Episode 2 UK Pipe Band Championship

Hello and welcome back to the grounds of Stormont Estate.

Now, all eyes and ears will be here on arena one

when 13 Grade 1 bands will compete for the coveted title

of UK Champions 2014.

And, as the first Grade 1 band make their way to the ground,

I'm joined by a man in a class of his own, Robert Wallace.

Good to see you again.

We're with the big boys now, the big hitters.

What does it take to be a Grade 1 champion?

We're looking for clarity and purity of tone,

excellence of technique and musical expression.

And all that has to work together with the drummers.

Any band that produces that today

at a high level consistently throughout their performance

can be considered a possible prize-winner.

But it's going to be very, very tough

for the bands in the middle and the bottom order.

So far this season, the top six are very hard to beat.

But I'm looking forward to a great afternoon of pipe band music.

And there are such narrow margins here

but this is the creme de la creme, isn't it?

So let's see how they get on.

THEY PLAY A MARCH

THEY SWITCH TO A STRATHSPEY

THEY PLAY A REEL

APPLAUSE

-Well, Robert, how was that for you?

-Quite a good performance, Ralph.

But some of the tone was a bit thin in the top hand.

Some of the work wasn't quite together in places, as well.

It's a new pipe major for this band, Douglas Murray,

and it'll take a wee while before he has them knocked into shape.

THEY PLAY A MARCH

THEY SWITCH TO A STRATHSPEY

THEY PLAY A REEL

APPLAUSE Local heroes, Ravara, there.

Robert, what did you think?

A young band, only 13 pipers.

They're really up against the big boys.

Very nice fingering in places, Ralph.

They've done a lot of work. You can hear it in the playing.

THEY PLAY A MARCH

THEY MOVE ONTO A STRATHSPEY

THEY SWITCH TO A REEL

CHEERING

Undefeated for an entire season last year.

Was that a vintage performance?

That's the benchmark for today, so far.

Anybody that can play better than that

thoroughly deserves to win this championship.

The quality of the fingering, there, was just remarkable.

For 23 pipers to play with that precision,

it's remarkable stuff that we're hearing.

Those were great comments that were given about your performance.

Were you pleased with it too?

Yes, we're pleased with the performance.

When you're in the circle, of course, you can hear

maybe slightly more and I'm a perfectionist. It was very good.

There's a few errors I'd like to improve on

for the World Championships but it was still very good.

THEY PLAY A MARCH

THEY SWITCH TO A STRATHSPEY

THEY SWITCH TO A REEL

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Well, Robert, one of the big hitters for sure

but to your expert ears, did that hit the high notes?

They're a top six band, there's no doubt about it

but I felt it was a wee bit lacklustre.

Now they're a very, very well-skilled band,

a lot of very good playing in there but I would've liked to have

heard the tempos up to really make an impression.

If you're going to beat Field Marshal,

you've got to play on the line.

THEY PLAY A MARCH

THEY SWITCH TO A STRATHSPEY

THEY SWITCH TO A REEL

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Well, Robert, first outing of the season for Ballycoan,

do you think they were up to speed?

Well, you could tell it's their first outing,

I would definitely say this band's ring rusty.

Some of the players, obviously the nerves might have got to them.

Pipe major was trying hard to get them to get it together

but it just didn't happen for them, I'm afraid.

THEY PLAY A MARCH

THEY SWITCH TO A STRATHSPEY

THEY SWITCH TO A REEL

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Coming off a very successful tournament at Bathgate.

That was pretty good to my ears,

do you think that the judges will be impressed?

I think they couldn't fail to be impressed with that.

High A's, that's a top note on the chanter,

just a wee bit shrill at times, you know.

And I'm not convinced they had the precision

and the technique that Field Marshal had.

THEY PLAY A MARCH

THEY SWITCH TO A STRATHSPEY

THEY SWITCH TO A REEL

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Another fine band flying the flag for piping in Northern Ireland.

Cullybackey, did they cut the musical mustard for you?

Number of issues with the tone today

and the blowing was beginning to flag as they went on.

And the woolly sound out the bass drum as well was not distinct,

it was hard for the pipers to play to that.

THEY PLAY A MARCH

THEY SWITCH TO A STRATHSPEY

THEY SWITCH TO A REEL

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

The conditions in Stormont are just about perfect,

was that a perfect performance?

Well, it wasn't a perfect performance

but it was a very enjoyable performance.

They began to struggle a wee bit through the difficult passages

of the reel. I thought they handled their opening march very well,

The Braes of Castle Grant's a difficult tune that for a band

but I thought they handled it very well.

THEY PLAY A MARCH

THEY SWITCH TO A STRATHSPEY

THEY SWITCH TO A REEL

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

St Laurence are always one of the firm favourites in Grade 1

and always a challenge to Field Marshal as well.

Do you think that was a Championship-winning performance?

It could well be, it was certainly a commanding performance

and for a young pipe major like Alen Tully to take over

and produce two Championship performances like he's done

at Bathgate and now here today says an awful lot for him.

The band's got great prospects under Alen's leadership,

I'm certain of it.

THEY PLAY A MARCH

THEY SWITCH TO A STRATHSPEY

THEY SWITCH TO A REEL

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Now, Robert, I have to admit a vested interest and MacLean tartan

always gets my heart going and I have to say a good performance, I thought.

What did you think?

Good performance, I would say a middle order performance.

Ryan Canning, er, I think he's a Northern Irishman, he's only had

the band a short while so again it's a bit of a work-in-progress.

It's those little narrow margins, isn't it? That's what it's all about.

That's all it takes, you know, this is the level we're talking at,

people should understand that.

It doesn't mean they're a bad band because they don't make the list.

If you're Grade 1, you're a good band, make no mistake about that.

THEY PLAY A MARCH

THEY SWITCH TO A STRATHSPEY

THEY SWITCH TO A REEL

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Robert, to my layman's ears that sounded pretty good. What about you?

The standard of their fingering

and their control in their phrasing in the march and strathspey...

I thought the reel could've just flowed a wee bit more

but they can be well-pleased with that.

THEY PLAY A MARCH

THEY SWITCH TO A STRATHSPEY

THEY SWITCH TO A REEL

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Robert, as this enthralling Grade 1 battle gets closer to the end,

we are hearing some great playing, aren't we?

That was, you know, really superb piping

and from a piping point of view that was every bit as good

as Field Marshal Montgomery and no question about it.

THEY PLAY A MARCH

THEY SWITCH TO A STRATHSPEY

THEY SWITCH TO A REEL

APPLAUSE AND CHEERING

Rousing stuff from Greater Glasgow Police.

Robert, that was a great way to finish Grade 1, wasn't it?

Oh, very, very high finish to the day.

They'll be well pleased with that performance.

And the standard across Grade 1, it's been very high, hasn't it?

The standard on the march, strathspey, reel today

which is a difficult discipline,

extremely difficult discipline, to get all these pipers

playing in unison like that in a march, strathspey, reel

is extremely difficult and they all handled it very well.

We had perfect conditions, of course,

so they didn't have any excuses, you know.

It's a brilliant venue, there's so much space for the bands,

for the people who come to watch them play.

Since I've arrived I've had the opportunity

to talk to a couple of bandsmen and they've been raving about the venue

and the grass, in particular, and with the sun shining,

everyone's happy and jovial so it's just a great day.

I couldn't agree more.

It was certainly a great day for Field Marshal Montgomery

who took the title UK Pipe Band Champions 2014.

Runner-up place went to ScottishPower

and St Laurence O'Toole were happy to accept third prize.

Well, that's it from us here at the UK Pipe Band Championships.

It's been a fantastic competition and I have to say, Helen,

a really fun day as well.

Yeah, wonderful, and people have been talking about

how fantastic Stormont Estate is as a location

and you just look around you and you can see how sociable it is

and the best thing of all, it hasn't rained.

Oh, we got lucky on that front.

All tastes catered for, no question about that,

especially if you love good pipe band music.

-So from everyone here at the UK Pipe Band Championships...

-Bye-bye.