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.
Ken Yiesly in his Piping Live! 2008 T-shirt shows off his silver Bagpipes
NWJPB is an extended family. This story celebrates the life and history of NWJPB Grandparents celebrating their 52nd anniversary, and pays a lot of attention to bagpipes, and the experiences of a couple of NWJPB members on our recent trip to the World Pipe Band Championships, 2008. A brief excerpt from the story:
Ken was able to retire from the military shortly after in 1975 and the family was finally able to put down roots.
To mark the occasion, Mieko bought him a set of silver bagpipes, his favorite instrument since childhood.
“That’s all he wanted, the nut,” Mieko said. “But he’s my nut.”
Congratulations to Ken and Mieko on your 52 years!
We found this video after our return from Scotland. We’ll continue searching for video, pictures and stories, because one thing about our trip to Scotland that has many of our members eager to go back again, was the welcoming attitude and the warm, open arms the people of Glasgow, Perth, North Berwick, and Crieff, the Piping Live! Festival organizers, and the RSPBA and the organizers of the World Championship events showed us on our first visit to Scotland. Passers-by were talking about the band’s talent and using phrases like “I thought they were Scots,” reporters, photographers, and the BBC seemed to be watching us at every event, and we were often asked to pose for photos.
The Evening Times / The Herald published this video on YouTube, which featured NWJPB performing in George Square as the opener to the story about the week long Piping Live! festival.
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.
5/3 Update: Sold Out!
Click Here for the 2009 event info>>
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 30th.
NEW! Download the flier here: Northwest Junior Pipe Band Ceilidh Flier Help get the word out! Download and print a flier, cut it in half and distrubute to your friends and family: Do it yourself NWJPB Ceilidh FlierNorthwest Junior Pipe Band “Mothers’ Day Eve” Ceilidh/Party Benefit Dinner
Saturday, May 10th, 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
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?”
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>>
Shorecrest High School’s Band Program performed “A Long Way to the Top” by AC-DC, and won 1st place, and $10,000.00 for their band program. NWJPB Band Director Kevin Auld leads the Shorecrest Pipers in the band, and members of NWJPB were invited to perform on stage with the band and “Spike and the Impalers” at a December “Twisted Christmas” event.
Congratulations to a great music program! Thanks to The Rock Wood Fired Pizza for sponsoring the contest.
Hear a Podcast of the winners being announced.
See and hear all of the entries at the School of the Rock Contest homepage.
Yep, you read that right. And you don’t want to miss it!
Seattle’s second annual, unforgettable mash-up of Scottish Robbie Burns and Chinese New Year celebration returns February 24th at Ocean City Restaurant, 609 S. Weller in Seattle’s International District. A fundraiser for Northwest Junior Pipe Band and the Washington Chinese Youth Orchestra hosted by the St. Andrews/Caledonian Society of Seattle, this event was one of the highlights of our year in 2007. Gung Haggis Fat Choy has a wildly successful history in Vancouver, BC starting 10 years ago in a living room with 16 attendees and growing into a week-long festival of events with hundreds of attendees.
Visit www.gunghaggisfatchoy.com for more history of the Vancouver events.
The Seattle Event includes performances by the Chinese Youth Orchestra, Northwest Junior Pipe Band, Don Scobie-Bagpiper, Toddish McWong’s Gung Haggis Rap Choy, Robbie Burns Poetry readings, Melody Dance Group youth Chinese dancers, door prizes and raffles. Singalongs of traditional and culturally-tweaked familiar songs, such as “When Asian Eyes Are Smiling”, and “My Haggis Lies Over the Ocean, My Chow Mein Lies Over the Sea.” Traditional Chinese and Scottish Dress, sometimes on the same people.
Northwest Junior Pipe Band will be selling a limited number of tickets. Contact us soon! $35.00 for dinner and show. info@nwjpb.org or 206-508-1261.
More tickets available from the Caledonian Society.
Search using Microsoft’s Live Search and their new site for non-profits, and 10 times per day, NWJPB can earn money for your search.
Play word puzzle games and donate your tickets to NWJPB too!
This requires a “Live ID” or hotmail account, and joining the “Live Search Club”. If you already have one, visit www.searchandgive.com and sign in. Select Northwest Junior Pipe Band by typing in “northwest junior pipe band” under search for a charity. Select us as your charity and check and accept the terms and conditions.
