The Worlds goes global

Try to think about what life was like before the internet. It’s hard, I know. The net is the first place I look for news, weather, and things I used to look up in the yellow pages. I also contend that Wikipedia is one of the greatest inventions in the history of humanity. Information and interactive content has filtered down to nearly every part of the globe, involving nearly every aspect of every culture.

The bagpipe world has been involved in this as well. I can list a dozen pipers who have blogs and YouTube channels, and there are hundreds of others out there. Videos of band competitions, especially the ones involving the top bands, appear on YouTube within a few hours of the contest, offering people half a world away the chance to be armchair judges.

And speaking of armchair judging, I spent Saturday morning doing just that. Courtesy of the BBC, live coverage of the World Pipe Band Championship was available to anyone in the world with an internet connection. Being unable to make it to Scotland is no longer an excuse for not catching the performances.

Coverage included the entire grade 1 contest, starting with the qualifying round. I’ll admit that I’m not hardy enough to catch the qualifying round (it started at 4 am here on the east coast of the U.S., but I do know people who got up to watch it), but I did see the entirety of both the MSR and medley rounds of the finals.

This also suggests a great party event: “Hey, let’s get together and watch the Worlds!” The BBC recognized this would happen and asked people to submit photos of their Worlds parties.

The really nifty thing is that all of the videos from the day are still available at the BBC website. Even being busy on the day of the Worlds is no longer a valid excuse for not catching the performances. Videos from 2009 are actually still up on the web, so you can go back and compare.

Oh, and in case you’ve had your head in a bucket for the last 36 hours, it was the St. Laurence O’Toole Pipe Band that came out on the top in grade 1, winning the Worlds for the first time in their history.