The 18th annual pipes|drums New Year’s Honours

2018 Pipe Band of the Year

City of Dunedin

It was very close, and ultimately the now-Grade 1 City of Dunedin of Dunedin, Florida, was voted 2018 Pipe Band of the Year. Competing in Grade 2, the band won the event at the World Pipe Band Championships, Maxville, and a slew of contests across North America. Combine their competitive achievements with a stringent work ethic and an extensive teaching program supported by their home town, and City of Dunedin is a worthy winner of this coveted award.

+ Is Dunedin, Florida, the world’s most successful piping and drumming community?

Panellists’ comments:

• “Dunedin is leading the way on how to develop and grow a winning, sustaining pipe band program in the US.”
• “I think this is the feel good story of 2018. This is a wonderful story of how a great teaching program supported by exceptional leadership can achieve very significant results. Well done.”
• “Winning the World’s is a huge accomplishment for any North American pipe band, and Grade 2 was hotly contested. Dunedin also appears to have a large community and teaching footprint, as well as widespread support from the city for their efforts.”
• “A successful history of teaching and training pipers and drummers over decades, culminating in the grade 2 band winning the world champions, and advancing to grade 1 – proof that a robust and dedicated teaching program pays off!”
• “A great success story of determination and vision. If they keep the momentum going, this band could crack top-six at the World’s in five years or sooner.”
• “[Pipe-Major] Iain Donaldson has built a strong very quickly and trained every one of his players to give their all and it was rewarded this year.”
• “Dunedin came from farther back in four years than any of the other bands . . . their performances throughout the year warranted promotion to Grade 1 . . . no other band made the forward progress of the City of Dunedin!”

Also nominated (alphabetical order):

Field Marshal Montgomery – FMM seemed to turn on the afterburners to achieve their twelfth World Championship, capping another exceptional season. At this point, after nearly three decades at the top, it’s hard to imagine a pipe band world without Pipe-Major Richard Parkes’s team being a serious contender for the pipes|drums Pipe Band of the Year title.

Inveraray & District – the 2017 World Champions came up just short of a repeat victory at Glasgow Green, but Argyllshire’s finest continued their spectacular run of musicality and ensemble brilliance. With the formidable leadership of Pipe-Major Stuart Liddell and Lead-Drummer Steven McWhirter, IDPB will continue to captivate the imagination of the piping and drumming world.

ScottishPower – a welcome return to championship-winning form, Pipe-Major Chris Armstrong and Lead-Drummer Jake Jørgensen continue to push musical boundaries, perhaps like no other band on earth. When once such innovation might have been competitively risky, ScottishPower has earned the benefit of the doubt. This is a band making a difference.

St. Laurence O’Toole – two RSPBA major championships and a sold-out pre-World’s concert earned SLOT a spot in our list of nominees. The band continues to maintain a top-of-the-world standard using almost entirely players from the Dublin area, no doubt making their success all the more satisfying and rewarding.