LEADERSHIP

 

 

 

Leaders of the Band

 

Leaders come in all sizes and shapes.  Leadership in its many forms is a favorite topic of mine.  Pipe Band leadership, while daunting in consideration of the many technical challenges faced by a Pipe Major or a Drum Sergeant, remains very much the same as any leadership challenge in any group.  You need a leader to make a group's collective efforts effective whether you are talking about a band, a church, or a little league team.

 

Let's sort out the leadership 'score card' for the UCR Pipe Band in order to make my chat about  leadership a bit more understandable.

 

UCRPB is comprised of multiple groups, each an integral part of the overall Band's success.  The Band is led by the Pipe Major of the Band, assisted by the Drum Sergeant of the Band, and at times by the Drum Major of the Band.  Competitive units are led by pipe majors and drum sergeants whose leadership responsibilities do not necessarily extend beyond their respective competitive units. 

 

Paid instructors fulfill a vital role in helping to prepare the Band or competitive units for success, but by their very nature are separate from the Band - not members.

 

Here is an overview of the multiple groups within the Band.

1. The University of California, Riverside Pipe Band (UCRPB). 

   

   This is the largest and most important group.  It is comprised of all band members.  It represents the University of California, Riverside at public and private performances.  I refer to it as The Band.  The capitalized letters are significant.  Some of it's sub-groupings represent the Band and the University via competition.  These competitive units are recognized by the Western United States Pipe Band Association (WUSPBA) as distinct "bands."  I refer to them occasionally as bands, but most often as competitive units.
2. UCRPB Performing Members.   

   

   This group is primarily made up of musicians whose only interest is in performance as opposed to competition, or musicians who are interested in competition, but are not yet ready for assignment to a competitive unit.  The Band's mandate is to perform, not compete.  These musicians answer this call.
3. UCRPB competitive units.   

   

    In grades five through three, competitive units appear in contests throughout the western United States against other bands.  UCRPB competitive units have been named Champion Band by WUSPBA multiple times in grades 5 and 4.  We relish and aggressively pursue this distinction, but we compete in order to perform at a higher level.
4. The Highlander Pipe Band Foundation. 

   

   The Foundation membership led by a Board of Directors manage the business side of the Band.  Someone has to file tax returns with the IRS, send invoices to customers, etc...this group meets this need.  While not seen as musical leadership, they fulfill a leadership function nonetheless. 

 All leaders have the same basic goals whether they realize it or not.   If you are a leader, then you must have something to lead...a group.  That being the case, here are the two most basic functions of leadership.

 

Keep the Group Together.

Get the Job Done.

 

Talk about it any way you want, color it in fancy phrases or buzz words that go in and out of fashion, but leadership can be distilled down to these two functions.  One concept is not more important than the other.  You can't get the job done if you can't keep the group together.  The existence of the group is predicated on having a job to be done; soccer, community choral group, Congress of the United States of America, etc.

 

Someone has to step forward to take the reins of leadership and make this happen.

 

In UCRPB, leaders can only come from Band members who have been with the Band in one form or another for one year.  This rule prevents a 'hostile takeover' by spurious musicians who are a flash in the pan; here today, gone tomorrow.  UCRPB members are non-paid amateurs who perform and compete for the love of the art form, not the love of money.  UCRPB leaders are chosen from among our amateur membership when they put the Band first; not themselves, their competitive unit or any other consideration.  They are in it for the long haul.  They allow no conflict of interest.

 

Someone once identified twelve leadership skills that help to make a leader effective.  These include communication, teaching/learning, counseling, etc.  The one that resonates the most for me is setting a strong personal example. 

• A UCRPB leader is on time for all call times. 
• They participate in gigs. 
• They wear the uniform properly. 
• They practice hard and attend rehearsals faithfully. 

In our Band, this is part of what it means to set an example for others to follow.

 

 

Ever tried to push a rope?  Can't be done.  Try pulling it instead.  The Band can be pulled by effective leadership, but not pushed.  The Band can be led by leaders who set a strong personal example, but not bullied.  The Band can grow from within in a sustainable fashion, or wither and die when relying on those whose only interests are themselves, or competitive results.

 

I'm interested in developing leaders for our Band.  How about you?

 

 

 

 







IN MEMORIAM...

The Passing of a Friend

 

 

 

On Saturday, July 27, 2013 my friend Steven Twigg died.

 

To have lost a friend in this world is a cruel thing.  Friends are hard to come by; true friends like Steve rarer still. 

 

Steve Twigg was one of those renaissance men who seemed capable of doing almost anything.  A neighbor's plumbing backed up?  No problem; Steve was there.  A lady at church needed her new TV hooked up; Mr. Twigg was all over it.  His fellow pipers need another strong musician in the band to provide adequate numbers for a gig...  I think you get the idea.

 

Steve's greatest attribute was his ability to always prioritize things in life correctly.  Family came first regardless of whatever else was taking place.  Family meant more than just connecting to those who nurtured you, started you on your own faith journey, paid money for your first car.  Family was about giving.  When your turn came to give back, you do it gladly.  Steve was a consummate caregiver.  The number of trips he would take to care for his wife, his parents, his family were enormous.  Time and effort were all "part of the deal" as Steve would call it.  "Somebody changed my diapers when I was a kid, now it's my turn to return the favor," Steve proclaimed.  For Steve, action meant more than words.

 

 

 

Steve was a retired firefighter from the Costa Mesa Fire Department.  Some of the tales he would tell of the lads from the station would surely curl your hair.  Yes, they would answer the call and laugh in the face of danger.  Guys like Steven run into burning buildings.  But between bells they also knew how to have fun.  Steve Twigg brought that ability to laugh and have fun to the UCR Pipe Band.

 

For example, Steve was always on the look-out for new tenor drummers to join the band.  Steve's criteria for a prospective tenor drummer had little to do with flourishing or keeping a beat.  Mr. Twigg was more interested in bringing tenors on board whose inherent "personal characteristics" would attract pipers and drummers to our group.  Again, I think you get the idea...

 

Steve's drink was Jack Daniels.  If he was enjoying a beer it was Stella Artois.  Normally I drink IPA, Guinness, Manhattans, wine, Bombay Saphire gin or single malts...sometimes margaritas or anything else available.  Unlike myself, Steve had a discriminating palate.  When he joined our band I like to think his level of discernment was turned way up high.

 

 Steve had only friends in the band.  Steve made things better with his wit, his laugh, his smile.  Steve was a steadying influence merely with his presence.  Steve set a strong personal example by working hard to be a better piper through taking private lessons, attending rehearsals, going to bagpipe summer school and participating in as many gigs as his busy time would allow.

 

Enough Eulogy stuff.  Let's get to know Steve Twigg on a personal level.  It's story time.

 

 

One of Steve Twigg’s passions was football; not the American style gridiron game, but a rough and fast-paced game played without pads or hands that we colonials call soccer.  It's a game of strategy, skill, brute strength and speed that requires players to use their heads in more ways than one.

 

Steve invited PM Mike Terry to attend a match between the LA Galaxy and the San Jose Earthquakes.  My wife Linda had passed away earlier that year; Steve was one of a number of close friends who made sure time did not weigh heavily on my hands. 

 

Organization and transportation was provided by the Riot Squad, a fan group of the Galaxy football club.  This is a multi-ethnic, multi-gender group of college aged soccer fans, many of which have followed Premier League action both on and off the pitch (soccer field) for years.

 

The Riot squad hired two full-sized coaches and left Burbank early in the morning heading for San Jose.  Of course, mass quantities of adult beverages had already been consumed, necessitating a first stop along the road before we got on the I-5 freeway in order to get rid of said adult beverages after "processing," unfortunately on a home-owner's fence. 

 

By the time the buses got to Buttonwillow for a scheduled stop problems were brewing.  Someone is one bus made a derogatory remark about someone's girlfriend in the other bus, and soon all hades broke out.  Steve Twigg and I made a hasty retreat for the mini-mart along with the two bus drivers as testosterone and fists flew.  As we began to steer combatants back into the buses where beer and blood jointly ran down the aisles, the constabulary arrived.  An escort from the local Sheriff’s Department made sure these hooligans left their county heading north.

 

Arrival at San Jose State Spartan Stadium wasn’t any better.  The first order of business was to set up a BBQ and keg of beer in the middle of a traffic lane inside the parking area; a move that captured the attention of the campus police.  After taking over a pitch from some kids for a pick-up match, the campus police were again reminded of the presence of the Riot Squad who shortly thereafter staggered into the stadium for an eventful evening.

Riot Squad members had practiced chants and songs with lyrics that would make a sailor blush, most of which described in graphic fashion what they would do to the wives and children of fans of the opposing team.   Unfortunately, the seats set aside for the Riot Squad were located in the middle of a general seating section, not the normal arrangement for fan groups that are usually tucked away in a corner for every one's benefit.  Once the songs and chants began, families sitting nearby objected, security was called in and literally beat back by RS members.  Bad behavior reaps it’s own rewards.  The next group to take on the Riot Squad were sworn officers with badges, sticks and guns.  Billy clubs and Tasers were used to subdue Riot Squad members and send several off to jail.  Twigg and I were sitting behind the group taking it all in.  September 25, 2004; a date that will live in history. 

 

After the game, the Riot Squad spilled out of the stadium under escort, only to find that their buses had left the scene as the drivers had to get some mandatory sleep time.  Oops.  The organizers didn’t think of that.  Gendarmes steered the RS members into a small circle in the same field they had taken for their own, this time literally surrounded by police cars with their lights on keeping the mob under careful watch.  Somehow Steve and I were not cordoned off with the rest, so we watched the night unfold nursing our respective vices with Jack Daniels and cigarettes (Steve), Lagavulin and cigars (me).

 

Midnight came and went and it got cold; really cold.  Hung-over hooligans huddled together to keep warm, some shivering uncontrollably as a heavy mist fell.  PM Terry and Piper Twigg conferred; this could not continue.  We approached the campus police and convinced them to let the kids sleep in a building hallway until the buses returned.  I explained that on my campus this would be the obvious recourse - even for knuckleheads - until their transport arrived.  Steve agreed to work with the organizers of the deviants to keep them under control.  A 65 degree hallway seems like an oven to frozen drunks.  Almost instantly, they were asleep on the carpeted surface.

 

 

Around 4 AM the buses returned and we started loading sleepy, sick kids into the coaches.  As the cowboys wrangling the herd, Steve and I were the last two on board.  Just my luck.  All day I had been watching this tiny, slender young kid by the name of James drink the equivalent of his weight.  When I met him on that fateful morning, he had a plastic bag in his hand that was partly filled with an unidentifiable substance.  By the time we got on the bus to head home, everyone knew what was in that bag, now the size of a beach ball, and no one wanted to sit next to him.  The only seat left was next to "James and the Giant Peach" who had passed out with what I fervently prayed was a tight grip on his repository.

 

 

Through it all Steve Twigg maintained a sense of humor for which he was famous.

 

Steve Twigg demonstrated his ability to see the best side of his fellow human beings in any situation when he explained his upbeat attitude that night saying, “…’Cause every day is an adventure!”

 

 

 Death is inevitable.  Steve was prepared for that and so his family and friends are sure in the knowledge that his troubles are behind him, and nothing but good lies ahead.  Regardless of such assurances, for those of us left behind grief is hard.  After all, separation sucks.

 

 

Rest in peace my friend.

 

 



A HERO'S FUNERAL

 

UCRPB to Offer Services

for Fallen Riverside Police Officer

 

 

The University of California, Riverside Pipe Band has been asked to appear at the funeral for one of Riverside's finest.  On Thursday of last week, a police officer working a patrol in Riverside was ambushed along with his partner who was severely injured in the attack. 

 

UCRPB is honored to perform at funeral services for the officer, yet to be publicly named for security reasons as the gunman is still at large.  The memorial will be held on Wedneday February 13, 10:30 AM at the Grove Community Church in Riverside, site of Riverside Sheriff's Academy graduations that the Band appears in on a regular basis.

 

Taking part in this funeral will be a small way for Band members to give back to the heroes among us who daily put their lives at risk to keep the public safe.

 

The UCR Pipe Band extends condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of the officer lost in this senseless act of barbarism.

 

 

 



NEWSLETTER NEWS

Notes in Time

If nothing else, a Pipe Major has to be a good communicator. 

• "By the right, quick, march!"
• "Form a circle."
• "Practice your tunes."
• "Call time is 2 PM on Saturday."

The amount of communicating is endless, as is the forms that communication can take.  I do my best to keep all Band members apprised of upcoming gigs, competitions, uniform requirements, etc.  I use verbal, non-verbal, visual, and electronic means to get the word out...lots of email!

A former piper in the UCR Pipe band, Clark Sholts, once observed, "A day without an email from Mike is like a day without sunshine."

So just in case you don't already hear enough from me, I am kicking off a newsletter, Notes in Time, as a way of connecting primarily with the supporters of the Band, but also with the wider world.  The newsletter will feature a Band member each month so our fans can get to know us better.  I will also provide reminders on gigs, highland games, and social events.  Articles about all aspects of piping and drumming will be included along with lots of pictures.

Here's a teaser, the front page of Notes in Time.

Volume 1, Issue 1 will be published electronically tomorrow, Friday 01FEB13.  Please let me know if you didn't get a copy and I will add you to my distribution list.

Cheers!