James J Coyne Memorial Pipe Band - A Grade 2 Competition Bagpipe and Drum Band From Southern California

September 11, 2009

2009 Season Closed

The major thing that occured this year that bears noting is that James J Coyne Memorial Pipe Band competed this year as a Grade 2 band in WUSPBA against other Grade 2 bands! This is actually a first for the band, and a milestone for the Association which has not hosted Grade 2 competition in seven years!

At Costa Mesa, in May, we faced off against the newly reformed Prince Charles Pipe Band, from San Francisco. They were ready for competition and on the first day edged us out in the MSR event. The next day we came back strong and took 1st Place in the Medley event. Outside of the placements, both bands were ecstatic to have had the opportunity to actually compete together and enjoy each other's company over the weekend.

The Band had a busy June serving as guest band for both the Utah Scottish Games and the San Diego Highland Games. For the Utah games, the band traveled to Lehi, UT, and performed in the evening tattoo, performed in opening ceremonies, drum major duties, and closing ceremonies. It was a great chance to take the band on the road and we were as appreciative of the hospitality and opportunity as the games and spectators were of our performances. For the San Diego Games, the band performed in opening and closing ceremonies each day, provided duty service for drum major competition, and performed an exhibition medley on Sunday afternoon. It was a fantastic opportunity to take the band out in SoCal for a few performances and we enjoyed it very much.

The season closed as it has the past few years with competition at the Caledonian Club of San Francisco Highland Games in Pleasanton. Another landmark for the games, for WUSPBA and for our band - we competed in a 5 band field in Grade 2!! On Saturday the medley event prize went to City of Chicago Pipe Band, with Prince Charles second, JJCMPB in third, Chilliwack & District fourth and the 1st Btn Scots Guards in fifth. JJCMPB's Drum Corps took 1st Place in the medley!! On Sunday the MSR event prize went to Prince Charles, with City of Chicago second, JJCMPB third, Chilliwack & District fourth and 1st Btn Scots Guards fifth. Much to our joy JJCMPB received a 1st Place in Ensemble, which is the true mark of a quality band to receive in an MSR competition.

Sadly the Pleasanton Games was the final event for Drum Sergeant Andrew Hoinacki. He has been with the Band since late 2005, however following some changes in his personal and work life Andrew will be returning to his native Chicago in October. Andrew has brought a new bold style to the Band both musically and within the uniform, and has lead the drum corps to recognition as one of the strongest corps in the Association.

Taking Andrew's place as Drum Sergeant will be Aaron Stewart. Aaron has been an integral member of the Band from the very early years and has been a key member of the snare line under both Dave Boyd initially and more recently Andrew Hoinacki. Aaron is an accomplished drummer and the Band looks forward to opening this new chapter in the drum corps tradition of excellence.

March 12, 2009

Guest Band At Utah Scottish Association Games

The Band has just been contracted as the guest performers for the 2009 Utah Scottish Association Highland Games and Scottish Festival. The event will be held this summer on June 12 and 13th at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah. The Band will be the keynote performers at the Friday evening tattoo event, and will provide ceremonial duties throughout the games on Saturday including massed bands and the drum major competitions. Pipe Major Coyne and Drum Sergeant Hoinacki will also be fulfilling adjudicator roles for the solo and band contests. For more information please visit the Utah Scottish Association website and stay tuned to JJCMPB.com.

February 17, 2009

Open Season For The Band

The Band has officially opened the 2009 season at the 16th Annual Queen Mary Scottish Festival held in Long Beach, California. The Band took 3rd Place both days, which was reasonably expected since we were challenging up to the Grade 1 event as the only Grade 2 band entered. The two Grade 1 bands present were the LA Scots and Oran Mor, both of which were playing very well for so early in the season.

The weekend was a debut for a few things in the Band. Aesthetically we debuted our latest uniform upgrade with our new long sleeve blue shirts, which we feel has added just the right amount of professional touch (not to mention protection from the typically cool February weather). Musically we debuted a medley that has been reconstructed since last year with half of the material being new to the repertoire including several original compositions by P/M Seumas Coyne. And finally we welcomed some new band members to the circle including pipers Cory Mann and Ashley Zuber, bass drummer Stewart Hogg and snare drummer Matt Biggs.

Next on the Band's schedule is tentatively in late April at the Sacramento Highland Games held in Woodland, California. We've also been confirmed for the San Diego Highland Games in late June so that has been added to the calendar.

January 23, 2009

The 2009 Season Preview

We have confirmed with the Queen Mary Scottish Festival that band will be competing in a combined Grade 1-2 event. Other bands in the competition will include the local LA Scots Pipe Band, as well as the Oran Mor Pipe Band traveling from New York. The Band is excited about the opportunity to be part of the Queen Mary event and get started with competitions so early in the year. We are pushing hard to have as many of our new members as possible ready to make their debut at this first event of the year.

Speaking of adding players, we are excited to say that the competing numbers in the band are likely to actually increase at almost every single event this season. We have new membership inquiries coming in all the time, and new members showing up at each rehearsal to try and get into the Band. After years of building the band and making minimum numbers, these are certainly exciting times for the group!

Our forthcoming season is currently set to include a competition or critique exhibition each month from April through September. The games on the schedule include: the Sacramento Valley Highland Games in Woodland, California; the USS Highland Games in Costa Mesa, California; the San Diego Highland Games in Vista, California; the North American Championships in Maxville, Ontario, Canada; the Montreal Highland Games in Montreal, Quebec, Canada; and the Caledonian Club Highland Games in Pleasanton, California.

Thanks for keeping up with our news items these past years. We're now making it easier by converting these updates into a proper blog. This way you can subscribe to our updates using your favorite blog reader and always be updated with the progress and successes of the Band.

September 18, 2008

Another Season Closed

Today opens another new website in an effort to constantly try and keep the most professional appearance available to the Band, and as time progresses it will contain more information than previous versions. The Band's outing to the Caledonian Club of San Francisco Highland Games at Pleasanton was a huge success. Our performances received excellent commentary from the judges, rave reviews from spectators, and lots of compliments from our friends in other bands. The Band is now in learning mode with new material slated for 2009 and even more new faces, too!