World’s Grade 1 Qualifier result
Glasgow – August 16, 2008 – Results of the MSR qualifying competition to select five bands to go through to the 14-band final Grade 1 competitions (in alphabetical order):
- Band Club Sydney (Australia)
- Clan Gregor (Scotland)
- Fife Constabulary (Scotland)
- Spirit of Scotland (Scotland)
- Vale of Atholl (Scotland)
The event was judged by Ken Eller, Nat Russell (piping); Gordon Craig (drumming); and David Clark (ensemble).
These five bands go through to the final, competing with the following bands:
- Ballycoan (Northern Ireland)
- Boghall & Bathgate (Scotland)
- Field Marshal Montgomery (Ulster)
- House of Edgar-Shotts & Dykehead (Scotland)
- Scottish Lion-78th Fraser Highlanders (Canada)
- ScottishPower (Scotland)
- Simon Fraser University (Canada)
- St. Laurence O’Toole (Eire)
- Strathclyde Police (Scotland)
Stay tuned to pipes|drums for results from the 2008 World Pipe Band Championships as they become available.
Doggie, for the record I was basing my opinion on years of looking at them, and adjudicating them as well (as recently as the end of our last season). I take nothing away from the Band Club, many of whom I know personally as well. Any Victorian” band has my support (for those who don’t know
Very surprised I must say. Two of those bands didn’t exist last year and a third was in Grade 2! Band Club and Spirit of Scotland must have put in blinders. I would have thought Australia Highlanders were the pick of the Aussies, but there you go. As for Spirit and what could be seen and heard on YouTube this last couple of days, their snare drumming was nowhere near good enough, I would have thought, so I’m assuming their piping was exceptional. Now for The Big One!
Aushigh should have been in… It’s an absolute sham.. Do you think there will be another technical glitch this year with the Qualifying CD…. This makes the whole thing worthless when results like this are presented….
Jimmy: Were you there? Curious if you are basing your assessment on something specific.
Hmmm srmdrummer I am not sure that I would want the judges to be determining results based on how long a particular band may have been in the grade or even together as a band….. It has to come down to how the bands perform on the day full stop. I am delighted that the Band Club from Sydney Australia have qualified well done to a well deserving team. Brett
srmdrummer…. I will just say that if you are a seasoned adjudicator then… i would be interested in your opinion when the CD is released… I will say though, I would have thought that knowing the tunes you have to play in the qualifier was an essential criteria..
As I said the bands should be judged on how they perform on the day. I’ll base my opinion on the recordings, as this year I was unable to attend.
Hmm, so SoS are through, now to wait for the Final results…
No sham Jimmy. Simply not good enough on the day.
To elaborate on my last post, listening to the full grade the bands that qualified were probably correct in what was a poor grade. Fife Police played a strong MSR with a strong sound, SoS played an exceptional MSR, maybe a bit delicate with sound. Band Club while not exceptional never done much wrong. Vale I thought were lucky to get through, poor sound. Clan started strong but deterioated from end of strathspey onwards. I thought Alberta should have went through for sure. Aus High for me probably could have taken the Vales slot however they never reached the heights of last year. All a bit unsettled. Lack of integration, maybe due to the slow tempo they play at. The screw up at the intro couldnt have helped either. Toronto and NZ Police were shockingly poor, LA were poor and the rest dont bear a mention.
I also listened to all the qualifiers. Whilst not a qualified judge I beleive my expertise and 40 years of piping allows me to comment.In my opinion the judges were spot on with the exception of the Band Club. There was other bands better than them especially Alberta and Aussie Highlanders and either one of these should have got the nod before the Band club. Whilst the Band Club did nothing major wrong their tone and the tightness of their playing in my opinion was not as good as the 2 bands mentioned. Spirit of Scotland had excellent pipe sound and their playing was very good. Their drumming in my opinion was not as tight.
I am in general agreement with burl. Alberta out, Highlanders out and Band Club in should be questioned. It is true that the judges have the best opportunity to evaluate and opinions differ but having a good seat and benefit of interaction with other informed listeners I couldn’t let it go without a comment.
I totally agree…..Alcal and AusHigh should’ve walked the qualifier and taken Vales and Band Clubs place. Vales sound was very poor and execution was a bit worse for wear and the Band Club…..did they ever win grade 2!? Will be a very interesting qualifier CD!
I totally agree…..Alcal and AusHigh should’ve walked the qualifier and taken Vale’s and Band Club’s place. Vales sound was very poor and execution was not up to the standerds of these bands and Band Club………did they ever win grade 2!? It will be a very interesting qualifier CD indeed!
Don’t count on any revelations from the CD’s. The tracks will have been edited.