Opinion: An open letter to the pipe band community from Ewan Henderson
Following the February 5th departure of Grade 1 Police Scotland& Federation’s Leading-Drummer David Henderson and several members of the band’s drum section to Grade 1 Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia, we received the following open letter opinion piece from Police Scotland & Federation Pipe-Major Ewan Henderson.
The opinions expressed are not those of pipes|drums. They are presented here with the objective of creating constructive dialogue and, if it makes sense for the piping and drumming community at large, positive change.
An open letter to the pipe band community
By Ewan Henderson
I write this in my name only, and it does not reflect the sentiments of other Police Scotland & Federation Pipe Band members, Police Scotland or the Scottish Police Federation.
In the absence of any explanation or context from the Pipe-Major of Shotts & Dykehead Caledonia, I feel compelled to write this.
In early February, my leading-drummer informed me that the pipe-major of Shotts & Dykehead had approached him, wanting him as his leading-drummer with immediate effect. The offer was accepted.
As anyone in pipe bands will appreciate, any band trying to secure a new leading-drummer is difficult. This is made more difficult in February of a competition season when getting new people to form, gel, and learn new material is difficult. It would have been acceptable and transparent if an agreement had been made to complete the leading-drummer move at the end of the 2025 competition season. I could have properly planned for the future.
My leading-drummer and I had a good relationship, and we had positive conversations about our future. There was a very good atmosphere in the band. The band got better each season, with increasingly good performances and really good feedback from peers and adjudicators in 2024.
“The RSPBA may wish to consider implementing a transfer window affording an agreed time for band players to move on and seek enjoyment elsewhere.” – Ewan Henderson
We will advertise for a leading-drummer and drum corps through due process, and not at the expense of another band’s healthy, stable future.
Some reading this will take the view that what has happened to Police Scotland & Federation Pipe Band is an acceptable and proven part of pipe bands and that I should accept it, deal with it and move on.
However, we are not the first band to suffer like this, and we likely won’t be the last unless measures are put in place to mitigate such a destructive situation.
The RSPBA may wish to consider implementing a transfer window affording an agreed time for band players to move on and seek enjoyment elsewhere. This move at this crucial juncture of the pipe band calendar in my opinion goes against the RSPBA’s objective of “creating and maintaining a bond of fellowship with all pipe band personnel throughout the world.”
I hope no band, including Shotts & Dykehead, will go through the pain, angst, and disappointment I have felt over the last week. I genuinely hope the Police Scotland & Federation Pipe Band can fully recover.
What do you think? Your thoughts are welcome; just use our Comments tool below.
pipes|drums welcomes fair opinion pieces that serve to stimulate beneficial conversation.
Ewan Henderson is pipe-major of the Grade 1 Police Scotland & Federation Pipe Band of Glasgow. He was previously the leader of the Glasgow Skye Association Pipe Band.
It must be so frustrating to put in all that work and have this happen. Sometimes I ask myself “isn’t this supposed to be fun?” I wouldn’t go to another band before the end of the season. It’s really hard to find someone to take those spots. We’re starting to see bands take a season off because of not having key positions filled and lower numbers. Didn’t Rocky Mountain and 78th Frasers Halifax have that happen? It’s unfortunate.
It is very unfortunate and challenging situations like this have always proven extremely difficult for bands in the past. However, since David took over the corps at Police Scotland & Federation, I personally believe that they have been very unfairly judged and have always had a very solid corps producing fantastic, musically creative performances meanwhile giving young up and coming players an excellent pathway to progression and a chance to compete at the highest level. That in itself deserves incredible recognition and many senior players within the corps (David Ross, Steven Nelson and Steven Shedden – just to name a few) have contributed massively to this by introducing fantastic young players from their own respective ‘School Band’ projects. The corps were consistently delivering solid performances – which I would strongly agree have been particularly impressive over the last 2 seasons – yet they are still being placed in the bottom end of grade 1 more often than not. Naturally a time will come to move on in the hopes of winning championships and getting the recognition they deserve (again, that is a personal opinion but it has been stated by many figures within the competing circuit that the band deserve a much higher placing). That being said, to jump ship at this stage of the season poses a massive issue for “ The Polis’ “ especially if the reports of a large portion of the corps leaving with David are true. Police Scotland & Federation is a band which holds legendary status and is widely known as one of the greatest pipe bands of all time. I do hope that the band makes a strong, positive appointment quickly and I also wish David nothing but the best in his new venture with his return to Shotts. As has been mentioned in various places and by a large number of people, David is a world class player, an extremely innovative musician and frankly brilliant instructor. Having being under his leadership and tuition myself at various points in my drumming career – most notably receiving invaluable instruction during my time in the NYPBOS – I hope he finally gets the results that he and his truly excellent corps deserve. Overall, this is a very difficult situation to navigate for anyone directly involved and it would be extremely easy for anyone to cast judgement on the situation, but ultimately I think that with the [departure] of Grant Cassidy as L/D at Shotts & Dykehead, David – or indeed any viable candidate – had no other option but to jump at the opportunity to lead the corps at Shotts & Dykehead. I wish both bands nothing but the best of luck for the upcoming season and I sincerely hope to see them both return to their former glory as they tackle this extremely challenging situation.
I’m not sure the RSPBA can be counted on the come up with a set of rules, given their recent history of efficiency. However, bands could perhaps establish a formal or informal set of ethical standards for the benefit of the competitive pipe band “industry”, individual bands, and individual musicians. If the bands can’t do it perhaps one of the more progressive Associations could do it, such as the MWPBA or the EUSPBA.
It strikes me that if a drum corps are getting good results and the pip corps are getting not so good results on a regular basis. This shows either problems in the judging ( an argument for a different day) or the pipe corps are not coming up to the level required. In that case surely it is any players right to move bands, whether this is only one member or in this case multiple members, this says more to the attitude of the pipe corps and this open letter tends to make me think this might be the case. Granted I do not know any of the mentioned players, it’s just what it seems to me.