You mean I have to march?

I used to play the side drum in the Clans of the West Pipe Band, but put it aside when I started studying again. After my course ended, I was asked to join the band again, but decided against it because there wasn’t always someone there to teach me, and I find it hard having to learn stuff like that by myself.

In the middle of the year, I joined the drum corps of the University of Ballarat Pipe Band, which has a reputation of having one of the best drum corps around. I’ve been practicing a lot, and can finally say that I have passed the Year 6 girl, and am striving to be as good as the Year 8 guy and the other Leah who has been playing for 7+ years, but I think we’re still a fair way off the senior players.

My first ‘play-out’ with the band was at their Scotia ball last night. The drum corps did a special drum salute that included back-sticking (hitting the drum with the back of the stick), and then we played whilst the rest of the band marched in. All was going well until I noticed that most of the band was marching on the spot. It was then that I realised that I was going to have to march out of the ball room with the band.

Now, I know that it sounds crazy, but for some reason I wasn’t expecting it. In all the weeks of practice that I did with the band, we never once practiced marching, and I had not even given it a thought. However, there is not one pipe band around that doesn’t march, so that fact that I hadn’t even considered it was pretty stupid. Anyway, after the first initial panic-ky thoughts I started marching along, and marched right out of that place with the rest of the band, just like I had been expecting it all along. The band was none the wiser.

BTW, I had a fantastic night at the ball, which included a tonne of country dancing where they teach you all the steps as you go. I also know why I never did my deb – I can’t dance for peanuts!