Massed Band B&T Scores

[Ian Gibson]

Hey Everyone,

I am pleased to announce that The Pipers and Pipe Band Society of Ontario now have Standard Bass and Tenor Drum Scores for Massed Bands. The scores will be available for download at www.ppbso.org (http://www.ppbso.org) sometime in the near future. There will also be an explanation page included, which should help answer any questions regarding the tenor drum scores.

This, I feel, will make massed bands much more enjoyable for both the participants and the audience. Instead of just going on the field not really knowing what is expected of us, we will all be able to play as a group and the overall sound will certainly be easier on our ears.

Cheers,

Ian

[Celtic Mitch]

Ian, that's great. Was wondering when someone was going to finally do it. Does the music incorporate swings and beatings or just swings or just beatings? And...do you give a legend of the symbols for the swings?

[Canadian]

Great news, Ian! I'm looking forward to checking out the tenor scores in particular. Thanks. All the best.

[Ian Gibson]

The scores are a combination of both rhythm and flourishing.

The rhythms are pretty much based upon what you hear in massed bands now and I think players will realize that as they begin to work with them. The flourishing I decided to keep relatively simple because we all know how crowded it can be while counter marching.

If you or anyone else has any questions, feel free to ask.

Cheers,

Ian

[Celtic Mitch]

Hey everyone! We just spent the evening with Ian going over the new PPBSO scores and we had a blast. The scores are pretty reasonable to play and we had a lot of fun learning them.

Thanks Ian..great job on the scores!

[Andrew Adams]

Someone tried to tell me that if a band goes to Canada (like Maxville) and their bass and tenor sections don't play the massed band scores, then they can't compete. I couldn't find it anywhere on the website, and find it hard to believe.

This person said that if you can't play the scores, then you can't play in massed bands. And it is a rule that if you don't play in massed bands, then you can't compete, so by default, if you don't play the scores, you can't compete.

Any truth to this rumor?

[Pete Walen]

Relax, Andrew. The bass & tenor scores are new - as in published since the first of the year. Some folks have their knickers in a twist over them - but if you look at them, they are pretty easy and reasonably straight forward. No big shakes - should tkae a short time to learn them and have them off, if you jump in and do it.

You can find them by following the links on the PPBSO site: www.ppbso.org/links/scores.html (http://www.ppbso.org/links/scores.html) .

I suspect it will take a season or two to get them sorted out and get the bulk of the bands to get playing them, let alone get them right.

[Celtic Mitch]

Originally posted by Andrew Adams:
Someone tried to tell me that if a band goes to Canada (like Maxville) and their bass and tenor sections don't play the massed band scores, then they can't compete. I couldn't find it anywhere on the website, and find it hard to believe.

This person said that if you can't play the scores, then you can't play in massed bands. And it is a rule that if you don't play in massed bands, then you can't compete, so by default, if you don't play the scores, you can't compete.

Any truth to this rumor? An extremely ridiculous rumour...something like that would never be enforced...whoever told you that is just being an (subsitute own word for idiot). :rolleyes:

This is a simple solution to have the tenor and bass sections play together like the pipers and side drummers do at the present time. Until this music came out, the "midsections" played like a bunch of aimless bashers making a pure mess of things. If it comes together like Ian and the PPBSO hopes it does, it will be quite good! The scores are simple enough for even the basic learner. One of our grade 5 tenor drummers was picking it up quite easily. There are quite a few bands in Ontario that are making the effort to learn them and from Ian has said, the feedback has been positive.

[Andrew Adams]

Don't worry folks, I'm not fretting about the scores. I've seen them and you are all correct, they aren't difficult. But I some beginners that need to focus on other scores before massed bands. If the rumor were true, I just wouldn't have them play in massed bands, that's all.

[Mr. Peanut]

Ian told me he would break my legs if i didn't play them! Having broken legs would make it hard to compete! :eek:

By the way, I don't think ANYONE at maxville would notice if 1, 2 or 50 bands didn't play the scores! you ever heard of the maxville massed bands time delay? one half finishes a tune 10 seconds before the other half!

Andrew.

[Albert DeFusco]

I was just talking to the D/S about this earlier tonight. So the next logical question is are there some generalizations that one could make about flourshing coreography for tune types?
Such as how might one design a routine for a strathspey or jig. Even if you must use specific tunes to illustrate that would be fine.

Our tenors are just getting started with flourshing and the D/S is a little at a loss about how to add flourshing to the score.

[beewings]

Way to go, Ian!

I'm sure it will look great with everyone doing the same thing!

beewings