Summary on Midlands Branch website
Another superb set of results
Trios (1st & 5th)
Pipe sound was impressive straight out of the boxes today. At one stage it even looked as if there would no need for reed adjustment! Clearly the result of a great set of reeds and a good playing at last weeks St Patricks Day Parade and practice on Tuesday night.
Didn't quite turn out to be as easy as it first looked when there was a little bit of chanter drift just prior to the start of the trio contest (and we'll say nothing about the PM's chanter bouncing off the floor in the tuning room just when things were looking to be sorted!)
Still, we managed to retrieve the pipe sound and went into the trio event fully confident.
Unfortunately the B band didn't have a particularly good run with lack of expression and an awful ending.
However the A band retrieved the day with a really solid pipe sound, no mistakes and some great playing - comments from the judge included "Nice clean fingerwork and sound integration, positive dynamics, a very good chanter/drone balance and fully sustained throughout".
Grade 4 Mini Bands (1st)
Owing to one of the pipers getting their dates mixed up we were only able to enter one mini band in this years event instead of our usual two, but what a performance they put on. Rock solid sound and performance again drawing comments from the judge "good integration coupled with positive finger clarity, overall a very musical set played with an air of confidence"
Grade 3 Mini Bands (3rd)
One of the best performances from the band in this grade to date. Pipe sound was solid and sweet with plenty of power being developed by just four pipers.
Towards the end there was a little bit of lack of stamina showing but not impacting on the performance too much. The judge commented on it being a "very musical set and played with confidence"
Well done everyone