The eastern piping competition season is well underway and bagpipers across the seaboard are busy practicing and working hard to make good music. it’s easy in the hubbub, though, to lose sight of the nitty gritty that has a tremendous influence over our activities. One such pile of grit was the kerfuffle over the recent rule change for Grade 4 solo pipers playing piobaireachd that abolished sidelined the “ground only” requirement in favor of the full tune. Despite heated opposition, the rule change was left in effect for the 2011 season and beyond. People have strong feelings on both sides of this issue and many points were discussed in the March 31 Bagpipe Nation podcast.
The argument goes something like this: We want to encourage good piping in the east so we must force pipers to play full piobaireachd as early as possible so they are ready for the higher grades. They will thus achieve greater competency sooner when they move up to Grade 3 and above.
The counter argument goes something like this: Forcing beginning pipers to play full piobaireachd does a disservice to their development by discouraging them from trying the form to begin with, whereas providing an introductory event such as “ground only” allows them to get the feel for performing the music before hitting it in earnest in higher grades.
The facts, however, are thus: No clear evidence exists that players moving up through the higher grades suffer in their piobaireachd playing at all with the existence of a “ground only” event in Grade 4. Fewer players historically attempt the Grade 4 piobaireachd ground event than those who play the 2/4 March in every competition in the eastern circuit. The total number of competitors entered in each grade of solo bagpipe competition has remained more or less stable games-to-games over the years.
It stands to reason that if the argument either for and against the rule change were true, we could measure the effects given enough time and information. Here we are, six months or so into the 2011 competition season and a new fact is emerging as plain as the rising sun: The number of Grade 4 beginning pipers playing piobaireachd in competition is shrinking dramatically. Read More
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