Watch Battle of the Bagpipes

The Scotsman

Battle of the Bagpipes Kerr McQuillan became drum lead at aged 19  A three-part documentary series which will lift the lid on piping Watch on Sky Arts and NOW

Transcript

00:00The sense of family in our band allows you to, musically, you've got an identity that's,

00:08there's a base level of that musical understanding all the time.

00:12A huge part of any pipe band is the drum corps, and this winter Kerr McQuillan has taken over

00:24our drum corps.

00:26Within the pipe band, the drum corps adds a percussive element.

00:32It gives you a totally different feel.

00:38You work a lot as a pipe corps, but ultimately, when the drums come in, it just helps to lift

00:44it to where it needs to be.

00:46I like the stress bay there. I thought, if I was to do anything, it was probably just

00:56pull it back.

00:57Tiny wee bits guys, but it makes a difference.

01:01I'm 19 and that's, it's very young to be taking on that responsibility, especially

01:08at the top end of grade one. I'm the youngest leading drummer in the grade by about 15 years.

01:13In terms of leading the drum corps, he's had a lot of success in a short space of time,

01:18so he's shown to be a really natural leader.

01:22What I dreamed of since the day I was born was becoming the leading drummer of this organisation.

01:27When he asked me, I was over the moon. I'd been planning it for years though, you know,

01:32it's always been in the back of my head, every day I pick up my sticks, what would

01:35I do if I was the leading drummer of this band? And when he told me, it was the best

01:39day of my life, there's no doubt about that.

01:41Ultimately, we picked Kerr because he is the right man for the job.

01:46He's a very focused individual.

01:49I'm so sort of obsessed with the competitive scene in pipe bands. There's not another

01:54musical industry that has such a competitive nature about it.

02:11.

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