:00:06. > :00:09.Whatever your passion, to be the best in the world is special. As
:00:09. > :00:16.the 2011 pipe band season begins, Terry Tully's band, St Laurence
:00:16. > :00:19.O'Toole, is the best in the piping world. To retain his world title,
:00:19. > :00:27.Terry will have to hold off all challengers, including his friend,
:00:27. > :00:30.Richard Parkes. Richard is the Pipe Major of the Field Marshal
:00:30. > :00:32.Montgomery band, and as the year progresses he is cleaning up all
:00:32. > :00:39.before them, including the Ireland, British and European pipe band
:00:39. > :00:47.competitions. By the second weekend in August, only one title eludes
:00:47. > :00:51.him - World Champion. Terry Tully all season has been second to
:00:51. > :00:58.Richard Parkes. But past performance counts for nothing, as
:00:58. > :01:01.they approach the Worlds'. A band can come from nowhere and win.
:01:01. > :01:11.Terry and Richard are friends and rivals who dream of winning the
:01:11. > :01:14.
:01:14. > :01:17.world title. The World Pipe Band Championships, held each August in
:01:17. > :01:23.Glasgow, are the grand finale of a season of competitions stretching
:01:23. > :01:26.back to April. The two leading bands in Ireland, St Laurence from
:01:26. > :01:33.Dublin and Field Marshal from Lisburn, are strong contenders to
:01:33. > :01:38.lift the major prize and be top dogs of the piping world. But who
:01:38. > :01:42.that top dog will be is no foregone conclusion. Out of 14 bands that
:01:42. > :01:48.will qualify for the final round, half a dozen could take the title.
:01:48. > :01:55.One mistake and the chance has gone for another 12 months. Glasgow is
:01:55. > :01:58.buzzing with a week-long festival of piping. Terry and Richard and
:01:58. > :02:08.their bands have arrived early in the week to get used to local
:02:08. > :02:10.
:02:10. > :02:16.conditions. Shame about the weather. Faced with a week of Glasgow storms,
:02:16. > :02:20.Richard Parkes has turned to the Church. The plan for today was to
:02:20. > :02:25.be outside today and tomorrow, but with the weather the way it is,
:02:25. > :02:29.there is no way you could do that. Or you could, but it wouldn't be
:02:29. > :02:34.good for you. If the pipes get wet, it could ruin them for a couple of
:02:34. > :02:38.days. It is a matter of keeping the pipes dry and on Saturday we'll do
:02:38. > :02:41.what we can do to try to get a good sound, and go from there. Right,
:02:41. > :02:44.let's try a couple of introductions. We're not going to play... Will you
:02:44. > :02:54.have a wee listen, please, guys? It's difficult enough. There are
:02:54. > :02:57.too many people in here. You all need to listen. I think the
:02:57. > :03:01.important thing for the band to get to Glasgow for a few days before
:03:01. > :03:06.the Worlds' is is to ensure that we're together for that time and we
:03:06. > :03:09.can fine tune our performances. Two full days of practise before the
:03:09. > :03:13.Worlds' you can really get the band closer together, better tuned and
:03:13. > :03:23.everybody feeling as a team going there to win the competition. Who
:03:23. > :03:33.
:03:33. > :03:36.made a mistake over there? Come on, wise up. Affectionately known in
:03:36. > :03:41.Glasgow as The Armadillo, this is the venue for the piping festival
:03:41. > :03:51.showcase concert. As current champions, St Laurence O'Toole have
:03:51. > :03:56.
:03:56. > :03:59.agreed to take part. It's good for the cash flow. Get your pipes up.
:03:59. > :04:02.Drums as well. So, instead of practising their competition
:04:02. > :04:07.repertoire, on Thursday afternoon the band is gathering on stage for
:04:07. > :04:10.a sound check. And they are a key player down for the moment. Terry's
:04:10. > :04:20.son, Alan, the Pipe Sergeant, is still in Dublin awaiting the birth
:04:20. > :04:25.
:04:25. > :04:35.of his first child. He's a great asset within the band itself and a
:04:35. > :04:37.
:04:37. > :04:39.big help to me to be able to set the band up. So, if Thursday
:04:39. > :04:47.brought bad weather and overdue babies, what surprises does the
:04:47. > :04:53.next day hold? Friday morning, the day before the World Championships
:04:53. > :04:56.and it is a late start at the St Laurence O'Toole hotel. Last
:04:56. > :05:00.night's concert didn't end until nearly midnight, so it it was wee
:05:00. > :05:04.small hours before the band got back from the city. The news over
:05:04. > :05:10.lunch isn't good. The band's Pipe Sergeant, Alan, is still in Dublin
:05:10. > :05:13.and a difficult decision has been taken. The plan was that he was
:05:13. > :05:16.going to fly in on the Saturday morning and fly back on Saturday
:05:16. > :05:24.evening after the competition, but at this stage he's not going to
:05:24. > :05:34.make it at all. We will miss Alan's experience and his cool head as
:05:34. > :05:35.
:05:35. > :05:38.well on the day. But we'll just have to get on with the job. When
:05:39. > :05:43.Lady Luck deals a bad card, she often deals your opponent a good
:05:43. > :05:46.one. As Terry comes to terms with Alan's absence, an hour later and
:05:46. > :05:52.only four or five miles away, Richard comes across a rare thing -
:05:52. > :06:02.a break in the clouds. The Field Marshal Montgomery head for the
:06:02. > :06:13.
:06:13. > :06:19.park. That was wrong. Get it right. We are getting better. It's
:06:19. > :06:29.absolutely superb. Brilliant. OK guys, come on. Right. Come on.
:06:29. > :06:32.Let's get going here. Come on. knock-on effect of St Laurence's
:06:32. > :06:36.O'Toole's late concert is the band doesn't gather until well into the
:06:36. > :06:43.afternoon. The break in the clouds that favoured Field Marshal
:06:43. > :06:50.Montgomery hasn't travelled as far as Terry Tully's hotel. We'll go up
:06:50. > :06:53.to the boardroom. Normally the boardroom would have been an option,
:06:53. > :07:03.but the hotel is bung to the gills and there's the small matter of a
:07:03. > :07:08.wedding. A wedding ceremony is going on directly under us. They're
:07:08. > :07:12.going to try and see if we can go into the carvery. On top of
:07:12. > :07:19.everything else, Terry now appears to be at the mercy of the Scottish
:07:19. > :07:24.weather. And it's very fickle. could nearly go outside now. It's
:07:24. > :07:34.stopped raining again. Inside and out, the search for practise space
:07:34. > :07:37.
:07:37. > :07:45.continues. Here we go again. Come out here a wee bit. We are not
:07:45. > :07:49.going to be perfect, right? What we need is to be very good. We're not
:07:49. > :07:52.going to get much more playing than this today. To me it sounds really
:07:52. > :07:56.good. There's wee bits here and there, but we're going to get
:07:56. > :08:00.better than that. Just get it good. The other thing, have a look at
:08:00. > :08:03.your kilt when you get home and see if it needs a wee press, because
:08:03. > :08:06.some of them aren't really good. There is an iron in everybody's
:08:07. > :08:11.room, so have a look at it. I'm wound up today. It's just me,
:08:11. > :08:15.that's just the way I am. Wound up? 24 hours before the Piping World
:08:15. > :08:22.Cup, who wouldn't be? Certainly not Terry, in a hotel car park, where
:08:22. > :08:25.it's stopped raining, at last. we're not with it here, guys. We
:08:25. > :08:29.didn't get a good break into the jig, and we're not playing together
:08:29. > :08:36.in it. Somebody is pulling us back. We're not getting G, Ds and Es
:08:36. > :08:38.together. We're not getting strikes together. Focus, alright? It was
:08:38. > :08:44.actually better the time before, until I mentioned making sure that
:08:44. > :08:54.the embellishments are 100% accurate. They weren't after that.
:08:54. > :08:57.
:08:57. > :09:02.You know what I mean? OK. Let's do it again. Once more. Same again.
:09:02. > :09:06.Same again. Same again. Practise makes perfect. Will it pay off for
:09:06. > :09:10.one of these two Pipe Majors? Tomorrow will tell. Between now and
:09:10. > :09:20.then all they can do is dry out the pipes, try and get a good night's
:09:20. > :09:21.
:09:21. > :09:24.sleep and make sure the kilts are ironed. At the heart of the city,
:09:24. > :09:28.Glasgow Green is the venue for the 2011 World Pipe Band Championships
:09:28. > :09:36.and they do come from all over the World - France, Canada, the United
:09:36. > :09:40.States, New Zealand, Australia. Cross Bar and Cullybackey share the
:09:40. > :09:42.Green with New York and Los Angeles. Names such as Rob Roy, the Black
:09:42. > :09:48.Ravens, and the Grandfather Mountain Highlanders roll off the
:09:48. > :09:52.tongue. Field Marshal and St Laurence are past champions but not
:09:52. > :09:58.the only ones. So too are established names like Simon Fraser
:09:58. > :10:02.and Shotts and Dykehead, firmly in contention. 6,000 pipers and
:10:02. > :10:05.drummers, 50,000 followers. Terry and Richard have been working
:10:05. > :10:12.towards this day since, well this day last year, when St Laurence
:10:12. > :10:14.O'Toole took the title and Field Marshal were runners-up. The
:10:14. > :10:21.competition they've been working towards all year, the biggest day
:10:21. > :10:24.in the piping calendar, as seasoned commentator Bob Worrall, confirms.
:10:24. > :10:27.This is the ultimate for any band, whatever grade, whether it is
:10:27. > :10:35.novice straight through to grade 1, to win here, this proves what
:10:35. > :10:43.you've been working for. Saturday starts fair but more rain is
:10:43. > :10:45.forecast, so Terry's first priority is to get the tent up. Richard has
:10:45. > :10:48.managed to secure the boathouse. It's dry, but more importantly it's
:10:48. > :10:58.relatively quiet, away from the noise and press of the thousands on
:10:58. > :10:59.
:10:59. > :11:02.the Green. Even though I am quite an old hand at this it never gets
:11:02. > :11:05.any easier. I'm just as nervous today as the first day we ever
:11:05. > :11:10.played the World Championships. It's an uneasy feeling, but you
:11:10. > :11:16.just really want to get started. It's the hanging about waiting to
:11:16. > :11:20.get started that's the difficult bit. I think to myself, I've done
:11:20. > :11:25.500 starts this week. I've done 3,000 starts this year, so I'm
:11:25. > :11:29.thinking of things logically to try to calm the nerves. I've practised
:11:29. > :11:32.this 100 times. We've done this 100 times. This is just another day.
:11:32. > :11:36.You have to ignore the fact that there's cameras around you, that
:11:36. > :11:46.there are spectators. It is silent. Everybody is waiting for you either
:11:46. > :11:51.
:11:51. > :11:54.to do well or to mess up. At the minute, I feel a little nervous.
:11:54. > :11:57.It's always the same. Hanging about and waiting is always the nerve-
:11:57. > :12:01.racking bit. Once you get the pipes out and start going and things
:12:01. > :12:04.start coming together, you seem to settle down. People say, "It
:12:04. > :12:10.doesn't get me, I don't get nervous". But I think they're
:12:10. > :12:13.telling lies. Everybody is nervous. It's the World Championships. It's
:12:13. > :12:21.what you practise all year for, to come here today. Nobody wants to
:12:21. > :12:25.make a hames of it, you know? So we've got about an hour before we
:12:25. > :12:31.go on and compete. Everything is relaxed. We've had a wee tune-up,
:12:31. > :12:34.to make sure the chanters are OK. We're feeling pretty confident. An
:12:34. > :12:41.hour to go and we're looking forward to getting in that Arena
:12:41. > :12:45.and hopefully retaining our title today. That's the main aim. We'll
:12:45. > :12:50.be heading to the line for ten minutes to one and I'm still not a
:12:50. > :12:53.grandfather yet. Terry's wife, Eileen, is known as the mammy of
:12:53. > :12:58.the band. But as the first performance approaches, being a
:12:58. > :13:07.mammy today is difficult. Sitting here, they've just got news they're
:13:07. > :13:10.on third. I don't know what to think. I'm waiting on my first
:13:10. > :13:16.grandchild and I'm full of emotions now. I don't know whether I'm happy
:13:16. > :13:19.for them going in or sad that Alan hasn't made it here today. He has
:13:19. > :13:22.mixed emotions. He's just back from the hospital and they say that
:13:22. > :13:27.nothing will happen now until Monday. So that's a comfort,
:13:27. > :13:34.knowing that nothing's going to happen now today while we are here.
:13:34. > :13:37.I'm still sad that he hasn't made it over. With 14 bands competing in
:13:37. > :13:41.this top grade, there's a lot of hanging about before the Field
:13:41. > :13:48.Marshal's first appearance in the ring. Just listen to those nerves
:13:48. > :13:57.jangling. Time for a steady hand. Get the sound of the tune in your
:13:57. > :14:07.head. When they draw the set, get that melody in your head, OK? One,
:14:07. > :14:39.
:14:39. > :14:43.Richard has spotted a suitable place among the crowds. I was going
:14:43. > :14:52.to me is that earlier, but the plan is to leave there. Somebody has
:14:52. > :14:57.already made it? Whatever. They are Terry Tully leads his band to the
:14:57. > :15:00.final tuning area beside the main arena. At this point, any member of
:15:00. > :15:10.the band who feels his or her instrument is not properly in tune
:15:10. > :15:11.
:15:11. > :15:14.Each band will play twice during the course of the afternoon, the
:15:14. > :15:22.first performance being a march, strathspey and reel, known as the
:15:22. > :15:27.MSR. Over the next six or seven minutes, the judges listen for
:15:27. > :15:30.selection, tuning and musicality. They listen in particular for the
:15:30. > :15:37.pipes sounding as a single instrument, and the degree to which
:15:37. > :15:47.the entire ensemble, pipe and drum The defending world champions
:15:47. > :15:47.
:15:47. > :16:41.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 53 seconds
:16:41. > :16:46.Ready? Well done, guys. Well done. How did
:16:46. > :16:55.that go? Good, good. I wouldn't say it was our greatest
:16:55. > :16:59.one ever, but it's well up there in terms of what we do as a band. Very
:16:59. > :17:02.pleased with it. I need to speak to the lads in the band at this stage
:17:02. > :17:07.to see what it was like, you know, in sections, especially the drum
:17:07. > :17:09.corps. But they seem to have had a very good performance. I'm happy
:17:09. > :17:12.with the piping performance at this stage.
:17:12. > :17:21.But as he strolls back with drum major Stephen Creighton, Terry
:17:21. > :17:26.seems to have a slight concern. was OK, it just... It didn't hit
:17:26. > :17:30.the strathspey sound as we did last year. I'd say if you listen back to
:17:30. > :17:33.it... Back at base camp, spirits are high.
:17:33. > :17:38.Terry talks with his son, Alan, who has been watching the performance
:17:38. > :17:41.online. He thought it was very good. He said it was a very good
:17:41. > :17:45.performance. He didn't notice that we had lost two pipers just before
:17:45. > :17:55.we went on. He thought it came across really well over the
:17:55. > :17:59.internet. Very good sound, good Field Marshal Montgomery emerge for
:17:59. > :18:02.the first time. As they move through the crowds on Glasgow Green,
:18:02. > :18:10.they will know that St Laurence have turned in a decent performance.
:18:10. > :18:15.But concentration on the job in hand is all that matters.
:18:15. > :18:20.Go straight there, no hanging about. Get in there as quickly as possible.
:18:20. > :18:23.In fact, maybe we should go a bit closer now.
:18:23. > :18:29.As they move to the final tuning area, the threat of rain is still
:18:29. > :18:33.in the air. Nothing Richard can do but keep the band focused. It's not
:18:33. > :18:37.a long walk to the circle, so just be careful of that, be aware of
:18:37. > :18:44.that. Don't be caught out by it, Please welcome the Field Marshal
:18:44. > :18:54.Montgomery band. Band, attention. Get ready. Up. OK, lads, Royal
:18:54. > :18:54.
:18:54. > :19:04.Highlanders. OK, get the tune in your head. Quick, march.
:19:04. > :19:04.
:19:04. > :19:52.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 53 seconds
:19:52. > :19:58.Very good. About right, quick, Good. Everything all right?
:19:58. > :20:03.Everyone all right? All right? Everything all right, yeah?
:20:03. > :20:07.Excellent, really good. Guys, get back to the boathouse and get the
:20:07. > :20:10.pipes dried out, whatever you need to do.
:20:10. > :20:12.Richard came off, he's really, really pleased. Execution, sound,
:20:13. > :20:17.the ensemble, drum corps, everything was exactly as he wanted
:20:17. > :20:24.it, really. So halfway there, so we're hoping for the same sort of a
:20:24. > :20:29.lift. Today was the first time I played with Field Marshal in the
:20:29. > :20:34.Grade One final. It was exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time.
:20:34. > :20:37.I actually did find myself enjoying it. I think by the time I got to
:20:37. > :20:41.the reel I was starting to relax, and I actually did end up enjoying
:20:41. > :20:43.the last few seconds, anyway. Although both bands appear happy
:20:43. > :20:49.with the first round, pundits at ringside reckon that St Laurence
:20:49. > :20:52.are probably lying second to Field Marshal at this stage. Throughout
:20:52. > :21:02.the season, St Laurence have usually done better in the second
:21:02. > :21:05.
:21:05. > :21:08.Terry Tully, too, believes that the medley is their strength, yet as
:21:08. > :21:17.they enter the final tuning area for the second time, tension turns
:21:17. > :21:27.to anxiety. Come on, come on, move it! If it's not right after the
:21:27. > :21:28.
:21:28. > :21:31.final tune-up, scoot, right? Right, guys? Ready? Ready?! Four minutes!
:21:31. > :21:34.As in the first round, the band is bedevilled by tuning problems, and
:21:34. > :21:38.three pipers have to drop out just before going to the line for the
:21:38. > :21:44.band's most important performance of the year.
:21:44. > :21:54.Same again. HE HUMS TUNE.
:21:54. > :22:31.
:22:31. > :22:35.Yeah? Sound good, yeah? Good. Good. Pleased with that. Really, really
:22:35. > :22:40.good. Really good. The sound of the pipes, the sound of the drums,
:22:40. > :22:47.playing, everything. The day you want it right, and we got it right,
:22:47. > :22:50.hopefully. Well done, guys. Well done.
:22:50. > :22:56.Believing that he is just ahead of the field, Richard knows that he
:22:56. > :23:02.needs a strong performance if he is to clinch his seventh world title.
:23:02. > :23:12.Then, the brollies go up. The wind freshens. The covers go on, and the
:23:12. > :23:12.
:23:12. > :23:16.Stand straight. There are no sympathy marks for playing in the
:23:16. > :23:26.rain. The judges ignore cold fingers.
:23:26. > :23:26.
:23:26. > :24:06.Apology for the loss of subtitles for 53 seconds
:24:06. > :24:10.Get us in, quick. OK with that?
:24:10. > :24:14.Before we went on to the medley, that's as good as the band's ever
:24:14. > :24:17.sounded. It wasn't as good as that inside, it was still very good. So
:24:17. > :24:22.that was a bit disappointing, because you can't do anything about
:24:22. > :24:26.the weather. It sort of eased off a bit, but it was still... It sort of
:24:26. > :24:31.affected people, you know. They got cold. And it affects the pipes as
:24:31. > :24:35.well. But we did the best we could with the conditions. It was good,
:24:35. > :24:38.very good. Cold fingers or not, it's up to the
:24:38. > :24:41.judges now. Commentator Bob Worrall is a champion piper, and he places
:24:41. > :24:47.Richard Parkes and Terry Tully in the very top echelon of world
:24:47. > :24:49.piping. You have a band that, over the
:24:49. > :24:55.years, Field Marshal Montgomery, that has demonstrated that kind of
:24:55. > :24:58.musical, tonal and technical perfection. That forces everyone
:24:58. > :25:04.else to rise to that standard, so it's catch-up for them, and that's
:25:04. > :25:07.how it was for a couple of years. Simon Fraser's done the same thing
:25:07. > :25:12.in Canada, and now with St Laurence O'Toole doing the same thing from
:25:12. > :25:15.Dublin, the whole thing just spirals. I said today when I was
:25:15. > :25:21.making my comments, just when you think a band can't play any better
:25:21. > :25:23.in a specific year... Any better than that, one, two, three years
:25:23. > :25:28.later, along comes another performance which raises the bar
:25:28. > :25:33.even further. And as soon as that bar is raised, everyone reaches for
:25:33. > :25:37.that bar. So who is setting that bar, Bob? Come on. I've got my
:25:37. > :25:42.speculation, but I'm keeping my thoughts to myself! Sitting on the
:25:42. > :25:45.fence, or what? Meanwhile, the spectacle, as the pipers and
:25:45. > :25:48.drummers from every class and grade, all ages and abilities, parade into
:25:48. > :25:58.the ring and stand side-by-side to salute the chief, the Lord Provost
:25:58. > :25:58.
:25:58. > :26:02.of Glasgow. And as they wait to see who will be world champion, almost
:26:02. > :26:09.unnoticed, the man who holds the world title and the man who wants
:26:09. > :26:14.to take it from him meet amidst a cast of thousands. How's it going,
:26:14. > :26:19.Terry? How are you doing? It's going good. What about Alan's...?
:26:19. > :26:25.No sign yet. No sign yet? No joy. He's been watching it all day,
:26:25. > :26:31.though. The whole thing. The two of them, sitting at home. Did you play
:26:31. > :26:36.well? We played well, yeah. We played well both times. I was very
:26:36. > :26:42.happy with it, both times, but... How did you play, are you happy?
:26:42. > :26:52.was happy with both of them. Very good. Both times, very good. Well,
:26:52. > :27:00.
:27:00. > :27:07.Grade One World Champions, 2011... In first place, winning the RSPBA
:27:07. > :27:17.Jubilee Trophy and Banner... Field Marshal Montgomery, number 19.
:27:17. > :27:22.
:27:22. > :27:27.So, 30 years after he became pipe major of Field Marshal Montgomery,
:27:27. > :27:32.Richard Parkes wins his seventh world title. Field Marshal
:27:32. > :27:36.Montgomery! APPLAUSE.
:27:36. > :27:40.This time, Terry is placed fifth. But as the two friends shake hands,