The Pipes & Drums of the Black Watch & The Band of Scots Guards

THE PIPES & DRUMS OF THE BLACK WATCH & THE BAND OF SCOTS GUARDS
MARIN CENTER
Saturday, March 2, 8 pm
 
 
When:             Saturday, March 2 at 8pm.
 
Where:           Marin Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium, 10 Avenue of the Flags at Civic Center Drive in San Rafael, CA 94903
 
What:             Dressed in tartans, kilts, bagpipes and drums, the world-famous Black Watch, Royal Regiments and Scots Guards will parade into Marin Center with all the fanfare, pageantry and music of Great Britain!  Fun for the entire family, this performance will dazzle young and old with military marches, spirited Celtic dancing and legendary songs in a stirring celebration of the British Isles. 
 
Public Information: Tickets are $40 & $25; Premium seats $50, Students 20 and under $20, Bargain seats (rows 25-34) $20; and can be ordered through the Marin Center Box Office at 415-473-6800 or visit www.marincenter.org
 
Media Contact:
Hamilton Ink PR
415-381-8198
steph@hamiltoninkpr.com
 
 
San Rafael, CA (February 2013) –  Dressed in tartans, kilts, bagpipes and drums, the world-famous Black Watch, Royal Regiments and Scots Guards will parade into Marin Center with all the fanfare, pageantry and music of Great Britain!  Fun for the entire family, this performance will dazzle young and old with military marches, spirited Celtic dancing and legendary songs in a stirring celebration of the British Isles.  The Black Watch and Band of Scots Guards perform SATURDAY, March 2, 8 pm at the Marin Veterans’ Memorial Auditorium, 10 Avenue of the Flags at Civic Center Drive in San Rafael, CA 94903. Tickets are $40 & $25; Premium seats $50, Students 20 and under $20, Bargain seats (rows 25-34) $20; and can be ordered through the Marin Center Box Office at 415-473-6800 or visit www.marincenter.org
 
ABOUT THE BLACK WATCH
The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment) fought in almost every theatre of every campaign in which the British Army has been involved. It was formed in 1725 as six independent companies to calm the troubled Highlands of Scotland during the period between the Jacobite risings and was established as a regiment of foot in 1739.

The battalion currently serves within 19 Light Brigade and is based in Fort George near Inverness, which overlooks the beautiful Moray Firth in the north of Scotland. It has recently returned from a successful deployment in the Nad-e-Ali district of Helmand Province as part of 20 Armoured Brigade. This was the battalion’s second tour of Afghanistan; the first was in 2009 when they were deployed in an air assault role based at Kandahar.
GUARDS DIVISION
The Grenadier Guards, Coldstream Guards, Scots Guards, Irish Guards and Welsh Guards form the Guards Division which has, for over 370 years, fulfilled the dual role as the personal troops of the sovereign and the nation’s crack fighting troops. 

In 2012 the Guards were very much at the forefront of the celebrations to mark the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, only the second British monarch ever to have reigned for sixty years.
In short, the Guards form one of the great iconic images of Great Britain and are very much the pride of the nation. To quote from the Curator of the splendid Guards Museum in London, they are “The scarlet thread that weaves through the great tapestry of Britain’s proud history over the last 350 years”.

SCOTS GUARDS
The Scots Guards were raised on 16th March 1642 by a Royal Commission issued by King Charles I to the 1st Marquess of Argyll, authorizing him to raise a Royal Regiment of 1,500 men to be “led into our Realm of Ireland”. The regiment was intended by The King to be his Royal Guard and from this date the history of the Scots Guards begins.

Since 1945 the regiment has seen active service or carried out internal operations in Malaya, Borneo, Kenya, Aden, Northern Ireland, the liberation of the Falkland Islands in 1982 and in the Gulf (1991). More recently the 1st Battalion has completed two tours of Iraq in 2004 and 2008.
The 1st Battalion’s deployment to Afghanistan from March to October 2010 saw them, with 2,000 Afghan policemen as their partners, form the Combined Force Lashkar Gah in Helmand’s provincial capital. The Scots Guardsmen became counter insurgents par excellence. They set about getting close to their Afghan partners and through them to the Afghan people. 
In 1899 Queen Victoria presented a State Colour to the regiment at a parade of both battalions at Windsor Castle. This State Colour is only taken on parade on very special occasions in the presence of the Sovereign and was carried by the Guard of Honour found from 1st Battalion Scots Guards which greeted President Obama on his visit to Buckingham Palace in 2011.

BAND OF THE SCOTS GUARDS
The origins of the Band go back to at least 1716 when they are known to have had six hautbois (an early form of oboe) together with three drummers employed as musicians, as distinct from the regimental drummers who had a military role. Other instruments were added and by 1783 the instrumentation had settled down to an octet of wind instruments as fixed by Frederick the Great for the bands of the Prussian Army, known as 'Harmonie Musik'.

In their early days the bands were led by civilians, often foreigners, who played in the band and gave signals to the other musicians while playing. In time, serving soldiers holding the rank of sergeant were used and the practice of conducting with a baton took effect. 

In 2011 the band was accorded a unique honor for a military band when its fanfare trumpeters were invited to join forces with the BBC Symphony Orchestra at the prestigious ‘Last Night of the Proms’ concert at London’s Royal Albert Hall, playing ‘Musica Benevolens’, which was especially composed for the event by Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, the Master of the Queen’s Musick.

The band has a current establishment of 43 musicians and their principal duty today remains the same as it was in 1716, to play the men who are to form the Queen’s Guard to Buckingham Palace, provide music while the sentries are changed and finally march the Old Guard back to their barracks.

The Band of the Scots Guards has toured extensively, representing the United Kingdom on countless occasions throughout the world, promoting the very best of British. Its sight and sound is one of the great iconic images of the nation.

THE PIPES AND DRUMS
The sound of the pipes has long instilled a great sense of pride and passion which has both inspired Scottish soldiers in the heat of battle and driven fear into the enemy as the kilted highlanders advanced towards them.

The music of the Pipes and Drums is integral to the way of life in a Scottish infantry regiment and every company within the battalion has its own particular pipe tune. There are also specific tunes for the morning and evening and for Commanding Officer's interviews. 

The Pipes and Drums have always been an integral part of the battalion and their current operational role is as the Machine Gun Platoon mounted in 4 x 4 vehicles. The pipers wear the Royal Stewart tartan and feather bonnets.
 
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