SFU Pipe Band in Scotland
Rob MacNeil, in Scotland: Direct dial 011-44-7790-453515, rob@robertmacneilmusicworks.com
Don MacLachlan, SFU PAMR, 604.763.3929, donmac@sfu.ca
Jack Lee, Pipe Sergeant, Direct dial 011-44-7542-588801 jack.lee@shaw.ca
The Simon Fraser University Pipe Band, five times world champion, got a typical Scottish weather-welcome as it arrived in Scotland for the world pipe band championships.
“A great weather day,” observed lead drummer Reid Maxwell. “Three out of the four seasons!"
The band soon got on with a practice session for to prepare for a sold-out concert on Wednesday (Aug. 12) and then the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow on Saturday (Aug. 15).
“Instruments out for the first time," reported Pipe Major Terry Lee from the band’s temporary home in Stirling, Scotland. “Things could not be going better."
Today (Aug. 11) the band has a full day: It rehearses with Scottish folk group Wolfstone for its concert Wednesday at the Royal Glasgow Concert Hall. The band then has a full practice for the world championships. The SFU drum corps later performs at Strathclyde University, and there’s also a pipe quartet performance at the concert hall.
On Saturday, the SFU band competes in the Grade 1 division of the world championships. Also in Scotland, to compete in the junior Grade 3 class, is the SFU Pipe Band’s “farm team”—the Robert Malcolm Memorial Pipe Band. (It is named for Robert Barbulak and Malcolm Bokenfohr, two members of the SFU Pipe Band who died in an automobile accident in 1993.)
In all, the “Worlds” draws 200 bands from 16 nations, with 8,000 pipers and drummers, and a good 45,000 spectators.
The BBC will livecast the finals on the web, via http://www.bbc.co.uk/scotland/music/worlds/2009/. The livecast starts at 1 a.m. Pacific on Saturday Aug. 15.
The SFU band nailed its fifth title at the 2008 championships in Glasgow. For 14 years, SFU has battled for the title with the Field Marshal Montgomery Band from Northern Ireland and with Scotland’s House of Edgar Shotts & Dykehead band. SFU won the title in 1995, 1996, 1999, 2001 and 2008. Last year, the Montgomery band placed second and Shotts & Dykehead third. In all, the Montgomery Band has won six crowns, and the Shotts & Dykehead band 15 titles.
The SFU band has members from BC, Scotland, Ireland, France, the U.S. and Alberta.
[Editors: Band members from BC are from Abbotsford, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Langley, New Westminster, North Vancouver, Penticton, Port Coquitlam, Surrey, Vancouver and Vernon. If you’d like names and contact info for them, please e-mail donmac@sfu.ca. Still photos of the band in action are available on request, but we generally lack identifying info for the individuals in them.]
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John Moloughney
Awesome, from the Concert on Wednesday6 night to the two performances at the Worlds, great work by all involved to get players to such a high standard of musicianship. Keep up the good work