Pipeband Club: Australian Champions (audio included)
Caloundra, Australia – April 3, 2010 – In warm conditions and a record entry for the bi-annual contest, the Pipeband Club of Sydney took home the Australian Pipe Band Championship against three other Grade 1 bands. Nearly 50 bands in total competed at the event, which moves to a different state from every two years. Weather was warm and sunny throughout the day. Each band in each grade play in two events to determine the winner. There were mid-section judges in each event, but assessments in those areas did not go into the final results. (The audio files of the Grade 1 MSR are as the ensemble judge heard the competitors. Unfortunately, no audio files were captured of either of the Pipeband Club’s performances.)
Grade 1 (four competed)
1st Pipeband Club
2nd Australia Highlanders (click here for Medley audio; click here for MSR audio)
3rd Queensland Highlanders (click here for Medley audio; click here for MSR audio)
4th City of Blacktown (click here for Medley audio; click here for MSR audio)
Drumming: Pipeband Club
Mid-section: Australia Highlanders
Judges: Medley: Ross Campbell, Bob Worrall (piping); Scott Mitchell (drumming); Bill Russell (ensemble); Tyler Fry (mid-section); MSR: Graeme Bilsland, Brian Niven (piping); Yvonne Coustley (drumming); Andrew Berthoff (ensemble); Ken Maltman (mid-section)
Grade 2 (seven competed)
1st Hawthorn City
2nd City of Adelaide
3rd Moorabbin
Drumming: University of Ballarat
Mid-section: University of Ballarat
Judges: MSR: Ross Campbell, Bob Worrall (piping); Scott Mitchell (drumming); Bill Russell (ensemble); Tyler Fry (mid-section); Medley: Graeme Bilsland, Brian Niven (piping); Yvonne Coustley (drumming); Andrew Berthoff (ensemble); Ken Maltman (mid-section)
Grade 3 (11 competed)
1st Manawatu Development (New Zealand)
2nd LCC Southern Cross
3rd Wynnum Services Club
Drumming: Manawatu Development
Mid-section: LCC Southern Cross
Judges: MSR: Ross Campbell, Bob Worrall (piping); Scott Mitchell (drumming); Bill Russell (ensemble); Tyler Fry (mid-section); Medley: Graeme Bilsland, Brian Niven (piping); Yvonne Coustley (drumming); Andrew Berthoff (ensemble); Ken Maltman (mid-section)
Grade 4 (20 competed)
1st LCC Southern Cross #2
2nd Gold Coast Tweed
3rd Canberra Burns Club #2
Drumming: University of Ballarat #2
Mid-section: University of Ballarat #2
Judges: Medley: Ross Campbell, Bob Worrall (piping); Scott Mitchell (drumming); Bill Russell (ensemble); Tyler Fry (mid-section); Marches: Graeme Bilsland, Brian Niven (piping); Yvonne Coustley (drumming); Andrew Berthoff (ensemble); Ken Maltman (mid-section)
Juvenile (five competed)
1st Scotch College Melbourne
2nd Scots College Sydney
3rd Scots College Bathurst
Judges: Marches: Ross Campbell, Bob Worrall (piping); Scott Mitchell (drumming); Bill Russell (ensemble); Tyler Fry (mid-section); Medley: Graeme Bilsland, Brian Niven (piping); Yvonne Coustley (drumming); Andrew Berthoff (ensemble); Ken Maltman (mid-section)
there is recordings on youtube from the pipeband clubs performances at the aussie champs from the weekend. worth a listen……strange result??
Shame the youtube recordings are of such poor quality (in the case of the Pipeband Club) … the audio of Aust. Highlanders is pretty good though. A nice pipe sound they had, shame about the early chanter on entry in the medley and the few mistakes throughout. Some ensemble issues too. I heard it said after the contest that Australia Highlanders walked off massed bands the moment the G1 results were announced – I certainly hope that’s not true …
Personally I wouldn’t have picked Pipe Band Club for the drumming prize, but each to their own…
I don’t see why the result was strange” at all. “
strange that Aus High managed to win the piping despite the few mistakes heard on the audio – the drumming result is peculiar and I haven’t heard any explanation justifying that result
If it were a pure piping contest, it was a no-brainer in Gr1 – Aus Highlanders were way out on their own in that regard. Their sound and accuracy of playing (although perhaps a bit robotic IMHO) was above the pack. They came back to the field in ensemble and drumming, in my opinion, and some judges (believe it or not) are still hard on clangers. Congratulations to all bands that won and/or placed. It is just one contest, remember, and the sun did come up the next morning. A fun weekend. Pity we have to wait another 2 years and maybe cough-up another Easter long weekend to do it.
Why is there no recording of the pipeband club, and what was the breakdown for results?
Be careful, now. It’ easy to be an armchair critic with the luxury of time and a tape. It’s not the same as actuallly being there. The recording of a perfomrance is usually taken from one position only. Judges are supposed to wander around, and in doing so, can miss certain things depending on where they are and when. In addition, they are also distracted by the fact that they need to record their thoughts on paper while still listening. It’s been demonstrated that multi tasking is not all it’s cracked up to be.
I was fortunate enough to hear all of grade one live and think I am qualified to disagree with comments on ensemble re the Highlanders. IMHO there were two grades in grade one – the Highlanders way out in front in piping, drumming and ensemble, then every one else. Pity the judges didn’t see it that way – still no explanation on the drumming results. PBC also had a number of clangers in their sets so hard to understand some of these comments. Still – results are out and no doubt these bands will be focussing on the Worlds.
Just a note on the unfortunate double-miss on recording the Pipeband Club. In the MSR I neglected to press the record button, and in the Medley I got over too late and never heard them. Sorry to disappoint the conspiracy theorists!