Camerons Service Dress at Buckingham Palace

[Silmakhor]

Hrrrrmmm.

That's interesting re: pipe bands getting larger - is it a deliberate attempt to recruit more players, so as to impress judges, or are elite pipers getting more common on the ground?

[OC Richard]

pipe bands getting larger; is it a deliberate attempt to impress judges?

All things being equal, it does seem that judges give the edge to the bigger band.

As we know, the more people playing the same part in unison, the more difficult it is to achieve perfect unison.

There's a musical side to it also: a 30-piper Pipe Corps can perform more sophisticated orchestrations than a 12-piper Pipe Corps can.

or are elite pipers getting more common on the ground?

I think yes, there are simply more Grade One level pipers now that perhaps anytime in the past.

Ditto Grade One level drummers; snare lines of a dozen snares seem common in Grade One nowadays.