156th Annual Victoria BC Highland Games

17MAY19 After practicing in the The Canadian Scotish Regiment Armory.  So much piping history happened here.
LtoR: Pipers Nick Shrum(PS), Ian Williams, Rob Patterson, Sande Storms, Melinda Hughes, Marie Hollinger, Dan Davies, Tanner Atkin, Gordon Atkin, Rose Hadden, Ryan Bradley, Chris Johnson, Trevor DeMass (PM)
Drummers: TKariAnne Johnson, Alana Williams, Triona McMaster, BJ Gunn, Jessie Frye (DS), Caitlin DeMass, Logan Warner, Chris Hughey

Preparation

In late 2018, the band decided we would compete at the Victoria Highland Games in May in Victoria, BC, Canada, rather than do Ventura again.  Scotland was way out of our price range, and probably out of our league, too. Tunes were selected, sets were created.  In March, Jack Lee was invited out to give us some coaching. I wasn't planning on attending because Grandbaby #3 was due on 14MAY and I didn't want to miss him/her.  Finally we came up with the following sets:

MSR:  

            Seige of Dehli (march), 

            Dorrator Bridge (strathspey), 

            The Ale is Dear (reel).  

Timed Medley:  

            Cha Till McCrumien (march), 

            Out of the Air (Jig), 

            The Water is Wide (slow air), 

            Molly Connell (strathspey), 

            Strathan (reel).

Fees were paid, tickets were purchased (very late, on April 9), time off was requested, and we worked and worked and worked on those sets!  Pipe Major Trevor DeMass even requested that we each record both sets and send them to him.  Twice!  That was embarrassing!

Baby Hannah Rose Christensen was born 22APR19 10:04, 8 pounds, 20".  I was able to go to Victoria! I booked an AirBnB because I thought Ian had already booked the hotels, and I booked flights for me, and standby flights for hubby Todd.

Practice

I struggled with the MSR, but didn't have a lot of time to practice (I thought).  I told Trevor I wasn't going to play the MSR at Victoria.  Finally, I lost my practice chanter, and decided to work on the sets with my electronic chanter, which offends nobody, and really catches crossing noises.  And so I worked, going slowly through the tunes, replaying over and over and over the parts that were difficult until I got them right, and by the week before departure, I thought I could play them well.  I told Trevor this, and he agreed. He thought I could do them.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles

We departed on 16MAY19.  Some of us were booked to fly Salt Lake to Calgary to Edmonton to Victoria, and some of us were booked to fly Salt Lake to Vancouver to Edmonton to Victoria.  Most of the drummers--as well as Ian and his family--drove.  Those of us that went through Calgary had no problem, other than waiting around in airports all day.  Those that went to Vancouver arrived there at the same time as about 4 other flights, and Customs was overwhelmed. Customs officials did not work any faster than DMV officials, nor did they call anybody else in to work, and so that group took 2.5 hours to get through Customs.  And they missed their flight to Edmonton.  They creatively took a train to a bus, a bus to a ferry, and a ferry to Victoria, where Ian met them and took them to their hotel.  

Oddly enough, those that went through Calgary arrived at Victoria at the same time as those that took the ferry.

Friday - Free Day (mostly)

Friday was a free day, so many of us went to Butchart Gardens and saw the beautiful flowers.  We especially loved how busy the bees were there. Here are my favorites:

The bees were busy all over the gardens

Fish fountain

The Sunken Garden was built in an old quarry

Flower border in the Sunken Garden

Huge trees and quiet places

Harbor view

Japanese Rock Garden

Large dragon fountain

Stepping stone bridge in the Japanese Garden

Zach on a donkey colt.

Tiny dragon fountain

This device was created to make noise to keep away boars.

Totem poles

At 3:30, we all met at the Bay Street Armory and got a tour of the museum. Ryan, Ian, and Todd really liked this part of the afternoon.

This uniform was the property of the late
John Low of Duncan of the 50th Regiment.

Placard for above uniform

Wallace the Piping Dog memorabilia

Then we practiced for several and a half hours.  The outside of the Armory was castle-like. . 

but the inside was a Quonset hut with a rounded ceiling . . .

. . . and our music echoed and re-echoed so that it was hard to know who was playing what. But we carried on, because of the piping history there.  We also had tons of room to march in and out, contrary to our regular practice location at the 1st Presbyterian Church in downtown Salt Lake.  

The first night, some of us had Dim Sum in Chinatown.

Chinatown Victoria BC

Competition Day 1

The medals smelled of maple syrup!

Many of our band competed in solos the first morning, and we got some medals!  They didn't have ribbons on them, but they all smelled like maple syrup! 









Usually in Massed Bands, everybody is out of tune, nobody plays together, and there are always trailing drones at the end.  In these massed bands, none of that happened!  It was the most amazing massed bands I have ever heard! We played Bonnie Dundee marching in, Highland Laddie for the Chief(even the Salt Lake Scots knew it!), and Scotland the Brave marching out.  Other bands were warning us about the hill we had to march down, but Sheepdog Trials had more than prepared us for the tiny hill in Topaz Park!

Massed Bands march in (10 bands)

Ryan and Pierce Bradley crossing swords while waiting for something to happen.

Our competition time on Day 1 was 2:32. We were competing against four other bands. It was pretty chilly, so needless to say, we moved into the sunny area at the end of the hurley field and practiced and tuned and marched in.  There were no equipment issues that I remember.  All too soon, the steward came over to get us to march into the semi-final tuning area. As we passed the Simon Fraser University (SFU) tent, Jack Lee came out and shook hands with everybody going by.  When he got to me, he gave me a big hug and said, "You came!"  It was nice to get a hug from that very nice, very great man.  Finally, we were up. We had to march across a large-ish field and wheel left to the starting line.  

Our major issue in Day 1 with the MSR was rushing, which caused several other issues with ensemble.  We really whizzed through those three tunes.  Two of these tunes were new this year, and we just weren't totally confident with them.  I could hear somebody on my left speeding up, and I don't think it was Chris Johnson. 

Marching out of the competition circle, apparently we were supposed to march straight out.  But we had wheeled to get up to the line, so we were confused as to what we were supposed to do marching out.  Trevor was kinda miffed about that, but how could we know if we weren't instructed. I suppose we could have watched how other bands did it, if we had not been tuning up, etc.

At the end of the day massed bands, we did not expect to get anything because we had played pretty badly, so when they announced third place and it wasn't us, we weren't surprised.  We WERE surprised, however, when we got 2nd place! It was a nice reward for all the work we had been doing on that set!

We had dinner together--all 28 of us--at Finn's, a seafood restaurant on the waterfront.  I had salmon and mashed potatoes.  It was yummy, if expensive. 

Competition Day 2
Day 2 was Sunday, so some of us went to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints next to Topaz Park and attended Sacrament meeting.  Afterwards, we walked through the secret entrance and back into the park, watched some more hurley and Gaelic Football (they kick and pass the ball, and make goals like hockey; they also driblble like basketball.)  It was very interesting to watch!  More tuning and warming up happened, another massed band (same tunes, only I forgot we were only playing Highland Laddie one time through, and my drone was the only one that trailed). 

We were competing against five bands on Sunday. Our performance time on Sunday was 2:15.  Again we went to the semi-final tuning area and tuned some more. This time, Melinda had an issue with one of her drone reeds and scratched from the competition as there wasn't time to fix it.  

We have known the medley tunes for at least a year, so we were more confident playing them.  There was no rushing.  I was working very hard on focusing, and the only time I goofed was when I lost focus for a minute.  It was a minor goof, and I quickly recovered.  Trevor, to my right, noticed, but I don't know if anybody else did.

We felt good about that performance, but the judges don't judge you on how well you did compared to yesterday; they judge you on how well you did compared to the other bands that day.  

We went back to our tents and took them down before massed bands in preparation for heading quickly to the Legislative Assembly building for photos.  At massed bands, I did not have a trailing drone, but Marie did.  They announced 3rd place and it was not us.  They announced 2nd place and it was not us.  At that point we universally gave up hope for any award.  After all, we were competing against RMM (Robert Malcom Memorial, the feeder band to SFO)!

Then, they announced first place:  the Salt Lake Scots!

They also announced the winner of the Grade IV aggregate trophy:  the Salt Lake Scots!  

Jack Lee immediately came over from his place in massed bands to shake Trevor's hand and congratulate us.

Our Fearless Leaders, Drum Sargent Jessie Frye and Pipe Major Trevor DeMass with the aggregate trophy

Jack Lee immediately came over to the band to shake hands with everybody.

Marie and Jack

Trevor with the aggregate trophy

On the steps of the Legislative Assembly building, Victoria, BC.

Some of us left Victoria the next day, Nick and I through Vancouver, and Gordon's crew through Seattle.  Todd also flew standby through Seattle, but his plane had maintenance issues in Victoria, and it took 9 hours to fix it.  He did not make it to Seattle in time to catch the last flight to Salt Lake, so he spent the night sleepless in Seattle, and came home on Tuesday.

Here we are on the lawn in front of the Legislative Assembly building.

Whale watchers 20MAY19

People had gathered while we were arranging ourselves for these pictures.  They apparently thought we were going to play something.  We were totally done playing, but they stood there, just looking at us. So at the end of the photo shoot, we struck in and played Highland Cathedral, just for them.

Whale-watching crew selfie

Band on the rail

Everybody else went whale watching or sightseeing on Monday!  Here are some of the pics from that fun time.

Tall ship

Lighthouse #1 in the Salish Sea

Logan lounging.

Possibly the same lighthouse

Dinner for the whale-watching crew.

A sea otter also has dinner

Sea Lions look like they've had too much dinner

The Windy Williams Family:  Isla, Alanna, Ian, Cora, and Lochlan

They were awesome games! The people of Victoria were very kind to us (the waitress at Finn's didn't even charge us the 18% tip they usually charge groups of 8 or more, 'because we were so nice' she said, but really because she was so nice). The sightseeing was wonderful.  The piping success was amazing!  All in all, it was an incredible weekend!

Pictures courtesy Ian Williams, Claire Atkin, Marie Hollinger, Caitlin DeMass, myself, and other band members.

It's Jack Lee Week for the Salt Lake Scots!

To follow-up on the last story, I finally did get the new drone stock tied in.  All hemping of drone and chanter reed was checked and re-checked by multiple people.  I got a Canning Normal tenor drone reed to replace my Kinnaird tenor drone reed. Finally, my pipes work.  I have found I have to check the drone reeds each time before I play, as they tend to slip out and get loose pretty regularly.


Just for the record, here is a list of the equipment I have in my pipes:


Bag:  Ganaway medium
Drones and stock: McMaster (they tune high)
Chanter: Chesney
Blowpipe:  McCallum
Bass drone reed: Kinnaird
Tenor drone reed:  Canning normal


****************


So . . . Jack Lee week.


Some kind and generous soul in the band paid (again) for world-class piper Jack Lee from British Colombia, Canada to come to Utah and coach our band for two days, individually and as a group.  This will be the third time Jack has come to coach us.  Each time we have used my local Church of Jesus Christ chapel for the individual lessons, and since I have a key to said chapel, I get to hang around Jack for two solid days, usually.  I have learned he is lactose intolerant and chooses not to eat meat. I provide him with fruit and hot tea and water throughout the day, and take him to lunch with another band member one or both days.


The first day, I brought (among other things) blackberries, of which he is apparently very fond.  Sande and I took him to Star of India for lunch because it is nearby, it is a buffet so we can get in and out quickly (he only has an hour for lunch), has good food, and is relatively inexpensive.  I listened with half an ear to each person's lesson as they came, and it took a long time to get to the strathspey and reel because of all the corrections Jack had for their playing of the march.  When it was my turn for a lesson at 2:00 pm, I was at the strathspey by 2:20 and on pipes by 2:30.  Jack said I was playing much better than last year, and much better than the other people who had already showed up for lessons!  Wow!  Go me!  I asked him if he was only saying that because I brought him blackberries, and he laughed.  He asked if I had been practicing and I said 'no' without thinking, but I actually have been, just not a lot.  It was nice to be told by a world-class piper that my playing was good. 


If you've been reading this blog for any length of time, you will know that my two main issues in progressing in piping are: 


    1.  no time to practice
    2. lack of self-confidence


Jack's comment really shut up the tiny devil on my left shoulder who keeps whispering in my ear, 'You're a horrible piper!  You're getting worse instead of better!  Why are you still playing with the band anyway?'  And other similar comments.  Jack also gave me specific things to work on; mainly, doublings and torluaths (sp?), so I can focus on certain things that will improve my performance. Yay!


As soon as I get my pipe case back from Dan.

St Patrick's Day 2019 Pub Crawl

This has been the best St. Patrick's Day for several reasons.


1. Ian split the band into two groups here and there, so we were able to play for many more pubs than usual, and still be done by 9:00 pm. We played 12 times for pubs.
2. We only have two hours of church now (9:00-11:00) and tune-up wasn't until 11:30, so I was able to go to all of church (wearing my kilt) and still show up on time for tuning.
3. Nick was in charge of Group 2, and he was very tired, so tuning was short and chill. We played maybe 2 sets and were done.
4. I played solo for Highland Cathedral FOUR TIMES!  I VOLUNTEERED! Don't know where this self-confidence is coming from.  Meditation, perhaps?  I did very well, too.
5. We had Janelle (learning pipes) and her sister Annie (learning tenor drum) selling T-shirts and collecting donations.  We took in over $4600!  One guy bought $200 worth of T-shirts!
6. Janelle and Annie also were bouncers, keeping drunk customers away from the pipers and drummers.  Annie, especially, was very effective!


A few things were detrimental.


1. My hip was giving me problems (arthritis) so any walking was painful
2. Trevor had to go to a setting-apart for his brother being called to a bishopric in Provo, so Group 1 was short a piper for 3 hours, and I transferred from Group 2 to Group 1 to fill in the gap. I never transferred back to Group 2 due to people wearing out early
3.  My pipe case got left in Dan's truck when I switched to Group 1, and I still haven't gotten it back.
4.  I also had my music, my practice chanter, and my car keys in my pipe case.


A few funny things happened. Here's one:


1. While playing at The Leprechaun, always loud and crowded, I was standing behind an elderly gentleman and playing right into his ear.  After the first set, I leaned down and apologized for playing so close to his ear.  He said, "That's OK. I took my hearing aid out before you came in!"  That got a laugh from the table and neighboring pipers.  When we were ready to move on, I clapped him on the shoulder and told him he could put his hearing aid back in again.  That was good for another laugh.