A Christmas Wish Granted, and a birthday wish, and easter, and new years.... well you get it

Welcome back folks.

Things are going pretty smooth around the province right now. PPBAM general meeting was this past weekend and I'm happy to say I've retained my position as Director of Grading.

Bigger news is that Wes was voted President. He has extremely large shoes to fill, and will never fully replace the expertise of past President Marlene Stephen, who pass away mid-way through last season.

Marlene was a true warrior of our craft, and I'm exceptionally grateful for the large amount of time I got to spend with Marlene during my first two years on the executive.

So, what's with the title... well it's official we've completed the deal to purchase a full set of drums for our grade 2 band.

The search to replace our premier's began back when the grade 4 band was in Scotland... circa. 2008

I spent a large quantity of this trip listening to every single corp I could and trying to find the best snare sound to compliment our pipe tone.

I know this seems silly but I have to say drum tone can seriously detract from a good pipe sound. Even well tuned drums aren't always well suited to the overall band effect you're looking for.

I'm interested to hear how completely different SFU will sound with Andante's. I did question Field Marshall's decision to move to Premier. Not because of the instrument but the character of sound that band produced under the Pearl label.

If it ain't broke don't fix it.....

Except our drums started to break.

So after hunting around it all came down to fate.

Up here in the frozen Tundra... (it's currently plus 11 Celsius here in the peg BEAUTIFUL!!!) We don't always make as many contacts as we'd like.

So there we were a bunch of young punks, scared out of our wits, terrified of the massed bands in Maxville, Ontario. I think we collectively all knew maybe 3 people in that mass.

Out of nowhere up walks Jon Quigg to talk drumming.... pretty nice of him I'd say.

So, I commented on the sound of City of Washinton's drums. Crisp and clean very enjoyable to my ear. Not exactly what we're looking for but really close. Jon then introduces Ian and myself to Harry Meade who simply says... "email me".

So as soon as I got off the plane in August, you guessed it, email sent.

Harry is the son of Bob Meade, one of the world's top pipe band drum dealers. Bob is also one of the most helpful people you'll find in the pipe band world.

You can check these great guys out at www.bobmeade.com

After some negotiations, a band decision, some more shopping, we came to last week when I finally put a stamp on our order from Pearl.

I'm proud to say the big blue machine is going Pearl. I have played Pearl products all throughout my career as a percussionist and it's truly the quality control that has attracted me most.

I'm expecting delivery sometime in the new year.

Until then here's a small snap shot of what we're expecting...



I know, I get choked up too just looking at it.

Merry Christmas drum corp, your hard work and dedication has not gone unnoticed by your fellow band members. Your reward is playing the top instrument, at the top contest.

Cheers,

Sean