Comments on: It’s a Small Worlds After All

By: Stig Bang-Mortensen

Stig Bang-Mortensen — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 10:43:17 +0000

The half hour in between the MSR and the Medley could be used for educational purposes. A preproduction by some one who knows about the matters could fill out the gap explaining some of the finer points. BBC has made some really brilliant programs explaining music and instruments.

By: mike

mike — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 00:13:06 +0000

A good question, Stig. I suspect the BBC is aiming to reach out to those not familar with pipe bands, piping, drumming … and help them understand the finer points of the music (unfortunately, a basic tune change to us is a finer point to uninitiated listeners). Just a thought. M.

By: Stig Bang-Mortensen

Stig Bang-Mortensen — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 06:02:58 +0000

I’m sure the speakers did as BBC wanted them to do. My wonder is, is this type of speak necessary?

In order to understand the statements like “This is the transition to the Snuff Wife” some bagpipe/musical knowledge must be at hand otherwise the statement makes no sense. If no appropriate knowledge is at hand some pretty bizarre pictures will be shown at the inner cinema.

By: mike

mike — Sun, 06 Sep 2009 17:34:04 +0000

“McAllister’s Willie”! Now that’s funny.

I can’t think of a North American “habit” of any kind, to be honest. Not even a Canadian habit. Anyway, I am pretty sure that Bob Worrall was hired by the BBC to commentate and was directed how to appoach that requirement. M.

By: Stig Bang-Mortensen

Stig Bang-Mortensen — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 17:29:56 +0000

Living in the comfortable time zone was nice. The only thing that annoyed me was the speakers urge to comment the performances as they where played. “Now we have the transition to Snuff Wife” etc.. I don’t know if it is a North American habit or a demand from BBC but I found it distracting. I doesn’t help that the comments are still there on the edited videos. On the other hand the RSPBA speaker introducing a certain reel as McAllister’s Willie was out of this world That’s really what live performance is all about.

By: mike

mike — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 22:48:51 +0000

Thanks for your comments, Vince. 50,000 people watching to a pipe band webstream does indeed mean something. My concern is that like all minority elements of a larger culture, the pipe band, strong as the whole movement may feel, will always be under threat to some larger, stronger, more widely held element – especially if we look inwards and are happy with just “enjoying our wee hobby”. It is important we promote and popularize and not rest on the laurels of a great webcast. We don’t need to be top40 music – or want to be, for that matter – but bringing the loud stylings of a pipe band to any audience, let alone a broad one, will always be our challenge – one we can’t let up on. M.

By: Vince

Vince — Sun, 16 Aug 2009 23:51:00 +0000

Agree all around, Mike. What’s unfortunate is that in the broader culture, things narrow enough to only reach 50,000 typically get dismissed as not having much value. That’s not a problem with popularity or reach, but one of goals and benchmarks (which are usually arbitrary and fleeting). And this in an age when internet tech is making the niche audience more important–at least to those who want to reach it. If these kinds of things were measured on pure impact on the audience, then the value of the WPBC and its webcast is immeasurable. Speaking as one who DID sit arse-glued for the whole thing, I don’t think any media offering has ever made me feel so delighted that it existed. What could the cost of webcasting for the BBC possibly be? Near zero? In strict business, they spent nothing to get 100,000 eyeballs that they did not have before, so that’s gotta mean something (hopefully).