Perth Voice Interactive

MORE than 100 bagpipers and drummers will descend on UWA this weekend for the pipe band state championships.

Organisers moved the event from Riley to James Oval, after couples planning to get married at a nearby venue expressed totally unreasonable concerns about the heavenly din: Highland bagpipes are around 110 decibels, the same volume as standing next to a helicopter idling or a jackhammer drilling cement. Gorgeous.

The B-flat drones on the bagpipes are pitched at the same frequency as the now-infamous vuvuzela, honked by crowds at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Five bands will be judged on musicianship, pitch and tuning, interplay between pipes and drum corps, dress and drill.

Pipe Bands WA vice-chair Malcolm MacLean says joint-favourites to win  are the Perth Highland Pipe Band and South West Highlanders: “It will be quite a sight with all the drummers and pipers marching across the oval,” he enthused. “For those who haven’t seen it before, it’s definitely worth popping down to see.”

All bands will march onto the field playing together for the finale and trophy presentation. Ear-muffs may be a good idea for faint-hearted sassanachs.

Although popularised by Scots—used in war for centuries as a “clarion call” for troops (the pitch heard over yelling, moaning and gunfire) and to scare lily-livered Englishmen—bagpipes were actually invented in ancient Egypt.

The bagpipe has only nine notes without flats or sharps.

To sound musical with such a limited scale, pipers must learn intricate finger movements called grace notes. It takes around three years and a good set of lungs to learn and master the bagpipes. The free event is today, Saturday May 11, from 1-5pm at UWA.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK