added. “I want to make sure that it’s catchy, that every tune can stand up on its own and that it flows well. “There are a few places where it’s maybe a little different but I’m not trying to push any boundaries in my first year as pipe major; I’m playing it reasonably safe. “It’s a strategic thing. I don’t want to push boundaries; I want to go out there and win. “I want to go out and play well and have a medley that the public can really enjoy and that the judges are going to enjoy. “That said, I think it is good and neces-
sary that there’s somebody who’s extending the boundaries and innovating. The scene as a whole needs it, but I’m not willing to go to that edge.” Competitiveness is something that Alex has come to take seriously. As a soloist, there was a time when he pretty
much relied on his talent and tuition. “I was lazy,” he admitted. “When I was 10, 11, 12-13, I didn’t practice at all and I was certainly no model for amateur pipers to emulate. “All it took was a year in the Grade 1 solos to wake me up and I realised I had to do something. “I work very hard now. It’s rare that I miss a day of practice and most people know you can’t sustain it without that. You can’t do it if you’re
not working at it — it shows. You can’t get complacent. It’s too competitive for anyone to just think you’re great and that’s going to be fine. “It doesn’t mean you can’t have friends. In the
solos, I’m competing against some of my best friends: at New Year I was out with Andrew Lee and David Wilton and they’re both guys I com- pete against on a regular basis. In the end, when it’s a competition, on the day I want to win. But if I don’t and they do, it’s good for them. “It’s the same with bands. It takes work. The
Worlds is so heavily contested that, for us, at the level we’re at, if we go and we qualify this year, that’s winning. We know we’re not going to win the Worlds; we know we’re not going to beat Field Marshal and Simon Fraser University. We’re totally fine with that. “But if, in my first year as pipe major, we
qualify for the final, that’s winning. After that, we can re-assess what we’re doing and look where we need to aim. If we don’t qualify, then we’ll be back next year and try to qualify again. “Everybody going to the Worlds at Grade 1
level has the same goal: to play as well as he or she possibly can. If there are six or seven bands in the qualifier ahead of us, that’ll be the way it is. If we don’t make the cut, we’ll aim to climb up a spot or two next year. All I want is to go over and play as well as this band can because I know, if everybody plays the way they can, and
we sound the way we can, there’s no way that we can’t qualify. “That’s the thing. It’s easy to say, but there
are a lot of great bands that leave their best performance in the tuning park. I want to make sure our best performance is on the Green in front of the BBC cameras and, if we do that, I’ll be very happy.” Focus. That is key, especially for players taking part in the World Pipe Band Champion- ships for the first time. “Some of our players will be there for the first time, and it can be completely overwhelming,” said Alex. “I’m being totally honest with them all. They’re watching videos of last year’s Worlds and getting an idea of how big it is and how many people are there and the fact that we could be tuning up and Richard Parkes or Terry Lee or Terry Tully might be standing there watching us… and we need to be focused. “It’s standing there at the line, waiting, that’s the worst: having to stand there with that camera on you and putting your pipes down. “Once you start, once your pipes are going,
it’s fine. “A good attack sets the band up for a great
performance every time — not just our band, any band,” he said. “If you go out and nail the attack everybody feels great. So we’re practising all of the components: attacks, pipes down — anything that’s going to better prepare us for the day. As we get closer and closer to the Worlds, it’s just going to be a matter of reminding them this is big.”
And the day after?
Contact our staff for helpful and knowledgeable advice
www.BagpipeSpecialists.com Alex is encouraging his band members to stay
on in Glasgow, at least for the following day. “I’m going to be staying in Scotland for the
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PIPING TODAY • 18
rest of the month,” he said. “I’ve told the band members they can leave whenever they want but I recommended they stay for the Sunday after the Worlds: it’s a good day to wind down. There’s the Masters solo event at The National Piping Centre and we’ve got members who haven’t had the chance to see a competition with the calibre of players that will be at the Masters. There’s plenty for everybody to do the day after the Worlds.”
The band will be staying at the Strathclyde
University Halls of Residence. “All the members are going have very specific instructions about when to be at the Lord Todd bar and when not to be. It may be a holiday but it’s a working holiday.” l
PREPARATION
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