GREY’S NOTES
by Michael Grey.
November 5th • 2025.
I imagine that it’s a universal truth that the pipe major’s phone pings more than a few times in the hours leading up to most band practices. The SMS text is the lingua franca of pipe band communication. Membership may span more than one generation but the text is everyone’s go-to for messaging; in particular, when members have questions – or news – for pipe band leadership. *Ping* “I won’t be at band today it’s my brother-in-law’s Birthday” *Ping* I was at Pat’s baby shower and was really late to bed [you know what that’s code for] so won’t make it” *Ping* “There’s a solar eclipse on Tuesday and can’t make Sunday’s practice”. You get the idea. And all these excuses have landed on my phone. They are all true. As true as a 20-deep queue at the World’s beer tent.
A few weeks ago, at a local piping and drumming seminar I heard an interesting bit of intel courtesy of one of the Scots teachers: apparently, one well-known former pipe major (of a famous Grade 1 Dublin-based pipe band) refused to accept text messages that had anything to do with an excuse. Members had to phone pipey and give details of any looming solar activity, or the like, in person – or – at least, voice-to-ear. I’d wager the required phone call was a sort of speed bump to an excuse, and, so, any missed practice.
And on the “excuse”, any excuse, why do we make them? Yes, deaths and tragic things (like work) happen that require us to be elsewhere but to the “pulling away” from a commitment made – why?
There are many reasons, of course. In a pipe band context – likely transferable to any activity: overcommitment and poor planning; some kind of social anxiety or emotional fatigue – the practice is just too much to face; just not prepared so avoidance of what would likely be an uncomfortable time at the band hall; a shift in what is important on the day, like, say, newlygotten tickets to a sporting event play-off game and, maybe, at the end of the day, the excuse is made because the real preference is simply there is no desire to be at the practice and, so, desire trumps obligation.
Instead of honesty – and, yes, excuses are more often than not (I hope) honest – people cloak the vulnerability that truth might place on them and draw on the safeness of an excuse. And, I suppose, where’s the harm in that?
The harm comes when excuses become many, and from more than one or two members.
Where band esprit d’corps – the “vibe” – is adversely affected, when those in attendance feel put upon and where the vibrancy of “the thing” wains. Like any team, the pipe band as a healthy entity is delicate. It doesn’t take much – one person can do it – to make a band wobble.
I had it in my mind to pen a light few lines on the “pipe band excuse” (see solar eclipse) but recent events; that is, the loss of two great combos from the withering list of Grade 1 pipe band competitors had me reflecting. Why? And so, the idea of the ten-a-penny pipe band “excuse” morphed into a symptom. If pipers and drummers don’t want to go to band practice – a supposedly fun and gratifying activity – and – to take that one step further, do not want to play in a pipe band, what is the problem?
I have no knowledge of the inner-workings of any pipe band – beyond my own – but know a few things, largely based on having done things wrong (and so I usually learned what not to do), listened to smart people and – most notably – I’ve been lucky to have lived (and play pipes) over a long period of time (and I mean, a long period of time).
In my opinion, the competitive pipe band movement is healthy. The quality of sound, music and overall performance that is uniformly produced across every single grade is higher than ever. But what’s up with Grade 1 pipe bands? Active band competitors are trending to single digits. It’s a subject tailor-made for a clever student of, say, the Royal Conservatoire’s “BMus (Hons) Traditional Music: Piping program” to tackle.
For me, it’s a complex answer. It is likely many things are at play, things that have caused, well, people not to play.
I suspect the pandemic lockdowns have something to do with it, at least in a small way, with, among other things, a refocusing on what matters deeply to people – and it’s not always pipe bands. I’ll throw social media in the mix – it’s a distraction (time waster) for anyone online and is the source of a lot of mental discomfort for those who engage with it. Pipe band life rolls and swans around social media – it’s not always pretty. And for the many who game, online life is reality; it’s more fun, maybe, to game online than fire up a rollicking Glasgow City Police Pipers with the team.
Your guess is as good as mine.
But, to the potentially adverse effect of requiring no maximum requirements related to band size? Like you, I am guessing, I have an opinion. How many is too many when it comes to pipers and drummers who can compete?
Across the globe pipe band associations have ascribed minimum requirements when it comes to the number of members a pipe band can field. This makes sense to me. But what also makes sense to me is the implication that if a pipe band ceases to be the pipe band “thing” if less than the minimum requirements, well, at what point does it cease to become the pipe band thing at some untold maximum?
I am not suggesting, to be clear, that in all things, where there is a minimum stated there should be a maximum. If someone was to say, “a minimum of kindness is required”, it’s clear, I think, to say that there is no kindness maximum. Bring it on!
But, if requiring a minimum – in our case, of pipers and drummers – implies a system of proportion, a sense of balance, then, it strikes me, logically that a maximum is implied, if not required.
I asked my band about this at practice last week, on the heels of the awful news of the loss of two great bands, “what do you guys think about band sizes and maximum membership?”.
Many had not thought much about it before, but it was a good chanter/pads discussion – and my band leans to the large size, to keep it real.
The general consensus, for what it’s worth, was that band roster sizes might be 20 pipers, 10 snares, 5 tenors plus bass.
Anyway, we – you and I – don’t know how potentially limiting band sizes might nurture the development of pipe band units across the grades … but … I can tell you that in 1987 the World Pipe Band Championship in Grade 1 was taken with 11 pipers, six snares, three tenors and a bass drum (God bless, Luke Allen).
Twenty-five bands played.
There was no solar eclipse, as far as I could tell.