PIPERS and PIPE BAND SOCIETY of ONTARIO, OTTAWA BRANCH

Transcription

1 PIPERS and PIPE BAND SOCIETY of ONTARIO, OTTAWA BRANCH **** **** President: John Harper (613) ( Vice-President: Alan Clark (613) ( Vice-President: Ross Davison (613) ( Treasurer: Jack Yourt (613) ( Secretary: Emily Kate MacLellan (613) ( From all of us on the Ottawa Branch Executive, we hope that everyone had a Happy and Safe Holiday Season and we are looking forward to all the changes that 2010 will bring. John Harper President *** JANUARY MEETING *** ALLAN QUINN MEMORIAL *** *** Recital by Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa Ceilidh Band *** Saturday 09 January Time 7:30 pm. To keep the evening from running too late, all competitors are asked to be registered by 7:15 pm. If you can t make it by 7:15, please contact any of the Ottawa Branch executive in advance to reserve a spot in the draw. Place the Walkey Road Armouries, 2100 Walkley Road, between St. Laurent Blvd and Conroy Ave (the Armouries are on the south side of Walkley Ave, right beside the Walkley Bowling Centre parking lot). *** NOTE: do not park in the reserved parking spots, the Armouries are a 24/7 facility *** Piping A Division: Judge: Fraser Clark Open Amateur March, Strathspey, Reel (minimum four parted tunes) Drumming "B" Division... four parts 6/8 March (one or two tunes) Judge: Steve Lanning Renew your PPBSO membership online! Go to

2 December Knock-Out Contests Results.. The knock-out series continued on Saturday 05 December at the Walkley Mess featuring the A and B Division pipers playing a medley of slow air/four-parted jigs. The B Division drummers played 3/4 Marches. On another excellent night of music, it was encouraging to see the talent that s continuing to blossom in the Ottawa Branch area. As always, our thanks go out to the adjudicators, who for the December contest were Scott Nicholson (bottom left) and Lionel Tupman (bottom right). The audience was also treated to a remarkable recital by Lionel (left), especially considering the academic workload he s currently carrying. The piping and drumming results were as follows: Piping A Division Piping B Division 1 st Ross Davison 1 st Liam Melville 2 nd MacGregor van de Ven 2 nd Dave Zarboni 3 rd Tom Brown 4 th Curtis Leblanc Drumming B Division 5 th Amos van Die 6 th Taylor Williams 1 st Tom MacKenzie ************************************************************************************************** Knock-Out Tune Lists for the Remainder of 2009/2010 A Piping B Piping C Piping B Drumming February n/a Strathspey/Reel Slow Air & 6/8 March 2/4 March March Medley own choice Medley own choice Medley own choice Medley own choice ************************************************************************************************** Future Ottawa Branch Dates 06 February 2010 Major Archie Cairns Cup, Drumming Knock-Out, Walkley Mess 06 March 2010 Ottawa Branch Knock-Out Finals, Walkley Mess 17 April 2010 Smiths Fall Spring Fling 08 May 2010 Ottawa Branch In-Door Highland Games (Kemptville) Events Pipefest 2010 We wanted to share the exciting news with you all that our band will be involved in the planning and execution of Pipefest 2010 in Ottawa next August. This is a wonderful charity march, and a global piping event which will involve bands people from all over the world! We will have information on the Sons of Scotland Pipe Band site at as we get into the planning stages, and there is info on the Pipefest site at Sons of Scotland Pipe Band.

3 Announcements Jack Yourt Elected Glengarry Highland Games Vice-President John Cameron Yourt was nominated and elected as Vice President of the Glengarry Highland Games on 20 November 2009 at the Annual General Meeting. Jack was originally appointed as a Director at the annual meeting in 2001 as he undertook coordination of the Piobaireachd Society Gold Medal (Canada) competition. He continues to provide expert leadership in this event which draws at least twenty professional pipers from around the world each year to downtown Maxville being judged by adjudicators generally from Scotland. Jack was elected to the Executive in 2008 and also contributes to the Games by his contribution of piping skills annually for the Tartan Ball and for the Memorial Gardens Ceremony. In his new role as Vice President he will typically assist the new President, Donaldson MacLeod, for the next two years. In 2011, Jack will become the President of the 65 th Glengarry Highland Games which will be held in Jack has also been the Treasurer of the Ottawa Branch of the PPBSO for the past twentytwo years. A long time piper with the Ottawa Police Service Pipe Band, Jack currently plays with the RCMP Pipes and Drums of the National Capital Region. In more than sixty years of the Glengarry Highland Games, at the end of this term as the Vice he will be only the second piper to hold the esteemed position of President, Connie Blaney being the first. Congratulations and best wishes to Jack and his wife Linda as they begin an exciting journey in this new role in support of the Glengarry Highland Games. Charlie MacDonald Elected PPBSO President On 28 November 2009, Charlie MacDonald was elected President of the Pipers and Pipe Band Society of Ontario (PPBSO). Charlie is pictured at left with his wife Lavinia. Charlie has long been an accomplished piper, both as a soloist and with area pipe bands. A member of the PPBSO judges panel, he received the pipe band piping certificate (all grades) in 1990 and subsequently also received solo piping adjudicator accreditation. He was actively involved in setting up the adjudicator accreditation process through the Executive. Charlie has been a long serving member of the PPBSO Executive, and will be no stranger to the members of the Society. Charlie s first solo contest was the Grimsby 14 & Under at which he tied for second and he competed in his first band contest in 1959 with the Goderich Legion Branch 109 in Grade B. His early instructors were J.N. MacDonald (father), Sandy Boyd, William J. Millar, John Wilson and Gordon Tuck. The other bands for whom he has played include the London Service Battalion (P/M Bill Millar), Rob Roy Kingston (P/M Jim Sutherland, under which they won the North American Championship Maxville Gr. 3), St. Thomas Police, later the McNish Distillery (P/M Gord Tuck), the Port Elgin Legion Pipe Band (for which he was the P/M), Downsview Pipe Band (again, as the P/M), Toronto & District Caledonia PB, and Peel Regional Police PB (P/M John Elliott). As a soloist he competed in the Open Professional division (during the 1980 s). He was awarded Piper of the Day in Antigonish (1980), and Piper of the Day in Miami (1987). In 1974 Charlie was elected as the Western Branch representative on the parent body and in 1977 he was elected as the PPBSO Secretary. He has remained continuously on the PPBSO Executive (except 1992 to 1994 during an overseas work assignment and for a short period in 2005). He has represented the PPBSO at six ANAPBA summits. The amount of time Charlie has volunteered to the Society over the past twenty five years has been quite extraordinary and this dedication, plus his detailed working knowledge of the PPBSO, will hold him in good stead. The Society is in excellent hands.

4 Another example of how even the world s best musicians have to be prepared mentally as well as physically for the challenge of providing live musical performances. Being well prepared to play the pieces is sometimes only half of the battle. The following was first published in the Ottawa Citizen Thursday 01 October Yo-Yo s Close Calls (Steven Mazey - Ottawa Citizen) One of the most memorable musical rescue missions in the forty year history of the National Arts Centre Orchestra involved the world s most famous living cellist, a sudden illness and a last-minute maestro. It was 04 October 1995, Conductor Trevor Pinnock, who had rehearsed that week with cellist Yo-Yo Ma and the orchestra for two scheduled performances, became ill and was advised by a doctor not to go on. A capacity audience was about to arrive to hear Ma perform the Dvorak Cello Concerto in B minor, a much-loved cello show piece. At 6 pm, NAC officials made a frantic telephone call to Toronto conductor Victor Feldbrill, who had worked regularly with the NACO and was familiar with the pieces in the concert. Feldbrill packed his scores and concert clothes and hoped on to a 7 pm flight. NAC officials waited for him at the Ottawa airport, then whisked him downtown and onto the stage. The concert was delayed twenty minutes. As NACO musicians and the audience awaited the maestro s arrival, the cello star generously treated the crowd to some solo Bach. Feldbrill made his way to the podium to cheers, and the concert went without a hitch. At intermission, before the cello concerto, Feldbrill and Ma talked over the tricky passages. And then we just went out and made music, the conductor said at the time. When it was over, the audience erupted in a cheering standing ovation for Feldbrill, Ma and the orchestra for pulling it off. Conductor and soloist were brought back for six bows. Pinnock recovered for the second performance the following night. Victor and I made the best thing we could out of an unhappy occasion, and the best thing was that Trevor turned out to be fine and we worked together the next night, Ma told the Citizen later. While such dramatic last-minutes emergencies have been rare at the NAC, Ma, 53, has experienced his share of musical close calls in decades of performing around the world. When the Citizen caught up with the cellist in Pittsburgh, where he was performing last week, we asked about the most obvious event first, the widely publicized incident ten years ago in which Ma left his 18 th -centruy Montagnana cello, valued at about $2.5 million, in the trunk of a New York City cab. He can laugh about it now, but the three hours it took to get the instrument back were sickening. I made a stupid mistake and I just left without it, Ma told the New York Times at the time. Luckily, Ma had a receipt that had the cab s medallion number on it, and police and the taxi commission tracked down the car, where the cello was found intact and delivered back to Ma in time for that night s show. No such incident has happened again. I was so grateful, Ma recalls. Ma also recalls the time he and pianist Emanuel Ax were performing with violinist Isaac Stern in Palm Springs. As intermission was ending, Stern told his colleagues that he had forgotten some sheet music for the second half at his hotel. He asked his colleagues to go on without him while he retrieved it. Ma and Ax, suddenly finding themselves a duo rather than a trio, performed a Beethoven sonata as they waited for Stern. Ma sounds amused as he recalls it. Isaac was totally nonplussed and said, You boys take care of it. He drove back to the hotel, which was fifteen minutes away. Manny and I waited after every movement, thinking he was going to reappear. When we finished the last note, he appeared, music in hand, and we continued with the concert, which was half an hour longer than intended because of that. Another incident he says, involved forgotten music of a different kind. Waiting backstage at intermission, Ma had a sudden memory lapse about a certain passage in a piece and how it went. Making like a contestant on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? Ma called a friend for some help. I was on the West Coast and I called some friends on the East Coast to play a recording for me so that I could unwind the place that I had sort of gotten stuck. Things like that happen. The thing is to treat things like that lightly. Otherwise, you would just get paralyzed. You learn survival techniques. Ma says he tends to block out such incidents from his memory, even if they turned out well. One of the things that makes me able to do what I do is that I forget the really bad things that happen, though I try not to forget so much that I start repeating them. Bagpipes for Sale 1. Set of Hardie bagpipes (early 1980's); half-mounted imitation ivory with nickel furrells; original pipe chanter with Elliott pipe reed; MG drone reeds; cords, cover and case; choice of pipe bag.

5 2. Set of Robertson bagpipes (1920's); wood-mounted projection mounts with nickel furrells; casein ring caps; recently refurbished; MG drone reeds; Gibson pipe chanter with Elliott reed; cords, cover and case; choice of pipe bag. 3. Set of Grainger bagpipes (early 1970's); half-mounted imitation ivory with nickel furrells; polypenco drone stocks with nickel furrells; Dunbar pipe chanter with Elliott reed; MG drone reeds; cords, cover and case; choice of pipe bag. 4. Set of Robertson bagpipes (1930's); button-mounted projection mounts with nickel furrells; polypenco drone stocks with imitation ivory furrells; polypenco pipe chanter with Elliott reed; Henderson drone reeds with carbon-fibre tongues; cords, cover and case; L & M hide bag. 5. Set of Sinclair bagpipes, full-mounted unicorn ivory (imitation); MG drone reeds; wood Naill solo chanter with MacLellan chanter reed; cords, cover and leather case; L & M hide bag or Canmore bag supplied. All pipes in excellent playing condition. Prices available upon request. Contact Jack Yourt at Ph/Fx: or jcyourt@gmail.com Passages Rae MacCulloch It is with great sadness that we learned of Rae s passing, peacefully at home, on Christmas Day 2009 at the age of 85. Reynalda (Rae) Rita MacCulloch (nee Grant) was the founder of the well known MacCulloch School of Dancing. A very large number of highland dancers from eastern Ontario are directly attributable to her great talent as a teacher. With her dedication and perseverance, all of her students have been greatly appreciated by people throughout Glengarry and by people much further afield - in fact on a world - wide basis. They have entertained on the most prestigious stages in North America, Scotland, China and Puerto Rico. A Montrealer by birth with Glengarry parentage, MacCulloch was the first to accept the challenge of restoring Glengarry credibility as the home of future Highland dancers. Her first classes began in 1955 with her dance studio in the kitchen of her sister Sybil Cameron s Glen Roy home. She traveled to Bonville, St. Andrew s, Martintown, Avonmore and Vankleek Hill to hold classes. Later, classes were held in the Alexander Hall in Alexandria. At the Glengarry Highland Games, the MacCulloch dancers began the custom of presenting the massed Highland fling in a circle around the infield, a pattern that has been adopted by most games in Canada and the U.S. In 1972, the MacCulloch Dancers took their first major trip when they toured Scotland with the Glengarry Pipe Band. On New Years Day of 1976, Glengarry dancers were parading the streets of Pasadena, California in the Rose Bowl Parade. Two days later, they were performing at Disneyland. An appearance in Union Square, Los Angeles as part of bicentennial celebrations followed. In October, the dance troupe also appeared at bicentennial celebrations in Philadelphia and Washington. Thus began the first of successive trips abroad in the next twenty years. In October 1976, with the Brigadoons they participated in the first concert put on by local amateurs staged in the prestigious Opera House of the National Arts Center (NAC) to a capacity crowd. The show was so successful, eight more performances followed at the NAC. The shows continued every second year at the Centrepointe Theatre from 1989 to 1995 with the MacCulloch Dancers entertaining at each one. MacCulloch and her dancers traveled to Disney World in Florida many times along with the Brigadoons to entertain during the March break. As many will remember, on Saturday 31 July 2004 at the Glengarry Highland Games, the MacCulloch School of Dance achieved a Guinness World Record for the 'Largest Massed Performance of Highland and Step Dance' when 505 dancers and two musicians took to the field for five minutes and thirteen seconds for an amazing display of celtic dancing. The MacCulloch Dancers continue to be a family affair under the leadership of her daughters Heather and Deborah. But with Rae s passing, Glengarry and the world of highland dancing have lost a legendary teacher and personality.

6 The following is a revised Financial Statement to that provided in the November 2009 newsletter. Small corrections have been included below. 2008/2009 PPBSO (Ottawa Branch) Financial Statement (Revision A) Category Description Oct 07 Sep 08 Oct 08 Sep 09 INCOME Donations 1, Door Receipts 3, , Memberships 3, , Workshop, Seminar Revenue TOTAL INCOME $7, $8, EXPENSES AGM Expenses Bank Charges Gifts/Donations Hall Rental 1, , Insurance Internet Judging, Recital 2, , Medals Miscellaneous Postage, Copying 1, , Prize Money 1, , Travel Workshop, Seminar Expenses TOTAL EXPENSES $8, $8, INCOME vs. EXPENSES - $ $