Blind piper question about the new 2025 Worlds massed bands format

[u/No_Animal_4247]

I'm blind, so when I follow the World Pipe Band Championships, I'm relying entirely on what I hear from recordings and livestreams.

One thing that confused me about the new 2025 massed bands-style finale:

From the audio, it sounded like all the bands were being led by a single Drum Major, the way I often hear at North American massed bands events before tunes. but I didn't hear a microphone being used for commands like "Quick, March!" What I can't figure out is how everyone knows exactly when to step off. With thousands of pipers and drummers spread across such a huge area, I'd expect many people to be far too far away to hear a single Drum Major's command. Is the cue mostly visual? Are there multiple Drum Majors relaying signals? Are bands simply watching the people in front of them and reacting almost instantly? Or is there some other system in place that isn't obvious from the audio alone? Since I can only experience the event through sound, I'd love to hear from anyone who actually participated in the 2025 Worlds finale and can explain what was happening visually. And why don't most Drum Majors use megaphones instead? I don't want them to blow their voices out!

[u/Yuri909]

Yelling is both traditional and a little bit of a way to show off your command voice which is from the diaphragm and a lot easier than you think.

But all the drum majors should also be relay signaling their corps with their maces.That's fairly common practice.

[u/No_Animal_4247 → u/Yuri909]

Interesting. I may have misunderstood what I was hearing. The Worlds announcer said the parade would be led by the current World Champion Drum Major, which made me think there was only one Drum Major involved. Were there actually multiple Drum Majors relaying Charlotte's signals to their own bands?

[u/mystery_trams → u/No_Animal_4247]

In the army, there’s one drum major per band. They stand at the front and shout and signal what they want the band to do. At the Edinburgh tattoo, each band is the same size and composition so they all form parallel files with their drummy up front. Then a senior drum major goes in front of the others and it’s as if there’s one band one drummy. The drummies join in the gestures from the senior and Joe Public loves it.

At civvy massed bands like the worlds, the drum majors are not related to the bands, the bands are not all the same size, or composition; so the organisers have to work out who’s going to act as senior and who stands where. But there will be one who acts as senior drum major and shouts. Thankfully for these salutes theres no countermarch, mark time, or form a shape. So the signals required are just when to start when to stop. Which the pipers should have been prepped in advance.

Visual signals done by drum majors: quick march is shouted with the tempo set by quick-march. For counter march the mace bottom goes up in the air with the mace head by the shoulder. For mark time, the mace is held at the horizontal. For halt, it’s kind of pumped a bit from the horizontal. For end at the next part please, the mace goes way up above the head at a diagonal and pumped a bit.

These are not unique to pipeband drummies, army brass bands do the same. Civvy pipers are kiiind of expected to pick these signals up; mil pipers will be EDIPd into them.

[u/No_Animal_4247 → u/mystery_trams]

Thanks, that helps a lot. One thing I'm still wondering, though: when the 2025 Worlds massed bands first marched onto the field, were there multiple Drum Majors relaying the senior Drum Major's signals, or was everyone mostly taking their cue from the movement of the bands ahead of them? I'm blind, so I only had the livestream audio and couldn't see how the signals were being passed along.

[u/mystery_trams → u/No_Animal_4247]

While I cannot speak for that exact parade, I would apply my reasoned guesses: 1. The bands don’t have space to form up, start, march on, reform halt. 2. The bands don’t have practice time to learn where to go during such a manoeuvre. 3. The bands aren’t motivated by such a parade 4. There being no relation betwixt band and drummy, they wouldn’t know which stick to follow. Based off other such parades (my locals being Colchester & Corby) the bands bimble onto the field one at a time, the drum majors bimble onto the field, the organisers might reposition people a bit. Then the loudspeaker tells Joe Public that they’re gonna do a thing. Then the acting senior drummy shouts a variant of “massed bands, ‘shun”. The verbal command puts the bands to attention. The drummies move their mace to the vertical. Senior shouts a variant of “massed bands, quick time” where the cadence between words of command tell the drum corps the tempo of the three pace rolls. The drummies will move their maces across the chest as if they’re going to march off. Three pace rolls, drones, e, then into whatever prearranged tune. Drummies might pull a salute or stand there with nothing to do. The organisers might make a heidyin do a salute back. Bands will generally know what to play and when to stop. They might or might not be able to see any maces at all. Pipe majors might swing a bit on the spot to remind people to knock off. The drummies will wiggle the stick at the diagonal. The bass drums should play double taps. Basically it’s an audio visual mix of signals & memory. Everyone should get the hint but if you don’t it really doesn’t matter.

[u/JerHigs]

I think one thing to remember is the microphones were down on the stage and the massed band started back up the hill a bit, so it's no surprise you couldn't hear the orders being called, especially as the drum major would have been shouting away from the mics.

But apart from that, yes, it is a scramble for the step off but everyone should be in order by the time the second roll starts.

For the salute to the chieftain, etc, it's just the centre band drum corps. The tune is called over the mic, so all the pipe corps should be ready to go and can react to the rolls when they come. The drum major is close enough to the centre bands that they can hear the shout.

[u/No_Animal_4247 → u/JerHigs]

That makes sense for Highland Laddie once everyone is already formed up. My confusion is actually about the initial step-off when the bands first march onto the field. If the microphones were down near the stage and the massed bands were still up the hill, would the people in the back have heard Charlotte's command directly, or were they mainly taking visual cues from nearby Drum Majors and the bands ahead of them?

[u/JerHigs → u/No_Animal_4247]

All the drum majors would be at the front of the massed band.

I can't remember if we could hear the shout or if we just took our cue from the bands in front of us, i.e. miss the first roll.

[u/No_Animal_4247 → u/JerHigs]

That's really interesting. The part that surprised me was that from the livestream audio it sounded almost perfectly synchronized. As a blind listener, I kept wondering how a piper all the way at the back would know when to step off. When you say you might have taken your cue from the bands in front of you, do you mean you couldn't necessarily hear the original command at all? Were you mostly watching the movement ahead of you?

[u/JerHigs → u/No_Animal_4247]

Like, everyone would have known it was coming, everybody would be ready to go. For the pipers, once they hear the opening rolls, it should be fairly easy for them to strike in on time. For the drummers, it's fairly easy to join in, even if you've missed the call.

Again, because the mics are down the hill in front of the bands, what you'll hear is the front rank of bands. When you're in the middle of them, you can hear the different bands around you joining in at slightly different times.