Aiblins

For all sorts of reasons, I have taken my time to think back over the World Pipe Band Championships 2016 before posting my traditional round up blog.

The main explanation was that this was the first year in a long time when I was attending in Glasgow as a player, rather than simply an observer. There is no doubt that this casts the whole event in a different light. One significant difference is the response to the Finale. Over past years, I have most often located an abandoned seating area at one of the other arenas from which to listen to the announcements of the prize winners. This year I was standing in the queue to enter the arena for an age, dandering past the podium and then loitering in the centre of the Green, occasionally waving randomly at the cameras to see if we could appear on the big screen (which we did - a lot).

It broke up the boredom a little. Just a little. For a bandsman, the finale is not enjoyable - and that's despite the fact that we collected a prize, thanks for asking.

For the average spectator, it is interminable. This year it seemed to drag even worse than usual. The whole thing ran on until the light was going, leading to calls for floodlights to be installed before next year's event!

This can't go on. Bandsmen and spectators spend the guts of (at least) two days on their feet and frankly, once the finale comes round, just want to sit down. A couple of hours of hanging about in the gloom isn't exactly a fitting end to the showpiece of the competition year.

Of course, the problem is easy to identify - the solution less so. It is a well known fact that a sizeable proportion of the competing crowd hits the bar after playing. This may well make them less easy to marshal. I suspect that the notion (which I have read elsewhere) of attempting to corral them into groups of massed bands and then cattle-prodding those groups into the arena simply wouldn't work. In the knowledge that their own band's poor attendance wouldn't be immediately apparent, squads of players would simply stay in the bar! "Give me a call when our Grade is being called, so I can listen in". You know it would happen. You might even do it yourself!

Maybe the thing to do is to simply nominate about twenty to thirty bands to take part in the formal march past and let other players join in the massed band if they want to. Left to their own devices, a decent proportion of players would likely amble down towards the front as the prizes were about to be announced. If any band particularly wants to be a part of the march past, they would not be stopped.

I started to write this post last year and then lost interest half way through (I think). I'm posting it anyway as I have just located the draft. I have no idea what else I was going to add, but doubtless it was a lot of stuff about the Grade One results. I'm guessing I'll get the chance to do the same thing in about a month's time....

In truth I haven't even been bothered to check, but I'm pretty sure that every year at about this time I post something on here to say "here we go again" or some such. I post it because it's true. I post it repeatedly because it is repeatedly true.

Worlds Week - or Piping Live, as we should now call it - is pretty much the same thing year on year. The favourites may change from time to time. The price of the Glasgow hotels climbs inexorably, and without justification. The weather may be good, or more likely bad, but at the heels of the hunt, it's the same old thing every time.

Not that this is necessarily a bad thing. Piping Live has hit upon a winning formula. The town seems at least as busy as ever and although the George Square site seems to have diminished slightly in size, the crowds are healthy there throughout the day. The inclement weather is a problem this year - pipes and drums are notoriously easily upset by the damp and a few of the bands have balked at carrying out engagements in the murk. New Zealand Police caused a bit of a scrum at the George Square location by shunning the piazza for the dry of the tent. It didn't seem clear that they had permission or agreement to do so but the move was entirely sensible with only a couple of days before their qualifying heat.

I missed them at Moira but was front and centre for the tented recital and can report they are greatly improved on last year and much more worthy of their Grade One status - whether they will make the final is, of course, and entirely different question. I have also been greatly impressed by their antipodean cousins in Manawatu Scottish. Musical and showing plenty of drive, they may fall victim to the big guns  in Grade One - but I would love them to have the chance to show off both of their medleys - they are well worth a listen. I captured their full practice at the National Piping Centre yesterday and got more of them today at the Todd, so there will at least be a video record of this top notch outfit.

I'm not sure that I have either the energy or the inclination to ponder the Grade One results. Go back and read the blog from last year when I predicted what would befall Field Marshal Montgomery almost precisely. They still have the same issues. The drum corps will be well down the final reckoning, whereas the pipers still stand above any other band. The additional problem this year is that Inveraray & District has been catching up and if they can garner three or four "2"s across the performances from the piping judges together with, say, a 1 and a 2 in ensemble, they should comfortably lift the crown. It's hard to see their drum corps slipping lower than second or third - if judged fairly. All we can do is listen intently and then dissect the results forensically when they emerge.

With my own Band coming to Glasgow for the first time in many years my video efforts on Saturday will be truncated in favour of playing, but that will hopefully pay off at some point later in the day, after the 300 hour long finale.

In the meantime, my incredibly slow hotel internet connection has foiled my plan to upload as I go, so I'll have to start firing clips up once I get home. Whether there is much, even from Friday, will again depend on whether the RSPBA decides to enforce the ban on video - shame on them if they do. I will look forward to watching stewards or security men wrestling mobile phones from the hands of infants who are "Facebook Live-ing" with their mates at home.

I'll wait and see what happens in that regard but would be surprised if this doesn't raise again the issue of who owns the performances of the top bands. Many will recall the discussions that used to abound over the fact that the Worlds CDs (remember those?) used to make a tidy profit for the Association but not one penny for the performing artists. Surely the same issues surround the broadcast rights? No bands, no contest, no money. Share the wealth, guys!

Anyhow, my hotel has free Sky Movies and this James Bond thing won't watch itself... 

It always ends like this.

The trudge back to the airport. The sterile check in area. Security. Any liquids, sir? Spotting the faces of yesterday's competitors, either deflated or elated, as they manhandle drums cases and pipe boxes off coaches. This time I also rather enjoyed the spectacle of the be-turban-ed Malaysian Sikh band queued to check in.

Waiting in an airport coffee shop gives time to think back on the week and the lessons learned. Personally, the main one would be to wear thicker socks as the street pounding round Glasgow has left me with the hobble of a much older gentleman....

Piping Live continues to be a glorious festival of all that is great about piping and drumming. The ache in my feet would suggest that the various venues across Glasgow may be spread too far apart. Although I always end up spending a lot of enjoyable time at the National Piping Centre, the venue is much too cramped. I wonder whether, given the enormous expanse of Glasgow Green, a tented village could be created there to serve as a hub through the week. The George Square performance area would need to be preserved and "Bands on Buchanan Street" has proved a successful initiative, but the relocation of events currently staged at the Piping Centre and the College of Piping to marquees on the Green would allow for a true "festival" atmosphere to develop. Although I have written before that I find it almost inconceivable that the Worlds will venture outside Glasgow again, the "tented village" concept would almost certainly have to be employed if it did.

My highlight of the week was attendance at the Inveraray practices at the Todd. It was a privilege to watch them work. A particular high point was the chanter practice behind the bar. The harmonies in the Hector the Hero Medley are somehow even more haunting when played more quietly and without drones. Spellbinding.

The Two Day Worlds looks set to stay. Two days of almost entirely dry weather brought crowds back to the Green - although Day One is still quite poorly attended. Inflated prices from food vendors and the usual Finale That Wouldn't Die™ remain bugbears but at least the finale is more tolerable when you aren't getting rained on. The new feature for this year was the removal of an adequate public address system. They seemed to be using one of those speakers you can plug into your mobile phone to annoy passersby. Either that or the entire crowd had gone suddenly and simultaneously deaf. Well done, RSPBA. Nobody saw that coming. And if they did, they certainly didn't hear it coming.

On the playing front, we have likely witnessed the end of an era. This season has seen quite a number of bands get up into the heady atmosphere previously occupied alone by Field Marshal.

I doubt, however, that this will now be an era of dominance by Shotts - or indeed any band. I think what we will see now is the Majors being shared out between four or five outfits over the year. The Jubilee trophy could well find itself jumping from one trophy cabinet to another year on year.

Whether it will make its way back to Ulster is less certain. In the short term at least. Personally, I don't accept that the FM drummers are as bad as they are being painted. Perhaps I'm too willing to actually listen and THEN form an opinion...

However, playing against the Kilpatrick, McWhirter or Creighton outfits will always lead to unfavourable comparisons. We are certainly spoiled for great back lines - and it will become harder and harder to separate them as well. The styles of playing of each of the leading drummers are reflected in their corps and it appears to me that any observer will tend to select their champion based on the type of drumming they prefer, rather than an objective standard of near perfection.

Every so often, someone suggests that we should do away with piping and drumming judges and just have multiple ensemble judges - after all, the test should be for "best band" which is often more than the mathematical sum of its parts. That may not be the answer but right now it looks like the incredibly high standards may require a different approach to judging when trying to separate the wheat from the even better wheat...

If there was one band on the day that I could have listened to all day, it was Inveraray. Even though I had heard them on two other occasions over the week, I kept being drawn back for a little more. If there was a judge tasked with ruling on Medley composition they would have been in a class of their own.

One annoyance on the day was the constant supply of drivel via social media. The advent of the live stream has been a superb innovation, but it is no substitute for being there. And even being there isn't all it is cracked up to be. Whether huddled around the arena, or even in the sparsely occupied stand, you are a long way back from the bands. It was a windy day and with each gust, sound was either blown towards the listener of whisked away. The limitations of broadcast technology and home speakers will always result in imperfect transmission. To be the judge, you need to BE the judge. By way of example, when listening to Shotts walk in to the MSR, I could have sworn they had an issue with their rolls, but I now put it down to the wind affecting what I could hear.

Yet still, after each band played, we were treated to "*insert name of band here* won it out of the park". To my mind, the only sensible approach was to accept that the contest was incredibly close, quietly pick your own favourite, hope the judging would be fair and await the result.

So, was the judging fair? Hard to say. As usual, I spent most of my time in the tuning park. As a result, my opinions were based more on what bands were going well rather than the crucial performance in the arena. I could have accepted victories from any of about five bands as being within what was possible. Shotts was one of those outfits.

The only disquiet I feel is about the FM drumming scores. I accept that they could be fair enough, but I can't help feeling that 7 & 8 happens to be about as low as a judge could get away with putting them. The drummers who beat them could potentially have done so. The ones below couldn't. That has a slight whiff of set-up. You know? The sort of "it's not your year, fellas" thing that people chat about in beer tents. That makes me a little uncomfortable.

Having said that, look at the bands that beat them. Shotts, SLOT, Inveraray. Reasonable enough that each of those bands would deserve a top three spot? Absolutely. Fair enough then.

Squinting at the Master sheets night wasn't a desperately scientific exercise, but I'm happy enough that the top six were all good value for it. It might be a little revealing that there isn't anything like the same chat about the judging this morning as there was at this time last August. Although that may be due to the post Worlds collective hangover. I'd give it a day or two.

My flight has been delayed but there's only so long that a person can nurse a cup of tea in Glasgow airport before café staff start to grumble, so I'll wrap it up there and make for the gate. Same time next year then?

So that's it then.

Another World Championships over and another set of winners and losers. Well done to all the bands who survived the ordeal and special congratulations to the prize winners.

The day brought with it the usual smattering of surprises up and down the grades with Major Sinclair edging out Marlacoo being a particular shock. Closkelt will also have been disappointed when they had been touted as hot favorites. Bleary would have imagined that they were nailed on for the win when their oft maligned drummers picked up the title but it was not to be....

Naturally, the greater number of oohs and aahs was reserved for the Grade One decider. Standing close to a bunch of boisterous SLOT fans was an interesting experience. Once they had been called as lifting all the drumming gongs, their supporters had already started to fill in their programmes with SLOT getting the spike - only to have their hopes dashed as Shotts got the nod.

Although this blog records that I had predicted the possibility of FM sliding much further than second, it still seemed surreal to see such a gifted outfit relegated to fourth. It was less than edifying to hear so little applause when the band was called. They may be the band that everyone wants to beat, but competitors should note that grace is required in victory as well as defeat. With a total of 15 from drumming across the two final performances the former champions faced an impossible task. Take a look at the Qualifiers though. First and fourth in drumming in their section. Having listened to their MSR performance in the Qualifier those scores were well deserved. Is there a danger that certain judges are now simply convinced that FM's drummers are sub-par? No matter how they actually play?

No one "won it out of the park". Grade One has not been this competitive in my memory. I absolutely adore the Inveraray Hector the Hero Medley. Given my choice, I would have given them the title just for the genius of the construction of the harmonies in the air and the glory of the reprise to finish. It was great to see them right up at the top after a season where they appeared to have fallen out of favour for whatever reason. The sheer talent in that band will see them lift the ultimate prize sooner rather than later.

SLOT is a better band now than when it won the World title, but it needs to be. Things have moved on and they are progressing nicely. The drum corps is lauded for its dynamic range, which is surely the best in the Grade. However, for me, the playing in Inveraray almost matches them for light and shade but bests them in musical expression and technique. Greater Glasgow Police also impressed me, but I think their sets in the Qualifiers actually suited the corps better with some really subtle playing.

In terms of sound and technique, I think FM is still the clear class of the field for piping. Drumming is where the contest is tighter. In truth, any one of about five outfits could have received the drumming prize and little could have been said about it. Of course, this is why we need to be confident that judges are trying to separate the various squads based on some objective standard, rather than just playing favourites, or trying to knock others out. Let their conscience be their guide.

In other matters, the second day was graced by fine weather with only a couple of brief showers. Very pleasant. The prices of tea and coffee were generally extortionate - aside from Dinky Donuts & Rachel's who admirably stuck to their £1 a cup and should be lauded for it.

The finale was abysmally long. PLEASE sort it out.

The Association had clearly skimped on the PA which meant the results appeared to be being whispered by a man troubled with laryngitis.

All standard stuff. And so to bed....

Grade Novice Juvenile
George Watson's College
Drums George Watson's College

Grade 4b
Portavogie
Drums McDonald Memorial

Grade 4a
Major Sinclair Memorial
Drums Marlacoo

Grade Juvenile
Dollar Academy
Drums Dollar Academy

Grade 3b
Colmcille
Drums Prestonpans RBL

Grade 3a
Annsborough
Drums Annsborough

Grade 2
Johnstone
Drums Bleary & District

Grade 1
Shotts
SLOT
Inveraray
FM Montgomery
SFU
Scottish Power

MSR Shotts
Drums SLOT
Medley Shotts
Drums SLOT

Overall
Drums SLOT

That's one day done and one to go.

The World Championships of 2015 kicked off under grey skies in Glasgow with the threat of showers to spoil the party. Thankfully, they never materialized and conditions were largely identical for the succession of Grade One outfits vying for a spot in tomorrow's final.

It's well known that Grade One now splits clearly into the Premier League and the First Division. For the premiership bands (FM Montgomery, Inveraray, Shotts et al) the risk today was only of a slip up - and there wasn't one. As a result, the usual suspects all eased through. For the rest, qualification would be a result in itself.

This year's likely also rans in the final will be the Halifax Citadel variant of the 78th Frasers and Canterbury Caledonian. Well done to both. However, looking at the calibre of bands they will face, it seems likely they will both be striving not to be last in the final.

I don't think that I spoke to a single soul in the park who had their mind changed by what they heard on the day. Smart money still seems split between FM, Shotts, Inveraray and SLOT. All seem to be going well, but FM in particular sounded sublime today - and the drummers were sharp and sympathetic to the magnificent pipe corps.

The crowd seemed slightly improved on last year's day one, but the hour and a half it took to sort out the results of only 22 bands did seem a little ridiculous.

The forecast tomorrow looks fine, with a risk of drizzle in the afternoon which could interfere with the Medley performances but all in all things are simmering nicely for the tightest Grade One title in many years....

The musical preamble of Worlds Week is drawing to a close and the business end of the operation is on the horizon. One more sleep until the World Championships starts with the Grade One Qualifier.

No one has been able to explain to me why the Association has stuck with this broad format - albeit that the structure from last year was infinitely better than the 2013 Ghost Town. Since the issues clearly surround Grade One alone, restructuring the Grade One and Two option remains available - or maybe the possibility of a single final for Grade One bands, spread over two days (MSR on Friday, Medley on Saturday) would be less controversial

Clearly, that won't be in place for tomorrow, so we plough ahead with what we have.

And what have we learnt over the last few days about who might end up on top?

Precious little.

Too close to call is probably the most apt of the truisms currently circulating. FM Montgomery have a pipe corps with enviable musical chops but Ryan Canning has Shotts humming and Alen Tully has lifted his first Major this season with SLOT. SFU is a band riding high after their very well received concert and Inveraray is still the favourite of many a punter.

Although most of the aficionados in Glasgow have their own theories, one common thread is that only the drumming can sort out the final result. You can read my last post to see what my view is on the arithmetic, but there is no doubt that the drummers will be center stage like seldom before. The FM corps has been slated on social media - but often by those who choose to ignore the track record of Keith Orr's charges at the Worlds - they can certainly play with (most) of the big boys. Don't rule them out for strong performances when it matters.

My predictions? It will be a belter. I wouldn't want to have to pick an outright winner but having heard both Shotts and Inveraray at length over the last couple of days, either outfit could be winners. I'll never rule FM out completely, but they'll need to be at their imperious best to lift the silver chanter.

As for the Qualifiers, I think there will be at least one upset. The first group is full of big names and I have an inkling that Triumph Street could struggle - even though they are going fairly well. The real issue is that standards have become so high amongst the top flight that even great bands constantly need to bring their A game.

With the forecast looking a little drizzly, let's hope the weather doesn't dash any hopes...

If you are playing tomorrow, have a good tune. If not, listen intently and stroke your chin occasionally whilst muttering about blowing issues....

If you close your eyes and clear your mind you can even smell it. The unmistakable odour of damp kilt that tends to accompany the World Pipe Band Championships every year. We are a week away from the start of Piping Live and in just two short weeks the whole shebang will be receding into the distance once again.

More and more the World Championships form only a small part of the spectacle of Piping Live (or the event previously known as "Worlds Week"). Personally, I experienced a tangible excitement when a copy of this year's programme was thrust into my hand. Roddy McLeod should be cheered from the rooftops for turning the ad hoc events into a structured festival of piping and drumming which has become the highlight of the worldwide piping scene.

Of course, one of the side-effects of the success of Piping Live is that it has effectively secured the World Pipe Band Championships at their Glasgow venue in perpetuity. Several years ago I had a slight involvement in the project whereby Belfast submitted a bid to stage the Worlds. At the time it has seemed like a reasonable enough notion and the City Council certainly ensured that the appropriate shoulders were applied to the relevant wheels. However for various reasons (some perhaps questionable at the time) the bid was not successful and I have no doubt that this turned out to be a good thing.

Since that time, the Piping Live programme has expanded in a way that nowhere outside Glasgow could match. The range of venues, including the National Piping Centre and College of Piping and the sheer concentration of major piping and drumming figures nearby means that other locations really can't compete.

So, secure in the notion that I will be shovelling money into the gouging pockets of Glasgow's tourist industry for many years to come, what of this year's competition?

After all, the Worlds themselves still feature as the jewel in the Crown...

Well, things should be a lot more interesting this year than they have been for some time.

In the past handful of years the Grade One title as been loosely in the grasp of Field Marshal Montgomery. Richard Parkes' fingers have not been so tightly around the trophy as to make it a foregone conclusion but the title has been more than likely to return to Northern Ireland year on year.

Not so in 2015.

Although FM Montgomery is still the band to beat, recent results have shown that it is certainly possible to do so.

The three way tie at the Forres and the SLOT victory in Dumbarton have thoroughly pierced the shroud of nigh on invincibility which had surrounded the NI front runners for a while.

More than that, a few bands which have been operating slightly below for a couple of years have rebuilt and come back stronger than ever. Shotts anyone?

The North American scene seems to be warming up again and the UK contingent will likely be watching performances from SFU, Triumph Street, the 78th Fraser Highlanders and even the Halifax Citadel with more interest than they have had for quite some time.

Scottish Power seem to be on road back again - and bear in mind that they placed 2nd only two years ago. A few experiments with numbers in the pipe corps didn't go well at all but the change of leading drummer looks to have been a success and anyone who rules out a musician of the calibre of Chris Armstrong is a fool.

Frankly, the field is wide open.

Looking at the current title-holders, it seems that the weakness in the band is at the back end. The drum corps sits someway behind the pipers in the standings and the 8th place for Keith Orr's charges in Dumbarton ultimately made the difference. If they lie as far back in the Worlds they need to rely on other pipe corps having really bad days to allow them to slip in.

For example, imagine that FM achieve 1,2,,1 across the piping and ensemble judges in each of the MSR and medley runs. However, place them mid-table in the drumming - say 5 and 7 - and you have a total of 20 for the final. Next, pick your likely contender band of choice - let's say Shotts for the sake of argument. It is entirely possible for them to take 1,2,3 in the piping and ensemble combined with 1,2 in the drumming - a total of 15. Say hello to the new World Champions. The other bands likely to place well in the drumming have now lifted their pipers to such an extent that they can nip at the Ulstermens' heels. The drumming will make the difference.

Although Inveraray & District had seemed like "the next big thing" for the last couple of years, their results this year have disappointed. Perhaps the establishment enjoyed the story of their meteoric rise, but then decided that they would need to do their time in the Grade One atmosphere before getting their hands on the big one? Nevertheless with the current superstar of World drumming at the back end and another inspirational musician guiding the pipers, would you really want to bet against them? Certainly, their drummers are likely to place better than FM Montgomery, so the only question is where the pipers can get to....

All in all, it makes for what could well be the most hotly contested Grade One contest in years.

Bring it on. 

The day after the Worlds can often seem a little flat. So much piping and drumming takes place in the Worlds Week - now rebranded as Piping Live - that the cold turkey on Sunday can be hard to stomach.

Funnily enough, in my experience, the two day championships have largely put paid to that feeling. I'm not saying that I'm sick of it all - I just feel like I have had my fill. Walking through Glasgow this morning, the husks of bandsmen clambering onto buses would seem to agree.

It is maybe too early yet for a proper post mortem on the results. Facebook is awash with the usual fan boys shouting loudly that their favourites were harshly dealt with. The more considered analysis is someway off. I did see one post mentioning the family tie in the medley judging. A Field Marshal loyalist quickly replied that they could have been 5th in the drums and still won. Whether that maths is technically correct or not, it fails to appreciate that the issue is less the placing than the gap between any given band and its closest competitors.

Anyone listening to FM this past year would find it hard to place the drummers in second place in any contest. Look lower in the results - at the bands with pipe corps capable of approaching the Parkes gold standard - and where do we find their drummers in the medley? Well out of it. Inveraray 6th? Power 5th? Boghall's pipers have slipped a fraction, so it was safe enough to have them 1st. Shotts are not yet the complete package, so 4th was okay. SLOT in third was probably the biggest risk to FM overall, but that powerful corps would look ridiculous much lower.

Granted, FM played their more comfortable medley in the final, but the high drumming place will raise a few eyebrows. Either that, it the low position of 7 for the drummers in the MSR will do likewise. Indeed, looking across the FM drumming performances for qualifying and final it reads 3,2,7,2. The seven is the outlier.

The reason that the medley will draw attention is the family connection. When considering bias, it is well known that the appearance of bias can be corrosive, even if no actual bias exists. Most bandsmen will know that certain judges are felt to favour certain outfits. It is probably inevitable that they will do - prejudices about playing style or tune selection will always out. When a judge at the top level level happens to be the brother of one of the key competitors the eyebrows will start well raised - before a note is played. Whether it had any impact on the results, it shouldn't be allowed to happen again.

Away from the playing, my personal jury remains out on the two day experiment. I wouldn't applaud the Association for partially fixing a problem which they created themselves last year. Akin to the man seeking praise for stopping beating his wife - they shouldn't have done it in the first place. "Better than last year" - that's my damning with faint praise. The solution? Deal with the Grade 2 bands wrongly placed in Grade 1. Split Grade 2. Shorten the finale. Speed up the results. Simple.

Still, the whole event will provide conversation in band halls for the next week - and we will return next year to do it all again...

Another day older and another Worlds safely out of the way.

Aside from the residual tiredness caused by Friday's tramping about the Green, today felt much more like a "traditional" championships. Almost all competing bands were kilted up and in attendance, apart from the occasional forlorn figure of a grade one non-qualifier who would drift, purposeless, around the field.

The day was dominated by the weather. In truth, it was reminiscent of the day one washout last year. Capes and other waterproofs were the order of the day, despite the sun peeping out once or twice. A couple of bands suffered through downpours whilst performing but I heard no one suggest that results would be compromised.

Grade One seemed to buzz past at quite a clip. With only 12 bands in the final, the contest was perhaps a little brief. Another couple of competitors would have done no harm but would likely have only filled the ranks of the also-rans. The brevity of the grade allowed the Grade 2 bands to take over the main arena for their final. Although this was quite the coup for those playing in the second tier, it seemed somehow wrong to have the premier event over before grade two got properly underway. It might be better to consider slipping the Grade 2 final in between the MSR and Medley performances of the big bands - if the Association wants to keep them in the Arena 1.

The crowds were much better everywhere - except in the stand around Grade 1. Maybe it was the weather, or maybe the pricing needs looked at - but the stand was certainly sparsely populated.

Grade 3 took an age to finish and frankly a lot of people clearly opted to head home for results on the internet. The finale was the usual shambles. The contest was always likely to run late but, given the increasing nip in the evening air, something should have been done to speed it up. Individual grade results were further delayed by the (now traditional) mugging for the camera which goes on with every prize recipient. Meanwhile, the paying public quietly freezes to death...

The results in Grade One seemed fair enough. I think that I'll steer clear of what will likely become controversial in coming days, but I will say that a careful scrutiny of the Medley results will provide ammunition for those who query the factors in the judges' minds. Sometimes the allocation of places can less about putting a band into the prizes than about keeping another band out of them...

The second year of the two day experiment was undoubtedly an improvement on the first but it illustrated quite clearly that the need for the second day is only in relation to Grade 1. The more radical solution (and the more logical one) would be to relegate the bottom 25% of Grade 1 into Grade 2 and then split the lower grade into an A and B. I have yet to hear a convincing counter argument. I can understand that the Association wants a sizeable premier grade, spread worldwide, but the gulf within Grade 1 is now so pronounced that this is no longer viable. I'll not hold my breath.

Anyhow, it's all over for another year. Return to your practice chanters and pads. Next year it could be you...