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:
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.
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
Ok, so it’s not a parable exactly, but it is just about perfect. Forgive the alliteration, I’m working on improving the catchiness of my headlines.
This is one of the best articles about the art, competition, and history of bagpiping in the US that many of us have ever seen. Written by a “former” piper Aaron Jentzen for the Pittshburgh City Paper, it goes into great detail about the Balmoral Classic and the concert where two NWJPB instructors travelled to catch the St. Lawrence O’Toole Pipe Band perform last November.
We highly recommend the article, and encourage you to share it as well. The US is seeing a notable increase in the popularity and talent of bagpiping and Scottish drumming. Kudos to the Pitssburgh City Paper for publishing such a high quality article, with very few of the usual factual errors, jokes about bagpipes or other mistakes we often see in stories about the art of bagpiping.
One quote I really like, which sort of summarizes my experience with piping…I didn’t know anything about it 4 years ago, and didn’t “hate” pipes, but I know I hadn’t been exposed to much “great” piping…so I didn’t have any real appreciation for the talent that surrounds us:
“I’m willing to admit that everybody in the entire world can be divided up — not evenly — into those who love the bagpipes and those who hate the bagpipes,” [George] Balderose [one of the Balmoral Classic organizers] says.
Still, he adds, “I’d like to think that those who hate the bagpipes hate them because they were played badly.”
Relief, exhaustion, excitement and pride are just some of the words that define the last competition of the season for the dedicated and talented youth of Northwest Junior Pipe Band. Besides placing first in band and 1st in drumming against 6 bands in a unanimous ranking by four judges, NWJPB volunteers ran a fundraising food booth selling Bangers, Hot Dogs, Burgers (Beef, Garden, and Turkey), and Root Beer Floats really chipped in and made it a successful fundraising event to support the band’s planned trip to Scotland in 2008. Band members gathered around to watch competitors, cheering them on and high 5’s were widely exchanged as many competitors ended up placing in their events. Enthusiasm and support ran very high as young pipers and drummers displayed their skill for the last competition of the season. There were several first time high placings for band members who have worked hard all summer to improve their art.
Northwest Junior Pipe Band(s) and soloists had a great weekend at the biggest Highland Games event in the Northwest US and British Columbia.
The premier season for the Grade 5 (beginning) band was a great success, with NWJPB Grade 5 taking 1st place at every graded competition entered this year. The Enumclaw games were no different. NWJPB Grade 5 1st place, both Saturday and Sunday. Grade 4 played well and placed 4th both days.
The NWJPB Bagpipe Quartet placed first in a field of seven pipe band quartet entries.
NWJPB’s Grade 4 drum corps placed 2nd of 3 entries.
A soloist was awarded the “Grand Aggregate” in Grade 4 piping competitions all season.
Starting the season with half of the Grade 4 band having no Grade 4 competition experience, and finishing the season ranked 4th out of 18 or more bands who competed in this grade is a significant accomplishment. To also come toward the end with a 1st place at Tacoma and 2nd place at Portland, as well as two quartet victories; 2007 has been an incredible year for the young musicians of Northwest Junior Pipe Band. The next competition is at the Whidbey Island Highland Games, where NWJPB will also be selling Bangers, chips, soda, and root beer floats as a fundraiser for the World Pipe band Championships in 2008.
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Coming off a second place finish overall at the Skagit Valley Highland Games, NWJPB Grade 4 competed at the Portland Highland Games and won 2nd place of 6 pipe bands. Grade 4 piper Alexander S placed 1st overall winning an aggregate award, and Matt M placed 1st overall in the Grade 3 Piping competition. NWJPB Side Drummers Steven W and Amber S placed 3rd and 4th in the 2/4 March competition, and Tenor drummer Colleen S placed 5th in Grade 2 tenor drumming.
The next NWJPB appearance is at the Pacific Northwest Highland Games Friday July 27th at 7:00 pm for a free concert. Both bands will compete on Saturday and Sunday the 28th and 29th.
Northwest Junior Pipe Band placed 2nd of 4 bands Sunday July 15th at the Skagit Valley Highland Games.
In addition, the NWJPB Grade 5 drum corps took first place in the Grade IV Drum Corps competition, having challenged up because there was no Grade 5 drumming competition. Videos will be posted to the NWJPB MySpace page and more details about solo placings will be posted on the NWJPB web page later in July. Seven NWJPB members are attending the Highland Musical Arts camp during this week between the Skagit Valley Games and the Portland Highland Games where Northwest Junior Pipe Band Grade 4 will compete on July 21st.
July 14th, 2007 - Mt. Vernon, WA
Northwest Junior Pipe Band Grade 5 (beginners) took 1st place of 2 pipe bands at the 13th annual Skagit Valley Highland Games.
Northwest Junior Pipe Band Grade 4 placed 4th out of 6 bands. Each time Grade 4 takes the field, the band has improved over the last competition….this time the “Ensemble” Judge ranked the band in 1st place. Comments were provided by the judges which the band will continue to learn from. Competing and receiving comments and feedback from the best piping and drumming judges in the region helps provide an important part of the excellent cultural music education NWJPB strives for.
