Pick The Six World’s prizewinners to win over $4,500 worth of awesome prizes!
It’s the greatest competition this side of the greatest pipe band competition – it’s time for pipes|drums annual Pick The Six, where our wise and canny readers get the opportunity to put their, um, wisdom and canniness to work by predicting the top six overall finishers in Grade 1 at the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow, August 16-17.
We have another bevy of great prizes lined up, kindly contributed by our wonderful advertisers. All told, we’re looking at almost $5,000 worth of terrific goods and services that will go to one lucky and astute reader.
It’s pretty simple: just follow the directions and rules at the end of our list of fabulous prizes and fire off your pick!
After the big do on Glasgow Green is done and dusted, we’ll tabulate the entries and announce the incredibly smart winner.
And now, have a gander at the list of awesome prizes that one shrewd (and, let’s face it, lucky) winner – maybe you – will receive (all suggested retail list prices are shown in Canadian dollars, and many of the descriptions come straight from the company that donated them):
BagpipeLessons.com
Tone Protector Deluxe Starter Pack – protect your sound with the award-winning and best-selling Tone Protector Chanter Cap and Reed Case with Two-Way Humidity Control.
InTune™ Mic: Wireless Clip-on Instrument Microphone for Smartphones – achieve perfect bagpipe tuning anywhere. Ultra-light, super compact and works with all the most popular devices and apps. Dual model for both Apple and USB devices.
Piper’s Advantage™ Bagpipe Phone Mount – unleash the power of your smartphone and all of your favorite apps when playing your pipes. Works with tuners, metronomes, audio/video, sheet music, and more! Works perfectly with the InTune Mic.
Perfect Angle™ Blowpipe Positioner – keeps your blowpipe securely at the perfect angle for ideal posture, optimal ergonomics, greatest stamina and most overall comfort.
Total retail value: $426 / £244
Bagpipemusic.com
A $50 credit for Bagpipemusic.com. The winner can download whichever tunes and recordings they like; the credit does not expire.
Total retail value: $50 / £29
Blair Bagpipes
An amazing playing experience that allows you to play all day and night, and will keep the entire family happy!
With 9 different Bagpipes onboard and access to a free library of over 21 additional instruments, it’s a much more than just a chanter. The sound is amazing, the design is modern and its authentic feel creates a versatile instrument. Add the Ergo bag, a pre-formed bag with cutoff sensor for starting/ stopping – you have a fully fledged bagpipe for play-outs and performance. This instrument is designed to accommodate any piper’s sound preferences and can be fully customized to suit your way of playing.
The Blair Digital Chanter also features a built-in Metronome for precision timing, a professional Reverb, EQ, Pan and Pitch change for fine tuning, and adjustable Vibrato on each note for expression. Notably, the instrument boasts a built-in MIDI interface, allowing seamless connection to your PC for expanded possibilities and integration with music software.
Designed, built, and supported with cutting-edge technology, the Blair Digital Chanter is a gateway to a world of musical possibilities. www.blairbagpipes.com
Watch and hear the Blair Digital Chanter.
Great Highland Bagpipe https://youtu.be/yLx97qy25PM
G Major Smallpipes https://youtu.be/SlO6xnAH3Og
A Major Smallpipes Uilleann Bagpipe https://youtu.be/GwFuTIMGZhE
Retail value: $800 / £459
Bruce Gandy Music
A one-hour learning video lesson and an ebook + audio of Bruce Gandy’s bestselling book, Performance – Delivering Your Own Awesome.
Total retail value: $75 / £43
Chris Apps Reeds
A PitchGuard Split-Stock System (plain poly).
The PitchGuard Split-Stock System is a chanter split-stock made by McCallum Bagpipes that incorporates a patented PitchGuard™ valve. It’s a fully mechanical, multi-faceted system that cradles your chanter reed and offers both tonal stability and physical protection. The valve lets you to turn your chanter on and off at will. It also regulates the airflow to your chanter reed and can protect against overblowing.
A complete Reed Adjustment Kit consisting of a Complete Guide to Highland Bagpipe Reeds, one mandrel, pliers and three sheets of proper sandpaper.
The Complete Guide to Highland Bagpipe Reeds by Chris Apps is a 53-page book outlining techniques for adjusting bagpipe reeds. Filled with photographs and diagrams the book is conveniently bound with a ring binder so that it can lay flat on any surface. Together with the Apps reed mandrel, pliers and sandpaper you’ll have all you need to adjust your reeds like a pro.
Total retail value: $250 / £182
Lee & Sons Bagpipes Ltd.
Any pipe bag of the winner’s choice. Lee & Sons manufacture quality pipe bags from cowhide, goatskin, sheepskin and sheepskin premium.
Total retail value: $500 / £287
Lyons Bagpipes
A complete Mooseture Control System and a set of Moose Hylands Inline Drone Valves.
Total retail value: $188 / £108
McCallum Bagpipes
A PC9 full engraved blackwood practice chanter with engraved sole, bowl, ferrule and mouthpiece. The winner can pick the engraving pattern they would like.
Total retail value: $434 / £260
Modern Piping
A copy of Lincoln Hilton’s Ceol Beag collection of music.
Total retail value: $134 / £77
pipes|drums Magazine
A 25-year subscription to the world’s most-read piping and drumming publication.
Total retail value: $250 / £161
Pipetunes.ca
A gift certificate for 500 Pipetunes credits for downloading your favourite pipe music and sound files.
Total retail value: $105 / £60
Reelpipes.com
A copy of I Piped, That She Might Dance and a set of Selbie drone reeds.
Total retail value: $114 / £65
R.G. Hardie & Co.
A prize package including the new Celtic Heritage blackwood practice chanter and package of R.G. Hardie merchandise – pipe band towel, black beanie, water Thermos, baseball cap and pipe band plugs.
Total retail value: $537 / £308
Scott’s Highland Services
A set of Piper’s Choice Kitchen Pipes!
Total retail value: $429 / £246
Sound Supreme Reeds
A dozen SoundSupreme chanter reeds plus two pairs of Thermacuffs to the winner.
Total retail value: $210 / £120
Tartantown
One set of drone reeds or six pipe chanter reeds of your choice.
Total retail value: $150 / £86
Yowza! That’s more than $4,500 worth of prizes! ($4,538, to be exact.)
And all you have to do is pick the six correctly, or more correctly than anyone else, and sit back and wait for the prizes to roll in!
RULES
Read very carefully (we don’t want your entry to be DQed by a grumpy, power-mad steward):
- Readers must submit their entry via e-mail – click here [editor(at)pipesdrums.com] with “Pick the Six” in the subject line).
- List your choices for 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th prizes in the overall Grade 1 competition (see list of bands competing below).
- Ideally, the winning entry will pick the exact prize list in the exact order of finish.
- If no entry is completely correct, the submission that picks the first prize-winner and gains the most points from the following system: 3 points for choosing a band in the right spot and 1 point for including a band that made the final prize list but not in the correct place.
- The winning entry must pick the 2024 World Pipe Band Champion – the winner of the aggregate first prize in the World’s Grade 1 Final competition. (Even if you get the most points, but don’t pick the correct winner, you will not win.)
- If more than one entry gets the list exactly right, or if there is a tie for most points, a random draw or draws will be made.
- Only one entry per e-mail address (all multiple entries from the same e-mail address will be discarded. So please don’t attempt to stuff the box.). This is important. If you enter more than once from an email address, ALL of your entries will be discarded, since there’s no way for us to know which one to count.
- Submissions must include the sender’s postal mailing address.
- Entries close at 18:00 GMT, Thursday, August 15th.
- RSPBA adjudicators, officials, stewards and judges are not eligible to win. BBC people: don’t bother. Boiled burger vendors and bouncy castle carnies are welcome to enter, though.
- The winner will be notified by e-mail, and a story will be posted on the site following the World’s. This could take a bit to determine, so please be patient. The winner’s name will be withheld if desired.
- All prizes will be sent to the winner directly from the sponsors (sponsors will cover any shipping costs).
For reference, this year’s Grade 1 World Championship will be decided on Friday and Saturday, August 16-17. Each band competes in four events — two MSRs and two Medleys — and the combined tally determines the result.
Order of play for both events on Saturday, beginning at 10:30 am GMT (5:30 am ET):
- Closkelt (Northern Ireland)
- Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia (Scotland)
- Police Scotland & Federation (Scotland)
- ScottishPower (Scotland)
- Simon Fraser University (Canada)
- St. Laurence O’Toole (Ireland)
- Field Marshal Montgomery (Northern Ireland)
- Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia (Scotland)
- City of Dunedin (USA)
- 78th Fraser Highlanders (Canada)
- Inveraray & District (Scotland)
- Johnstone (Scotland)
- Police Scotland Fife (Scotland)
- St. Thomas Alumni (USA)
Order of play for both events on Saturday, beginning at 10:30 am GMT (5:30 am ET):
- St. Laurence O’Toole
- Simon Fraser University
- Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia
- Inveraray & District
- Field Marshal Montgomery
- Police Scotland Fife
- Closkelt
- ScottishPower
- City of Dunedin
- St. Thomas Alumni
- Johnstone
- Peoples Ford Boghall & Bathgate Caledonia
- 78th Fraser Highlanders
- Police Scotland & Federation
Stay tuned to pipes|drums, since we could add more prizes to the Pick The Six motherlode of goodies.
Thanks again to our wonderful advertisers, and good luck to readers and best wishes to all bands competing on August 15th and 16th!
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