Distant Early Warning

Ok, so it's been a wee while since the last post again...

This month, let's take a look into the inner workings of the

Rocky Mountain Pipe Band Drum Corps!

The band meets once a week at the band hall (Thursday nights),

and the snare drummers have an extra go at my house most

Sunday nights. Generally, when it comes time to work on new

material, it goes something like this:

Pipe Major Sean emails me the piping sheet music and an mp3

of the set. I write the snare scores, then come up with the

midsection parts. We have a closed group on facebook - for the

drum corps - where I post .jpgs of the drum scores and practice

videos. I'll generally do a video for the snare drummers (pad &

chanter) and a video for the midsection (pad, chanter &

midsection parts). Everything gets posted on the facebook group,

and it's been a good, reliable, central place to keep all the music

up to date. Until today. Today I can't get into the group.

Normally this wouldn't be a major issue (perhaps tomorrow the

page will load just fine) but I'm in a little bit of a rush just now.

Rocky Mountain (and Alberta Caledonia Pipe Band) are doing a

concert in Calgary on March 13th. We've just picked a new set of

jigs to play at the concert and have just over 2 weeks, I guess, to

learn them. I finished up the music and made videos tonight but,

with the buggering of the facebook group, I have nowhere to

upload the practice videos for the drum corps. Which brings me

back to the lowly, oft-neglected blogger!

Lets call this the "drum scores of the month" for Jan/Feb/March.

Sean put this set together specifically for the March 13th gig, and

it's rather basic stuff, for the most part.

The set starts off with a slow air by Pat Napper; Polyrhythmically

Challenged. I really like this tune. It's a bit unorthodox as far as

slow airs go; not Gaelic, not lullaby-ish. Very 21st century pipe

band medley-ish, and really uses the whole scale, to good effect.

And it's built for ensemble!

A small snare break at the end of the air sets up the jig time, and

we go into 4 little jigs. First up is "The Blunder" by Sean Somers,

which we played in the City of Regina band 15 years ago. This is a

good, musical jig and one of Sean's earliest compositions. Then it's

two Gordon Duncan tunes - "The Panda" and "Blow My Chanter",

and finishing with the classic "Kesh Jig".

Because of the tight schedule, the drum scores are dead easy. I

went with a lot of recurring phrases, and the ending phrase is the

same throughout all 4 jigs. The Blunder and Kesh Jig have the

same first part. Not my shining moment as a writter, but as a

concert set... if it keeps your foot tapping for a couple minutes...

I guess it's served it's purpose!

Now, dearest RMPB drummers, here's your practice videos! If

the facebook group sorts itself out, I'll post them there as well.

Sight reading on Thursday... by memory on Sunday, please!