Top class instruction at Glasgow workshop
Pipe Bands by Mervyn McConnell
A SITE aimed at providing the pipe band bass and tenor drummers with as much impartial information as possible is the www.tenordrummer.com.
Recently it announced that it is set to hold a day long bass section work-shop on Monday, August 8 at Glasgow Caledonian University in Glasgow's city centre. The event known as 'Back to BASSics' will be sponsored by McCallum Bagpipes of Kilmarnock.
It will be the largest dedicated workshop for bass and tenor drummers ever to be held in Scotland and will feature instruction from world champion drummers Trevor Buckley, Mike Cole, Scott Currie, Tyler Fry, Stephen Kilbride John McFetridge and Stephen McQuillan.
The milestone event was two years in the planning and was the idea of Stephen McQuillan, who had the vision of bringing a collective of international students together in one venue during the lead up to the World Pipe Band Championships.
The site, which celebrated its fourth birthday on 4th July 2005, hopes to bring the event into the annual diary for bass sections visiting Glasgow for the height of the competition season.
During the day of bass section events, there will be activities including a 'come and play' performance for workshop students and other interested drummers in Glasgow city centre, accompanied by piper Lorne Cousin, most popular recently for his much published role with Stephen Kilbride from Scottish Power, in Madonna's Re-Invention world tour.
Taking about the event Scott Currie from 'www.tenordrummer.com' said 'Back to BASSics' has been a long time coming and thanks to Stevie's ambitions, I'm sure it will present the sort of high standard organised instruction that has been familiar to North America for decades. Back to BASSics 2005 is sure to be a fun and memorable day?
Further information on the event including how to enrol, can be found on the website.
Festival
The Sloughan Festival, which also includes a pipe band championship event, was held recently in the Co. Tyrone village of Drumquin. Many visitors come to this beautiful part of Northern Ireland not only for the scenery but also for the Festival, which has gone from strength to strength over the last few years.
This occasion gave local bands, normally not heard in the competition arena, an opportunity to compete along side some of our own competitive bands.
In the graded section Tamlaght O'Crilly won the drumming and the first place prize. Killen were runners up and winners of the Best Bass section and Marching and Deportment.
In the non-graded section Tullywhisker pipe band were first in piping and second in drumming with Gillygooley taking second in piping and first in drumming. The rest of the winners in this section were Kilclean, Moyen Reaghan and Drumquin. Making guest appearances at the Festival were Killeen Pipe Band from Co. Armagh this year's All Ireland Grade 2 winners and the Ulster Youth Ensemble from the Northern Ireland Piping and Drumming School.
There was practically a full turn out of players from the Youth Ensemble which was specially pleasing to Sam Bailie Director of the project. The ensemble represents the whole of the Province and is seen as the cream of Ulster's young players.
Adjudicating at the piping competition were Harold Broomfield Pipe Major of the Quinn memorial and Cecil Kenny an ex pipe major of the band. Keith Orr, Leading Tip of the Grade 1 world champions, the Fie l d Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band, was the drumming adjudicator.
The World Irish Music Championships will be holding an International Summer School from July 25 to July 30 2005.
It will be held in the Belfast Institute of Further and Higher Education and has been organised by Francis McPeake from Gloucester Street Belfast.
On Thursday, July 28 the piping session will be conducted by Robert Watt from Maghera silver metal winner and now competing in the gold metal class.
The fee for the week is £80, which covers all traditional Irish music, with additional funding coming from Belfast City Council.
Francis can be contacted by telephone 028 9024 6006 or via his web site www.francismcpeake.com.
The first competition of the second half of the 2005 season will be the North Down Championships held in Bangor, where 45 pipe bands will compete for the championship title.
Adjudicators will be Ian Wood William Wallace Alistair Aitken and Sandy Steele.
The third of this year's five major competition will be the British Championships, which takes place in Tain, Scotland on July 30.
Field Marshal Montgomery will travel over to Scotland to try and secure their third major win this season having already won the Scottish and the E u r o p e a n Championships titles in Dumbarton and in Banbridge.
Ulster Star
22/07/2005
