Project Overview
What we’re doing and why
NYPBS Ensembles brings talented young Pipers and Drummers together from across Scotland to connect with each other, gain unique experiences and develop their own playing and knowledge.
We do this by tackling a full programme of new music, demanding a high level of performance skill, including Pipe Band classics to more experimental pieces. With such a thriving Pipe Band scene in Scotland, we realised there’s not much point in us duplicating the experience our participants are gaining during the competing season. So by working through a different approach and challenge, everyone’s sharpening and expanding their confidence and skills in a new context.
By working together through this repertoire,with only a handful of rehearsals together each individual has to take more responsibility for their instruments and learning and we’re always humbled to see participants rise to the challenge.
Showcasing this all in a performance at the end of the project is not only a great way to celebrate what’s been achieved, and an outlet for the hard work but it’s also inspiring for other young people and a way to offer something creatively each year to the Pipe Band community. Each year we have bands reach out interested in the music, from across the world and the grades.
What we’re not doing and why
We are not ‘Scotland & District Pipes and Drums’, we’re not a Pipe Band which you join, we’re a National level annual youth development project. We have a fresh start each year with annual auditions and new music. We’re thrilled to see participants return to the project form year to year but there’s also no pressure, if you need to take a year to focus on exams or your first year in Grade 1, a new job, no problem. We’re an annual project and we’re here and you’re always welcome to apply each year, NYPBS is not something you join and then leave.
We are not a competing band. We think Pipe Band has become defined by competition. Most Pipe Band concerts are all within the realm of competition; displaying repertoire and attributes valued in a competition context. Which is great, it’s fantastic to see the ‘pre-worlds’ concert celebrating the very best that competitive Pipe Bands have to offer before the Worlds gets underway each year. But we don’t think that has to be the whole story. At the NYPBS we don’t have to worry about competing at all, none of the politics, no season to balance against the concert, we are a Concert Ensemble. As such we have a unique opportunity to tailor our entire approach to that environment. This isn’t just how we stand, or the material we play but it’s right down to how we set the sound. We aim for a sound which is designed for a concert hall, something that’s sweet and warm, at concert pitch and pleasant to listen to for 90 mins, even if you’re not a piper or a drummer! If we were performing outside, competing, we’d have to go for a more robust sound to get the definition in that environment, but if we took that sound into a concert hall, it’s a bit intense.
We are not a replacement or substitute to your local bands. The NYPBS offers a totally different experience, which we hope is complimentary, to your local bands. We schedule our programme purposefully in the off-season for competing bands because NYPBS is all about providing more opportunities and experiences for young people, not limiting them.
We’re an ambitious community and we always want to do more and more at NYPBS but we have to be careful not to overreach beyond the scope of the project. This project is already jam packed, the scale of our annual concert is the kind of thing most Grade 1 bands only do every few years, if that, and we tackle it in a very short window of time. We believe this is really worthwhile and importantly, that it’s enough. We do facilitate ‘extracurriculars’ where we can, we normally see some great additional opportunities come in for participants but it’s important to remember that they are additional.
The NYPBS is all about providing training and experience in the context of Concert performance. This is a rare opportunity in the Piping World, and often concert performance is heavily influenced by competition. There’s plenty of fantastic experiences out there which every other Pipe Band in the country is offering, including competing, performing in Tattoos, parades, Galadays and we think these are fantastic things for young pipers and drummers to be doing. These just aren’t the things our unique project offers.
We’re not giving Piping and drumming lessons. The NYPBS is an annual project and we believe our participants learn a lot and develop their skills through experience with support from our tutors. But we aren’t here to replace anyone’s teacher and we’re not giving Piping and Drumming lessons. We’re providing the sorts of things that you can’t really fit into a 1:1 teaching context.
We are not a folk band. The NYPBS forms a Concert Pipe Band each year, comprising of Pipes & Drums at the heart of it with accompanying instruments tailored to the repertoire each year. This is one big, collaborative ensemble rather than ‘Pipe Band and backing’, and this is a great opportunity for young people to experience that and to develop their confidence and skills in a multi-instrument environment.
Sometimes we can be a little zero sum in the way we define things in Pipe Band and people have mistaken us in the past as a folk band. I think because we’re looking at material beyond the scope of competition and we have accompanying instruments. Whilst there’s crossover between us and Folk bands, in that we both play Traditional Music, ask anyone in a Folk band if that’s what we are and you’ll receive a definitive no.
We’re proud to be a Concert Pipe Band and it’s an exciting journey as we shape new repertoire and celebrate classic Pipe Band concert material that’s came before us.
Rehearsal Phase
NYPBS Rehearsals run from October 2023 -April 2024. You can find all of the dates on our calendar here: https://www.nypbs.co.uk/bands-calendar
This is where the magic happens, it’s where we come together and learn and push each other to create a performance we can all be proud of.
We’ll start out focusing on getting the Pipes and Drums up and running and towards the end of this phase we’ll work with some fantastic accompanists.
Performance
Our programme culminates in our End of Year Concert, which will be at Perth Concert Hall 14th April 2024, with all three bands. This is an amazing experience and we really go all out on production. It’s a chance to showcase the hard work everyone’s put in and what we’ve made together this year.
Whilst we space the rehearsals out over time to allow participants to absorb and memorise the material for the concert, it’s a huge undertaking to perform at this scale with the small amount of rehearsal time we have together.
This year we are challenging our Senior Band, as we did last year to have a concert set up and running in time to perform at Celtic Connections on 3rd February at Glasgow Concert Hall. This will be alongside current Grade 1 World Champions Boghall & Bathgate and is THE Pipe Band gig at CC.
Extracurriculars
Every year we normally are able to arrange some fantastic additional opportunities for our participants, we call these ‘extracurriculars’. These can be things like appearing on Blue Peter, Welcoming the Ukrainian Football team on mainstream news, performing at the Hydro with Ballet dancers, playing at the Opening Concert of Celtic Connections.
We always facilitate these activities when we can but it’s important to remember these are additional, bonus activities and there’s both no pressure on participating and also no guarantee either. By definition these events are not NYPBS events, which means we have very little control over the events and can only respond to the conditions, timelines and information provided by those who do.
When these come up we’ll write to all eligible participants via email and offer info and a sign-up procedure.