Two Rivers Set to Start 2011/2012 Season

Happy Tuesday folks,

I was at the Two Rivers Instructors meeting last night. Not everyone made it but there was still more talent and experience at the table than at a Jonas Brothers rehearsal.

Some great ideas coming forward as we are putting a competition band forward this season. Lots of positive energy coming from the excited instructors.

The big news is that Wes Sheppard (P/M Grade 2) will be stepping up from part time instructor to running this band. Wes' years of band experience and great ability to bring the best out of kids will be reflected immediately in the calibre of our young members.

Returning instructors Ian Walker (Snare), Kyla Walker (Pipes), Heather Wiens (Pipes), Brian Hoel (Snare), and new mid-section instructor Gina Marsh round out the staff, with yours truly and Gale Walker helping out on the admin side.

I'm really looking forward to this band. The first time the kids all played together last season really brought a ton of work and effort home for all involved, it was a real moment and the first time I have ever seen a new band formed.

Stay tuned for more great things as the band will be scheduled to play the annual concert in January with the grade 2 and grade 3 bands.

First rehearsal for Two Rivers will be Monday September 12, 2011 at General Byng school. Anyone with children interested in learning from these wonderful instructors please feel free to contact me at (204) 391 - 5057 or my email sean@saspb.com.

Cheers,

Sean

Leaving on a boat....

The date for the World Solo Snare drumming has been released. October 22nd is the day the very best drummers in our world descend on Glasgow to try their luck and head off against each other.

If they can get there...

The price you pay to play the game is growing daily. While it appears Air Transat has the best flight over, you still pay in excess of $400 to fly your drum over.

Which brings me to Air Canada...

Yes I know that's a dirty word around St. Andrew's but I have an almost better horror story than last year.

For those who weren't reading along last year, we flew to Ottawa to perform before heading to Scotland... Our brand new custom bass drum didn't make it.. Most of it did, but not all.

It was destroyed by our buddies at Air Canada, to date we still haven't seen a cent.

Which brings us to 2011. We're flying to Scotland. We banked on $50 for the 2nd bag that each drummer would have to take. It was $70 in Winnipeg, though only 70% of the drum corp was charged.

Not bad...

Until we flew home.

We arrive at the check in for BMI and of course, BMI didn't know we were coming.. Apparently Air Canada hadn't let them know our large group would be flying with them that day.

So after some phone calls and panicking we got organized and were allowed to check in to our over booked flight.

So away goes the first few drummers to pay for their extra bag. We hadn't banked on this. Last year there wasn't a return fee. However, we thought it may be a possibility.

So what is $70 Canadian in British Pounds... Let's say ball park 40 pounds. Nope Air Canada says it's 109 pounds... which is roughly $200 Canadian dollars.

That's the return fair for baggage handling. $200. Now if they'd tried to charge me that in Winnipeg I would have FedEx'd my drum, but it was only $70 there. Why the extra charge? Because you're stuck...you're in a foreign country.. and you have to get home.. essentially Air Canada has you by the snares so to speak.

We panicked and managed to come up with the money, it's not normal for a group of young musicians to each have 100 pounds floating around after a week long vacation.

Next year we'll be investigating a freight shipment.

... and a new air line.

If you're out there and you're an Air Canada employee, and you're concerned with your companies plunging stock, incompetent business practices, and dismal future.. never fear! As a tax payer I'm here for you! Even though your wonderful company clearly doesn't give a care in the world for me.

Now, where's my life jacket? If we start now we can get a dragon boat to Scotland in time for Bridge of Allen 2012

S

Almost Fall

How sick is it that I'm looking forward to the fall?

It doesn't hurt that come September my new home town becomes the Walleye capital of the world.

But, the bands start up, new music happens, the weather gets better (I'm not one for plus 35), all in all a great season.

Angie (my fiance)'s son Jacob is starting Kindergarten. Which started me thinking of all the little ones this band has running/crawling around. Also, those that are on the way.

I know Alan Ford's lovely wife is due pretty darn soon. Well planned Alan, having a baby in the off season, very smart! We're all excited for you guys, a little terrified that there's gonna be offspring of Al running around but we'll be fine.

New news out for us is the Chorneys are expecting (saw it on Facebook plus Dave told me) that should pad my drum corp. I'm betting on triplets with God like grip and technique.

It is really exciting. A big reason I love this time of year is we see everyone's families more. We have bbq's and put the sticks and chanters down long enough to enjoy each others company. It's great to see everyone growing up.

Grade 3 PM Mark's son is growing faster than SFU's drum corp. It's crazy to remember him in Scotland '08 running around dinner with Ian Walker.

Grade 2 Bass drummer Chris Brown's son Casey is kid now, seems he was a baby not so long ago.

Again, this all pads my drum corp as I'm assuming all these children will be drummers......

Anyways while most species on earth look forward to spring for new babies etc, I find in the pipe band world (especially this year) we're all excited for the fall. A whole lot of newness coming our way.

Best of luck to the upcoming new parents! We're all very excited for you.

Sean

K.I.S.S.

Learning lots of lessons this week.


Finally got the Fidler boys to take a stab at transcribing Mr. Kilpatrick's Mrs Macpherson. Of course, we don't use these scores, we just transcribe them to see what these leading drummers are doing, and why.

Here's what we learned.

Jim has a youngish corp, new players. I watched them a lot last week and these drummers might be the best one on one players I've ever seen. So wouldn't the music reflect this? Nope.

These players can all defy gravity and physics in general to play in their own styles... but to play together Jim has written his music beautifully simple, and perfectly ensemble.

I encourage you all to take a listen to the Shotts performances of their MSR's listen to the drumming. It's incredibly well done, and though it sounds fancy, it's actually remarkably tasty and simple.

Cheers,

Sean

Hokey Pokey...

In Memorium With all the sadness and trauma going on in the world at the moment,
it is worth reflecting on the death of a very important person,
which almost went unnoticed last week. Larry LaPrise, the man who wrote
"The Hokey Pokey", died peacefully at age 93.
The most traumatic part for his family was getting him into the coffin.
They put his left leg in. And then the trouble started



I know, that's horrible... But Alan started it, and quite frankly if I had invented the Hokey Pokey I'd have a good sense of humour.

Well it's Wednesday, no practice last night. Kinda in withdrawal. I've been studying though. Watching videos, transcribing drum scores to figure out why Kilpatrick does what he does. It's been fun.

I've already begun penning some scores. The new MSR has been chosen and I'm off to the races. I get to take a stab at two tunes I have always wanted to write for. Lord Alexander Kennedy, and Maggie Cameron.

I've played both tunes before, with other corps, but I've never had the chance to sit down and put everything I want into it. The corp we have today allows me to write whatever I want musically instead of being hand cuffed.

There's also some pretty exciting business afoot, I reserve the right to speak of them currently, but I'm busting trying not to write about it.

We'll talk soon. If you've got any videos or pics you'd like to share from the SASPB summer send them my way.

sean@saspb.com

Cheers,

Sean

A Year in Review, and a Year in Preview

Well it's all over...

What a fantastic season. From last year in September to seeing our second consecutive trip to Scotland come to fruition, to making it home safe and sound, I can't believe it went so fast.

I think my favorite accomplishment of this year was that we did it. We made it back. I was on the plane from London to Edinburgh and it finally hit me that we had pulled it off, and we were going back. I could tell we were suddenly being considered part of the serious competitors club when we started bumping into other bands who were surprised to see us but very complimentary of our last season.

Am I disappointed...? I've been asked a few times since arriving home.

The answer is yes. How could you not be? We traveled thousands of kilometers and performed for 5 minutes to find out we weren't going through.

But, there's always a but... I'm also very pleased with what we learned out of not qualifying. I personally think we learned more from the result this year than we did last year.

It was crushing to have to look at my young corp and tell them we didn't go through. They acted with more maturity than most 50 year olds might, and I couldn't be more proud. If anything they made me feel better.

I feel that when your corp does everything you asked, and they don't go through, it's on you. You're the one telling them what to play, how to play, and it is your vision of perfection they're trying to realize. So when things don't go your way, it's on your shoulders.

After finally sucking up my disappointment I made my way to the beer tent to see my band and make sure my corp wasn't taking things to hard. The drummers weren't there, every side was over watching the final, trying to learn as much as they could for next season. The tenors made sure to come over to me and show me their smiles. My girls always know how to cheer me up, and sure enough I realized that though they were disappointed, they were also determined. Determined to improve for next year.

Too often I hear bands blame judges. Not these people, these people simply wanted to get better. Not one person asked me what went wrong. They just said "we'll fix whatever it is and be back next year". I'm so proud.

We have a ton of work to do in the upcoming season. But it will be fun. The new and improved SASPB will come out looking, sounding, and playing different, but we'll stay true to our style and music, and our people.

I plan on building the corp. With friends from Ireland, and local players, we will play a bigger corp, cleaner. More tenors, to match the size of the pipe corp. Generally, we won't take a single step backwards... only forwards.

Despite what feels a bit like disappointment, I'm feeling more excited every minute, a new season is upon us, a clean slate.

Thank you to the band, from Wes and I. You took what could have been a disaster and made it into a chance to learn, and improve. We're very proud of you all, and believe it or not, I kinda wish we had practice tomorrow night ;)

Cheers,


Sean

A Great Weekend Ahead

What's better than a band wedding?

For the first time in St. Andrew's History two band members will be married...

I've heard of this magical occasion happening in other bands, and we have plenty of married folks in the band... But we've never had two members join as individuals and turn out a pair.

Like a good set of sticks, or a matched set of drone reeds, Kyla and Ian seem to just work best together. They compliment each other.

As Ian's lead drummer I can safely say he's a bit haphazard. Creative to the absolute end, a wonderful energy to have around, a great teacher, but man... he couldn't organize or remember his way out of a drum case if the lid was off.

Ian has been a constant thorn... I mean rock :) by my side since I took over the grade 4 corp many moons ago, and he is the only human being on earth who can make me smile a week before the World's.

I was thinking of him on Tuesday when we were rehearsing... Wishing he was there. Things were good, but I tend to start nit picking things that don't matter when I'm nervous and Ian is usually a great relief when he cracks the right joke, or just assures the corp that I'm only crazy because of the date.

So why am I in a good mood today?

Because once again a week before the World's, Ian has found a way to help me relax. He's getting married... to my baby sister...

Kyla and I have had our share of worries in life, Kyla especially being the sensitive one. I honestly don't how she ever would have made it to Nurse, and grown woman, without Ian. I'm not sure I'd be where I am without him either.

Dark times can weigh on you. Ian has always been there for our family and brought a little light in. I suppose the least Patty and I could do would be to share our Kyla.

I'm getting on a plane Sunday. Kyla and Ian never questioned me leaving so soon after their wedding, they know me to well, and they understand this beautiful disease I suffer from... they both have a little dose too. But, come Saturday August 13, I'll be thinking of them especially as we take the field. The big blue machine marching out to war.

I've never set foot on Scottish soil without my baby sister, and it has been a very long time since I saw a contest circle without Kyla and/or Ian. It might be great, but it certainly won't be the same.

Thank you to both of you, if you read this, for having me and my new family a part of your most important day. Jacob, Angie, and I are honored to be involved.

To the rest of you, I'm out. No more blog until we get to the airport in Toronto or something.

It's wedding time!!


Sean

Get Ready to Rumble!!!

Last practice was last night... time to pack...

I've been putting off the blog all day because every time I think of it I get these monster butterflies in my stomach... I love that feeling.

It's been a wild year. So many shows, I'm trying to picture in my mind one in particular but every time I look to a memory of my drum in front of me they all blend together.

So what happens now.

Most people say, we had a great season. But, in truth, our season starts Sunday morning, and ends Saturday afternoon. Short but sweet. Really hard to explain.

I hope, regardless of results, each band member looks back on this season with fondness and pride. We achieved a lot. We're a thousand miles further ahead from last year at this time.

It's a good time to wear blue.

An Afternoon Treat From Cutting Edge Graphics

A little ditty Chris cooked up this afternoon, possible t-shirt?? You betcha.. Wes as Mr. T?? Most certainly

The Last Week

The weekend is over.

And what a weekend it was!!!! Pipe band everywhere... except in Winnipeg.

It was the North American, and European Championships this past weekend and we want to extend our congrats to new Gr. 2 N/A Champions New West Minster, and all the bands that were in Maxville, sounds like a great contest.

Of course a big congrats goes out to friends of the band Graham Brown and Jake Watson, as well as P/M John Cairns for their second North American Grade 1 Championships.

The Europeans shook down much like I anticipated. Ravara cleaned up but didn't walk away with the grade 2 title. It was pretty mixed up in the results and that bodes well for the World's. Grade 1 was exactly as I predicted, it sure looks like Field Marshall are on a rampage.

Here in the Peg we took a much deserved weekend off before our last rehearsal. The past 24 hours have mostly been dedicated to prepping for tonight, pre packing, and deciding what to put on the bass drum... So I thought I'd share what I think we're going with barring some odd last minute change.




We're still humming and hawing between myself, Wes, and Chris. But this is awesome!!!

I love that the only problem we have going into this last week is what to put on the bass drum.

That's about it for now. Should be a low key practice tonight. Wanna keep everyone well rested for the trip. We're very very well prepared and it's mostly just a question of repeating what we do when the time comes.

I read Iain's City of Regina blog today. Sounds like they had a blast. I was happy to see them in the top 6, and more than happy to hear him say the plays in Maxville weren't their best. They've over come some incredible odds in a short period of time, and I know what that's like. I'm sure everyone in their organization is very proud of what they've accomplished and I'd like to extend our congratulations to them. I can't wait for next season, and to hear them again!

Until tomorrow when I report on how rehearsal went, cheers!

Sean