Have you ever struggled to find a piper for your solos? Have you ever picked a tune for your solos that the pipers you had in mind didn’t know or couldn’t play? Have you ever signed up for solos, excited at the prospect of playing your favourite score to your favourite tune with your favourite piper, only to see your piper hurry off for their own solos minutes before you’re scheduled to compete?
These are common issues that solo drummers encounter each season. The PPBSO has taken steps to address these issues: this season, there will be recordings of pipe tunes available for solo drummers to use in their solo contests.
For this first year, we are accommodating the tune requirements of Grade 5, Grade 4 and Grade 3 soloists. The following tunes are available this season:
For Grade 5, 2-part Marches:
Mairi’s Wedding
Teribus
Wha’ Sa’ the 42nd
Brown Haired Maiden
For Grade 4, 4-part Marches:
Glen Caladh Castle
Carradale Bay
For Grade 3, an MSR, each tune 4 parts:
Glen Caladh Castle, Maggie Cameron, Lachlan MacPhail of Tiree
The piper is Doug MacRae, Pipe Major of the 78th Fraser Highlanders. How often do you get to play a solo competition with the Pipe Major of a grade one band! Special thanks to Doug for donating his time and expertise.
How will it work? The recordings will be played on quality industrial speakers capable of closely matching the volume of the average bagpipe. All you have to do is tell the drumming steward that you are wanting to use one of the recordings when you check in for your solo event(s). The drumming steward will take care of the rest!
These recordings may be used by snare, tenor and bass soloists, however, the recordings are of the pipe music only; tenor and bass drummers will still need to provide a “live” snare drummer for accompaniment.
The good news is that you can start practicing with the recordings now! The recordings are available for download here or under the Competitions menu item at the top of each page.
The recordings will be piloted at the 2015 Toronto Indoor Games on 04-APR-2015, and debut at the outdoor competitions starting at Georgetown on 13-JUN-2015, finishing with Almonte on 22-AUG-2015.
Check it out this season, and tell us what you think!