The Catamount Pipe Band was formed in Oct, 2000. In 2002 playing as a Grade V band they were ranked third out of 70 or so in the EUSPBA (Eastern US Pipe Band Assoc.) and so were then moved up to a Grade IV.
At NHHG this year they came in FIRST in Grade IV. They have a chance of moving up to a Grade III but do not know if they will ask for it. If told to be in Grade III, they will have no choice. If they request to move up to a Grade III, their history in the six competitions they did this year will be checked out.
Steve Turnbull is the bass drummer for Grade IV. He competed as a soloist against two other bass drummers this year in competition at NHHG and came in FIRST. He is age 56, though he says he thinks he is 19 (well, in his mind anyway.)
The band’s ensemble score in the Grade IV competition was judged FIRST. The ensemble score is the bass drum, tenor drums, and how everything sounds with the snares and pipes. This is where the Midsection (bass and tenors) reveives some recognition and helps or hinders in the scoring of the pipe band. Their goal as a band is to go to Scotland in August of 2006 and compete in the Worlds.
2004, and scroll down for Grade IV, Grade V and keep scrolling down to Bass Drum Amateur. In the Grade IV, you will see that they have 17 points which does not include the Games in Altamont, NY on Labor Day Saturday where they came in Fourth out of Eight, or the NHHG where they came in First out of Four.
They are the highest ranked in the Northeast, fifth overall in the whole east and south as you can see. The higher you go from IV, III, II, I the fewer the bands. There are only three Grade I bands in the USA.
Steve is also learning the bagpipes from the Pipe Major of the band and he is learning (or relearning) the fiddle and playing Scottish tunes and Cape Breton tunes on a violin his grandfather actually made in 1932. He passed away before Steve was born. So it is of extra sentimental value to him. He is a member of the St. Andrews Society of Vermont along with his wife, Melinda, and is the Archivist, and a Board Member. Steve, of course, is a member of the Turnbull Clan Association and proud of it.
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