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NATIONAL COUNCIL MEETING
PRESEASON GRADING CHANGES
10th February 2010
The National Council met on Saturday 6th February and as always at this time of year Gradings was one of the main agenda points.
After this meeting there are 3 changes to this original proposed changes at the October Meeting. The changes are as follows:
Kelty & Blairadam new band graded Novice Juvenile Linlithgow and District now regraded 3A Stockbridge new band graded 4B
Kevin Reilly
RSPBA Chairman
SCOTTISH WEEKEND - ALDEN BISEN 2010
1000 EURO TRAVEL BURSARY
21st December 2009
The Scottish Weekend celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2010 for the Pipe Band Championship! You’ll find us in Alden Biesen as usual.
This year, Scotland is the central theme for this event on the 10th, the 11th, and the 12th of September 2010.
For this occasion, the organization is offering €1000 towards the travelling costs, exclusively for each of the first 30 Scottish Pipe Bands which register to participate in the Belgian Pipe Band Championship 2010.
Subscription can be done on www.scottish-weekend.be
The program will be on:
Friday evening September 10th
Saturday September 11th
Sunday, September 12th
Celebrate with us and the organization of the Scottish Weekend in Belgium our 25th anniversary!
If you are being interested in the whole program, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Gust Battain (member of the P.B.C.B –working group )
PB-Coordinator - Pannehoeve 58, B-3290 Deurne-Diest
Tel. 0032 (0)13 66 60 73 - Fax.0032 (0)14 86 25 25 - E-mail: mail.pbcb@scarlet.be
PR/Press information: Rudi Schils 0032 (0)478 98 2303 – E-mail: rudi.schils@schotsweekend.be
NATIONAL PIPING AND
PIPE BAND QUALIFICATIONS LAUNCHED
22rd November 2009
Monday 23 November saw another major milestone in the Piping and Drumming Qualifications Board (PDQB) qualifications project, with the launch of the Scottish Qualifications Authority’s nationally validated versions of the PDQB’s Piping and Pipe Band Drumming awards at the Radisson Hotel, Argyle Street, Glasgow. The launch was opened by members of George Watson’s College Pipe Band and the introduction of the new awards was fully supported in a video message from Mike Russell MSP, the Scottish Government’s Minister for Culture. For the first time ever we now have national standards for Piping and Pipe Band Drumming which are recognised jointly by the SQA and the 5 PDQB partners - The Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association, The Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming, The College of Piping, The National Piping Centre and the Piobaireachd Society.
The SQA awards reflect the same requirements of the syllabus which was published when the PDQB qualifications were introduced in 2007 but the qualifications will now be known as National Progression Awards (NPAs) and Professional Development Awards (PDAs) within SQA’s national qualifications structure. There are 5 levels of NPA in Piping and 4 Levels in Pipe Band Drumming, each level covering both Solo Performance and Theory; and there are two higher levels of PDA in Piping, each also covering both Solo Performance and Theory. All have a level and credit points within the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF).
The following chart shows the new structure in relation to the previous PDQB levels and the NPA, PDA and mainstream school/higher level qualifications within the SCQF:
(Click for a larger image)
The qualifications will be available only through the 4 PDQB Examination Centres, all of which have been approved as SQA Centres. The Centres are:
The Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association The Army School of Bagpipe Music and Highland Drumming (for Armed Forces personnel only) The College of Piping The National Piping Centre
In future candidates must register for the examinations with one of the Centres and the Centre will appoint the Examiners/Assessors. All assessments will be conducted under PDQB/SQA procedures. The Certificates for successful candidates will be issued by SQA reflecting their national status. Candidates may take the Performance and Theory Units of the qualifications separately and these can be certificated separately by SQA. To achieve the full qualification at each level, however, candidates must achieve a pass in both Performance and Theory Units.
RSPBA courses leading to the PDQB/SQA qualifications will continue to be organised at Branch level in line with past practice. It will be the responsibility of the Branch to register candidates with RSPBA Headquarters (i.e. the SQA Centre). Some adjustments are being made to the PDQB syllabus to reflect the new titles etc and further details will appear on the RSPBA and PDQB websites in the near future.
Work in developing a new Pipe Band Studies Certificate is also still in progress by the PDQB and details of this award will be publicised as soon as possible.
Below, a mini band from George Watsons College play at the launch.
Alistair Aitken OBE
WORLD SOLO DRUMMING
THREE IN A ROW FOR BARRY
24th October 2009
World Solo Drumming pictures courtesy of Photographer Scott Campbell.
The Andante Sponsored World Solo Drumming took place again at the Glasgow Caledonia University on Saturday 24th October.
The event was again free for all events apart from the adult final which was a complete sell out. The day saw 213 performances across all 4 grades.
The Juvenile One section was won by James MacNeil from Robert Malcolm Memorial, Canada. This was only James second attempt at the World Solos after coming 3rd in 2008.
The Juvenile Two section was won by Grant Cassidy from The House of Edgar Shotts and Dykehead. Grant was playing in Juvenile Two for the first time after winning the Juvenile One title in 2006, 2007 and 2008. Grant was tied with fellow Shotts youngster Steven Shedden and it took an Adjudicator Preference to decide the winner after both finished with 4 points.
The Juvenile Three section was again won by Craig Brown from Boghall and Bathgate Caledonia. Victory gave Craig his 5th World Solo victory in 6 years. Craig was placed first by 3 of the 4 judges taking victory by 5 points over John Stewart from Killeshin, Eire.
The Adults started the day with 74 qualifiers in 4 heats looking to progress into the semi finals to meet last years finalists, one of the largest entries recorded in recent years in the Adult event.
For the third year running Barry Wilson from Scottish Power was victorious with 5 of the 8 judges placing him first over both events. Barry won the MSR event by 5 points from another previous champion Steven McWhirter. The Hornpipe and Jig was won by Gordon Brown but with Barry only 1 point behind he finished 9 points clear and once again World Champion.
The summaries from all events are available by clicking here.
The next event on the RSPBA Headquarters calendar will be the AGM on March 13th 2010. All branch activities will be in full flow over the coming months. Why not get along to your branch meetings and AGMs and support your branch. Once again our Chairman and I will be trying to get around as many as possible.
Ian Embelton
Chief Executive
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