Scottish Dancing, the Bucketmen and more to be announced. The Northwest Junior Pipe Band has grown to nearly 50 members and started new educational and scholarship programs, reaching out to youth who want to have unique and incredible experiences, while learning to play their traditional instruments to the highest standards.

Act quickly for reserved seating by purchasing a table of 8 for $280.00 until April 30^th.

Northwest Junior Pipe Band “Mothers’ Day Eve” Ceilidh/Party Benefit Dinner
Saturday, May 10^th, 2008
Lake City Elks Club, 14540 Lake City Way NE, Seattle
Doors open for auction 5:30, dinner and entertainment starts 6:30
Silent Auction, Dessert Auction
38.00 adult, 33.00 17 and under
Tables of 8: $280.00 until April 30th, $304 after.
Italian Chicken or Lasagna dinner, with salad, bread, and non-alcoholic beverages.
No-host bar.
Entertainment includes dancing, Northwest Junior Pipe Band and Pipers’ Creek Celtic Ensemble.

Table and half table purchases will receive reserved seating.
email concert@nwjpb.org for more info, or call 206-508-1261

NWJPB closes a busy week filled with multiple performances, today: appearing LIVE on King 5 this morning, appearing on Northwest Cable News, and getting a special “web” version of a performance posted on King5.com.  The video features our newest instructor and recent graduate leading the band; Ben Little, two of our newest pipers and three of our most experienced pipers, and several members from our Grade 4 drum corps.   The story played live, then again at 12:40 on the King 5 noon news.

Photographer Ellen M. Banner from the Seattle Times took the below photo of one of our 11 year old pipers and posted it online in a photo album of shots from the St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

We have pipers scheduled to perform on the air on “The Ron & Don Show” on Kiro 710 AM, available streaming live on their website  by clicking the  710 Kiro icon under “On the Air”.

Part of our appearance at the parade made it to YouTube as well. We were the biggest bagpipe band at the parade. It’s hard to believe we had just a dozen members 3 or 4 years ago.  It’s even harder to believe that we’re going to be the first youth bagpipe band from Washington in nearly 40 years to compete in the World Pipe Band Championships!

This is compiled from a ton of responses to questions pipers and drummers receive, many of which are funny to those that are immersed in and committed to piping and drumming, and surround themselves with the unique community that devotes itself to the Scottish arts.  However, in most cases, they speak to the ignorance and lack of understanding about bagpipes and drums.  Sometimes they just speak to a human desire to be “in” or “have the inside track”…most of these cases are just funny. 

We recognize though, that as bagpipes gain popularity, more and more people are curious about the instrument, history, expectations, commitment and challenges.  While many of the stories are funny…often it just illustrates how much work organizations like ours need to do to educate the public about our art.  The original discussion thread is from the “Beer Tent” section of Bob Dunsire Forums, a growing discussion board and community of more than 10,000 pipers, drummers, and celtic music and arts fans around the world.  See the discussion likely continuing to grow here>>

“Do you have to be Scottish to play Bagpipes?”

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Washington State is sending two pipe bands to compete in the World Pipe Band Championships this year; the Keith Highlanders and Northwest Junior Pipe Band.  Northwest Junior Pipe Band is the first youth pipe band from our State ever to attend the World Pipe Band Championships and the first youth band to even travel to Scotland since 1969.  There are a lot of indications that piping and drumming is rapidly gaining popularity. 

See the great article posted in February about piping and drumming in the Northwest here>>

ABC news recently ran a feature story about bagpiping.  While they call it a “resurgence” many in the piping world think of it as continued growth in  public interest.  Rock Band “Red Hot Chili Pipers” is given some credit for “mainstreaming” bagpipes, but the story covers several of the reasons why bagpiping seems to be gaining popularity.  The reporter attempts playing pipes in a humorous depiction of how challenging the instrument is to master.

“It takes some blowing power, and, of course, the skill and coordination. It’s rather like, if you can tap your head and rub your tummy at the same time, you’ve probably got it”

Watch the video, “Bagpipe Rock“

“So, why learn? Playing makes you look like a blowfish. And the pipes can reach 111 decibels — that’s louder than a pneumatic drill. In the wrong hands, it’s torture.  ‘Being played by someone who knows how to play them, they will not sound like a strangled cat. You get a lovely sound from the instrument,’ said Manderson. It’s a sound that does something inexplicable to anyone with a lick of Scottish blood. But even those of you not lucky enough to be Scottish seem drawn to the drone.”

It’s good to see the “mainstream” press continuing to pick up on the work so many put into this unique hobby/lifestyle/music.