Remington College Commencement

I was invited to play for the Fall 2010 commencement ceremony for Remington College at Shreveport November 12th. It was a lot of fun to play at. Newly re-elected Mayor Cedric Glover gave one of the best commencement addresses I've heard. Granted I've only been to a handful, but the statement still stands.

One of the lines from his address was about commitment. He asked "do you want to be a hog or a chicken?"...which he explained, a chicken gives an egg and lives to see another day while a hog gives bacon and thus gives it all for that contribution.

I was to pipe in the faculty and students and then pipe them out.

I arrived about an hour before march off to dress, meet with Dr. K to go over the rout, and tune.

I tuned for about 20-25 minutes beginning with "Wings" right out of the bag. Gave a quick tune up. Played "Field of Gold" and gave a more in-depth tune up. Played "Siege of Delhi" and gave my final tune up before lining up.

I piped in with "Wings", "Jimmy Findlater", "Murdo's Wedding", "Wha Sae the 42nd",and "Scotland the Brave". I think that was the order.

I piped out with "Atholl Highlanders", "Cock of the North", and "Salute to Mr. Winston Churchill" (which had a few people humming the melody afterward).



The setup:
New Henderson drones, Kron ABW chanter with MacPhee reed, drone reeds are Selbie, bag is the new Ross-suede Livingstone zipper with the guts.

Ceol Na Pioba Solo Bagpipe Competition

October 23rd was the 3rd annual Ceol Na Pioba Solo Bagpipe Competition. It was a great weekend of competition and camaraderie with some old friends and new ones.

Jimmy McIntosh, MBE judged this year, which was a real treat to meet him and having the opportunity to play for him.

Events began a bit after 9:30am with Grade 4 senior Piobaireachd and then light music events.

Grade 3 began after the lunch break with Lyle's rendition of "Struan Robertson's Salute" and then my "Lament for Alasdair Dearg MacDonnell of Glengarry".

I was very pleased with my piobaireachd and am very proud of the comment Jimmy wrote on my sheet, "You played the tune with intense feeling, showed the phrasing very well."

Next was the 2/4 March, which I was very pleased with. Then the strathspey/reel, which I still feel a little off with but am beginning to get the reel feel a little better. My 6/8 March and Jig was nice too.

I was really pleased with my pipes. The bag does feel slightly on the small side.


The results:
Piobaireachd - Lament for Alasdair Dearg MacDonnell of Glengarry - 1st
2/4 March - Donald MacLean's Farewell to Oban – 1st
Strath/Reel - Ewe with the Crooked Horn/Bessie McIntyre – 2nd
6/8 March - John MacColl's Farewell to the Scottish Horse - 1st
Jig - The Curlew – 2nd
Solo Medley - 1st

The solo medley is always fun to play. I slipped a bit on the first jig.
Tunes:
A Father of Piping-Brian Barrow, Patrick McLaurin
The Rooster with the Crooked Tail
A.A. Cameron
The Kilt is My Delight
The MacFarlane’s
The Final Conclusion, P/M Paul Harrison
Paddy Be Easy
The Broken Tail, John Cairns




The setup:
New Henderson drones, new Henderson ABW chanter, drone reeds are Selbie, bag is the new Ross-suede Livingstone zipper with the guts.