Serving pipers, drummers, and pipe bands in Northern California and Northern Nevada.
Please join the Northern Branch for a special mid-year membership meeting, Saturday, June 9, 2018. This short meeting will take place immediately after closing ceremonies at the Mother Lode Highland Games, and is your chance give feedback and suggestions, and to get involved! Any and all Northern Branch members are welcome to attend.
For details and the agenda, please see the Notice of Mid-Year Membership Meeting.
Order of play for the band contest at the Woodland Celtic Games, April 28 & 29, 2018, inWoodland, CA:
The solo competition schedule for the Northern Branch Solo Contest at Ardenwood Farm, Saturday, April 7, 2018, is available below:
A few major highlights from this year’s WUSPBA AGM in Phoenix, Arizona:
1) The minimum number of pipers for a Grade 4 band has been reduced from six (6) to five (5).
2) Effective 2019, the Grade 4 Mini MSR band competition will be replaced by a special format MSR consisting of four (4) parts each of 2/4 march, strathspey, and reel. For 2018, Grade 4 bands will continue to play the Mini MSR (4-2-2).
3) Effective 2019, the Grade 5 Quick March Medley band competition parameters will be changed to eight (8) parts of marches, regardless of timing. For 2018, the QMM will continue to be based upon the time limit requirement of 2:45 to 4:30.
4) The new President of WUSPBA is Kevin Conquest, the new Executive Secretary is Christina Marshall, and the new Band Registrar is Jeff Mann.
5) Next year’s AGM will be in the Denver, Colorado area.
The WUSPBA Northern Branch AGM will be Saturday, December 9, 2017, at the United Irish Cultural Center in San Francisco.
Any officer nominations or proposed amendments to the Northern Branch bylaws may be submitted to Wes Weber, Northern Branch Secretary, at wesweber@pacbell.net.
There will be a couple of free workshops in the afternoon, before the meeting. Following the meeting, we will have an awards dinner to honor the 2017 Northern Branch Champions.
See the AGM Notice for details!
Any bands or soloists who wish to be upgraded (or downgraded) for the 2018 competition season must submit a regrade application no later than September 17, 2017. Regardless of your competition record, a regrade application is the only way to guarantee that you will be considered for a change of grade next year!
Solo Regrade Application (PDF)
Solo Regrade Application (DOCX)
Band Regrade Application (PDF)
Band Regrade Application (DOCX)
See the Solo and Band Grading Information page on the WUSPBA website for more details.
Due to the extreme temperatures expected this weekend, the WUSPBA rule requiring “head dress” as part of the uniform for competing bands has been waived for Pleasanton this weekend. It will be up to the leadership of each band whether they would like to wear hats or not.
Order of play for the band contest at the Caledonian Club of San Francisco Scottish Highland Games, September 2 & 3, 2017, in Pleasanton, CA:
The solo schedule and Saturday & Sunday band draws for the Sacramento Valley Games in Woodland this weekend, April 29 & 30, are available below:
Woodland 2017 Solo Schedule (PDF)
