THE DUCKADANG DIARIES
REGIONAL PIPING AND DRUMMING RETREATS

AUGUST 2004

Well once again another successful retreat. Many regulars were in attendance as well as a lot of new faces. All members of the Lockyer Valley Celtic Pipe Band hope you found the experience worthwhile and enjoyable and also were able to renew and make new acquaintances with others who share our interest in pipe bands.

It was pleasing to see a larger attendance of Drum Majors, as David Booth has pointed out to us in the past all advertising has been focused on piping and drumming and as we all do we all tend not to think of those out in front of our bands who wave their maces about, pick at us for not having our uniforms clean or wearing it incorrectly, and generally seem to a hindrance in our desire to go out and just play pipes and drums. Yes, they are an important part of the band and we can assure David that we will address the issue in future advertising.

People began arriving late Friday afternoon and early evening. Lorraine had a slight panic attack wondering whether or not we would run short of beds, fortunately this did not happen and the evening was spent renewing acquittances and making new friendships.

Once dinner was finished we were entertained by fine piping from some of the younger pipers and as always some of Gervie’s poetry and singing, (well those he remembered anyway), and with the arrival of Mark and Rod some piping of an exceptional standard. Festivities carried on throughout the evening and I’m sure everyone enjoyed themselves, some possibly a little more than they intended with a little help from the bar. It was great to see the enthusiasm of the younger pipers who at around 1.00 in the morning were sitting with Mark getting into some heavy practice with g, d, e grace note exercises.

Come Saturday morning all were up bright and early for a fine breakfast and eager to get into the learning part of the Retreat. As usual the younger pipers were sent to wake a piping tutor, who we cannot name, and has made it a custom of past Retreats to be the last to arise.

Drum Majors, pipers and drummers split into their own groups and the respective tutors soon had everyone working hard and the whole camp was a scene of intense concentration with people trying hard to take in what was being taught. Thanks to Chris Foster for demonstrating his computer programme. I’m sure all felt would be a great help to bands and solo players alike. I am sure we will see a lot more of it in the future. Also pipers were introduced to the pressure gauge. We were amazed at just what is involved keeping a constant pressure to ensure a good steady sound. After lunch we were addressed by the Secretary of the QLD branch of the APBA and a short talk on Dress and Drill, then back into tuition. Everyone was worked hard all day and everything wound to a close at about 5.00pm.

After dinner the dining room was cleared and the evening festivities began, and a new innovation was introduced with some dancing, those that participated found out what energy levels are required to dance a Strip The Willow, with a few having leg cramps during the night, we may all have to go into training if this sort of dancing is to be included in the next Retreat.

Groups entertained during the evening as well as Mark, and we were also entertained and amused with some having a go at trying to play Shuttle pipes, small pipes and Uillean pipes. Another new event was added to the programme in the evening, with Buzz giving instruction on playing the Bodhran. This class was well attended and everyone came away enlightened and a little more competent at playing this instrument.

As usual the fun went on until the early hours of Sunday morning, one comment was made in the morning that the managers of the Camp Duckadang should post a warning about how short the nights are there.

Sunday all got back into serious learning again. After morning tea everyone came together for a massed band, which went well and actually had some expression in it, quite a change from usual massed bands when one gets the impression that everything is rushed to get it over and done with and out of it.

Sunday lunch brought the weekend to a close and after a lot of goodbyes and hand shaking people began to depart. Those who to, wanted stayed back longer and spent some more time with the tutors trying their best to cram in as much information in as they could get.

Once again the band thanks all who supported us to make the weekend a success, especially the tutors who as usual gave of their time and wealth of experience freely. A special mention for those who travelled from Singleton and Glen Innes, we enjoyed having your company and hope to see you again at future retreats. We hope you were able to learn something over the weekend and enjoyed yourselves as much as we enjoyed having you all share the weekend with us. Also many thanks to Rowena for bringing Highland House to the retreat, it has been invaluable to be able to give access to those who cannot regularly get to suppliers of piping and drumming accessories.

To the future

Planning for the next Retreat is underway and it is hoped to be held in March 2005, (date to be advised,) the tutors are already booked and are putting together suggestions on a programme.

Your input is also important. If you are considering attending future retreats it will assist the tutors in setting the programme if you let us know your needs. At this stage it has been decided that the tutors will all get together within the next few months and put the programme together as well as set tunes and drum scores that will be used. We hope to be able to have the music and scores on the band web site and it will able to be accessed by clicking on to the Duckadang link. It would also help if you wanted to use the Guestbook on the website to give us your feedback and also to put in your ideas for next retreat programme.

We hope to be able to bring Mark down from Mt. Isa. He will be concentrating on tuition for all those interested in solo piping. This is an area which differs from band piping. He will again be setting tunes with a leaning towards solo music.

Anyone having queries, suggestions or seeking assistance from tutors please feel free to contact the band through the web site and we will do our upmost to help in anyway possible.

Also we hope to keep everyone informed of plans for the next retreat through bulletins, which we will post, to the Duckadang link on our web site.

Once again from LVCPB thanks for your support and we look forward to enjoying your company in the future.