There were several incredible stories we followed during our Scotland trip in 2008:
- Our own experiences winning two first place trophies at Perth and Crieff and 5th in the World
- SFU winning the World Championships for the 5th time, as well as best drum corps
- Besides SFU, there were three pipe bands from the Northwest and BC including NWJPB, the Keith Highlanders AND the White Spot Pipe Bands; taking on the worlds and placing in the top 6
- The story of the Spirit of Scotland Pipe Band.
This band included top soloists and instructors from all over the world who were not competing in bands. Several of those performers come from the Pacific Northwest / BC area. Now, a very talented documentary film maker is nearing completion of a story about the band, the obstacles they overcame to compete with the top bands in the world, make it through the qualifier round and ultimately win an incredibly respectable 11th place. NWJPB made a small donation to help John finish this important project, and we encourage our supporters to do the same.
Music, Piping and Drumming can be an incredibly healthy and meaningful activity for youth, and the more opportunities there are for people to become familiar with the superstars of piping and drumming, the more youth will consider this a reasonable option. Please check out the press release introducing you to John McDonald, the project, and please consider donating to the cause. Help us help John bring stories like this into the mainstream!
Emmy Award-winning filmmaker John McDonald, who also pipes with the Pasadena Scots in California, is still seeking enough funding to complete his feature-length documentary on the Spirit of Scotland Pipe Band.
Entitled ON THE DAY, the documentary follows the band of elite players during its one and only week together in August 2008, as the group of more than 40 pipers and drummers assembled and practiced for the Grade 1 World Pipe Band Championship at Glasgow Green. The film is set to premiere as part of the week-long Piping Live! festival at the Glasgow Film Theatre on August 14, the day before the Worlds. Adding another dimension to the story, McDonald will actually be competing with his Grade 4 band in the Worlds this year.
An initial donation from a private party enabled McDonald and a cameraman to travel to Scotland, and he has raised additional contributions from the piping and Scottish-American community. “I have given a year of my life working only on this film,” McDonald says. “It has been a labor of love for me, my dream project about the dream team of bagpipers. Every dollar I’ve received has gone directly into the film.” However, with a total budget for the film of more than $200,000, he says he still has a ways to go in order to finish the editing and audio mixing.
Each week McDonald has been offering short clips from the rough cut of the film that feature some of the musicians, such as Roddy MacLeod, Jim McGillivray, Angus MacColl, John Fisher, Niall Matheson, Alasdair Gillies, and Willie McCallum. These “clips-of-the week” are first launched in the ON THE DAY Facebook Group and then later go up on YouTube.
The project has non-profit status through a fiscal sponsorship with the International Documentary Association (IDA), making contributions tax-deductible for US residents. A $100 donation gets you a credit in the film’s titles and a special pre-released first-edition DVD, and for $200 or more you will additionally receive a collectable Spirit of Scotland cap badge. A preview of the film can be seen and donations can be made at www.OnTheDayMovie.com.
No comments yet.
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
You must be logged in to post a comment.
