Seeing an issue versus owning it I walked into a rehearsal session recently to talk through a problem any band should have caught long before it landed on a calendar. For weeks, we’d struggled with consistency . Tunes learned unevenly. Transitions rough. Tempo drifting. Everyone felt it on the floor, everyone heard it in the circle, and everyone knew rehearsal time kept slipping away without real progress. On paper, the explanation sounded simple: people weren’t preparing the same way outside...

Few experiences rival the sight and sound of a pipe band moving together. Crowds stop. Conversations fade. History arrives without introduction. Yet across North America, pursuit of instant results pulls talent from local bands, leaving culture thinner and communities quieter. Competition can reward excellence, but culture sustains it. When victories come without roots, tradition pays the price.