Contact:
Marianne Meadahl, PAMR, 778.782.9017; Marianne_Meadahl@sfu.ca

Photos:
Brian Haddon: http://at.sfu.ca/kpPrtR
Graham Haddon: http://at.sfu.ca/THmwLZ
Daryl Techy: http://at.sfu.ca/hqbFDT; http://at.sfu.ca/hNkmxw
Gavin McCrae: http://at.sfu.ca/VNWwYj

The Simon Fraser University Pipe Band returns to Scotland a month from now aiming to bring home its seventh world championship trophy.

Between now and then, the band’s attention is not only on practice but a range of related activities – many are involved in teaching at a two-week instructional school at Silver Star Mountain now underway (in its 20^th year) and the full band will play a rare public concert in Vernon on July 14.

Then come near-daily practices at SFU, on the grass outside Horizon’s Restaurant, and even in Pipe Sergeant Jack Lee’s pastoral back yard in Surrey. A week spent in Stirling, Scotland, to hone their sound and acclimatize, completes their pre-contest schedule.

The 50-member band is gearing up for a new two-day competition schedule this year at the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow (Aug. 17 & 18), which until this year had been a one-day contest.

And in another first, all bands must qualify to compete in the finals. Until now bands that had finished in a top three spot the previous year (something SFU has done 20 times) have gone directly into the prestigious final round.

On the first day, the top bands compete in heats of two events: the March, Strathspey and Reel (MSR) and the Medley. The final rounds in both categories will be held the next day. Typically, 26 Grade 1 bands compete in the finals – last year, 10 were from Canada.

This year the SFU elite band has a cluster of new faces from its junior Robert Malcolm Memorial Band (RMM) – all were part of the team that won the world championship (Grade 3 category) in Glasgow in 2012.

The RMM bands (which can range from Grade 5 up to Grade 2, depending on the level of players) typically compete in various categories of the international contest every two years.

Joining the Grade 1 band and returning to Scotland this year are Langley brothers Brian and Graham Haddon, a piper/drummer duo respectively. Both have worked their way up the junior ranks over the past decade. Coquitlam’s Daryl Techy, another long-time RMM piper, and Anmore’s Gavin MacRae, who served as the winning Grade 3 band’s lead drummer, were also called up.

The young members officially became senior band members the day after the 2012 Worlds. “We welcome having this new, young talent with us this year, especially coming off the success they shared in Glasgow last year,” says Pipe Sergeant Jack Lee.

The band features an eclectic mix of players both local and from afar. Some are also SFU students. Those from the Lower Mainland come from Surrey, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Abbotsford, Maple Ridge and Vancouver, while others reside in Seattle, Calgary, Winnipeg, Blaine, Bellingham, Monterey, California, St. Paul, Minnesota, and even Northern Ireland, Scotland and New Zealand.

Simon Fraser University is Canada's top-ranked comprehensive university and one of the top 50 universities in the world under 50 years old. With campuses in Vancouver, Burnaby and Surrey, B.C., SFU engages actively with the community in its research and teaching, delivers almost 150 programs to more than 30,000 students, and has more than 120,000 alumni in 130 countries.

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Simon Fraser University: Engaging Students. Engaging Research. Engaging Communities.