Dartmouth pipe band celebrates 2nd-place win at world championships
Dartmouth and District Pipe Band competed in Grade 3A category, going up against 28 teams
A Dartmouth, N.S., pipe band that will be marking 60 years together next year has more than one reason to celebrate after competing at the world championships in Scotland earlier this month.
The Dartmouth and District Pipe Band placed second in the Grade 3A category at the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow on Aug. 17.
"It was a pretty surreal experience that we worked really hard [for] all year, and to end up second in the world in one of the most competitive grades was a really, really great feeling," Blaise Theriault, the band's pipe major, told CBC Radio's Mainstreet Halifax on Tuesday.
Pipe bands from all around the world, with many coming from North America and the United Kingdom, and as far away as Oman and China, attended the world championships to compete.
Theriault said the Dartmouth band, which has 30 members, competed against 28 teams before moving on to the finals.
He said each team is evaluated by four judges: two for piping, one for drumming and one that examines how the band plays as an ensemble.
"We felt good about it. But you're competing against a lot of the best bands in the world, so you never know what the judges are going to think," Theriault said.
"And so then we had to wait around and find out if we made the finals, and once we did, all focus was on that play for the final and trying to do the best we could."
Theriault said he got into piping when he was seven, when he was fascinated by a pipe band performing during a Natal Day parade in Halifax.
"Seeing the whole band going down the street and the sound coming out of it and the power behind it, it just — something made me want to do it," he said.
He then told his parents he wanted to play, and it just so happened that they had connections to the Dartmouth and District Pipe Band.
"And 25 years later, I'm still playing with them," he said.
Family affair
Kaitlyn Adshead, 26, has been playing with the band since she was a teenager. She said her father, who plays snare drum in the band, inspired her to join.
She plays the bass drum, which is considered the "heartbeat" of the band as she keeps the tempo.
Adshead said the world championships in Glasgow was her first time competing at this level, which was nerve-racking and exciting.
She said to celebrate after the win, the band threw a big party outside their accommodations in Glasgow.
"I still don't think I've fully processed. It was just so crazy," she said. "It was amazing because we work so hard through the year to prepare for this moment ... and yeah, it feels really good."
Adshead said the band is a family, and they spend hundreds, maybe even thousands, of hours together practising each year.
"Everyone's so nice and supportive and even when you're having a bad day, everyone's there for you. When you're having a good day, everyone's there for you," she said.
With files from Preston Mulligan
