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High Desert Pipes & Drums – 2008 Members Guide High Desert Pipes & Drums Mission Statement • To foster and promote Scottish culture and music, to perform locally, regionally, and throughout the western United States, and to teach the Great Highland Bagpipe & Drums in the tradition as taught by previous professional instructors from Scotland and other countries. • Students will be taught to play either the bagpipe or drum to a high standard and to perform and compete within the Western United States Pipe Band Association (WUSPBA) jurisdiction. • To represent the Clan Wallace Society World wide, sponsors and supporters, the State of New Mexico, and the United States Of America at the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow Scotland.
Introduction Dedicated to the advancement of Highland Bagpipe music and the general proliferation of all things Scottish, the High Desert Pipes and Drums of Albuquerque, NM was formed in 1992 under the direction of Pipe Major Bill Horn. Since then, the band has grown from a small collection of Scottish music enthusiasts to a recognized center of piping culture.
Competing several times a year, the Band has placed in local competitions both in Albuquerque and throughout the Southwest. Individual band members have also competed and medaled in the higher grades. Featured several times on local TV and radio, the Band frequently performs at local Albuquerque events such as Summerfest, the State Fair, and the Fiesta Day parade, where the band recently won Best Musical Group honors.
In 1999 the band went to Scotland where they medaled in every competition they entered and won the World Championship for Grade 4B. High Desert Pipes & Drums, registered as a 501(C)3 public foundation, is Albuquerque's only co-educational, tax deductible piping society and prides itself as a teaching band.
The Band provides instruction to all ages of pipers and drummers, from all walks of life. Piping and drumming tutors are available for students of all levels. Classes are held Thursday night starting at 6 PM at Sandia Prep School in Albuquerque. All potential students and more experienced pipers and drummers are invited.
High Desert Pipes & Drums – 2008 Members Guide History Albuquerque is essentially a bagpipe hostile environment -too high (the altitude makes it difficult to tune and play), too dry (lack of humidity affects the reeds), too isolated (where’s the nearest Piping School?). Pipe Bands are generally formed when a group of pipers leave their existing bands and form a new one. However, how do you build a pipe band when you have no pipers????
If you are Bill Horn, founder and Pipe Major of the High Desert Pipes and Drums, you teach and teach and teach and teach until you have taught hundreds of people the scale - and then for every forty people taught - you get one piper. And after years of work – you finally get a core group - and you build on the core group - and then they teach and teach and teach. Next you set impossible goals and work so hard that you actually reach those goals and exceed them.
When the High Desert Pipes and Drums competed in Scotland in 1999 and WON at the World Pipe Band Championships in their grade - they were the Cinderella story of the day. A band from New Mexico???? A young band from New Mexico???Within the piping world, The High Desert Pipes and Drums are well known for this accomplishment We have put Albuquerque on the Piping map. We are the 1st American band to win in Grade IV at the World Pipe Band Championships in their 50+ year history.I have been with the High Desert Pipes and Drums since 1994, as a snare drummer, a bass drummer, a bagpiper, and a member of the Board of Directors. I have witnessed the struggles, the frustrations, the hours and hours of work that have gone into building this organization. I have marveled at the diversity of ages, personalities, ethnic backgrounds, and professions that comprise the group. I watch high school and college students giving musical instruction to engineers and lawyers and police officers. I see parents and their children struggling in the same class to master this very difficult music. I watch the faces of the audience at our performances and see how the music touches them. The opportunities and rewards that the band provides go far beyond the music.
The High Desert Pipes and Drums, has accomplished a tremendous amount during its short history. The future is bright, as the band continues to grow and develop. The High Desert Pipes and Drums have set the standard for Grade IV bands in the Western United States. -Patricia M Sharp – Treasurer
High Desert Pipes & Drums – 2008 Members Guide Membership Student Membership The requirements for Student Membership are: • Annual Dues of $25.00 • Regular attendance. • Complete the membership waiver available for download at www.HDPD.org. • Obtain the recommended instructional material for your instrument. • Commit to practicing at home, regularly. • Attend and volunteer at performances when possible. • Complete the tutor with in a reasonable time (1-year). • Earn 100 points a year (100 points are required to be a voting member of the • band. Performance Membership In addition to the Student Membership requirements for Performance Members must: • Learn, play from memory, and earn the Pipe Major approval for these tunes: Green Hills / The Battles ‘Or / Scotland the Brave / Old Rustic Bridge / Pipe Major Bob Tracy / Lord Lovat’s Lament / Amazing Grace • Performance Members are encouraged to learn: My Own Fireside / Jack’s Welcome Home / The Bells of Dunblaine / Highland Cathedral • Out of the Air / New Year in Noosa / Rocking the Baby Competition Membership In addition to the Performance Membership requirements Competition Members must: • Learn, play from memory, and earn the Pipe Major approval for these tunes: • Bathgate Highland Games / La Baum / Sky Rovers / Campbellton Kilte Ball / Miss Ada Crawford / Asleep at the Wheel / John Keith Lang / The Heights of Dargai / John D. Burgess / Wellington Police Piper’s in Australia • Competition Members are encouraged to learn: • Other tunes chosen by the Pipe Major and solo tunes. • Provide instruction to students as needed according to the instructional material. • Commit to local gigs and travel. • Sign the WUSPBA Official Roster for High Desert Pipes & Drums.
High Desert Pipes & Drums – 2008 Members Guide Tunes The band’s secretary maintains the official band tune sheets. Please contact the Band’s Secretary via email for a completed list of band tunes. Alumni Membership Alumni Members are either former competition player that are no longer active participants. Alumni Members are allowed access to the HDPDmembers. Lessons Lessons will begin promptly at 6:00pm every Thursday at Sandia Preparatory School Building #500 (532 Osuna Road NE Albuquerque, NM). Classes are taught by volunteers from the competition band. In the event lessons are cancelled, the band will post the cancellation on [email protected] . In the event members will be absent, the member must notify the instructor 24 hours before classes begin. Instructors are expected to be at the school at least 10 minutes before classes begin. In the event the instructors are delayed, the instructor will contact the students registered for that class and schedule an alternative instructor. 2006 Instructors are: • PM Bill Horn 203-9633 • PS James Douglas 250-0835 • DS Kevin Thomas 294-9621 • Patricia Sharp 281-5548 / 220-5706 • Christopher Burrus 379-3276 • Lorraine McInnes-Monie 843-9668 Classes can be combined in the event instructors are unable to begin on-time. No student should willingly be without an instructor when classes begin at 6:00pm.
HDPDmembers The band maintains an e-mail newsgroup for email correspondence called [email protected]
To signup for the newsgroup: • http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/HDPDmembers/, click join this group, sign up for a yahoo id if you don't already have one. Follow the prompts to join the group and be sure to reply to the verification email.
To Post Messages: • [email protected]
High Desert Pipes & Drums – 2008 Members Guide You must have an active band membership to access the HDPDmembers. In order to have an active membership you must meet membership requirements. [email protected] is a private email group for all current dues paying band members and students of High Desert Pipes & Drums and a few other select people. This group is for band related messages only. Anybody abusing the privilege of emailing the group such as off topic messages, flaming someone, offensive language, spamming the group or any inappropriate behavior will be banned from the group. This includes auto-reply out of office messages being sent to the group. You may or may not get a warning depending on what has happened. If you are banned from the group for abuse you will have to plead a good case to the moderators before being allowed back in. The moderators can add, remove and ban members from the group. Every member has a voice here, the email settings do not allow receive only mode so we expect everyone to behave. Those that don’t will be dealt with. When replying to emails please delete all but the pertinent parts of the original email concerning your reply. We don’t need to keep reading the same thing over and over. The default reply is to the original sender only. When replying to all be sure that you are only sending to the group, not the group and the original sender. If a student needs help this is one place to ask. All of the playing members of the band started as beginners, we know what you are going through and want to help you become a better player. Remember the only stupid questions are the ones you don’t ask. We want our students to feel like they are an important part of this band from the first day they walk in. When requesting to join the group be sure to include your name and what class you are in. Please refrain from sending an email to the group just to reach one person. You can send any group member a message by going to http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/HDPDmembers/ click on members, find the person you are looking for and click on their email address. The band also maintains an event calendar available to be view at http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/HDPDmembers/cal Be responsible when using the newsgroup. It should be use as a bulletin board for announcement and discussions pertinent to the band. Profanity will not be tolerated. WUSPBA High Desert Pipes & Drums is a member of the Western United States Pipe Band Association (WUSPBA). In order for the band to be sanctioned the annual dues are $300 and a roster is maintained. This membership allows the band to compete in WUSPBA sanctioned events. In order to compete as a SOLOIST, band members must register with the governing organization. For WUSPBA, soloist registration fee is $25 before the first of February after that the fee raises to $35. Families can register additional members for $10. Registering as a soloist gives the soloist a voting position in WUSPBA and entitlement to publications produced by WUSPBA.
High Desert Pipes & Drums – 2008 Members Guide
Get to the Points The High Desert Pipes and Drums use a points system to allocate funds, determine who votes, gauge band participation etc. There are three classes of points: • Fundraising Points: Since the annual band dues for band members is a token $25.00 per year, members are asked to earn 500 fundraising points per year. Fundraising points are tabulated by the treasurer. Merchandise (t-shirts, CD, etc) 5 points ea Pre-designated band roadie,gigs 10 points Competition (daily) 50 points Booster Donations 1 point per dollar contributed Fundraiser Chairperson - points vary depending on receipts of fundraiser - not to exceed 500 points. Note: Fundraisers must be self-supporting - they cannot drain band funds • Performance Points: Performance points are available to active playing band members only. Each gig is worth 25 points and each band competition performance is worth 50 points. • Teaching/Student points: Teaching (Thurs 6-7 pm) 15 points wk Students (Thurs 6-7 pm) 5 points wk Please note that to be eligible for any points - you must be current with annual dues. Above listing is not complete but a general guideline for the most common points available. Specialized support jobs within the band organization are available, and can also provide fundraising points. • Calculating the Points For purposes on voting - points run on the calendar year. For purposes of Scotland/Big trip the points start during the trip (i.e. Scotland 2001) and continue until one month prior to the Scotland trip. Points have no intrinsic or dollar value, the value is relative to their percent of the total points of the entire qualifying group.( For example you have 500 points, total points of entire group is 10000 points - you will be receive 5% of allocated funds- not to exceed total funding per individual. If you have 500 points and total points of entire group is 25000 points, you would receive 2% of allocated funds - not to exceed total funding per individual. Points are for the purposes of getting the competing/performing band to Scotland. Points for individuals not playing with the band are not used for calculating allocation. After being awarded, points are not transferable. However, for families with multiple band members points are tabulated for the family as a group and will be divided at the time of allocation.
High Desert Pipes & Drums – 2008 Members Guide Competition Events High Desert Pipes & Drums compete in local and regional events. The goal is to educated the band and prepare for a World Competition Event in Scotland.
All members are encouraged to attend all competition events.
Travel arrangements outside of the Albuquerque area are made by the band’s travel coordinator. If members wish to travel outside the arrangements made, the travel coordinator needs to be informed.
Incurred travel money will be allocated according to the approved and posted policy of the Treasurer.
Competition Soloist HDPD encourages members to compete individually as long as the solo competition does not affect performance in the band’s competitions. We are a pipe BAND. Entry fees are the responsibility of the soloist. There’s no “I” in Desert & Drums Former Pipe Sergeant Mason Parsons
Uniforms / Equipment High Desert Pipes and Drum official uniform is: • Instrument (Drums are provided by HDPD, Pipe are not provided) • Glengarry with Wallace Clan pin • Wallace Tartan Kilt (Pleated to Sett) • Black Belt • Polished Buckle • White band socks (Purchase from Quartermaster ~ $15) • Ghillie Brogues • Black Argyle Jacket • White long-sleeve shirt without button downed collar. • Black Tie • Red flash • Pipe Bag Cover • Black sporran with 3 white tassels and white front • Waistcoat • Inverness Cape Underlined items are issued by the band, if available. Competition Members receive preference on uniforms and equipment. All other items are the responsibility of the member. Any uniforms or equipment issued are the responsibility of the member. All items issued must originate and be returned to the quartermaster.
High Desert Pipes & Drums – 2008 Members Guide