The return of classes on the 16th of January also saw the return of the Pipes and Drums band as they set off to their annual Winter Storm workshop held in Kansas City, Missouri. Friday was a day for competition as pipers and drummers from around the world flocked to Kansas City to compete in front of internationally renowned judges. Monmouth’s very own Courtney Green competed in the gold medal event for tenor drumming. Green plays for Grade 1 band 78th Fraser Highlanders of Canada and gave an admirable account of herself with some elaborate flourishing and well-timed drumming. Green notes, “This year was special for me because it was my first year in Gold Med-al…I honestly can’t wait to go back and compete again next year!”
Saturday was the workshop where experts from the United Kingdom as well as the United States and Canada instructed students on how to improve technique, tuning and virtually all things to do with piping and drumming. The workshop was for all people from beginners to experts as everyone could learn something. Monmouth College band members took full advantage of these work-shops and came away with some new skills and ideas about how to improve their piping and drum-ming. Returner Aaron Kimzey who was attending his fourth Winter Storm event and paid particular attention to the drone tuning workshops coordinated by Alistair and Margaret Dunn. Kimzey re-marks, “I learned that maintenance, reed selection, and tuning matters!”
Saturday night, instructors and elite players from Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Canada put on a concert showcasing their talents and highlighting what can be done after years of practice and experience. Both pipers and drummers put on a masterful display of technique and sound that is rare to find in any other musical instrument. Being a drummer, Green enjoyed the drumming of Ste-ven McWhirter, who is the lead drummer of the Inverary and District Pipe Band which are the cur-rent world champions. “He seemed to incorporate a lot of different drumming styles, including those outside of the traditional Scottish style, and it was really unique and interesting to listen to.” From a piping aspect, Aaron Kimzey enjoyed “hearing Roddy Macdonald play ‘The Fallen,’ a tune that was written to commemorate the 15th anniversary of 9/11.”
After the concert, there was an event hosted at the Marriott Hotel in Kansas City where eve-ryone could enjoy some drinks and listen to some more piping called Winter Steam. Sunday was another opportunity to attend some more workshops if one was feeling awake enough to go. The Monmouth Pipe band returned Sunday night after a weekend of learning that will hold the band in good stead for this coming semester.
Kieren Marshall - Contributing Writer