| PATRICIAN
PRIMARY PIPE AND BRASS BAND |
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| Patrician Primary School, Newbridge, Co. Kildare, Ireland. | ||
| Phone 045 432174 | e-mail nubridge@iol.ie | http://ireland.iol.ie/~nubridge/ |
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| The
Patrician Primary Piper Band was officially launched on
St. Patrick’s Day 1995. Having gone into training
the previous October, within six months the first of the
Patrician Primary Pipers were seen on the streets of
Newbridge. That year they took lst. overall in the music section of the Newbridge Parade and since then they have come 2nd overall in the school section in 1998. On St. Patrick’s Day 1995 there were just eighteen members in the band whereas today there are almost one hundred children in total, aged from 11 years to 14 years. Since 1995 the band has grown not only in numbers but also in the range of instruments. At first we included trumpets and this year we moved from just trumpet to trumpet and trombone. There are now forty-two members in uniform and another forty-eight in training. |
The Patrician
Primary Pipers was always regarded by its founder and
bandmaster Francis T. Kirke, as a musical experience
rather than a musical education, and although he would
say that the difference is subtle, it is also of huge
importance where the direction the band is to go is
concerned. The emphasis has always been on performance,
enjoyment, travel and "the buzz". Frank Kirke tutors the children in drum and pipe whilst the brass is taught by Brian Brady. Frank arranges the music and accompanies the band on all engagements (over 50 last year). Members of the Committee and parents of the band members accompany the band on all engagements and share the onerous task of dressing down the band back at the school when an engagement is finished and generally provide the transport to what the children would refer to as their ‘gig’. |
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| Over twenty-five thousand
pounds has been invested in the band over the past four
years, and the majority of this has been raised by
parents trodding the streets, shaking the tin can and
selling lines. A certain word of gratitude must go to the
people of Newbridge and local concern, without whom we
could not survive. Of the original eighteen members who founded the band six of these are still with us, and if there is an anchor that ties the band to the ground it must be these kids. In band terms to have that ratio of continuity is an excellent result. All tuition is done in a group format. Amongst the children themselves there is a collective responsibility to the tutoring, i.e. senior members tutor juniors – junior members tutor beginners and beginners help each other. This approach helps to ensure the survival of the band and makes every individual dispensable. If there were one element that those of us involved with the band prize above all else, it would have to be the self-imposed discipline of the children themselves. Without this the band could not function. Of course the children are the same as every other kid and are not chosen but volunteer to become members, but when they are under starter orders, and decide to play well, they are a very different group. Good manners, politeness and joviality are requirements that come well before any ability to play, and no child has ever failed to make the grade. Where to next, one might well ask? Well the plan is next year to have a senior band for all those based in secondary school, and a separate junior band for those based at primary level. But before that we will be walking and playing down 5th. Avenue New York on St. Patrick’s Day 1999 |
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