Ho Ho HOOOOLY it's cold outside

Merry Christmas Countdown everyone!

We're into the final stages of Christmas around the Peg. We had our SASPB Christmas party on Saturday and had a great turn out. Nice to see most of the folks from out of town too!

It's that wonderful time of year when Prairie pipe bands get cabin fever. It's about minus 2,000 outside right now and instead of going out shopping, or getting coffee, or doing anything really, we practice! I find when the cold snap hits all I want to do is turn on a good movie and work on my rudiments and compositions.

We coupled our Christmas party with the Grade 2 band's December weekend rehearsal. So we had a solid two days of practicing. We finalized the medley breaks and bridges and I think we're all very excited about this years medley. It's definitely a turn from our latest traditional Medley but nothing to out of the box. I'm very pleased.

I've tried this year, like so many lead drummers in the past, to interject some less "pipe-bandy" drum grooves into some of the Medley. However, I also believe strongly in learning from examples and I've kept it to an absolute interest peaking minimum. I guess the idea was to create some musical flair, but my motto is "if the judge doesn't get it the first time they hear it... it doesn't work" so I'll test it on Graham Brown, and Jake Watson when they're in town the first weekend of January.

Our new MSR is clipping along nicely too. Clan Mac, Bogan Lochan, and John Morrison. It's a heavy set, and I've made sure to step up the difficulty level of the drum scores to match the playing ability of the corp. I'm happy to say we're actually making music out of Alex Duthart's Bogan Lochan. For those who have played this score, it's a beautiful rendition and fits very nicely, but does require some great technical playing and stick control. I'm very happy with the success so far.

First contest is in February. I know we're all very excited about that one. The grade 3 band has been busting a hump to prepare for their first clinic weekend with Jake and Graham. That group has excelled so quickly these past couple years I'm sure they'll benefit every bit as much from these two experts as the grade 2 band does.

I'm really digging the grade 3 medley too. Mark chose some really gorgeous music and as it's being massaged together it's really a great medley. WELL DONE MARK!!!

Tonight is the Two River's Christmas party!!! Bowling, goofy sweaters, pizza... sounds like grade 2 practice..... kinda.... I don't think I'm going to make it as work is really busy these days, but I'm hoping the kids will share in some holiday spirit with the instructors and parents. These bonding moments are the absolute best part of pipe band!!

Well I'm off to attempt to repair my baseboard heater before work. All the best to you and your families this holiday season, and please please please be safe!

Merry Ho HO

Sean

S'ktoon!!!

Happy December everyone!

Just a brief note to catch everyone up after a month absence.

It's been a busy month. After the Halloween gig in Brandon we've been hard at work preparing the new years music. The new medleys are in place and starting to sound like music. It's always a struggle to this point because very few of us have the vision to hear the whole package before it's all together. To those who don't, like myself, it can be a hard road for a few weeks.

Luckily there's a light, at this point of the year we start to hear it, and the Christmas party is coming :)

Dave Chorney and I are currently sitting in Wes' driveway awaiting our fearless (or furry depending on your depiction) leader to arrive so we can head to Saskatoon.

We're working with the Saskatoon Police, and the 96th Highlanders on their competition stuff all weekend, I'm not sure how big the Rider's are in S'ktoon but I managed to talk Dave out of wearing his Montreal jersey to rehearsals.

Either way we're all looking forward to the trip. Always good to see the folks in Sask. And then it's back for a few rehearsals before Christmas.

Big weekend rehearsal next weekend, and I'll try to stay up on this Blog thingy.

Cheers, and Happy Holidays!

Sean

What a Weekend

Happy Monday everyone!

Well the weekend is over and we're back safe and sound from Brandon.

We had a fabulous and successful time at the Manitoba Heritage Tattoo and got some high quality bonding time in as well.

We managed to put on our show in front of several hundred spectators, and we even performed together with the Brandon University Symphonic Band and the RCA Military band out of Edmonton.

I want to thank the Saspb Dancers, Colleen, and the backing band (Marty, Joey, and Nick/Jeff) for taking the trip out and fitting right in with the gang.

Now it's off to Brandon again as I left my guitar amp on stage....... Don't ask how, what happens on the road, stays on the road.

Cheers,

Sean

Happy Halloween Party with the Pipe Band

Well it's on like Donkey Kong!

The Grade 2 band is heading west for the weekend. We'll be performing our butts off at the Manitoba Heritage Tatoo in Brandon, MB.

We couldn't be more excited to head to Brandon, and spend some quality time bonding as a band early in the season.

We have a few rehearsals, and then two shows. One Saturday night and one Sunday morning.

In between, however, there is Halloween parties at various speakeasys in the fair city of Brandon.

So, if you wanna have some fun this weekend, grab some friends, jump in the car, and head to Brandon! Catch the concert at the Keystone center and then head out with the Big Blue Machine for a night on the town!

We'd love to have you!

Sean

SFU in Winnipeg

Good morning!

Well big news today and I don't mean the Sam vs. Judy saga we've all been riveted to...(Mayoral elections in Wpg that are anything but engaging)

The big boys with the sweet noise are coming to town!!

That's right, the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band will descend on Winnipeg April 1st to 3rd doing a full clinic day Saturday, a big party Saturday night, and their amazing concert on the Sunday.

Tickets are on sale at www.sfuinwinnipeg.com and since your's truly is in charge of social media keep an eye out for the Facebook group.

See you there!!

Sean

Webster's Web

Good Morning!

Happy hump day everybody. I wanted to drop a line out here to tell everyone about our new website.

Still located at www.saspb.com our web guru Scott Webster has slicked up the site and will be adding stuff like crazy all over.

Find links to You Tube, this blog, and news and media.

We're all very happy with the new look and we're looking forward to taking advantage of this fantastic outlet.

Enjoy the rest of your week!

Sean

Cleaned My Glasses

No...there is no hidden meaning here... I actually cleaned my glasses today.

I doubt very much if I would have noticed the difference but it's a beautiful day in the Peg and I'm on the bus. The city is almost pretty.

Today is Monday folks! I have come to find myself waiting for Mondays eagerly. What kind of a sick person loves Mondays? I'll explain myself.

I work 7 days a week. So I don't look forward to weekends in the same way. Mondays, however, are juvenile band days. It's amazing how fast kids learn, and I'm always excited to be challenged again and again each week.

Tonight is even more special, it's our AGM for the organization. Sure most bands don't relish AGMs but ours are quick, productive, and painless. Usually followed by a pint somewhere.

It's a great chance to meet, recap our successes, discuss our issues (if any), and plan our future year.

The only downside to this is we don't make any music. But there's band tomorrow night!!
----------

In some other news we had a fantastic weekend of piping here in Winnipeg and across the prairies. The Erin Street Pipe Band hosted their annual Mad Plaid event and the Irish Club and once again brought Mr. Terry (Currently the World Pipe Band Champion P/M) Tully to town for a concert, and to judge the contest.

I was working......

But from what I've heard already, it was a great event full of great music and comraderie.

That's about all the updates from here.. I have to go listen to my ipod we have a huge concert in two weeks.

Cheers,

Sean

Changing Leaves

Well it's officially fall!

Regardless of how you feel, fall comes when a Cabela's employee says so, and I'm telling you it's fall.

My favourite time of year.

Along with hunting season, back to school, a new pipe band season, the leads change colour..... Wait I mean the leaves change colour... And I get this calm sense that it's business time.

Yes a small and massively lame crack at the big news this year. All over lead drummers are stepping down, retiring, or just letting someone else take over.

I suppose the biggest news impacting us would be the grade 2 moves. Mr. Harvey Dawson has taken the reins of Penetangore (Ontario) I'm excited to see his corps but a little disappointed we won't see another Kirkwood corp for awhile.

The biggest Grade 2 news impacting us would obviouslÝ be Blair (Buzz) Brown taking over the corp at City of Regina. Ian Aastrom and I have had a long standing and friendly rivalry which saw our corps duke it out locally, nationally, and at the World's.

I'm gonna miss Ian's challenges. He always put a great corp out and we were just two young corps struttin our stuff. Trying to make the best music we could.

But, with Ian's stepping down, up comes another great turn of events. Winnipegger Blair Brown has taken on the corp with Ian playing in it. I couldn't be more excited!! My generation has never seen a Buzz run corp on the prairies and I know the boys were very excited last night.

Hopefully our friendly rivalry will continue as this will certainly create a new challenge for me and the goon squad.

Stay tuned as tomorrow I've got some news regarding a grade 2 performance coming up.

Enjoy the fall!!!! Stick the landing :D


Cheers,

Sean

The New Season Upon Us

Good morning everybody!

Long time no chat. I took a few weeks off of bloggin/social media to let my brain cool down.

Since then the grade 2 band has decided on another Scotland/Maxville appearance, the grade 3 band had a phenominal showing in Calgary Canmore winning Calgary and coming 3rd in Canmore, and the Juvenile band almost doubled in size.

I just wanted to mark a milestone this morning. Last night at Juvenile practice we had chanters, pads, and tenor sticks all at one table, and they played Mary's Wedding, at tempo, together.

I think this was probably one of the highlights of my drumming life to date. I know all the instructors were incredibly proud to have taken these kids from scratch and have them play together.

Have to thank Scott, Ian, Kyla, and Megan for all their hard work. We have a ton of new kids and we are contantly looking for more so if you're interested pop down to General Byng school on Mondays around 6 30 and check it out!


Johnston out

Sean

2011

Morning folks!

The new season is upon us.

Of course the Grade 3 band just wrapped theirs up this weekend in Calgary Canmore. The band won Calgary and paced third in Canmore. Couldn't be more proud.

They did however come home with horror stories of freezing to death. Oh well!

Grade 2 had it's first meeting last night. Nice to see we're all eager to get back to work. Lot's of decisions were made. Principally travle ones.

Scotland again. One week this time. No pre contests as we can't afford it. The bigger decision was to not go to Vegas.

The invite to the Vegas contest was a real honor however with a very small amount of travel money to us, we had to decide between Scotland and Vegas. It's to bad as the two trips would nearly cost the band the same amount.

The grade 2 pipe corp will once again grow. Starting roster is around 25 with players coming from Alberta, Saskatchewan, Minnesota, and now Ontario. The drum corp will start with some where between 9 and 11 sides, 3 tenors and 1 Chris Brown! This shows we're on the right track.

Grade 3 will again grow! Bigger pipe corp bigger drum corp. More on that once they're back to work.

There's a big weekend coming up. The Selkirk Settler's parade is Saturday which is a major part of our promotion of Scottish Culture. Honoring those that paved this great community is a high priority in all three bands.

Also the Saspb Golf Tournament is saturday. If you want to play just email me at sean@saspb.com. Then clean your clubs and prepare to be owned by the Fidlers..

That's the update. See you soon!

Cheers,

Sean

Home for a Rest

Well Happy Monday everyone!

I have to apologize to everybody for being absent this past week and a bit. After running out of time on my internet stick I had to choose between pints, or blogging...

The good news is some of us are home now. We arrived last night at 6 in from Toronto via London from Glasgow. The rest of the band is in Glasgow until Tuesday.

I'm happy to say we accomplished every single goal we set out for ourselves this season, and we even exceeded some expectations Wes and I had for the group. Both the Pipe Major and myself are very very proud.

I should retrace myself back to North Berwick. A fascinating day all in all. The weather gave us pretty much everything mother nature can in Scotland, we had over-cast, sunny, and raining in each of our three plays.

Our first contest was the grade 2 medley which we were very pleased with. We managed a 3rd place overall losing out to the St. Thomas machine and University of Bedfordshire. The spread worked out P1, P7, D5, E4. Not a bad start.

The next two plays were a combined grade 1/2 MSR (though we were the only grade 2 band entered) and a grade 1 medley. In the MSR we faired well as we ended dead last out of six. The spread was P6, P6, D6, E4. I think that ensemble mark was a huge highlight for the band. In the Medley we ended up 8th out of 8 but the spread worked out P5, P7, D8, E8. The pipers were particularly proud of that 5th as they managed to squeak one off of Peel Regional Police from Ontario and our guru yoda piping God Jake Watson. Judges can be funny sometimes.

All in all a very very successful day and we were all in good spirits for Bridge of Allan.

The Bridge started off cold but warmed for the plays in the afternoon. We had two plays Sunday, the first a grade 2 medley where we were placed 9th out of 15. This is a two judge contest and the spread broke down P12, D3. I obviously can't complain about that and we're all proud of the plays we had.

The second event was a grade 1 MSR. Again we were last out of 11 but we had a great play and the spread ran P11, D 10.

Then it was two days of rest before the final push.

I took off to Ireland to visit family and get my mind rested from pipe band... and my liver. Upon returning we immediately went to two a day practices.

Friday however, we performed in the RSPBA's parade through Glasgow, got to play in George's Square, and had lunch with the RSPBA's exec. and dignitaries as well as the Lord Provost of Glasgow. First class dining in the Chambers including fine wines, beers, and a gourmet buffet. Not to shabby!

Saturday came early as we were informed we had to have the coach at the contest grounds by 7:30. Since we played at 1:00 no one was impressed, but alas this is the circus and there were over 230 bands going.

We had a wonderful play in the qualifier, despite some ridiculous group screaming at our right flank as we made our attack. It sounded like a rugby squad was about to attack. Regardless we managed to play well and we were all happy with the performance.

Wes and I eagerly awaited the results and I'm happy to say we made it through. That was our final goal of the year achieved and the weight was gone. We took a 6th in the qualifier and moved through to the final, the qualifying spread was P5, P9, D8, E8. I'll say one thing, they're consistent over there!

A little rest and then the final push. We had a brilliant run at the final, all of the players were pleased. We knew full well we were playing against some incredible bands in one of the strongest grade 2 classes in the history of the contest.

Once massed bands settled we had a strong hold on 11th in grade 2 in the world. I supposed some would be disappointed in second last, but it was more like 11th out of 26 and with all the bands playing I can honestly say it was darn close to all the best bands in the world.

Of course as a leading drummer I can't go away without some pride in the spread. I'm not one to complain about judging I'm very fond of the RSPBA and how fairly we were treated when everyone here in Winnipeg said we would be laughed at, but I must have missed something in the final where someone's pipes started on fire or something. Anyways the spread was.. P12, P11, D7, E12.

So as a leading drummer I can only say one thing, thank you. To our pipe corp of experience and contest trialed professionals. I know that there is no single group of people myself, or the drummers, would rather follow into contest. For two years we as a drum corp have thought only of supporting your brilliant music and sound and you have given us a chance to prove ourselves at such a young age that it will surely improve our collective future.

To the drummers. Hold your heads high. 7th in drumming, in the toughest grade 2 class in years, at such a young age, there are great things in our future, together. When we were told by former World Champions we were barely grade 3A over there. We should be proud. I know I am.

Finally on behalf of Myself, Wes, and the entire grade 2 band, I want to thank all our supporters and teachers and friends. Jake Watson, for his tireless wisdom and yearly head cracking, John Fisher, for his constant inspirational teaching, Graham Brown, for helping me gain the confidence required to believe in what I am doing, Ken "the Captain" Eller, for always supporting Wes and the band, The Meade's (Harry and Bob) for helping us find our drum corp's sound and supporting us in dark moments, Blair "Buzz" Brown, for defining what the pipe band community is all about and rescuing us from Air Canada's dooming, Cameron Trotter, for selflessly lending us his personal drum for our trip, Reid Maxwell, for coming in my first season and showing me the way to ensemble which saved us numerous times, Dave Bowman, our own personal World Champion, for fielding my constant emails and always taking time to come over and show support to the kids, and finally our families, we sacrifice so much for this game, and you never question our insanity, without you we'd be lost.

MaCallum Bagpipes, Pearl Percussion, Meade Custom Drumming Supplies, Tartantown, Shell Canada, and of course The St. Andrew's Society of Winnipeg, for all your support we would be at a loss. While the bands primary funding comes from the membership our success at this level is, without a doubt, only possible with your support.

Don't forget the grade 3 band is heading to Calgary/Canmore this September long weekend so I'll be keeping you posted on their trek.

For any new players who wish to join any of the three bands please feel free to contact me at sean@saspb.com and I would be happy to point you in the right direction.

Cheers, and thank you once again.

Sean Johnston
Drum Sergeant
SASPB Winnipeg

Day #4 - Goooood Morning

Well a great practice today has left us prepped well for tomorrow's debut.

It's shaping up to be one fantastic contest as we, and many other grade 2 band, will not only duke it out in the grade 2 ring, but step up to grade 1 for the extra plays.

It's pretty amazing for me to think about even standing in the same circle as some of the players who will be there. Grade 2 was a daze last weekend, I can't imagine how I'll be feeling after grade 1.

We're all in great spirits. The band sounded great today despite rain causing some time restraints on tuning.

We've had a few lug heads pop off our harnesses so I've sent the boy out looking for replacements while I iron and sip Bowmore.

I'll be in touch tomorrow regarding results and how we played.

Until then, have a great Friday!

Sean

Day #3 - Hot hot hot.... or cold?

It's Thursday, and it's hot out...

We practiced at 9 am to find some better weather and man did mother nature co operate. It was beautiful out.

Everything is clicking well, as long as we don't over think things. A lot of the folks went to Edinburgh yesterday and had a wonderful visit at the castle. I on the other hand rested up.

We hit the Todd again last night, it was nice and quiet and while the band all went to bed early, Wes, Jamie, and I headed for some late night kabob. I was informed this is the manly thing to do.... wrong...

The boys just finished changing all the bottom heads this morning, I find this really makes these Pearls come to life. I can't wait to hear them.

Apparently a few more bands arrive today, looking forward to see them, bumped into Hugh Cameron today on the walk to the park, I think he felt a little swarmed.

All in all, a great 24 hours. Now I believe the heads are on so I should head out and test run the drums.

Have a wonderful day and we'll all chat tomorrow.

Cheers,

Sean

Day #2 - I thought of you

Good afternoon everyone,

It's a balmy slightly chilly outside today, but all in all we've had good weather.

Practice was a bit nippy so it looks like we're changing times to 9 am tomorrow.

Most of the band headed to Edinburgh, Scotland's home of the crown jewels and royal mile...It's one of the most beautiful places on earth and I hope they all come back with great memories.

Me? Well I'm catching up on rest, and enjoying the quiet time to work a bit on next year's medley and then I think I'll walk to the Todd and relax with a pint and my pipe. Sound like an old man? Don't care.. I'm on vacation :)

We had another very successful practice, chanters were in great shape as they climatized nicely thanks to the very skillful hands of our chanter crew and a very special friend.

The band was so loud it woke up our good buddy Buzz sleeping at Victoria Hall! So he came down and had a listen, we had a good chat regarding Maxville, and Buzz confirmed some of my thoughts regarding our medley play and why we were so successful in the back end.

Of course we want to send our best wishes out to all the bands just starting their journey here. Especially City of Regina Pipe Band who will be arriving the next few days, we've warmed up the bar and the stools c'mon over the waters great!

Other than that not much to report. The sick folks are rehabilitating, things are looking up for them, and even the folks who don't own cell phones at home have brand new tiny ones. (They're ridiculously cheap over here, 7 pounds for a new samsung)

Hopefully we'll hear from the other bands soon, but right now, it's just us, and Band Club (Sydney Australia) leading the charge.

Cheers folks,

Sean

Day #1- Was no fun.... well maybe a little!

Good Morning friends... well it's afternoon here..

We're live and in Glasgow and finally back online.

We had a fantastic trip to Ottawa, Saturday Maxville was a special treat and surprise.

The Band had absolutely fantastic plays the Medley was rockin and the MSR was strong and confident.

When the smoke cleared we not only clinched 2nd place, we manage to win best pipe corp in the MSR, and best drum corp in the Medley. Smiles all around.

We spent the evening in the beer tent talkin with people and trading pats on the back then Sunday we were airborne for Scotland.

We had to pretty sick folks on the plane. Kyla, my sister, seems to have contract ebola or some God awful flu, and Geordie our main man tenor champ, was in grand spirits getting on the plane, but as things go it wore off and he may have passed out and fallen on a bulkhead. Personally I think he was trying to meet our stewardesses but he was a little roughed up in London. (just kiddin Geordie)

So we're in Glasgow, as of last night, we even practiced straight off the plane. I'm happy to say even at 8:30 practice this morning everyone was up and running. We have had great weather but it's supposed to rain tomorrow.

This is the hardest few days. We've been away from family, ill fed, and poorly rested, everyone is a little short in the fuse. But surprisingly we're all in great spirits and can't wait for the next practice. I can hear a drum pad right now.

We're all very thankful for the wonderful messages of support and congratulations we very much appreciate it, we're do our best to make everyone proud this coming weekend and at the World's the weekend after.

I'd like to say, I hope there isn't much of a story for tomorrow's blog... but we all know something funny will happen tonight and I'll paraphrase it for those back home.

Cheers everyone, I'm off to the Todd!

Sean

Day 1.....Wow

Good Morning folks!

It's Friday and we landed safely in Ottawa yesterday morning.

Well...we did. Our bass drum however got destroyed.

Brand new hard plastic and padded case ruined, and the drum inside...shell cracked, hoop cracked, and heads ruined.

Big thanks to Air Canada for trying to completely ruin our trip, and not caring.

However, the pipe band world is charitable and supportive. I immediately got on the phone and within and hour had offers from 3 bands who were competing saturday in maxville too, to lend us their drum!

Then there's Pearl, some of the best customer service people in the business. After speaking with Bob Meade, he selflessly dropped everything and contacted Pearl who began pulling strings to find us a new drums.

Amazing.

Then just moments before we played the concert last night I got a call from non-other than Blair Buzz Brown. Buzz had a contact, Cameron Trotter, who won the drumming for drinks awhile back in bass.

His prize? A free Pearl bass drum.... Baby blue. Cameron was willing to lend us his drum for the remainder of our trip.

Now that's sportsmanship and kindness. I cannot believow generous and selfless everyone I've been in contact with has been.... Except Air Canada.

I want to thank everyone for helping me and the band out, especially Buzz who is bringing the drum to Maxville Saturday morning, and Cameron for lending it to us in the first place.

So that was the first day...

And now I face day 2!

Cheers!

Sean

Help Needed

Hi Everyone,

With only one day left until the trip begins we had our final rehearsal yesterday evening.

While practice was really great, and everyone played great, despite the on-setting nerves, we do have one HUGE problem.

Enroute to band practice last night one of the tenor drums was either stolen out of the back of a truck, or magically jumped out of a truck traveling 60 kms down a major Winnipeg route from a truck with a cap on it.

Please if anyone know anything this is a one of a kind instrument, an orangish colour, with chrome Pearl logos and the drummers first name on it.

Please contact me if you have any information regarding this matter.

sean@saspb.com

204 391 5057

Any help would be greatly appreciated

Sean

...the essentials

How and dy everybody,

It's Sunday, 4 days to go, I'm starting to pack.

I thought I'd be responsible this year and pack early so I don't forget anything, like a jacket, or raincape.....

Of course this is the first large packing mission I've attempted with a 4 year old's help. I'm positive half of our lego is in my suitcase... at least I'll have something to do between practice and the pub.

I guess I have everything I need. My uniform is ready, minus the kilt, vest, and jacket... drycleaners. I have every pair of sticks I own, even though I only use the maxwell ones, and 4 metronomes. I cleaned my drum, twice, and polished my brogues. So what is left?

Not much....

Oh right, civies. I'll get to that.

So here I sit, looking at predictions, fascinated by youtube videos, and completely wrapped up in a place half a world away.

I'll be posting our rehearsal schedule once the chief pooba ok's it.

Until then, tuesday is our last Winnipeg rehearsal, 7 pm Henderson Legion. Come out see the band in action, stay for a pint, wish us luck.

Have a great week!

Sean

When it Rains... it Pours....

Buenos ding dong diddly dias Mi Amigos....

Or something...

It's beautiful here in The Peg, and I'm nursing a sunburn from practice this morning. We had our last weekend practice before the trip this weekend and couldn't have planned two more extreme days.

Saturday was the definition of miserable. For those who were in Maxville 2 years ago... that crazy storm that hit.... yep all day.

I had to work Saturday morning, turns out real jobs require preparation before one departs for 3 weeks, but when I got there there were drum cases floating in the parking lot. Thank God I ordered those Humes and Burg (shameless plug) cases from Meade Custom Drumming (ditto) for our new Pearls... ( :D )

It was so bad we actually called practice around 2:00. However, as Cam was mulling this over with me we both decided to play the medley one more time.

Now, I'm a drummer, not terribly tall, but if I was... say.. Jamie Simpson, 9 foot 7 inches with shiny stuff on my pipes... playing with that lightning coming at us would have worried me a bit. There the band stood, in rain like I've never seen, defiant of nature... and we sounded darn good.

Flash to Saturday night, Wes' house, big party... of course, he's not there. It was the big guy (a.k.a the old guy now)'s birthday! He got off the plane from Saskatoon and walked into a house full of band-mates who cracked their first beers some 4 hours before he took off... nice.

Well Sunday came, and we were greeted with incredible weather. We had a good discussion about how fortunate we are with our draws at both Maxville and the World's, and how we need to take advantage of our brilliant positions. It's never easy, not even close, but if you have to play a qualifier at the World's... second to last is a great spot!

It's going to be a busy week. Tuesday, practice, Wednesday exec meeting, Thursday, practice.. etc. But it's sooo close.

If you're kicking around Winnipeg and are interested in seeing the band before we head out, both Tuesday and Thursday's practices will be held at the 215 Legion a.k.a "Henderson Legion". C'mon down and check the band out, maybe even have a pint with us afterwards.

Oh, and if you're in Ottawa July 29th track down the "B" in the Park concert, ourselves, Rock Mountain, and the City of Chicago pipe band are all playing with Sons of Scotland at their annual concert.

Happy practicing!

Sean

Coming Distractions

Well it's 13 days to the plane ride and 2 and a half weeks of bliss.

Those who know me, know I'm prone to nervousness and general stress around band contests.

So, why not now? Am I older and wiser? No... A rumour says a certain big league pipe major is late for the bus every world's due to nervous stomach.

But today it hit. My mind can't stop thinking about it. I try positive imaging. I viualize perfect plays and hearing the world's announcer calling our name, but it doesn't cap the nerves.

I wish it was tomorrow...

Normally this wave of anxiousness sets in two weeks ago, but I've been distracted with work. This is awesome. I get paid to think about something else.

It's been a good distraction but perhaps I should apologize to the president of Cabela's Canada now. I'll be useless for the next week sir.

It's pipe band season!

:)

Cheers,

Sean

P.s I wrote this with my Blackberry... Took an hour!!!

Ensemble: The Next Generation

Good morning,

Just spending Monday morning catching up on the videos from this weekend. Loving the music I'm hearing all over the world.

For those who read regularly a few weeks back during an update I mentioned I was having a lesson. This was thanks to the wonders of technology.

I had my first Skype lesson with Mr. Graham Brown of Ontario. It was a real treat. For an hour we worked through my band scores, some exercises to take to the corp and discussed musical philosophy.

Graham is a true musician at heart. He hears and sees the big picture and views his composition work as more of a producer's role in the pipe band. This is exactly how I feel about my role.

In the studios of New York, L.A., and Nashville, producers sit listening to bands and coming up with arrangements to get the modern audience to buy into the music, or just to make the very best version they can.

Flash over to the pipe band world.

Pipers create beautiful melodies, gorgeous harmonies, and complicated music. However, it is tremendously one dimensional when it comes to emotional expression to the average listener. Enter the drum corp. In today's modern pipe band, snare corp, tenors, and bass, are all utilized to create what I refer to as motion.

Some in the pipe band world call it tension and release. It creates the illusion that the music is always going somewhere, never a dull moment.

The combination of beautiful piping, motion based drumming, and good rhythmic consistency, is what we call good ensemble.

Rightly so.. it makes people wanna tap their foot to the beat!

How many times have we all heard "I hate bagpipes, sounds like a cat being hit with a baby"? Answer, alot. I always challenge these people to listen to the Fraser's Medley from 2007, or SFU's medley from 2009, how about some 1987 Strathclyde MSRs.

Never fails, there's that foot tapping.

Throw on Master Blasters and dare them not to enjoy Top Deck in Perth or Up an Adam.

Talking with Graham about the concept of Ensemble makes me think of all the times I've wanted to throw some ridiculous drum lick into a score and didn't....

Composing drum music is about sacrifice. A balance between the Can, and the Should. But restraint can be rewarded. Graham writes his music for ensemble. Look at this year's Ontario results and you'll see Peel right across the board. He told me he wasn't concerned with the drumming prize, Drew Duthart is a machine, but he was confident his pipers would take at least one first in piping. Of course then it becomes a battle for ensemble. There's where Graham shines.

Listen to the way his music moves the piping.

But there is a pay day for the drumming ego. This weekend Peel not only took the contest but won the drumming prize as well.

I've personally been told my music isn't difficult enough. This took its toll on my confidence for a long time. People you look up to as a kid tell you you just don't cut it and you question yourself.

Then you sit down with a Reid Maxwell, John Fisher, or Graham Brown, and they tell you "don't worry I did that too when I was your age" and they help you grow and improve as a composer.

Consistent message from all of the greats.. don't worry about the drumming prize those will come, get ensemble as good as you can, that wins competitions.

So, practice tomorrow, busy as ever. Wes is away teaching in Saskatchewan at Diefenbaker so I'm sure rehearsal will be a blood bath of hard work, our pipe sergeant Cam Ballantyne is a great drill sergeant.

Then this weekend is a busy weekend rehearsal, last one before the plane ride.

Can't believe how close it's getting.

Ok, I'm off to write some drum scores. For fun.

Cheers,

Sean

Brothers in Arms

"Never make a companion equal to a brother." Hesiod.


... I like pipe bands.

I really love drum corps.

I think it's because I have this idea in my head that pipe bands are like families. At least ours are. All of them, one big family. We share big moments, we celebrate together, we mourn together, it's a beautiful thing pipe band.

I love drum corps probably because I never had a brother. I always wanted a younger brother named Mike, and I'm sure if I had known about pipe bands back when I was three I would have insisted he was a drummer like me. However, my dear mother bless her heart gifted me a sister... and a piper.....

According to my Grandmother I referred to Kyla Dawn as Mike for quite some time. Periodically I still do.

I take great satisfaction in watching Kyla tune her pipes, and warm up with the pipe corp in the grade 2 band. It always seems surreal having her there. So don't get me wrong I'm a very, very proud brother, but she's a piper... and a girl.

So, I'm very attached to my guys in the drum corp. All of them. There's an old saying you can pick your friends but you can't pick your family. I feel the same about drum corps, when it's right it's right and you don't have much say in it. So you learn to love each other and put up with each others little quirks and presto, you're family.

In my case I have 6 brothers that stand beside me in the closest thing to battle I hope any of them ever comes up against. I always say when we hit the line "just trust me and I'll get us through to the other side" then I look them all in the eye and they seem to buy in. We're brothers and we trust each other when push comes to shove.

So in this little dream of mine it's pretty easy to spot the obvious familial differences..... Dave and Dylan don't exactly look like Graham and Cam... So it's not like I can run around Maxville claiming my entire corp is the Johnston family drum line.

However, three weeks before the biggest pipe band trip of our lives to date one of my brothers gave me one hell of an early birthday gift.

Looks like when I hit the field for the World's I'll be standing with 4 brothers.. and one brother in law to be.

That's right, my little baby sister in the pipe corp actually said yes to one of the goofballs in the drum corp and we're gonna have us a good ole fashioned SASPB Wedding.

Apparently Ian Walker decided it was good security to make sure I didn't cut him at the World's... jokes on him.. now he's really family :)

Naw... after years of dating, and incredible patience on both their parts I'm proud to say the little couple that could has and they're getting hitched. I could not be more proud of both of them and how far they've come.

Ian has played with me for 4 years now, from the grade 4 band, to the World's, and now the grade 2 band and back across the pond. I'm very proud to have him join our family.

I suppose it's only right that the only type of man I would trust with my little sister would be one of the drummers in my drum corp. One of my brothers.

Hesiod didn't know what he was talking about....



Congratulations you guys.

Love Always,

Sean

A Great but Busy Weekend

Happy Canada Day everyone!!!!!!!!!!

A day early though... Mostly because I have no intention of touching my lap top tomorrow.

Well last week was a bit nuts for the SASPB. In a good way though.

Obviously two weeks ago we had the Manitoba Highland Gathering in Selkirk. Another hot day with a few unwanted blood sucking guests (mosquitos) but blood loss aside a great day. The Sunday after we had the grade 2 band working with The Captain (Ken Eller) and Mr. Alan Walters.

It was a great work out and really opened the bands eyes to our full potential.

Another week of rehearsals was in the cards for the upcoming B.O.B. contest this past saturday.

However one small kink in the chain.

Wes and I had been invited to judge the Red Deer Highland Gathering. An incredible chance to get to look, not only at Rocky Mountain Pipe Band (competition in Maxville) but Alberta Caledonia (the only grade 1 band on the prairies). We couldn't turn it down.

So we rehearsed the bands all week and on friday we wished them well and got on a plane.

Saturday we spent at the park judging solos and bands. Some really great playing is going on in Alberta, though that should come as no surprise. I'd like to say I didn't fret, but I spent a lot of time checking my phone for text messages regarding the plays back home.

The good news is everyone's hard work paid off.

With a P/M like Wes, who doesn't exactly embody good general health, and a D/S like me, who is apt to become disheveled and fall in a pot hole a break his leg, it's very important we have back ups in place.

A chain of command has been built into the grade 2 band. At both ends there is a system that is tested every week to make sure everyone knows who is in charge and when.

It worked beautifully and I'm happy to say the judges gave the band great reviews. Wes and I are very proud, and a very big pat on the back goes to "The Cams" for taking the reins and keeping things moving.

Rehearsal that Sunday was interesting as Wes and I flew home saturday to be there. It was finally time to say the words "final push" and like talking to a soon to be new mother, the band is responding with vigor.

The World's trip is getting ever so close. Of course we hit up our favorite contest first Maxville, but we are going to have an absolute blast for the next month preparing.

There will be more updates... just not tomorrow. So stay tuned.

Happy Canada Day

I'm off to try my hand at Skype lessons with Mr. Graham Brown... Pray he doesn't figure out how to throw a stick at me via the internet.

Cheers,

Sean

Big Fish Syndrome

How and Deee folks!


The past couple days, with upcoming contest and Scotland looming, I've been really meditating on pipe bands around the World.

I've come upon a hypothesis if you will.

It seems there are 3 mental levels within the piping community here on the Prairies.

Level 1: Local: We turn our mental focus to the local pipe band scene. We concern ourselves during these moments with, how many solo kids are coming up, why some bands are shrinking while others are growing successful, etc.

Level 2: Territorial: For us it's the Prairies. Western Alberta to Western Ontario really. More bands are here, and of course it's easier for traveling players to make trips. We have rivalries etc. It's fun, but only seems to pop into our minds come contest time.

Level 3: International: This is pretty much all thought outside the Prairies. I know our organization is constantly trying to stay informed about what's happening outside. Do we stack up? Things like this.

I've found over the years that what grade your in is a direct influence on which level you let your mind dwell.

In a grade 1 band in Canada you, for the most part I assume, focus Internationally. While SFU and Triumph Street do compete locally with one another... the show is at the World's for both.

In a grade 4 band, and I've had the pleasure of being in two of them, you tend to focus locally. Rivalries are easier here because there may be a few bands in your grade and you may not travel that often for bigger contests. A lot of the time you end up looking up into other grades for new challenges. Not necessarily looking parallel to other parts of the World for conquests.

So, what is Big Fish Syndrome?

I've dubbed this syndrome after years of hearing negative comments about successful organizations from people who aren't in them.

I've been on the receiving end, and on the dishing out side of this as well.

Back in my juvenile days my band was struggling to maintain numbers while another juvenile band locally was huge and darn near grade 3. It was frustrating and, instead of working harder at recruitment or playing, we spent a ton of energy bad mouthing the other group.... This is common everywhere not just Winnipeg.

I'm sure there's someone in B.C. that doesn't play in SFU's organization and still admires them. I'm positive they're there, but a lot of the time you get eye rolls and excuses for why they're so good, instead of admitting they and Triumph Street are successful from hard work and experience.

Alberta has the same problem. Al Cal this, and Al Cal that.

Saskatchewan and Manitoba, though smaller ponds, still have the same problem. The SASPB and CRPB have the same issues. Then off to Ontario where "Peel is stealing everyone's players" and "The Frasers are bullies" all unfounded.

Usually success breeds success. People are attracted to playing for dynamic leadership, or successful music, or World Champions. It's not rocket surgery.

So, my advice, to those who are on the receiving end of this negativity. Don't let it get to you. It usually means you're doing something right and your success has ticked someone off. Do your thing, enjoy it, make music, and leave the politics where they belong...

Try to focus on the 3rd Level of the International Pipe Band World. Luckily technology has made this possible. We can all compare ourselves daily with bands all over the planet. Then spend some time working on the 1st level locally, trying to build your community, instead of ripping it apart with negativity.

Remember, all the successful bands were once struggling, instead of complaining about the other successful bands they studied them, then chased them, and then caught them.

Pipe and let Pipe I always say... or something like that.

Cheers

Sean

Livin the Dream

Howdy Everyone,

It's been a month since my last update. I'm quite happy to say things are going better than ever here in the prairies.

The weather finally cooperated this week and is basking us in sunshine for a few days.

Not that I'm complaining. Nothing could be better than cold and rain for practice weather when you're heading to Scotland!

We've had some interesting rehearsals and made a new friend in the back end.

A couple weeks ago Kurt Hunter (78th Highlanders Halifax) came out and started to jam with me and the boys. This was a huge asset as his experience and demeanor really is a great example for the corp. Kurt won't be joining us this season, hopefully next, but it really opened some eyes when a fella learns our medley in two weeks. That's commitment.

This week is quite busy, last night was the Two River's windup BBQ. A nice chance for kids, parents, and instructors to unwind before the summer hits and we all go our separate ways for two months. I want to take this chance to thank the hard working instructors, Ian Walker, Kyla Johnston, Scott Foster, and Megan Ross for their commitment to excellence, and none of our progress this year would be possible without our Band-Parent Liason/Manager/Guru Gale Walker. From myself, Wes, the organization, and the kids, thanks so much you guys!

Tonight is rehearsal as usual for the grade 2 guys. Minus the cold and rain. Thursday is grade 3, no surprise there.

Tomorrow night however is the grade 2 spaghetti dinner at Deluca's! A great fundraiser for our trip to Scotland and a fabulous chance to get together and have some food and fun. If you haven't got a ticket... they may be sold out! If not just ask any grade 2 band member.

Saturday is the Manitoba Highland Gathering (AKA Selkirk contest). I'm very excited for this one as we're gearing up for Scotland now and will be treating this contest like the World's. We also have a workshop planned on Sunday with I believe The Captain.

Then it's another week until Bands on the Boardwalk, and another Sunday rehearsal with the whole crew.

Every time I turn around there more pipe band to do!

Which is in fact my definition of Livin the Dream.

Cheers Everyone,

Sean

So Long to a Great Friend and Mentor

Hi Everybody,

Today is a sad day here in Winnipeg and for all piping and drumming



Our dear friend Mr. Wally Winters passed away early this morning after a few hard days fight.

After speaking with Wally's daughter Linda (Nagy) I expressed the entire communities sadness at the passing of a legend in our local pipe band world.

The past few years I had the unique pleasure of speaking quietly (and sometimes loudly) with Wally at the Elmwood legion on Thursday nights before, during, and after grade 3 practice. Wally was always on hand to share his stories and time tested opinions and we always had a great time together sharing a beer, watching whatever sports were on the tv, and talking pipe bands.

A constant fan of Field Marshal Montgomery this season Wally took a turn in his loyalty as he personally informed me he felt SLOT was soaring at the worlds but understood why SFU was crowned champion. He always kept up with technology and watched YouTube religiously.

He professed he was a fan of our young grade 2 drum corp, always shouting at me as I motored through the legion "have you got those punks whipped into shape yet" and he always wanted the inside scoop "who's gonna play at the contest saturday, any cuts coming, anybody not pulling their weight" I regret he probably never realized how big a fan we were of him.

Wally taught drumming, lived drumming, and breathed drumming all his life. His daughter Linda told me tonight "My dad's life was pipes and drums, and the drum pad and sticks never left the coffee table..in the 47 years I had him in my life, he played them from the couch everyday"

Wally was a constant influence for me these past years as I worked hard to understand pipe bands and the culture of them.



He was a great friend and a beloved mentor. I, and the whole pipe band world, will sorely miss him.

Rest in peace Wally and say hi to Big Alex when you see him.

Sean

Hot Hot Hot.... or Cold?

Happy Tuesday folks!

Weather here in the Peg is gorgeous as always.... And by always I mean this past few weeks.

Well, the big blue machine was in full steam roll this weekend as we took our gang outside at the Brandon Highland Festival.

The weather didn't exactly cooperate.. It was beautiful, but there was this wind. Makes for a tricky ensemble effect. The wind tends to take sound and run with it.

Still our seasoned pipe corp dealt with it well and I'm proud to say cleaned house in both grade 2 and the un-contested grade 3 contest.

Drumming was a story in itself. We had great adjudication and I have so many great comments from Dave Bowman (SFU) that I have plenty to work on!

We won drumming in the MSR but showed our green in the Medley. Mostly nerves. We practice one way and then hit the line and sometimes the young guys try to hide...it never works :)

We made some adjustments on Sunday at rehearsal and I'm confident we'll keep improving every week.

I don't expect miracles. As my mentor and former lead-drummer Bob Cooper said to me, "this will take time" we played well, the music quality and calibre was confirmed. We just need to harness our nerves as Scotland is a helluva lot more nerve racking than any other.

Anyways I should also mention Ryan Cadotte, long time piper with us, got hitched saturday night... To his beautiful, yet obviously slightly insane new wife... "Welcome to our crazy ass family!!!!!!" :) we're happy to have you officially.

Now I'm off to the pharmacy as I seem to have one kick ass cold...

Cheers,

Sean

Officially the Luckiest D/s on Earth

Hi folks,

It's a little under 24 hours till I drag my butt out of bed to go judge, and play, at the Brandon highland festival. Always a pleasure working with Richard and his great team.

Brave folks too! Some years we are trapped inside a gymnasium and others we're outside trying out our sound in the great outdoors. Not an easy task for Richard to coordinate surely.

I always get a little jumpy the day before a contest. More excited than anything. I love pipe band contests, they're the best way I can think of spending the day.. second I guess would be fishing, then golfing, then bbqing... that would be okay too!

I suppose everybody wants me to comment on the complete 180 turn around from my previous post regarding the growing drum corp.

I havent really sat down to comment to my own drummers on Buz's decision not to play (for those who didn't know as of wednesday night Buz had decided not to play) but I suppose a half an hour before a marketing exam is as good a time as any.

If you could see my face you'd see how little surprise is on it. As I say to my boys "this is my look of caring, see how it doesn't exist?" It is a shame though simply because we're creating something great and Buz could have been a great part of that.

Citing lack of inspiration to play Buz informed Wes and I, and then the facebook world of his official non-band member status. C'est la vie... or however you spell that.

Of course as usual, I'm more than happy with what we've got, and immediately following this news I received numerous emails and phone calls from many pipe band people around North America saying not to worry that we're on the right track and to keep teaching and growing from the youth of Winnipeg.



So there's my official position. To anybody who has a chance to play with the people I do every week, to pick up sticks a jam with any SASPB drum corp, and turns it down.... your loss.



I've got an exam at 11:30 and a pipe band practice at 7:00.. guess which is on my mind at 10:45 am.




Cheers

Sean
a.k.a the luckiest D/s on earth

Holy Shmolly It's Warm Outside!!!!

Look out Mama it's sandal weather!!!

Well maybe just for Ian Walker, but it's plus 10 degrees Celsius at 10:32 am and there's practice tonight. So, Wes sent the email out saying get to practice early and dress warm, we're playing outside!

My guesstimate, drummers play, pipers tune, it gets cold, we go inside, but it's a start!

I love playing outside. I was house sitting casa del Sheppard this weekend while he and John Fisher were out galavanting with the Saskatoon Police, so I had the drummers over Sunday morning for a workout. It was so nice, we headed out onto the deck and took our first crack at the Pearls outside. They didn't disappoint. Something about drumming outside just gets the blood boiling.

Of course, one look at the calendar does the same thing. I think we're 12 weeks from the plane ride to Ottawa....

Yikes!

Good thing I have a Doctors appointment today, better get my blood pressure read.

It was, however, a very relaxing rehearsal for me. The boys have had their nose to the grindstone and things are going smoother than ever. I'm nit picking but that's about it. Every week we improve exponentially.

We also had a guest at practice which kinda loosened things up. My girlfriend's son made his first appearance at a drum corp practice. Jacob is 3, soon to be 4, and it's always very entertaining to see young kids as they get their first taste of pipe bands.

To say the least he was amazed. The boys were great with him, supportive to a tee! We practiced on the deck while Jacob jammed on a drum pad in the sun room (safe volume distance) and during our breaks he even worked up the courage to ask to tap on a drum.



I love watching kids explore music. It reminds me why I do all of this in the first place. It takes me back to when Bob Cooper gave me my first drum (a remo made lagato... I know.....) and how I played it all night at home until my mother threatened my life.

I strongly recommend introducing a child to our world. You never know, they could be the next Jim Kilpatrick, or Bruce Gandy!

Plus, your blood pressure will drop.

Cheers everyone, enjoy the weather!

Sean

What's the Buzzing noise????

How and Deee everybody!

Been a busy couple weeks so I thought I'd get right at her.

Me and the grade 2 corp have been busy working the kinks out of the new drums. Aside from the bass everything is ready to rock, the bass just needs some more dampening and we're there.

New heads, cybermax, are great but not quite my style. We'll be switching back to the coretec's after the Brandon highland festival for sure. Plus I have a large box of them in the basement and if you know my mother.... they need to go!

I've been really busy with work and school and so have semi restricted my attendance at grade 3 and juvenile practice for a few weeks. I'm happy to say I poked into grade 3 on thursday and Graham is doing a fabulous job keeping things on task. Great job to the whole corp!

There's always news in pipe band world. Rarely about us. But today is one of those days and since I don't know Andrew Bertoff well enough to call him i'll blog and watch the chain of info circle the web.

My corp has grown as of this morning.

We've got a lovely 8 sides in the grade 2 corp now, and several World Championships! Years of experience, and one killer moustache! All this comes from the addition of Winnipeg's most decorated snare drummer Mr. Blair "Buz" Brown.



Buz is one of those guys that knows everybody, and has played everywhere. His experience and knowledge will greatly benefit the young drummers in the corp as we travel to Scotland for the first time.

I have to honestly say I was very surprised Buz showed any interest in playing for me, but more importantly at first I was a little bit intimidated. I think the key is though I have one rule in my corp, put the band first. If everyone does that we all get along.

I'm looking forward to having a larger drum corp period but adding a seasoned veteran to the mix of young bucks is the great advantage we were looking for.

Having Buz play at home for the first time in God knows how long shows we're doing something right. We've built a family pipe band, that focuses on positive energy and hard, smart work. Obviously this is an attractive idea to some players.

I hope having someone of Buz's calibre and resume take me and the boys seriously enough to don a blue kilt will encourage the rest of the pipe band world to not shrug us off as to young, and to inexperienced. We are all students of our craft, first and foremost, and we deserve a good shake for our efforts.

Now I have to go email Buz all music and then prepare for the upcoming ppbam contest.

Cheers everyone

Sean

A Darn Good Point

Sup everybody!?!?!?

Back again from another Pop the Trunk road trip. This time to Morden.

It's been quite a stressful week or so. Pipe band's are all super busy, new drums etc., and among other things politics has reared up and taken a bite out of our smaller (wouldn't hurt a fly) group the grade 3 band. It's always disappointing when you watch people work so very very hard for something and somebody burns them.

Among everything else there's barely a month left of school this year, I got a new job, and Pop the Trunk is busier than ever.

I have noticed my blood pressure steadily rising everyday.

However, Friday me and the rock band piled into vans P.A. in tow and headed to the bible belt of Manitoba to spread the good word... or at least a word....

Joey and I met a man I can't quite explain... His name was Bryan, a self described "old fart" but at 61 he didn't look much past 50. While every town has one or two "characters" it's always very interesting to meet as many people as you can on the road.

So Joey and I stood outside and chatted with Bryan while he puffed on his smoke.

Turns out Bryan is one resilient fella. At 61 he has been in a coma (as a kid, parents even took him off life support at one point), he has had I think he said 4 brain surgeries and has only recently been give the majority of his skull back, recently divorced his wife whom he met in 71 I believe..., and to top it all off has Muscular Dystrophy and is losing approx. 8% of his muscle mass every year.

Yet here he was, in the bigger of Morden's two liquor licensed establishments, drinking coffee, dancing, checking out the band, loving life.

Saturday he came down and had dinner at the bar with Joey and I before we had to prepare for our second show. We sat and chatted about the B.C. music scene in the 70's and he even gave us a record (like a legitimate 33 record) of a friend of his.

Never once did he ever take a negative tone... about anything. He flirted with the waitress, kept a keen eye on the crowd, gave us advice on our show, recommended books, and finally gave me some of the best advice I have ever heard.

Don't sweat it

Remarkable, and simple, much like Bryan.

What does this have to do with pipe bands?

I think there are a tremendous amount of chances for us to take Bryan's words to heart in what we do. There are so many little things that we stress about sometimes just saying "don't sweat it, you can't change it" isn't the worst approach.

Obviously we can't completely shirk our responsibilities to our band and friends, but at the same time, perhaps there are more important things we are missing because we're so busy sweating the small stuff.

I'm gonna try it, every now and then, I'll let you know how it goes!

From Bryan, to me, to you...

Don't sweat it.

Cheers,

Sean

Pearl's of Wisdom

(Sound trumpets)!!!!!

Today's the big day I get to say "THEY'RE HERE!!!"

Wes and I picked up the new drums last wednesday and we handed them out saturday.

Personally I couldn't be happier with the look, and sound, these new instruments bring to the band.

It's a big change, the colour choice was purely meant to make these drums stand out, and that they shall.

It's also nice to work with an instrument that is in top condition. You want the snares to go up, turn the height adjustment the right way and they go up, no guess work.

I started tuning my drum as early as Wednesday night. I had a gig and though I took both drums I spent most of the night with my Pearl tuning and cranking. Just seeing how far it would go for me.

It reacted beautifully.

By saturday it almost sounded decent. I'm quite pleased.

The other side to this is getting to see how proud it made the corp. They work very very hard on their music and it was nice to reward them with instruments of the same calibre.

We topped it all off with a bass drum christening saturday night.

Check the pictures from our first few days. Obviously there will be an actual in uniforms nice picture taken eventually, but until them i'm a proud papa showing off my new babies.....

All 17 of them.. take that John and Kate plus 8.

Anyways stop by practice tuesday any time if you wanna see the new gear.

Cheers,

Sean

The Grass On the Other Side of the Fence

Happy Monday!

Guess what this crazy drummer did this weekend...

After not sleeping two days in a row, due to gigging and some necessary drum maintenance, I took in my very first piping recital!!!

I've been sick too so toss some cold medicine into that and you've got a serious challenge on your hands.

It was really impressive. Matt MacIsaac opened for Allisdair Gillies, and I caught the whole show.

It really showed me how impressive piping can be. I often take a minute at practice to just listen to our wonderful pipe corp during their tuning. It amazes me every time, but yesterday's show really threw it down.

Of course, I would have loved a little drumming tossed in, but Matt played two whistles at once.... c'mon.

I'm b-lining for the end of the day and can't wait to hit my bed. But I just wanted to pop on and thank the Winnipeg Police Pipe Band for sponsoring such a great event in our city.

Cheers,

Sean

The Olympic Blog

HOWDY!!!!

Okay, pipe band news in short... we're busy, working hard, practicin lots!!!

Now onto the news of the day. CANADA KICKS ASS!!!

I've always felt that our country has an incredible patriotism locked away in each of us. We just don't know that everyone else in the country shares the same feeling. We take great pride in our country, and especially not bragging about it.....

But then there's hockey.....

BOOO YAAA!!!!

The Olympics have been an incredible success story for our wonderful country. Such a great show, great competition, and we broke a lot of records. We are all so proud.

But, perhaps the icing on the cake was the country coming together to watch the women's hockey team smash the hopes of the U.S, followed by Kevin Martin and his curling team owning the gold medal, and then the very very intense men's hockey final yesterday.

I decided yesterday to put my sticks down and head out with the boys and share in the great Canadian experience.

We headed down to the MTS Center, (Winnipeg's new arena) and joined a huge number of hockey fans watching the game on the big screen there. Willing our boys onto glory.

The first goal of the game caused an insane reaction in the Winnipeg crowd as our very own Jonathan Toews (number 16 in your program) snuck a beauty past Olympic MVP Ryan Miller to put Canada on the board. I thought the arena was gonna come down around us.

Then the tension built and the arena became scary quiet in the last second of the third period when the U.S. tied up the game at 2 a piece and we were heading for over time.

Nerves aside the whole country rallied and I honestly believe willed Syd the Kid to put that puck in the net. GOLD MEDAL BABY!!!!

After the medals ceremony, and an entire arena screaming our national anthem, we piled out into the streets, down to Portage and main to wave hundreds of flags and celebrate. Songs broke out, and chants of "SHUT IT DOWN" indication to police that there was gonna be a party in the street with or without them.

The WPS did an incredible job of keeping the mood light, allowing us to celebrate, and keeping us safe. Lord knows we needed it! Eventually Portage and Main was closed and a party/street hockey game began and went fairly late.

That's just Winnipeg!

I imagine the same sight all over the country. Such an out-pouring of emotion and pride in canada. Listening to the crowd chanting "SYDNEY CROSBY" and "JONATHAN TOEWS" or "LOUUUUUUU" new hockey heroes were born yesterday.

I doubt this gets read anywhere important, but I'd like to thank all the athletes, organizers, volunteers, and the Government who helped make the push for the podium such a success.

On a Pipe Band note, nice job Andre, and Triumph Street!!! Really enjoyed the sound of the Andante out there on the ice at the curling final!!!! Very cool!!!

I gotta go though, it's mid-term exam week here and I have an accounting mid-term in an hour.

I hope the pride and passion we've always felt, but are expressing so much right now continues.It's a great day to be Canadian, but then, it always is!!!!!!

GOLD

Sean

Me and my 31 closest friends

What an incredible weekend we've just finished here in the peg!

Really just a fabulous all round weekend.

Wes and I really had our hands full saturday, between his judging, me playing solos, debuting our Two Rivers Students in solo competition, two grade 5 bands we work with, our grade 3 band, and the big grade 2 show.

But we made it!

I'm happy to report that the Dakota band from South Dakota travelled up here to Winnipeg to compete for the first time, and cleaned house! I couldn't be prouder of Brian and Peggy, it was a great pleasure performing with you guys.

Our grade 3 band debuted under their new direction, and won! More importantly they played well, I'm very excited about the direction Mark is taking the band.

Solos were incredibly successful. Of course I only really watch the drumming, but with the top 3 grades going to the SASPB drummers i'm very very proud.

I'm also gonna take a selfish moment as I managed to squeak to pretty good solo plays out and edge past Bob Ford (Ering Street) for the Professional prize. As exciting as that is, I woke up this morning to read Pipesdrums.com and there was my name on the results page!!! This is a first, and after being referred to as Kirby McRae at the line in Maxville it was nice to get mentioned.

I suppose the big story was the grade 2 contest. Which i'm happy to report we won!

We played every player we have in the medley, and it was pretty darn good. 20 pipers, 7 sides, 4 tenors, and 1 bass. That's a big band for the prairies. Blair "Buzz" Brown was kind enough to get the video of our medley up on you tube yesterday and after viewing it I'm pretty pleased.

I should mention that the drum corp was a bit upset over missing the best drum corp award, however, after reviewing the sheets nothing truly surprised me. We did however help our band secure first place with what can only be described as glowing ensemble sheets and a pair of 1st place ensemble finishes.

I know the drummers read my blog, so to them I'll say what I always do... We're not here to be the best drum corp, just the best pipe band, and Saturday we were. I'm very, very proud.

Hugh Cameron, and Buzz, have given us some great sheets to work on, and I'll be reviewing plent of video.

I've included some pics this time of the big blue machine in action. Stay tuned as we are expecting our drums very soon, I also have some other pretty good news up my sleeve!

Now I have to practice guitar, as apparently that's what I get paid for!!!!

Cheers,

Sean

Break a Leg

What a disturbing line?....

Depressing really...

Unles you're a musician like myself. Then it becomes the closest thing to "Good Luck" you can throw at someone.

Since this is a pipe band blog, and technically British based, we're going to use Wikipedia's British origin for this saying. Especially since it's the only one that makes any sense.

"Break a Leg" originated in Shakespeare's time. At the end of a great performance the performers would be tipped. The act of tipping would come about when the audience, during their applause, tossed coins at the performers. The performers would then bow to one knee to pick up the coins, thus breaking their leg line.

Fascinating..... of course I strongly recommend throwing wads of twenty dollar bills at the pipe bands saturday night. Inflation is a cruel mistress and Shakespeare's coin tossing era is long gone.

Yes it is concert week. I've been a busy, busy boy. The band has been burning the candle at 3 ends this week.... (go figure that one out)

Sunday night we had a great rehearsal at the University of Manitoba. Backing band, dancers, everything went so well. Tuesday was another great run for just the grade 2 band. Tonight, however, is dress rehearsal. 2 pipe bands, 1 backing band, 12 dancers, 1 stage....

She's gonna be crazy. I think I calculated 60 - 70 performers this year. This doesn't include backstage staff, or any other help we have upstairs in the lobby. Our concert has grown to a huge monster show. Not bad for little old Winnipeg.

There are a few tickets still available. You can contact any band member or me at 391 5057. We'll get them to you somehow.

If you are planning on attending our magnificent show, please refrain from throwing wads of money until the final curtain call. It distracts the pipers.

Have a great weekend, whatever you do. Next week starts the push to our first contest.

Break a Leg!!!

Sean

Rhythms and Reputations

Hi everybody!

Hope ya'll stayed warm and cozy given the weather. Just as I was all pumped about it being -4 mother nature caught up with us.

Wes and I hit the highway friday afternoon due south for Sioux Falls South Dakota. Come hell or high water we were gonna get there.

Well 8 hours, and several cups of disgusting caramel gas station coffee, we arrived at Famous Dave's Rib Shack ten minutes before they closed! It was a wild and whacky drive.

Really not the worst conditions I've ever seen. It rained most of the way, and just outside Aberdeen, fog, rain, and ice, caused us to slow to a crawl for about an hour.

We arrived though. Woke up early saturday for a great clinic session with the Dakota and District Pipes and Drums. This group never ceases to amaze me. Every time Wes and I get down there they get better. January is a special trip because it is also their Burn's celebration.

Unlike traditional Burn's nights this one is held in a pub. McNally's to be precise. Great atmosphere, great people. After the haggis was all finished the band played to a packed house and didn't let us down. Great show! Then it was our turn, of course with a little brown liquid courage, to step up to the stage and strut our stuff.

Gigs like this are a blast. Wes and I get to forget all the hard work and studied playing we practice with the band and just cut loose. It isn't always pretty, but we really enjoy it! A varied rendition of our new medley, some showy drumming, and a reel set and we received great crowd response.

Got to head out and see a bit of the town after that. Wyatt, one of the band's great up and comers, took me out to a local bar packed full of folks. Of course our kilts got plenty of attention but it was all good!

I woke up Sunday morning to Wes whipping me with a wet towel screaming "GET UP"! I then rolled out of bed packed and proceeded to sleep in the van through a blizzard until we arrived in Fargo.

Blizzard conditions kept up with us all the way home. Cars were lining the ditches, but hey, we're from a prairie pipe band, snow will not stop us!

Finally got back home last night, caught some sleep and woke up to a frozen and shut down Winnipeg.

I know "Winnipeg? Snow? Blizzard? GET OUTTA HERE!" but it's true. Just when you think you've earned a new reputation, mother nature kicks in.

But we're Winnipegers, and as much as our beautiful city has it's reputations so do we. We canceled Juvenile practice tonight due to weather conditions, I've already had phone calls from the grade 2 drum corp wondering if we can have a practice tonight since the kids aren't using the hall.

There's a reputation for you.

Keep the shiny side up folks, drive safe!

Sean

The Concert Push

Howdy Howdy Howdy,

Where have I been?

Good question.......

For those who have met me briefly and haven't experienced me in my full January mode, I've been going crazy!

But it's all for the best.

January is a crazy time for Wes and I and all the bands as we prepare for the first contest of the season and our annual concert.

The first weekend of January, of course, was our first rehearsal weekend of the new year. Fly in players and all. It was a great time.

We followed that up with Monday-Juvenile, Tuesday-Grade 2, Wednesday-PPBAM, Thursday-Grade 3, Friday....what did we do Friday, Saturday-Crusader Clinic, Sunday- Crash....

It's been a great week!

This weekend Wes and I are heading south to Sioux Falls. Not only do we get to hang with Tom, Brian, and the whole gang down there, but we also get to spend the evening at their Robbie Burns celebration.

We may even jam a bit. Should be fun.

I love jamming in the pipe band world. In the average band jamming is quite common, but I have way more fun coming up with interesting ways to express the music on one drum.

Add the pressure of a packed pub in a foreign city and I'm in heaven.

The weekend after that Wes and I are off to Saskatoon to workshop the 96th Highlanders, a fabulous organization we always enjoy working with. Then we fly home get off the plane and drive straight to our concert rehearsal Sunday night.

Then it's a week and Concert time!

The concert tickets are going fast. I'm very very pleased with how things are going. Everyone is chipping in this year and it makes my job as Concert Director much simpler.

We're going into the show in better form than ever. I'm very pleased with both bands. The real question... how do we get everyone on stage.

Best problem I've faced in years!

Talk to you soon, and if not, Happy Burns Day!!!

Sean

Happy New Year

A Happy to ya and all yours!!

... and if you're in Winnipeg Merry Ukrainian Boxing day!!!

or something like that.

Anyways big week this week.

We took last week off with the grade 2 band but had a pretty solid run at things tuesday night. This weekend is another rehearsal weekend, and the last time before the concert that we'll see the fly-in folk.

Our new practice regimen is paying off big time. In prior years we wouldn't see the entire band together until the friday before Maxville... not good. This year we've seen everyone for 3 weekend rehearsals already!! It shows in the playing, and especially the tuning process. With 22 pipers, give or take, 8 sides, 4 tenors, and one Chris Brown, we have to have our collective you know what together.

Grade 3 stormed the gates through the holidays rehearsing on the monday before New Year's. They're hard core! Things are coming but with all large change, there are growing pains.

Two Rivers has been making progress. I'm very very proud of the students and instructors and their hard work. Especially the progress the kids made over the break. Well done!!

This weekend is also the annual "Scout workshop" which I guess is now the "Boys Band workshop" but either way always a blast. This year they have brought in a plethora of outstanding instructors, Ken Eller, Bob Worrall, John Fisher, and Reagan Jones!

Of course there's a party after and we'll all be there!!!

Anyways back to class, the grind continues!

Cheers everyone, happy practicing!

Sean