Ken Yiesly in his Piping Live! 2008 T-shirt shows off his silver Bagpipes
NWJPB is an extended family. This story celebrates the life and history of NWJPB Grandparents celebrating their 52nd anniversary, and pays a lot of attention to bagpipes, and the experiences of a couple of NWJPB members on our recent trip to the World Pipe Band Championships, 2008. A brief excerpt from the story:
Ken was able to retire from the military shortly after in 1975 and the family was finally able to put down roots.
To mark the occasion, Mieko bought him a set of silver bagpipes, his favorite instrument since childhood.
“That’s all he wanted, the nut,” Mieko said. “But he’s my nut.”
Congratulations to Ken and Mieko on your 52 years!
We found this video after our return from Scotland. We’ll continue searching for video, pictures and stories, because one thing about our trip to Scotland that has many of our members eager to go back again, was the welcoming attitude and the warm, open arms the people of Glasgow, Perth, North Berwick, and Crieff, the Piping Live! Festival organizers, and the RSPBA and the organizers of the World Championship events showed us on our first visit to Scotland. Passers-by were talking about the band’s talent and using phrases like “I thought they were Scots,” reporters, photographers, and the BBC seemed to be watching us at every event, and we were often asked to pose for photos.
The Evening Times / The Herald published this video on YouTube, which featured NWJPB performing in George Square as the opener to the story about the week long Piping Live! festival.
August 16th, the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow Scotland. The day NWJPB had been planning, fundraising, and practicing for for years for had finally arrived. There is no pipe band competition like the World Championships anywhere. The field was enormous; there were 224 pipe bands competing and 23 bands in NWJPB’s grade, Novice Juvenile. There was a light rain falling occasionally, but for the most part the sky stayed free of it. The band’s qualifier started at 9:00 AM so the band arrived, unloaded instruments and got to work tuning up and working through the music. Seeking out competition arena 4, the band approached the final tuning area to play their three tunes that comprise the “MAP” tune set, or a required set of marches all Novice and Grade 4 bands play in order to qualify for the championship round, when they then play a longer set of tunes.
Performing in the Qualfier
Northwest Junior Pipe Band placed third in the qualifying round, and only one point behind the two bands who tied for first place in “Qualifier 2″ which included 11 bands. NWJPB advanced on to the finals feeling jubilant at the recognition of their hard work and clean sound.
NWJPB goes on to the championships
White Spot Pipe Band was there at the qualifier to cheer on NWJPB, as were many of the Keith Highlanders Pipe Band. Some NWJPB members went to watch the Keith Highlanders compete in their qualifier round, in which they were placed first by both MAP judges in Grade 4B. The next stop for NWJPB members was the Juvenile competition to hear White Spot compete in their field of 10 Juvenile bands. White Spot put on a solid performance in Arena 5 at 10:30. Many members also went and watched the Keith compete.
NWJPB performed again at 12:12 PM. It was a strong performance and the band was hopeful. The rest of the day was spent watching many of the bands around Glasgow Green, especially the Grade 1 bands, including the exciting new “Spirit of Scotland” pipe band with some of the best known names in piping and drumming that weren’t in bands, including Jacquie and Jamie Troy, Craig Calhoun (Hoss, creator of Hosbilt tenor and bass drums) on bass, Roddy MacLeod, John Fisher, Alasdair Gillies and more. The band was one of 5 Grade 1 bands to go on to the final round of the championships out of 14 to attempt it, but they did it with only a week of practice together as a band. Congratulations to Simon Fraser University Pipe Band for being the obvious winner in the Medley, according to many who heard them play. Some members also stayed around to hear the other Novice bands compete, and the ultimate Novice World Champion Bucksburn and District was an amazingly good Novice band who played without any noticeable mistakes, as well as an impressive performance musically.
Thanks also to the people of Scotland for opening their hearts and arms to the youth of NWJPB. There were literally hundreds of comments overheard and given directly to us at each of our performances and competitions about how talented the band was, and photographers and newspaper reporters almost everywhere we performed and competed. Many told the band’s leadership that the kids had a great chance at it. We’ve got many more stories to share, keep an eye on our blog to get them over the next couple weeks or so, or join our mailing list by visiting our contacts page.
NWJPB lead instructors and musicians at the 2008 World Pipe Band Championships
Northwest Junior Pipe Band wins fifth
The band came in seventh in the field of 11 competitors, which considering the challenges faced tuning the drones while they filled with water, and rain dripping off of faces and chanters, causing for slippery fingers and finally the water wheel effect of the tenor mallets flinging rain back into the faces of our mid-section, wasn’t bad. Combine all these elements with the adrenaline and nerves brought on by the pure wonder and awe of the first competition for a Washington youth pipe band in Scotland since 1969, the band was happy to end up near the middle of the grade. Below you you can see a good shot of the band, followed by a closeup of the rain.
The band and rain at North Berwick Highland Games
The close-up:
Close-up shot of the rain on the competition field
The band also challenged up to Juvenile to compete against their friends to the North, White Spot Pipe Band. In a field of seven competitors, NWJPB placed 5th, one behind White Spot performing their Selection Medleys. The rain stopped in the afternoon, and the Grade 2 and 1 bands had a much easier time of the afternoon. North Berwick is a beautiful city by the sea, and some band members managed to make their mark at North Berwick in other ways as you can see by the photo below. More photos of North Berwick are now posted in our photo album.
NWJPB leaves it's mark at North Berwick
Sunday morning brought a new day and a new opportunity to perform as well as possible. The forecast predicted a low chance of rain, we reached final tuning and the rain began, but lightly and briefly. The air was warmer and fingers managed to keep their feeling. The band competed in Grade 4 (as they do in the US and Canada) since there was no Juvenile competition. The band was a little intimidated by the huge class of 24 pipe bands in Grade 4, a competition so long that the judges were given a half hour break from judging after twelve bands. In addition, we had no preparation in advance that the group would be this large, because Perth and the RSPBA did not post information in advance of the games about the number of bands who were signed up. NWJPB arrived and unloaded the instruments from the coaches and dived in to prove that they could do better than Saturday. Saturday’s competition was now a distant memory as the tuning and warm-ups took over.
The band was drawn to play 6th of the 24 bands, which made some members nervous. The judges would need to really remember the band’s performance through several hours of judging talented band after talented band, from all over the world. The Royal Army of Oman pipe band was parked next to NWJPB and several members took pictures with them and received lapel pins. The Oman pipe band is a military band from Oman, with the most unique and beautiful uniforms (Best Dressed Band at Perth).
Washington’s Keith Highlanders Grade IV band was at the games when NWJPB arrived, and they were drawn to perform just after NWJPB. The bands compared notes about the games, the rain, the North Berwick Games, and the many KHPB members who flew in Saturday evening after 10:00 pm after spending more than 30 hours on flights to get to Glasgow.
Royal Army of Oman Pipe Band
The time flew by and NWJPB’s turn on the competition field was near. The pipes well set, the drums tensioned and dried after a few sprinkles, and the band approached final tuning just after the rain had started coming down, so with plastic covered drums, the band practiced and touched up tuning on the drones and drums. The steward called for the band to enter the field, and the rain had stopped. Taking the line with confidence, the pipers and drummers of NWJPB put their game faces on, and performed the March Medley as well as it has ever been performed in competition. Most of the band stayed behind to watch the Keith Highlanders perform, then returned their instruments to their cases on the coach so they could have lunch and watch more of the bands. Oran Mor is a Grade 1 band in the Eastern US Pipe Band Association, competing in Grade 2 in Scotland. Back in June, they had a fire on their tour bus going to a competition in Ohio. The band asked to borrow a bagpipe cover from us (possibly because they haven’t fully recovered from the losses suffered in the fire), and we were happy to loan one to them. Oran Mor came in first in their competition, and our bagpipe cover was “there to hear it” as they competed. We’re proud to support another US band going to Scotland and playing very well.
Massed Bands was enormous. There were 42 bands on the field, which was the center of the horse track at Perth. The announcements began with the Drum Major competitions and moved to bands. They announce Grade 4 first, then placings from top to bottom. Grade 4, 1st place: Northwest Junior, USA! After a brief moment of confusion, screams of excitement, pride and joy erupted from the band and supporters around the field. Our once ”little” pipe band from Shoreline, Washington had come to Scotland and won in a field of 24 pipe bands from around the world.
The Grade 4 bands competed in “the winners circle” at the racetrack. We went back there for photos with our Perth Band Trophy, and took group shots as well as individuals with the trophy. The most poignant moment of the day was when a piper and a couple of drummers, Elliot, Bryce and Stephen stepped into the competition circle and began playing the Streaker hornpipe and Paddy’s Epic Journey, a favorite tune set from the band’s 2007 Medley Selection. Some looked around wondering what was going on, but this was a spontaneous and joyous celebration of the events of the day, and piper after drummer after piper quickly made their way to join in on the fun in the circle, playing the tunes from the heart and truly enjoying the last moments for the band in Perth, Scotland on a day the band members will not soon forget.
First place Grade 4 of 24 bands at Perth, Scotland, UK
NWJPB, Number 1 at Perth, UK
NWJPB Pipers in the Winners' Circle
NWJPB Grade 4 snare drummers at Perth
NWJPB Grade 4 Midsection
NWJPB arrived at Seatac airport at 4:30 AM Tuesday morning, to learn that Houston was having flight delays as well as Chicago the night before. The Continental staff really had their hands full, but ended up getting us checked in on time after a few hours of hurrying up to wait for them to “just get through it”.
The band arrived in Newark, New Jersey expecting a 3.5 hour layover and ended up with approximately 5 hours and one gate change.
The flight crew into Glasgow commented to several of the parents and other travelers that our kids were one of the best groups of kids they’ve ever had on the airplane. They were respectful and friendly and generally great on the flight to Scotland. One of the flight crew told several different adults in our party how great the kids were.
But we arrived in Scotland at approximately 9:00 am Wednesday morning, got checked into our rooms and met for our first practice to make sure the instruments still work correctly after all that time on an airplane. We practiced under the “M-8″ expressway to stay out of the rain, about 4 blocks down hill from our lodging. While we were practicing under the M-8 Wednesday, a reporter drove by, who then contacted the National Piping Centre thinking it might be an interesting story for a Glasgow News magazine he works for. The Piping Centre emailed us and we’re hoping their reporter shows up to our practice Friday morning. Here’s a camera-phone picture of us at practice under the bridge, right next to the offramp from the M-8 to the Great Western Road (A82):
NWJPB practicing out of the rain, under the M-8 freeway in Glasgow
The rain is coming down here occasionally, a lot like spring in Seattle was this year; gray overcast, mist, light showers and occasional heavy rains all day long Wednesday. We’re all exhausted after the travels, but got up for 10:00 AM practice Thursday morning (9:00 for Snare Drummers). The rain held off for the most part Thursday. We’ve found a place only three blocks away that will let us do morning practices indoors while we’re here, it acts as a bar only on Fridays and Saturdays and hosts performances with the Glasgow School of Art students. It’s a nice change from the Freeway overpass when we get to use it for our morning practices. Picture below. Thanks to the very kind people at the Glasgow School of Art, Margaret MacDonald House for helping us get in at this unique space and to Colin and his co-workers at “The Vic” for scheduling it for us and letting us in when we arrive and ring the bell.
NWJPB in our morning practice space at "The Vic"
The Shoreline Enterprise newspaper posted the below story about the Northwest Junior Pipe Band trip to Scotland that begins Tuesday, April 5th. Follow the band’s progress in Scotland by signing up for updates.
Click the photograph by Enterprise photographer Jeff Faddis for the story.
Northwest Junior Pipe Band struggled through a grueling but fun weekend at the Pacific Northwest Highland Games Friday July 25th, through Sunday July 27th for the close to our North American season. NWJPB Grade IV had it’s most successful season ever at this level, with 4 first place, two second place, and 1 third place finishes. Grade V placed 1st in 4 events and 3rd at one. The growth in talent and success in competitions with the best bands in the Northwest has been exciting to watch.
First up was the Friday evening performance where NWJPB almost filled the enormous “stage” on the grass in front of the grandstands, the largest pipe band to perform Friday night. The picture below is them preparing to march in.
Immediately after the performance two pub piping competitors ran over to play a jig and hornpipe in front of the Pub at the amateur Jig and Hornpipe competition for pipers up to Grade 3. They ended up in 1st and 2nd place.
Saturday morning at 8:00 am the solo competitions started. Grade 4 side drumming: Morgan won 1st place, Amber 3rd place, Steven 5th place. Grade 3 piping, 2/4 March; Alexander 6th place. In Grade 4 piping, Matt A placed 2nd in group “B” and Sam placed 6th in group “A”. Congratulations to our Grade 5 drummers Josie, Robbie, Thomas and DJ for competing in a tough class of Grade 4 drummers. It takes a lot of courage to compete every time, but even more so when you’re competing at a higher grade level.
Alexander also placed 3rd in Grade 2 tenor drumming. NWJPB entered two Grade 4 Quartets, Matt A, Matt M, Alexander and Aaron’s quartet won first place, and Kevin Auld’s quartet with Katie, Devon and Elliot took 4th out of 10 quartets who signed up, and 7 who actually competed. NWJPB has won 1st place in Grade IV quartets for the past three years at these games. Grade V performed well on Saturday, winning 1st place and getting good comments. Grade 5 is preparing to compete in the below picture:
The North American season end is drawing near for Northwest Junior Pipe Band. The Grade 4 band went to the Portland Highland Games at Mt. Hood Community College on July 19th. The drum corps placed first, the ensemble judge placed the band first, and the band tied with White Spot Pipe Band in another close contest between these bands this year. The points were tied, but NWJPB won on ensemble preference. The victory at Portland makes 4th straight first place finish for Northwest Junior Pipe Band.
Two competitions remain before the band leaves for Scotland. NWJPB’s Grade 4 and 5 bands will perform at a free concert on Friday evening at 7:00 PM at the Pacific Northwest Highland Games in Enumclaw Washington, then both Grade 4 and Grade 5 bands will compete both Saturday and Sunday July 26th and 27th. The band has signed up two bagpipe quartet competition groups, the Grade 5 drum corps drum salute and a bunch of solo competitors as well.
Here’s a shot of the band leaving the competition circle in front of the packed grandstands at Portland:
Last year, pipers in NWJPB, their parents, and pipers around the world were teased by the idea of a video game featuring bagpipes. It certainly got people in our community talking…and a bit disappointed to discover it was a joke.
Here’s a video:
Well, this one isn’t a joke. Nintendo is coming out with “Wii music” where you can choose from up to 60 instruments. Among those are the bagpipes. Check out the GameSpot article. You play the pipes by holding the remote upward and pressing the “1 and 2 buttons”. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any pictures of the game with a bagpiper, but it sounds like it could be fun.
Northwest Junior Pipe Band started off the week learning they are the only youth bagpipe band from the United States scheduled to compete at the ultimate competition for pipe bands, the World Pipe Band Championships on August 16th, 2008. 33 youth pipe bands from around the world will compete, with the young band from Washington as the only US entry. The recent draw listing the order of play for the two 
qualifying competition heats puts NWJPB up first at 9:00 am.
Northwest Junior Pipe Band Grade 4 then went on to wrap up a two day competition at the sunny Skagit Valley Highland Games in Mount Vernon, WA on July 13th, winning the title “Washington State Grade 4 Pipe Band Champions.” The band placed 1st of 5 bands on Saturday and 1st of 3 bands on Sunday, winning best drum corps both days.
The Grade 5 band performed very well Saturday, turning in one of their best ensemble performances of the season and finishing with a first place award. The beginner drum corps wowed and surprised the crowd Sunday, winning the drum salute competition in a field of 3 drum corps entries from Grades 3, 4, and 5.
Solo competitions were a great success for band members as well, with many top placings in both piping and drumming.
