Episode 1 Pipe Dreamers

BAGPIPES PLAY

The sound of bagpipes has echoed through history.

Northern Ireland has the highest number of pipe bands per head of population anywhere.

For many, this music is part of their Ulster Scots heritage.

But it's not an exclusive culture. It embraces all communities.

The sound is stirring, the performance is a spectacle.

Beginner or best in the world, you are part of the piping family.

In this programme, we follow two men who lead the best pipe bands in the world.

One is from the North of Ireland, the other is from the South.

This is the story of two pipe dreamers.

MUSIC STOPS

CROWD CHEERS

-TANNOY:

-World Championships 2010.

Grade one world champions, St Laurence O'Toole, number 16.

CROWD CHEERS

Terry Tully is a world leader. He is pipe major of the St Laurence O'Toole band from Dublin.

In 2010, for the first time in the band's history,

they became world champions.

Thus at the beginning of the 2011 piping season,

they are the best piping and drum corps anywhere.

It made me feel very proud of the people who have gone before us,

the people who were there on the day to achieve it,

and especially as well for the people who have stood behind us,

our own band followers.

His friend, Richard Parkes, also strides the piping world.

He leads the Field Marshal Montgomery Band based in Lisburn

and in 30 years of leadership he has taken them to the world title no less than six times.

I always remember winning the worlds the first time and it was a dream come true.

It's just an unbelievable experience.

Anybody that's won the World Championships will tell you

that's what it feels like.

So losing out last year to his friend and rival

doesn't sit easily with the six times world champion.

Getting second in the World Championships the last three years has been difficult for us.

Maybe, you know, you win it twice and you get a second. OK.

Then you get another second. Very good.

But you get three seconds in a row, you get the hunger back. You want to win it again.

Our aim is for to go out this year and play to the best of our ability

and defend our title to the best of our ability.

So we're just as hungry to win a second time

as Field Marshal are to win it for a seventh time.

We won't take any prisoners. We'll do our best to win on the day of the World Championships.

One world title up for grabs, two friends with the same ambition.

Richard and Terry can be perceived as opposite sides of the same coin.

North, South. Protestant, Catholic. The names of their bands say it all.

But they're also friends and rivals.

They have the respect of their peers and they respect each other.

I think in Ireland at the minute we're competing against

one of the best bands in the world that there's probably ever been.

St Laurence O'Toole have always been our competition in Ireland

and they've never been a band it's been easy to beat in competition.

Hopefully they would think the same thing about us.

Field Marshal are a fantastic band and they always have been

and probably always will be as long as Richard Parkes is at the helm.

I would never underestimate Field Marshal whatsoever.

Even when they have a mediocre performance,

it's still a better performance than most of the bands in Scotland.

I think the relationship between me and Terry changes during the summer

in that we're so focused on our bands

and we want them to be the best they can be

and we're obviously competing against each other.

It's difficult to be friendly in that scenario.

We are very friendly and we'll always speak and visit each other,

but when the season's over that changes and you become a normal person again,

if you're not a normal person during the summer.

But what does it take to be world champion? Self-control?

Come on!

Patience?

Da-badum ba-dee-dra. All right? Do it like that. I don't want to have to tell you again.

Understanding?

I'm fed up with people questioning me. Just do what I say and that's it, all right?

No gain without pain.

And no gain without a band.

At this high level of competition,

the pipe major no longer draws his players solely from within the local area.

Terry Tully casts his net well beyond Dublin.

I was accepted into the band from the very first day I came down.

This is a family, this band.

I've never seen anything like it

as regards doesn't matter what colour you are,

what religion you are. Anything like that there, you're welcome in this band.

All you need to be able to do is play.

And he has no difficulty reconciling his Protestant heritage

with playing for a band bearing the name of a Catholic saint.

On 12th July there were five players out of St Laurence O'Toole

that actually went out to play this year.

For me it's all about the music.

I will still remember where I come from.

Anyone who grew up with the sound and sight of the marching pipe bands

knows that they are very much part of the Ulster Scots culture,

but it is a music that is shared by all communities in Northern Ireland.

Terry Tully regards his band's cross-border links as a welcome sign of changed times.

I'd say to people in the North of Ireland,

with the way their roles are now, we're getting closer to you all the time.

So the journey from the North

to Dublin is quite a lot easier today

than it would have been 20 years ago.

The close links over the centuries between Ulster and Scotland

have resulted in the shared passion for the music and tradition of the pipe band.

It is a passion that has been carried round the world

and that's evident when one considers

how far some have travelled just to play with the world's best bands.

I'm originally from California

and I've been living in Glasgow for eight years.

It was my dream since I was a wee girl

to play in the Field Marshal Montgomery

because they were world champions when I first started piping.

The year that I first started was the year they were current world champions from 1993.

I grew up listening to CDs from the Field Marshal.

I would listen to CDs of the World Piping Championships.

I would listen to Field Marshal Montgomery playing MSRs actually by my swimming pool.

I'd sit by my swimming pool underneath the sunshine,

which is something I'd really appreciate this weekend, and listen to Field Marshal.

I just thought I had to be part of that.

They bring a sense of character to the band. It's great to have Americans, Canadians.

It's great to see these guys coming in and it's a real sense of enjoyment for me

that these guys end up coming to Scotland or Northern Ireland

because they want to play pipes and they want to play in our band.

The pipe band season, a series of competitions for bands of all standards, begins in the spring.

It continues throughout the summer, culminating in the World Championships in Glasgow in August.

The hard work begins much earlier, in the depths of winter,

often in halls where heating might be regarded as something of a luxury.

The way it works now is learning tunes and music within the band is almost all internet-based.

When we make a decision and the tunes are finalised,

basically they'll be e-mailed out to people

and usually there are recordings e-mailed out to people as well.

We will have a couple or three or four months off in the winter,

but then we come back and the guys have got the tunes.

I'll be expecting them to pretty much know the tunes at our first practice.

There's no magic wand. It's not rocket science.

You just have to get on with it and take it from the bottom up.

And the music the pipe major selects reflects the tradition of the band and becomes its signature.

For many, many years, our band was very easily identified

by the kind of music that it selected for its medleys.

I think that we've kind of nailed it ourselves in the last few years

and we've made our medleys in such a way whereby people, everybody,

can get a handle on them straightaway and know where the music is bringing them.

The music is supposed to take you on a musical journey.

You know, if someone can get a handle on that straightaway, well, you've made your point.

MUSIC PLAYS

I've been brought up on some of the old traditional tunes of the pipes through all of my teaching

and I really enjoy listening back to some of those tunes.

I feel it's my duty to ensure that the young players that we have in the band at the moment

have the same experience of those tunes that I had all those many years ago.

And to try and keep the tunes alive, I like to try and keep some of them

in the traditional pipe band medleys that we're playing at the moment.

I've always tried to do that.

The traditional music of the pipes comes from a range of different tunes,

for example marches, strathspeys and reels, which are Scottish dance tunes,

and also jigs and hornpipes.

One of the tunes that we played this year was composed in the '60s

and we've used that as a base to do something more modern with.

This is the way it was originally composed.

HE PLAYS A TRADITIONAL TUNE

What we could do with that tune is play it in a more modern style

where the notes would be more even and it would be more round and possibly more lively.

HE PLAYS A MERRY TUNE

But when 24 or 25 sets of pipes are playing,

plus a drum corps of a dozen or more, that is a different matter.

So what exactly is a good pipe band supposed to sound like?

Judge John Wilson won the world title 11 times with Strathclyde, so he knows.

What the judges are looking for is a togetherness

because it's about a band playing together.

You've got drum judges that are listening to the drum corps

to see how well they're playing together.

You've got piping judges doing the same thing with the pipe corps,

listening to how they're playing together.

They also judging the tonal quality,

how well the instruments are tuned and how well they sound together.

Then of course, the biggie is the musical interpretation part,

where you're listening to how they're phrasing the tune,

how well they're capturing the musical idiom.

The ensemble judge listens to the togetherness of both elements.

Getting all that together in the practice hall is one matter.

Doing it in the pressure cooker of the performance arena is another.

The bigger the competition, the greater the pressure.

The All-Ireland Championships in Lisburn at the start of July

are a crucial test of how far the band has progressed.

There's an important title at stake.

There's a chance to measure up how rivals are doing

and there are big crowds pressing in on all sides.

Hey! Hey! Come on.

I don't want to have to shout again today, all right?

We're trying to get the band together. I don't want people off tuning their pipes.

If you go away to tune your pipes, make sure you're facing this way

so you can see me doing that, all right?

30 seconds. Go and tune up. 30 seconds.

The more distractions that you have like that,

some people have a tendency to lose their focus and the focus is on making sure

that when we go across that line that we're going to deliver the best performance that we can.

I don't really like too many distractions on the day

and sometimes I might have to lose my temper with certain individuals

if I see them being distracted by their friends or people from other bands.

It's a bit like watching Manchester United warm up in a crowded council park on a Saturday afternoon.

The two leading pipe bands in the world are trying to keep their minds on today's job -

winning the All-Ireland Championship.

Dum-dra-dee dum-dree. Come on, guys. Have a listen.

Let's focus on what we're doing here

and don't worry about what's going on behind you or beside you. OK?

Richard Parkes has won every competition so far this season

but Terry Tully has been getting closer.

With the World Championships only weeks away,

Richard needs to ensure that the band's performance keeps improving.

After Field Marshal's first performance in the ring today,

far from getting better, things may be slipping.

How can you not get the D right there? It must be blowing issues.

I try the Ds and it's fine. I go away and it changes. Not good enough.

His frustration and concern simmer for a few minutes

and then he turns to his man management handbook

and the chapter entitled When All Else Fails.

Come here!

I'm fed up with people wasting their time. It was not a good run.

We need to go in and kill them in the medley. Let's do it.

Let's get the act together. Whatever I say, do it. All right?

I'm fed up with people questioning me. Just do what I say and that's it. All right?

No more Mr Nice Guy!

But the direct approach brings results.

All-Ireland Champions for 2011,

Field Marshal Montgomery.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Second place, St Laurence O'Toole.

Well done, guys. Well done.

Chins up, all right?

Chin up, OK?

Chin up. Chin up, OK?

However, winning can be an exhausting business.

-All right?

-Hard day.

-A hard day? You were quite stressed today.

-I was stressed.

'When I first met Richard,'

he said, "There's something I've got to tell you,"

and I thought, "My goodness me, what's coming next?"

And then, he said, "I play in a pipe band." That's not very serious.

But a few years down the line, I realise how serious he is.

He needs people to be doing things around him

that make sure everything runs smoothly.

He is totally focused on the music, totally focused on the weather,

what's going on that day and where he's going to practise,

where he's going to do whatever.

You need support from family members.

Even though they may not be involved in the band,

they may be indirectly involved in the band.

My own wife, Eileen, would come along to all of the practices

and she would be there at all of the competitions as well.

They generally call me the mammy of the band.

I have one son, Alan, who is the pipe sergeant of the band.

Um...

But on the day of a competition, I have 40 other sons and daughters.

Oh, yeah.

I am generally here to try and pick up the pieces

if things go wrong or even if they go right.

You know, talk about them when things go right,

when they win, and analyse things with them when things go wrong.

Terry, kind of, in a way, would go into himself,

just wouldn't sleep at night,

would be constantly having sleepless nights and worrying about it, that way, really, you know?

Following your pipe dreams demands total dedication.

Band members and their families meet most of their own costs.

They don't get paid. A set of pipes might set you back thousands of pounds.

And the working conditions aren't great.

Six times world champions And The Drummers have to practise in a field,

not because they are nature lovers, there's no room in the hall.

Being the boss has its perks, though.

He gets to lock up at the end of the night.

If you think about the cost of playing in a pipe band,

it's not just the financial cost, it's the actual time you spend.

An average person, you come home from work after a long day,

maybe you watch a bit of TV, have your supper,

play with your kids, you know.

For us, you finish your work day, and you play your pipes and your pipes come first.

It comes before your meal, and you do this every day.

So, it's a way of life.

An hour every day, every day for an entire year,

year after year after year.

It is a big commitment in terms of the financial side.

Basically, all the flights back and forwards for the two of us,

myself and Megan, so it's double for us.

We must fly back and forth 15 or 20 times a year during the summer,

um, plus all the associated costs with airport parking, dog kennels,

and everything else that goes with it.

So, it is costly and there's no return for that.

From that aspect, it definitely is a holiday.

If I had a job that didn't allow me to play in the band, I'd get a different job.

If I had a friend's wedding on the day of a championship,

I'd have to question how important the friend was.

It's a way of life.

Family support, deep pockets, musical excellence,

dedication to the cause and hard work are a must.

For some, the return or reward is easy to measure.

Being in the Field Marshal is like being an All Black, for me.

And I get to stand in the middle of this orchestra.

There is no better place in pipe bands than to stand in the middle of Field Marshal Montgomery.

Listening to the pipes

and the drums when they're doing what they do, ensemble.

I'm interested in putting forward the best performance I can

on the field to match

the best performers that everybody else is equally giving.

If people enjoy the performance,

yes, it is nice to get a trophy, it is nice to win a championship,

but it is more important that people go home happy and that includes us in the circle.

Although amateur, champion pipe bands are run on professional lines.

The season is planned like a campaign.

With the world title at stake, the band mustn't peak too soon,

nor lose impetus as the season progresses.

Achieving results is about getting the best

out of the individuals involved.

As we have seen, that includes the no-holds-barred approach.

I kind of think of a bit like Alex Ferguson.

He's got all these top footballers, the likes of Ronaldo and that,

and he was able to manage that

and deliver without having any disruptions within the team.

He is tough on people but he can be

because people have ultimate respect for him

and will not question him because they'll be told to leave

if they are not going to respect Richard's decisions.

So, it can be difficult for new pipe majors who have all the ideas,

to communicate that to their team

if they don't have that ultimate respect because people will question it.

The first one was rubbish. The first can cost you the competition.

Don't let it happen.

We all feel sorry for ourselves if it happens

but it is your responsibility, you know.

I know what I want and I know how to try and get it.

And sometimes, I might seem frightening when I do that.

I don't always mean to be that way but it's just the way it is.

And when they know what I am like outside the band situation,

they can maybe take the criticism or the scariness from me whenever they get it.

Come on, guys, no excuse.

Wilting violets needn't apply.

But leaders need to rely on more than the stick.

They do spend many hours a week paying attention to the tuning

and confidence of their players.

Both Richard Parkes and Terry Tully have their moments

but ultimately, those in the band have to feel that the pipe major

has faith in them, even when things aren't going their way.

Well done, guys. Well done, guys. Hard luck but well done.

Next week is another week. We'll get them next week.

Whenever I joined the band, I was slightly scared of him

but once you get to know him, he is such a nice man.

But he does have such an... that real personality,

that real drive to push the band as far as it can go.

You need somebody like that as your pipe major.

And Terry does a brilliant job.

On the day, you couldn't ask for a better pipe major.

He keeps everything controlled. He knows what he wants.

We know how he works and we keep ourselves focused on that.

Right, guys, just do it the way we do it at band practice, all right?

Do the way we do it at band practice. All right? Ready?

Right. Quick march!

In Ireland, the season's last big event is the European championship.

With the worlds two weeks away,

this is the final important rehearsal.

Both pipe majors have been targeting this day since the winter.

It's also the event where they face serious competitions from bands beyond Ireland,

some of the opposition they will meet in a fortnight.

Stormont is an impressive picturesque venue.

Home advantage to Richard Parkes.

It's very much home ground for me.

I pass by this park every day on the way to work. I was there yesterday.

It is five minutes from my house. So, it is very much on home ground.

It is great to drive five minutes down the road to a major championship.

We would term this the business half of the season.

They're all important but when you get down to one major championship away from the worlds,

it's down to the nitty-gritty, you have to play well.

So far this summer,

every competition has seen St Laurence O'Toole comes second

to Field Marshal Montgomery.

However, they have won sections of those competitions

so Terry Tully knows he's not far behind.

This is the competition last year when it turned around for us.

We won this competition last year.

This year, it's a medley competition.

The fact that we have won the first two medley competitions this year,

playing against Field Marshal gives us that extra little bit of confidence that we need.

Because our medley playing, at the moment, is pretty good.

To win the competition today playing the medley would be great for us

two weeks before we go to the world championships.

APPLAUSE

Nerves, adrenaline, excitement, call it what you will,

we all know what it's like when the pressure mounts.

No matter what grade you are in, the band can play out of its socks

only for one mistake by one player to dash its chances.

Much of the day is spent waiting,

waiting until each grade begins, waiting until it is your turn,

waiting while everyone else has theirs,

and waiting for the results at the end of the day.

Grade 1 is always the finale

so it's a particularly long wait for the senior bands.

The European Champions 2011,

and in first place,

winning the trophy...

..Field Marshal Montgomery!

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Richard Parkes maintains the winning streak he's had all summer.

Anxious moments for Terry Tully because if he can't now win,

he needs to at least maintain the band's record of consistent seconds.

In second place,

winning the Glasgow Transport Cup,

St Laurence O'Toole.

CHEERING AND APPLAUSE

Job done, and even if it is not the result he would have wanted,

Terry can at least leave Stormont with a wry smile,

knowing that he is still well in the hunt.

CHEERING

True to form, Richard Parkes keeps his feet on the ground.

I know what we need to do. We know what we need to do.

But what we've got now, and we've had since the beginning of the season,

we have had great confidence in ourselves and that will help.

Now, all eyes to Scotland where there is a welcome in the hillside.

St Laurence, the reigning world champions, have not yet won this season.

The Field Marshal Montgomery has not been beaten.

But will that change when the stakes are raised?

The World Championships are in Glasgow in two weeks' time.

As well as Terry and Richard,

there will be 12 other pipe majors competing for the title.

Right, guys, all right!

All right!

We have four minutes.

Just stand straight.

Get us in, quick.

But at the end of the day, there can only be one winner.

Grade 1,

World Champions 2011.

In first place...

That's in the next programme,

where we find out if Terry Tully or Richard Parkes

can realise their pipe dream to be world champion.

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