Anyone can be a piping or drumming judge. Think about that idea for a moment and take note of your conditioned, reflexive reaction to it. If you’re like most bagpipers and drummers who were born and bred here in the eastern US, the idea might come across as almost laughable. But in all seriousness, why can’t everyone be given a fair chance to judge piping, drumming , or pipe bands if they so choose?
The system in use to select and certify adjudicators in the EUSPBA is designed so as to ensure that not anyone can be a piping or drumming judge save those deemed to be most qualified and capable. But as discussed in Parts I and II of this series, the system guarantees that it selects the same folks who represent a limited experience with a singular point of view when it comes to bagpipe competition and music. Very few new additions are seen as the years go by chiefly because the requirements are too unrealistic to be met by anyone and therefore must be compromised in some way with each new candidate, thereby undermining their effectiveness in selecting the desired qualified candidates in the process.
Poor quality piping makes a statement about the demands and expectations placed on players and bands by the judges who dutifully evaluate us on the pitch as much as anything. If the quality of play in competition is to change here in the east, what we need is an influx of different points of view among those who evaluate those same competitions. To do that, the system for selecting and certifying adjudicators needs to change in order to allow folks with broader and more varied backgrounds to hold a clipboard and scoresheet.
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