FAQ

Miscellaneous

Q: What tartan do you wear?

We wear King George VI tartan. It comprises of green and red.

Q: What's with the crocodile?

Yes, we have a crocodile in our emblem with not a stag, castle or buckle in sight. North Queensland abounds with crocs not stags. Our particular croc is called Albert and his teeth are very sharp so no one has had the nerve to tell him he can’t be in a pipe band logo. So I guess we’re stuck with him. Onya Albert!

Membership

Q: If I join the band do I have to play at everything?

No is the short answer.

Our members come from a very wide geographical area and it’s not always possible for them to attend every event.

It is quite acceptable to participate with the band in just one or all of our areas of activity. These currently include:

• competition work
• concert work
• tuition work

Q: Is all just about bagpipes and drums?

No definitely not. We have a diverse range of musicians within the band and we continually encourage new members to expand their range of musical talents. If you can play another instrument, sing, dance or keep others amused in some way you’ll find performing with us a great experience.

And if you just want to play bagpipes or drums that’s fine too. That’s what we’re here for.

Q: What if I already play in a band?

That’s good.

Most of our members also play in at least one other band of some type or another. Most play with their local community pipe band and support their local community efforts.

As we have a longish period between rehearsals it opens up possibilities for members to either take a musical break or do something different in between.

Plus, playing with your local band means you get to take something back to them by way of new methodologies.

Q: Where are your members from?

Surprisingly our members come from a very wide area indeed. Our northern-most member lives just north of Cairns. Our southern-most member lives near the Gold Coast. Our most westerly member lives in a place who’s name we can’t even pronounce properly. That’s just about got Queensland covered.

Music

Q: What competition music do you play?

At the moment we cover sufficient material to allow us to compete in:

• G4 Selection of Marches
• G4/G3 Musical Selection
• G3 March, Strathspey & Reel

Q: What does your concert music involve?

We have a 2 hour concert performance for which the full band participates in part.

As part of the concert band you are only required to learn 12 pieces. The great majority of these pieces have been specially orchestrated to make learning and performing them quite simple. In all likelihood your current repertoire requirements with your current local pipe band will greatly outstrip that of ours.

But ours is way more fun to perform!

Q: Where will I find a copy of the current repertoire?

The current play list containing the order of play for tunes for both competition and concerts can be found in the Download Music section. It’s close to the top of the list.

Rehearsals

Q: How long do your rehearsals last?

Our rehearsals last as much of a full weekend as we can manage.

Sometimes we have to cut short the times to accomodate another event we are taking part in, eg. an evening concert or parade.

We also need to wrap things up on the Sunday at a reasonable time to allow participants to make an early start on their return journeys home. Some participants travel a very long distance either by car or by plane.

A typical weekend rehearsal runs:

Sat: 9am to 6pm – a full day with breaks
Sun: 8am to 11am

Many participants travel to the rehearsal venue on the Friday and use the opportunity to top up their rehearsal time on the Friday evening if there are sufficient numbers.

Q: Isn't five weeks a bit long between rehearsals?

You would think so at first. But our experience is that it would appear to be ideal.

It gives us time to prepare properly for each rehearsal and take a well earned break in between. We’re fortunate that we don’t suffer from the drudgery of week-in week-out band practices so we come to each rehearsal refreshed, prepared and enthusiastic.

This puts us in a good place to get a lot of work done at rehearsals, to make real progress.

Q: When do you practice?

We hold weekend rehearsals about once every 5 weeks. On the run up to important competitions and concerts we may hold an extra rehearsal to keep us on target. We have found that the 5 week gap gives us time to rest and prepare for the next rehearsal.

Q: Where do you practice?

We hold 90% our rehearsals in Townsville (and Ayr) as it is the most efficient solution for getting most of our members to most of our rehearsals most of the time. We do from time to time hold rehearsals in other areas around North Queensland when supporting a local event or pipe band.

Website

Q: Can I publish my photos of the band in the gallery?

Yes. Send your photos or movies to gallery( at )nqscots.com For best looking results you’ll need images at least 700 pixels wide. If possible try to reduce the overall size of your images to less than 500Kb each.

Q: Why are some of the stories closed to comments?

Commenting is automatically disabled after 6 weeks.

Q: Why do I get a 401 Unauthorized error when I try to access the music downloads?

Some sections of the site are password protected. You can get the current password for restricted parts of the site by logging into the band room.