Episode 2 Pipe Dreamers

Whatever your passion, to be the best in the world is special. As

the 2011 pipe band season begins, Terry Tully's band, St Laurence

O'Toole, is the best in the piping world. To retain his world title,

Terry will have to hold off all challengers, including his friend,

Richard Parkes. Richard is the Pipe Major of the Field Marshal

Montgomery band, and as the year progresses he is cleaning up all

before them, including the Ireland, British and European pipe band

competitions. By the second weekend in August, only one title eludes

him - World Champion. Terry Tully all season has been second to

Richard Parkes. But past performance counts for nothing, as

they approach the Worlds'. A band can come from nowhere and win.

Terry and Richard are friends and rivals who dream of winning the

world title. The World Pipe Band Championships, held each August in

Glasgow, are the grand finale of a season of competitions stretching

back to April. The two leading bands in Ireland, St Laurence from

Dublin and Field Marshal from Lisburn, are strong contenders to

lift the major prize and be top dogs of the piping world. But who

that top dog will be is no foregone conclusion. Out of 14 bands that

will qualify for the final round, half a dozen could take the title.

One mistake and the chance has gone for another 12 months. Glasgow is

buzzing with a week-long festival of piping. Terry and Richard and

their bands have arrived early in the week to get used to local

conditions. Shame about the weather. Faced with a week of Glasgow storms,

Richard Parkes has turned to the Church. The plan for today was to

be outside today and tomorrow, but with the weather the way it is,

there is no way you could do that. Or you could, but it wouldn't be

good for you. If the pipes get wet, it could ruin them for a couple of

days. It is a matter of keeping the pipes dry and on Saturday we'll do

what we can do to try to get a good sound, and go from there. Right,

let's try a couple of introductions. We're not going to play... Will you

have a wee listen, please, guys? It's difficult enough. There are

too many people in here. You all need to listen. I think the

important thing for the band to get to Glasgow for a few days before

the Worlds' is is to ensure that we're together for that time and we

can fine tune our performances. Two full days of practise before the

Worlds' you can really get the band closer together, better tuned and

everybody feeling as a team going there to win the competition. Who

made a mistake over there? Come on, wise up. Affectionately known in

Glasgow as The Armadillo, this is the venue for the piping festival

showcase concert. As current champions, St Laurence O'Toole have

agreed to take part. It's good for the cash flow. Get your pipes up.

Drums as well. So, instead of practising their competition

repertoire, on Thursday afternoon the band is gathering on stage for

a sound check. And they are a key player down for the moment. Terry's

son, Alan, the Pipe Sergeant, is still in Dublin awaiting the birth

of his first child. He's a great asset within the band itself and a

big help to me to be able to set the band up. So, if Thursday

brought bad weather and overdue babies, what surprises does the

next day hold? Friday morning, the day before the World Championships

and it is a late start at the St Laurence O'Toole hotel. Last

night's concert didn't end until nearly midnight, so it it was wee

small hours before the band got back from the city. The news over

lunch isn't good. The band's Pipe Sergeant, Alan, is still in Dublin

and a difficult decision has been taken. The plan was that he was

going to fly in on the Saturday morning and fly back on Saturday

evening after the competition, but at this stage he's not going to

make it at all. We will miss Alan's experience and his cool head as

well on the day. But we'll just have to get on with the job. When

Lady Luck deals a bad card, she often deals your opponent a good

one. As Terry comes to terms with Alan's absence, an hour later and

only four or five miles away, Richard comes across a rare thing -

a break in the clouds. The Field Marshal Montgomery head for the

park. That was wrong. Get it right. We are getting better. It's

absolutely superb. Brilliant. OK guys, come on. Right. Come on.

Let's get going here. Come on. knock-on effect of St Laurence's

O'Toole's late concert is the band doesn't gather until well into the

afternoon. The break in the clouds that favoured Field Marshal

Montgomery hasn't travelled as far as Terry Tully's hotel. We'll go up

to the boardroom. Normally the boardroom would have been an option,

but the hotel is bung to the gills and there's the small matter of a

wedding. A wedding ceremony is going on directly under us. They're

going to try and see if we can go into the carvery. On top of

everything else, Terry now appears to be at the mercy of the Scottish

weather. And it's very fickle. could nearly go outside now. It's

stopped raining again. Inside and out, the search for practise space

continues. Here we go again. Come out here a wee bit. We are not

going to be perfect, right? What we need is to be very good. We're not

going to get much more playing than this today. To me it sounds really

good. There's wee bits here and there, but we're going to get

better than that. Just get it good. The other thing, have a look at

your kilt when you get home and see if it needs a wee press, because

some of them aren't really good. There is an iron in everybody's

room, so have a look at it. I'm wound up today. It's just me,

that's just the way I am. Wound up? 24 hours before the Piping World

Cup, who wouldn't be? Certainly not Terry, in a hotel car park, where

it's stopped raining, at last. we're not with it here, guys. We

didn't get a good break into the jig, and we're not playing together

in it. Somebody is pulling us back. We're not getting G, Ds and Es

together. We're not getting strikes together. Focus, alright? It was

actually better the time before, until I mentioned making sure that

the embellishments are 100% accurate. They weren't after that.

You know what I mean? OK. Let's do it again. Once more. Same again.

Same again. Same again. Practise makes perfect. Will it pay off for

one of these two Pipe Majors? Tomorrow will tell. Between now and

then all they can do is dry out the pipes, try and get a good night's

sleep and make sure the kilts are ironed. At the heart of the city,

Glasgow Green is the venue for the 2011 World Pipe Band Championships

and they do come from all over the World - France, Canada, the United

States, New Zealand, Australia. Cross Bar and Cullybackey share the

Green with New York and Los Angeles. Names such as Rob Roy, the Black

Ravens, and the Grandfather Mountain Highlanders roll off the

tongue. Field Marshal and St Laurence are past champions but not

the only ones. So too are established names like Simon Fraser

and Shotts and Dykehead, firmly in contention. 6,000 pipers and

drummers, 50,000 followers. Terry and Richard have been working

towards this day since, well this day last year, when St Laurence

O'Toole took the title and Field Marshal were runners-up. The

competition they've been working towards all year, the biggest day

in the piping calendar, as seasoned commentator Bob Worrall, confirms.

This is the ultimate for any band, whatever grade, whether it is

novice straight through to grade 1, to win here, this proves what

you've been working for. Saturday starts fair but more rain is

forecast, so Terry's first priority is to get the tent up. Richard has

managed to secure the boathouse. It's dry, but more importantly it's

relatively quiet, away from the noise and press of the thousands on

the Green. Even though I am quite an old hand at this it never gets

any easier. I'm just as nervous today as the first day we ever

played the World Championships. It's an uneasy feeling, but you

just really want to get started. It's the hanging about waiting to

get started that's the difficult bit. I think to myself, I've done

500 starts this week. I've done 3,000 starts this year, so I'm

thinking of things logically to try to calm the nerves. I've practised

this 100 times. We've done this 100 times. This is just another day.

You have to ignore the fact that there's cameras around you, that

there are spectators. It is silent. Everybody is waiting for you either

to do well or to mess up. At the minute, I feel a little nervous.

It's always the same. Hanging about and waiting is always the nerve-

racking bit. Once you get the pipes out and start going and things

start coming together, you seem to settle down. People say, "It

doesn't get me, I don't get nervous". But I think they're

telling lies. Everybody is nervous. It's the World Championships. It's

what you practise all year for, to come here today. Nobody wants to

make a hames of it, you know? So we've got about an hour before we

go on and compete. Everything is relaxed. We've had a wee tune-up,

to make sure the chanters are OK. We're feeling pretty confident. An

hour to go and we're looking forward to getting in that Arena

and hopefully retaining our title today. That's the main aim. We'll

be heading to the line for ten minutes to one and I'm still not a

grandfather yet. Terry's wife, Eileen, is known as the mammy of

the band. But as the first performance approaches, being a

mammy today is difficult. Sitting here, they've just got news they're

on third. I don't know what to think. I'm waiting on my first

grandchild and I'm full of emotions now. I don't know whether I'm happy

for them going in or sad that Alan hasn't made it here today. He has

mixed emotions. He's just back from the hospital and they say that

nothing will happen now until Monday. So that's a comfort,

knowing that nothing's going to happen now today while we are here.

I'm still sad that he hasn't made it over. With 14 bands competing in

this top grade, there's a lot of hanging about before the Field

Marshal's first appearance in the ring. Just listen to those nerves

jangling. Time for a steady hand. Get the sound of the tune in your

head. When they draw the set, get that melody in your head, OK? One,

Richard has spotted a suitable place among the crowds. I was going

to me is that earlier, but the plan is to leave there. Somebody has

already made it? Whatever. They are Terry Tully leads his band to the

final tuning area beside the main arena. At this point, any member of

the band who feels his or her instrument is not properly in tune

Each band will play twice during the course of the afternoon, the

first performance being a march, strathspey and reel, known as the

MSR. Over the next six or seven minutes, the judges listen for

selection, tuning and musicality. They listen in particular for the

pipes sounding as a single instrument, and the degree to which

the entire ensemble, pipe and drum The defending world champions

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Ready? Well done, guys. Well done. How did

that go? Good, good. I wouldn't say it was our greatest

one ever, but it's well up there in terms of what we do as a band. Very

pleased with it. I need to speak to the lads in the band at this stage

to see what it was like, you know, in sections, especially the drum

corps. But they seem to have had a very good performance. I'm happy

with the piping performance at this stage.

But as he strolls back with drum major Stephen Creighton, Terry

seems to have a slight concern. was OK, it just... It didn't hit

the strathspey sound as we did last year. I'd say if you listen back to

it... Back at base camp, spirits are high.

Terry talks with his son, Alan, who has been watching the performance

online. He thought it was very good. He said it was a very good

performance. He didn't notice that we had lost two pipers just before

we went on. He thought it came across really well over the

internet. Very good sound, good Field Marshal Montgomery emerge for

the first time. As they move through the crowds on Glasgow Green,

they will know that St Laurence have turned in a decent performance.

But concentration on the job in hand is all that matters.

Go straight there, no hanging about. Get in there as quickly as possible.

In fact, maybe we should go a bit closer now.

As they move to the final tuning area, the threat of rain is still

in the air. Nothing Richard can do but keep the band focused. It's not

a long walk to the circle, so just be careful of that, be aware of

that. Don't be caught out by it, Please welcome the Field Marshal

Montgomery band. Band, attention. Get ready. Up. OK, lads, Royal

Highlanders. OK, get the tune in your head. Quick, march.

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Very good. About right, quick, Good. Everything all right?

Everyone all right? All right? Everything all right, yeah?

Excellent, really good. Guys, get back to the boathouse and get the

pipes dried out, whatever you need to do.

Richard came off, he's really, really pleased. Execution, sound,

the ensemble, drum corps, everything was exactly as he wanted

it, really. So halfway there, so we're hoping for the same sort of a

lift. Today was the first time I played with Field Marshal in the

Grade One final. It was exciting and nerve-wracking at the same time.

I actually did find myself enjoying it. I think by the time I got to

the reel I was starting to relax, and I actually did end up enjoying

the last few seconds, anyway. Although both bands appear happy

with the first round, pundits at ringside reckon that St Laurence

are probably lying second to Field Marshal at this stage. Throughout

the season, St Laurence have usually done better in the second

Terry Tully, too, believes that the medley is their strength, yet as

they enter the final tuning area for the second time, tension turns

to anxiety. Come on, come on, move it! If it's not right after the

final tune-up, scoot, right? Right, guys? Ready? Ready?! Four minutes!

As in the first round, the band is bedevilled by tuning problems, and

three pipers have to drop out just before going to the line for the

band's most important performance of the year.

Same again. HE HUMS TUNE.

Yeah? Sound good, yeah? Good. Good. Pleased with that. Really, really

good. Really good. The sound of the pipes, the sound of the drums,

playing, everything. The day you want it right, and we got it right,

hopefully. Well done, guys. Well done.

Believing that he is just ahead of the field, Richard knows that he

needs a strong performance if he is to clinch his seventh world title.

Then, the brollies go up. The wind freshens. The covers go on, and the

Stand straight. There are no sympathy marks for playing in the

rain. The judges ignore cold fingers.

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Get us in, quick. OK with that?

Before we went on to the medley, that's as good as the band's ever

sounded. It wasn't as good as that inside, it was still very good. So

that was a bit disappointing, because you can't do anything about

the weather. It sort of eased off a bit, but it was still... It sort of

affected people, you know. They got cold. And it affects the pipes as

well. But we did the best we could with the conditions. It was good,

very good. Cold fingers or not, it's up to the

judges now. Commentator Bob Worrall is a champion piper, and he places

Richard Parkes and Terry Tully in the very top echelon of world

piping. You have a band that, over the

years, Field Marshal Montgomery, that has demonstrated that kind of

musical, tonal and technical perfection. That forces everyone

else to rise to that standard, so it's catch-up for them, and that's

how it was for a couple of years. Simon Fraser's done the same thing

in Canada, and now with St Laurence O'Toole doing the same thing from

Dublin, the whole thing just spirals. I said today when I was

making my comments, just when you think a band can't play any better

in a specific year... Any better than that, one, two, three years

later, along comes another performance which raises the bar

even further. And as soon as that bar is raised, everyone reaches for

that bar. So who is setting that bar, Bob? Come on. I've got my

speculation, but I'm keeping my thoughts to myself! Sitting on the

fence, or what? Meanwhile, the spectacle, as the pipers and

drummers from every class and grade, all ages and abilities, parade into

the ring and stand side-by-side to salute the chief, the Lord Provost

of Glasgow. And as they wait to see who will be world champion, almost

unnoticed, the man who holds the world title and the man who wants

to take it from him meet amidst a cast of thousands. How's it going,

Terry? How are you doing? It's going good. What about Alan's...?

No sign yet. No sign yet? No joy. He's been watching it all day,

though. The whole thing. The two of them, sitting at home. Did you play

well? We played well, yeah. We played well both times. I was very

happy with it, both times, but... How did you play, are you happy?

was happy with both of them. Very good. Both times, very good. Well,

Grade One World Champions, 2011... In first place, winning the RSPBA

Jubilee Trophy and Banner... Field Marshal Montgomery, number 19.

So, 30 years after he became pipe major of Field Marshal Montgomery,

Richard Parkes wins his seventh world title. Field Marshal

Montgomery! APPLAUSE.

This time, Terry is placed fifth. But as the two friends shake hands,