R U Brown Society Competition 01 and 02 May 2004

Adelaide, South Australia

Saturday Evening Recital 01 May:

Whereas 2 years ago, it was the young guns who warmed up the audience at the Saturday recital; this year gave way to experience. Once again the chapel of the Scotch College provided the venue on a clear, crisp autumn evening to a large and appreciative audience.

First Recitalist – Jimmy MacIntosh:

Craig Masson of the R U Brown Piobaireachd Society of South Australia and M.C. Brett Tidswell introduced the first recitalist by mentioning Jimmy MacIntosh’s association with the late R.U. Brown. This was seen as an appropriate link with the past with which to start the weekend’s proceedings. Once again, two portraits of the great man were brought to the chapel to watch over the weekend’s events.

Jimmy, who admitted later to feeling nervous, played on 1925 Lawries with Ezy-Drone tenors and a prototype Naill chanter “made from a tree taken from his grandfather’s back yard.” His pipe, being a study of gentle steadiness took us through traditional selections of 6/8 and 2/4 marches concluding with the Old Women’s Lullaby.

Second Recitalist – Lewis Turrell M.B.E.

Continuing on the theme of experience, Lewis Turrell of Auckland, New Zealand, was next to play on a set of 1952 Hendersons fitted with a sheepskin bag and Naill chanter. Lewis’s performance was the highlight of the weekend. It was supplemented by a rich and vibrant pipe, with a chord of harmonics banging in on every note. Moving through a selection ranging from gaelic airs, his own composition Kaye Sutherland, through Donny MacGregor, Donald MacPherson, Robbies’ Dancing Shoes and Queen of the Rushes, Lewis confirmed his position of one of New Zealand’s most outstanding and musical players. Your scribes’ former tutor, and judge for the event, John B R T MacKenzie of Bathurst, NSW commented on Turrell’s “perfect 6/8 playing in the McLeod style…” and later to his great musicality. “He’s still got it!”

Lewis is also the consummate showman. His introductions to each bracket of tunes were peppered with interesting and amusing anecdotes. He also paid homage to G.S. McLennan and Donald McLeod asking “what would we play without these two great musicians?” To answer, probably a few Turrell compositions.

Finally, Too Long in This Condition combined all the essential elements of great tone, great technique and expression. Your scribe was left wondering how 69 year old Turrell can outplay almost every piper half his age at their peak?

Third Recitalist – Brian Switalla

The evening was brought to a close by Brian Switalla of Christchurch, New Zealand. Brian, who was taught by Fergus Matheson of Dunedin, Alan Dodd, Lewis Turrell and Donal Bain has for the last three years been a guest player with Field Marshall Montgomery. Brian played 1890’s Hendersons and Ezy Drone reeds fitted with a Ross Bag and Sinclair Chanter. High praise from John MacKenzie who admitted that he would pleased to play a pipe as good as Switalla’s. Another observer described it as “an umbrella of sound.”

Brian moved through a mostly traditional selection of tunes to close with the Lament for Donald McLaggan interspersed again with brief introductions and anecdotes.

Gold Medal Competition – Sunday 02 May

Cool, damp conditions did nothing to diminish the beauty of the setting as once again Scotch College provided the outstanding venue for this growing event.

Ernie Bowler

79 year old Ernie Bowler of South Australia opened the Gold Medal in the chapel with the Lament for Mary McLeod on a pleasant sounding pipe.

Jean Morrison

Experience gave way to youth as Jean Morrison of the Clayton Pipe band in Victoria took to the boards with the Groat. Jean immediately impressed with good blowing on a bright pipe. Not taking sufficient time to settle her drones, Jean moved not quite convincingly through the Ground and First Variation before settling in and moving the tune forward at a good tempo. Demonstrating strong technique and a good understanding of the theme with particular emphasis on the long Low G in the crunluath, Jean finished to great appreciation from the audience. Definitely a piper to watch.

Harry Marcelin

Harry Marcelin of Adelaide was next with MacLeods’ Salute sometimes referred to as “the rowing song.” Harry was taught by George MacRae.

Brett Tidswell

Brett Tidswell, Pipe Major of the City of Adelaide Pipe Band followed Harry with the Lament for the Viscount of Dundee on an awesome pipe. Aside from a couple of slips of memory and a suspect D; Brett combined the essential elements of technique, tone and expression to give the second prize-winning performance of the day.

Roy Hopkins

Roy Hopkins, formerly of Christchurch and now with St Mary’s Band Club Pipes & Drums, Sydney, N.S.W. was next up with the Lament for Donald of Laggan. With his pipe suffering moisture problems, Roy was unable to settle his drones and consequently never looked quite comfortable during his performance. Taking advice from John MacKenzie, Roy was later to change his blow-pipe for a shorter length and found his subsequent performances in the day more comfortable and satisfying. Like many pipers, he had grown accustomed over 10 years to the length of his blow pipe and it never occurred to him that it might be pushing the bag away and causing him to hitch the bag frequently. At least one other gold medal competitor might also consider this.

Ross Campbell

Defending Gold Medallist Ross Campbell was next with the End of the Great Bridge. Your scribe was looking forward to hearing Ross’s uniquely beautiful Trevaille chanter, but he told me later that he was now playing the Naill chanter for his solo playing. I had to admit to preferring the tone he was able to obtain from the Trevaille with it’s memorable High A. Like other competitors, Ross was playing drone reeds made by Robert Crozier and a chanter reed made by Steve Harris, both of Melbourne. Again, Ross’s drones were not quite settled. Nevertheless, a very enjoyable performance from a strong and experienced player.

Barry Gray

Barry Gray from City of Blacktown, Sydney, NSW put in a very solid performance of Glengarry’s Lament on one of the steadiest pipes of the day.

Tracey Williams

One of the encouraging aspects of this competition is the number of young players show-cased by the event. Next to take to the boards was Tracey Williams from Wellington, New Zealand. Tracey immediately impressed with good blowing and good tone on a very pleasant sounding and beautiful looking set of 1915 Hendersons. Tracey played Ezi-Drone tenors and a cane bass with a Naill chanter.

I was reminded of Natalie Blackmore’s performance in the Silver Medal two years previously. It occurred to me that there is a strong new generation of exciting young women pipers emerging through the ranks.

Tracey demonstrated great poise and maturity in settling her instrument prior to laying out the Ground of McLeods Controversy in a relaxed and assured style making excellent melodic sense of the tune. She showed great technique until the crunluath, which improved through the doubling to finish convincingly. Tracey’s performance was one of the highlights of the day. This was reflected in her third placing in the event. Another terrific young piper to watch, Tracey is a credit to her tutors, Bill Menzies of Havelock North and Iain Hines of Wellington, New Zealand.

Sam Young

Sam Young of NSW was next up with the King’s Taxes. Sam’s drones held well right to the end.

Richard Hawke

Sam was followed by Richard Hawke of New Zealand with the Lament for Patrick Og MacCrimmon on arguably the best pipe of the day. Suffice it to say that the special mention by Piper and Drummer Magazine of Richard Hawke as the piper to watch in 2004 was borne out by his prize winning performance.

Andrew Silver

Young Andrew Silver, a student of Ross Campbell played MacFarlanes Gathering on drones made by Bill Trevaille fitted with the Ross bag, Crozier reeds and a Naill chanter. A truly multi-cultural pipe with Australasian flair. Andrew demonstrated strong technique on a vibrant, if not steady pipe showing good promise.

Glen Anderson

New South Wales State Champion - Glen Anderson of Gosford, NSW was next to take the board. His pipe quickly came up in pitch correcting an initially flat High A. He later remarked that he had been kept waiting in the wings and that his pipe had flattened off slightly. Nevertheless, he took the time to steady his drones before playing the Glen is Mine in a subtle and melodic style. Glen moved through the variations with good blowing, strong technique and subtle touches to provide one of the memorable performances of the day. In spite of the climactic shock arriving from the sunny climes of Sydney, which he later said “wrecked his pipes;” his drones were rock solid to the end.

Noel Geeson

Noel Geeson was next with the Lament for McSwan of Roaig.

Malcolm Galloway

Noel was followed by Malcolm Galloway of Wellington, New Zealand. Another protégé of Iain Hines, Malcolm also acknowledges the influences of George Mason and Greg Wilson. This tutelage showed in the setting of his 1950’s Henderson drones, cane reeds, sheepskin bag and MacCallum chanter. These combined beautifully to provide a clear, mellow sound, which filled the chapel with an umbrella of sound and no trace of coarseness. With fingers as long as your arm Malcolm played Too Long in This Condition to produce one of the memorable sounds of the day.

Ian Lyons

Being last on a long list is not an enviable draw on a cool Sunday afternoon. Nevertheless, Ian Lyons of Victoria blew up on a pipe that invited us all to listen. Blowing good, steady pitch, Ian laid out the ground of McDonald of Kinloch Moidart no. 1 confidently and just when his pipe was demonstrating that it was going to hold, he unfortunately broke down in the crunluath.

Summary

Overall there were many good pipes, but just as many players who didn’t take the time to settle their drones prior to commencing their tune. Also, much of the playing was clipped, mechanical and un-song like. Some technically proficient performances on good pipes were marred by this lack of expression in the music.

Conclusion

In the last two years, this event has grown in size and stature. Overall, it was gratifying to see so much new talent emerging as this is surely the purpose of these events. Although the piobaireachd is the main event, it was good to see an expanded range of light music events. Perhaps more expansion of the light music events will encourage more Australian and New Zealand pipers to make the journey? Perhaps too, the local pipers of Adelaide and South Australia will in future offer more support? The calibre of judges and recitalists is first class, the venue superb and organisation improving each year.

This year, the added touch of suggesting the same hotel for players and judges added to the social enjoyment of the event, which culminated in an informal dinner at the Bombay Bicycle on the Sunday evening.

Planning for 2005

Looking forward to the first Sunday of May in 2005, the committee of the R U Brown Society are already in discussion with a top piper from Scotland.

Tunes Submitted

GOLD MEDAL	Tune One	Tune Two	Selected Tune
Ernie Bowler	The Massacre of Glencoe	The Carles Wi’ the Breeches	The Lament for Mary McLeod
Jean Morrison	Black Donald’s March	Too Long in this Condition	The Grout
Hamilton Marcelin	The Desparate Battle	MacCrimmon’s Sweetheart	The MacLeod’s Salute
Brett Tidswell	The Lament for Mary McLeod	Lament for Patrick Og MacCrimmon	The Viscount of Dundee
Roy Hopkins	Massacre of Glencoe	McLeod’s Controversy	Lament for Donald of Laggan
Ross Campbell	Melbank’s Salute	The McNab’s Salute	The End of the Great Bridge
Barry Gray	The Glen is Mine	Lament for Alisdair Dhearg McDonnell	Glengarry’s Lament
Tracey Williams	The Kings Taxes	Lament for Donald of Laggan	McLeod’s Controversy
Sam Young	The Lament for Mary McLeod	Tulloch Ard	The King’s Taxes
Richard Hawke	Lament for the Earl of Antrim	I Got a Kiss of the King’s Hand	Lament for Patrick Og MacCrimmon
Andrew Silver	Lady Doyle’s Salute	The Lament for Mary McLeod	McFarlane’s Gathering
Glen Anderson			The Glen is Mine
Noel Geeson	The Lament for Mary McLeod	Corrienessan’s Salute	The Lament for MacSwann of Roaig
Malcolm Galloway	McDonald of Kinloch Moidart Lament No. 1	Lady Doyle’s Salute	Too Long in this Condition
David Paterson	Clan Campbell’s Gathering	Glangarry’s Lament	The Old Men of the Shells No.1
Ian Lyons	Flame of Wrath	McIntosh’s Lament	McDonald of Kinloch Moidart No.1

Written by Ian Comyns, Sydney, NSW, Australia

E-mail: ianc@mcgrath.com.au