They’re at it again

In the 2008 season, the Toronto Police Pipe Band started a number of heated discussions with the unveiling of their new competition medley. This wasn’t a medley, it was actually a composition with just one name. Composed by Michael Grey, “Variations on a Theme of Good Intentions” can be interpreted as a statement on pipe band compositions, much like the Shotts turn at the Worlds in 2008, though a bit more drastic than that. Michael Grey makes no allusions to his dissatisfaction with the pipe band set competition (MSR), and I see this medley as a statement that the medley competitions should be altered as well. The medley sparked many heated debates about things, and if nothing else it started a dialogue.

So the Toronto Police are at it again. This year they’ve unveiled their new medley, entitled “Idiomatica.” Here’s a video of them at the Georgetown Highland Games on June 13 (sorry, unable to embed it here). Link will open in a new window.

Here’s my verdict: I like it. I felt it a bit closer to the traditional style of medley than last year, with the exception of the intro. I’ll be honest, I was tapping my foot almost the whole medley. It’s very interesting musically, and while there are a lot of harmonies I never felt like they were overdone, but rather provided a nice departure from the single voice of the bagpipes that’s usually heard.

I’m not wild about the intro, especially cutting out the chanters as they turn around. There’s nothing in the rules that says they can’t, but it’s one of those things that has to be done well or not at all. The rogue note that escaped from someone’s chanter ruined it for me. It seemed to me that the whole intro was different just for the sake of being different. There might be another message there, but that’s how it came across to me.As the medley went on I really got into it, really enjoyed it.

The final verdict: I like the composition, but I’m still not sure how I feel about it in a competition. Your thoughts?