Wordia

I was recently referred to Wordia by a Blogger of Note and have been having a bit of a poke round over there to see whether any Ulsterisms have yet surfaced.

Imagine my surprise when this appeared....

The Parade of the Town - Portrush

As I said a few days ago, I have been playing with YouTube and latterly with both Windows Movie Maker and iMovie. The success has been variable, but here is the first faltering attempt at an edited version of the Portrush Parade of the Town, following the North West Championships.

Interestingly, Field Marshal decided not to bother letting the folks on the street see them - and I don't remember seeing Ballycoan either, for that matter. Bearing in mind that a lot of people hung about for close on 2 hours after the last band played, you would have thought it wasn't too much to ask for the bands to take the short dander to Barry's...

I'm starting to wonder whether we would be better to impose the same sort of rule that they have at the Cowal - if you don't walk the town (over there, it is before you play) then you are out of the contest. We need to make sure that the public is kept interested in piping and drumming. Otherwise interest wains, possible players never hear the music and it ends up the preserve of wizened old compulsives like me...

Results from the Cowal

Grade 1 (MSR, 14 competed)
1st Field Marshal Montgomery
2nd St.Laurence O'Toole
3rd House of Edgar-Shotts & Dykehead
4th Strathclyde Police
5th Boghall & Bathgate
6th ScottishPower
Drumming: House of Edgar-Shotts & Dykehead

Grade 2 (medley, 18 competed)
1st Inveraray & District
2nd Dumfries & Galloway Constabulary
3rd Grampian Police
4th Phoenix Honda-Glasgow Skye
5th Lomond & Clyde
6th Mauchline & District
Drumming: Inveraray

That makes FM Supreme Champions (again) with SLOT nipping at their ghillies. Also, Grade One will be welcoming Inverary & District next year - after a clean sweep of all the Majors for them. Should be interesting to see if they can make the final at the Worlds next year....

Playing with YouTube

I got a wee Flip Video UltraHD just before going to the Worlds and spent quite a lot of time using it when in Glasgow.

This is just a few minutes of video I captured of Ravara last weekend up in Portrush. Usually, there is better opportunity to get up close with the big bands when they are tuning, rather than in the arena.

I've been posting a dose of stuff over on YouTube - and have now discovered how best to upload to make sure the stuff comes up in HD. Give this a watch - you'll like it.

David Mitchell on Scots Gaelic

This was posted on Slugger and caught my attention. The question being asked over there was whether this would have application to Irish and to Ulsterscots.

Actually, I'm not sure that it would have universal acceptance in the language communities but I think the answer is "yes".

Personally, I agree that the primary purpose of language is as a communication tool and it has always seemed compelling to me that the people who speak Irish/Ulsterscots also speak English. Therefore, the existence/perpetuation of the language is not vital. Well, not for the purpose of communication anyway.

However, language also gives expression to identity - and that is where its survival is, in my view, essential. However - and this is something we tend to lose sight of - language is PART only of the tapestry of identity. Language must be viewed in its cultural context. That is where we have perhaps been weak. We have not promoted enough the fact that the Ulsterscots have a rich history and culture - true, it is shared with others in these Isles - but it is the product of our past and something we should hold on to and be proud of. That includes the language.

I have to agree that randomly sticking minority languages onto street signs and using it in the all-too-familiar "weaponised" form is neither desirable nor wise, but well placed use, study and preservation is something we should be willing to spend a modest amount of money on.

World Pipe Band Championships 2009. Reflections.

Well, as promised, the link for the Results is here.

Looking at Grade 1, the first gratifying thing to note is that, in the Qualifiers, Ballycoan were top of the pile - and Cullybackey looked none too shabby in Fourth. The 78th lost out to the clatter of "joint fourths" and I have been told by an early riser that they had a considerably "flatter" sound than the other bands playing, which might well have proved to be their downfall.

In the Final, to see the Australia Highlanders and Dowco Triumph Street at the bottom of the pile only serves to reinforce my notion that they were questionable for their spots. Australia Highlanders have not impressed me at all on the two occasions when I have seem them this year and Dowco (from afar) didn't seem too special either. I'm all for overseas bands qualifying - I would just be happier if I felt content that it was entirely justified.

As expected FMMPB lost out due to the disparity between their piping and drumming scores (counting the Ensemble judge as another piping man). In the days before the "placings" system, I suspect that we woudl have been celebrating local winners once again. It is perhaps interesting to note in passing that the judge tasked with looking at the "whole band" (in MSR) rated FM number one - although the other adjudicators thought they were neither the best pipers nor drummers. A case of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts perhaps?

The only other point to leap out (at the moment!) is the disparity in piping scores for Strathclyde (in MSR). At this level, one judge saying 8 and another saying 4 does make you wonder. It's always entirely possible that one man heard a mistake while the other fella was at the opposite side of the band but it's a big gap to justify. If they had got a solid "4", they still wouldn't have challenged SLOT, so I suppose it's a case of "no harm, no foul".

I'll return to the subject of the Worlds again, but would really like to hear from anyone else who was there and who has an opinion to put....

Looking back on the day...

Looking back on the day...
Originally uploaded by ulsterscot

Well, it was quite a day. It always is. Plenty of players will tell
you that the Worlds is not the most enjoyable contest but it is the
top of the tree for all of us.

The Grade 1 qualifiers threw up a couple of slight upsets. I think
most people had expected the 78th Frasers back in the mix and
personally I doubt that Australia Highlanders should have got beyond
that stage.

Anyhow, it was great to see both Cullybackey and Ballycoan make it
through and they were sounding really well in the tuning areas.

I struggled to pull myself away from FM - even though they hold the
title for least fun band to watch tuning. They only ever seem to play
a couple of parts at most but they sound so great playing those
snatches that it hard to credit anyone besting them.

I wandered around and videoed some bits and pieces which I'll be
posting on YouTube over the start of next week.

Strathclyde Police sounded assured and Vale were about as good as I've
heard them in 10 years.

SFU just didn't strike me as the winners on the day but they are
certainly one of the great bands of our time. FM have suffered for
years through the perceived lack of a top flight drum corps. I thought
that prejudice had been laid to rest but I can't help being a little
disappointed to see how the crowd was sure once SFU had won the drums that it was all over. FM would be well down at the back and wouldn't be far enough ahead in the pipes.

The results overall were very good again for Ulster bands with the
Grades (and Drum Majors) dominated by NI talent. Ravara got a very
well deserved 2nd in Grade 2 - although I'm not sure they would relish
promotion next year.

I'll post a link to the full results later.

The photo above shows what could so easily have ruined the whole day.
The weather. We were very lucky. The early part of the day was quite
showery and yesterday was a total washout. But in the end today just
had a couple of showers to interfere with our music. Not too bad at
all - although a lot of people will be trying to get the mud out of
their socks for some time to come.

All in all it was another good Worlds and I just hope that next year
the big prize will be coming back "home".