JULY/AUGUST 2006
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SFU Pipe Band: A Respected Institution After 25 Years
THIS 1981 PHOTOGRAPH is the earliest one of the Simon Fraser University Pipe Band.
THIS IS A MORE RECENT photograph of the award-winning SFU Pipe Band.
ANCOUVER - Although there has been a pipe band at Simon Fraser University since 1966 - the university's inaugural year - the band that we know today came into existence in 1981.
That was the year the University sought to formalize a relationship with a top-level pipe band, and invited Terry Lee and his Port Moody Pipe Band to become the SFU Pipe Band.
Over the years, it has become a respected institution in the community and has brought fame to British Columbia with its capture of national and international prizes. This year, the band celebrates 25 years of existence with the release of another great CD.
In 1982, the band won the Grade 1 North American
Championship, the top prize on the continent, and it would follow this with a long string of prizes at the highest levels in North America and Scotland.
The band placed second at the World Championships in 1985, 1987 and 1988, and had many other top placings in that event. In August 1995, the band captured the Grade 1 World Pipe Band Championship.
A year later, the band returned to Scotland and became the first pipe band from outside the United
Kingdom to win the World Championship more than once. The band repeated wins at the Worlds in 1999 and 2001, and also won the World Drum Corps Championship in 3001 and 2004.
In 2001, SFU also won the Australian Pipe Band Championship while on tour in that continent.
The band performed twice for Queen Elizabeth during her 1983 Vancouver visit and opened for rock star Rod Stewart at his 1989 and 1991 Vancouver concerts.
In addition, the band has been profiled internationally on CNN and BBC, nationally on CBC Newsworld, CBC Radio, and CTV, and has been featured many times on Vancouver television and radio stations.
The band also regularly participates in university convocation ceremonies, corporate events, Remembrance Day ceremonies and other civic events in the Vancouver
In September 1999, Terry Lee and Jack Lee each received the Meritorious Service Medal from the Governor General of Canada for their contributions to piping, culture and youth development.
The SFU Pipe Band has produced 10 recordings, two concert/ documentary videos, and appeared on four BBC Radio Scotland broadcasts. In 2002, the band gave three sold-out concerts in Vancouver, Belfast, and Glasgow,
making it one of the busiest winters ever.
In April 2001 the SFU Pipe Band recorded a CD Live at the Sydney Opera House in Australia. On February 20, 1998, the band performed in concert at Carnegie Hall, New York City.
This concert marked the first time a pipe band has performed a concert at this prestigious venue. This debut performance was recorded and released in June 1998 as Simon Fraser University Pipe Band - Live at Carnegie Hall.
In June 1996, the band released its first live alhumAlive in America the first live, in concert recording in the United States of a pipe band. Both these concerts are captured in the band's videos The Legacy: The Road to Carnegie Hall and Beyond and Alive in America - The Concert.
Most recently, the band has produced two new recordings both in studio and in front of a live audience at SFU. Called On Home Ground, Volume I and II, they capture the sound of the band with some of its best-ever material.
The band has developed a significant youth program, through the Robert Malcolm Memorial Pipe Bands. SFU Pipe Band pipers and drummers contribute to the teaching of over 150 children and teens in a five-band, graduated system.
In 1999, 2001, 2003 and 2006 the top-level Robert Malcolm Memorial Pipe Band won the World Juvenile Pipe Band in Glasgow, Scotland.
The band has played a significant role in the instruction of piping, drumming, and Highland dancing through its popular Highland Arts Festival at Simon Fraser University. Each festival has attracted more than 800 participants from across western North America, making the festival the largest event of its kind in the world.
In February 1998 and April 1996, the band took its Highland Arts Festival on the road to New York and Chicago. The band's Live at Carnegie Hall and Alive in America albums were recorded as part of these Festivals.
In March 2000, the Festival went to Brigham Young University in Utah where the band performed with the famed Mormon Tabernacle Choir on the television program Music and the Spoken Word.
Also, as part of its 1988 Festival, the band piped for the world's largest Scottish Country dance (256 dancers), which was recorded in the Guinness Book of World Records.
The band has also been a leader in developing summer learning opportunities for pipers, drummers, fiddlers and dancers, and for the last 12 years has been organizing North America's largest one-week summer program at Silver Star Mountain near Vernon, B.C. "Piping Hot Summer Drummer" attracts students from across North America, Europe, Great Britain and as far away as Australia.
The Simon Fraser University Pipe Band has always had the determination to live up to its motto. For 25 years, the band has been "ready."
For more information about the SFU Pipe Band, or to purchase copies of any of the band's CDs, visit www.sfupipeband.com.
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Then you are probably entitled to a U.K. State Pension, starting as early as age 60 and as high as $9,000.00 : year for life!
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Telephone:- (604) 274-2261
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Learn to play pipes and drums with the World Champions!
Interested? The SFU Pipe Band's world-famous teaching program for children starts immediately.
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