CORBY CONTEST

Grade 4

Band
P
Px2
D
Total
Place
University of Bedfordshire
1
2
3
5
1
Wolverhampton
2
4
2
6
2
Standard Triumph
3
6
5
11
3
RAF Waddington Pipes & Drums
4
8
4
12
4
Grampian (Association) Corby
6
12
1
13
5
Birmingham Irish Pipes & Drums
5
10
6
16
6
Royal Corps of Signals
7
14
7
21
7

This performance started off as one of our best to date with a clean start, crisp solid pipe tone and an opening tune which was well expressed with good lift.

Second tune continued in the same vein, but ....... a horrendous mistake by the Pipe Major going into the harmony of the second part ruined what, up until then, had been a really promising performance (sorry guys!)

One really positive thing though to take from todays performance is how well our newest piper came through her first competition particularly after the disapointment of being dropped at Annan last week because of a reed problem - well done Emma, now you can relax at contests (but not too much!)

And look at that drumming performance - 2nd against some pretty stiff competition - a great result!

 

Grade 4 MSR

Band
P
Px2
D
Total
Place
University of Bedfordshire
1
2
1
3
1
Wolverhampton
2
4
3
7
2
RAF Waddington Pipes & Drums
3
6
2
8
3

Another second place but considering this was our first attempt at an MSR competition for a number of years we really needed to get this one under our belt as preparation for the English championships next weekend and the Cowal championships at the end of August.

We started off pretty well with good expressive marches. Tone again was crisp and pretty clean, although the heat was certainly getting to the reeds as the set progressed.

Break to the strathspeys wasn't as good as we've had it in practices and the tempo was down which took a lot of life out of the strathspeys.

Break to the reels was a little bit hesitant and, again the tempo needs raising a little to give a bit more life to these tunes.

Unfortunately one of the pipers was suffering by the time we got into the second strathspey and this came through in the latter part of the performance.

Still, quite pleased with what we managed under the circumstances and we know we can play this set a whole lot better than we did today - let's see how we get on next weekend with it.

Grade 3

Unfortunately we had to scratch from this event as our struggling piper from the Grade 4 MSR wasn't fit enough to compete and that left us short on the numbers needed. This just emphasises the lack of depth we've got in the piping corps at this point in time but the signs are that things will improve on this front for next season.