PCM: You opened your tour last night. (1-9-08)

Pipe Major Derek Potter: Yes, we played at the Naval Academy in Annapolis. Everything went well and it was a good show.

PCM: How many shows will you have done by the time you get to Philadelphia?

DP: We will have done four shows so Philadelphia will be our fifth show.

PCM: The bands will be much tighter.

DP: Over the Christmas break we actually did our tour rehearsals which seems quite a long time ago back in November. The main thing with that was the heavy schedule for both the Cold Stream Guards and our band with other engagements. We didn’t have much time for rehearsal. So as you see we’re running under the gun over the past few days to get good rehearsal days. The other thing as well is we have to slightly alter the show as it depends on each venue. Each venue is different in its makeup.

PCM: The history of the Royal Scots Dragoon goes back to 1640 but the pipes band became official in 1971?

DP: Actually we became official in 1946. What happened was after the demobilization of the British forces there were six pipers who went across to the Scots Greys. As it was at the time they started a pipe band. Then what happened in 1971 the regiment amalgamated with them and we became the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards. At that point that is where we took the title, but we always had a small element of pipes & drums in the Scots Guard.

PCM: How long have you been the Pipe Major?

DP: I’ve been Pipe Major for five and half years, I took over in 2002. I’ve also done service of 20 years within the British military all in the pipes & drums and I worked from being a piper through the ranks to become the rank of Pipe Major.

PCM: What are the steps to become a Pipe Major in the British Army?

DP: There’s certain criteria, first and foremost for us is time accruement with the main battle tank the Challenger Two. Our role there is how we enter the course. Each member of the pipes & drums will be part of a crew as a driver or gunnery commander and will work through his career. We have to continue courses at the army music school. There are five courses a piper would complete and five courses a drummer would complete.  The emulation of that is the Pipe Majors course which is seven months long and the Drum Majors course which is slightly shorter. It is three months long.

PCM: What gets you elevated into the position?

DP: Normally what happens is the pipe major enrollment is a three year period and that Pipe Major might be at the end of his career or he may well be moving into another role with piping or another role in the battalion. The previous Pipe Major was moved up to Captain after he left the pipes & drums.

PCM: Your new cd The Spirit of the Glen is your fifth cd as Pipe Major and the first with Universal.

DP: This is the first cd that has been recorded and marketed in a classical classification. All of the projects we’ve done before have been for the pipes & drum market. This cd through Universal was made specifically with larger arrangements and to have pipes & drums on arrangements you would usually never hear them on.

PCM: Where you involved in the negotiations?

DP: Yes, myself and the band president were the people who sat down with Universal and had shown them what we did previously through various albums and DVD’s.

PCM: Did they give you freedom in the studio?

DP: It was a collaboration between us our and producer Jon Cohen when we went into the studio. It was by no means that they told us what to do.

PCM: You recorded the cd between two tours in Iraq?

DP: When operational tours come out for the pipes & drums we would go as first line soldiers and we had come back from one tour and started to work on the collaboration while we were out and we returned to Iraq and when we came back again we finished all the elements of the project.

PCM: That is two extremes. Is that psychologically difficult?

DP: They are. That’s the day to day diversity of our job. The pipes & drums have always been an integral part of regiment and the British Army and the pipers and drummers have marched into battle with the soldiers. So we use it also as a tool for morale and to make sure of that we play at Christmas, Bums Night and other festive events. We play for regimental parades which we still carry on in any operations. So the focus of the pipes & drums is still there. Sometime these experiences bring more emotion to the music as well. The musicians observations have been through compositions from their emotional experiences that have been recorded on previous albums.

PCM: The band is grade two are the pipers individually graded?

DP: We are in the top six bands in Grade 2. The pipers will be graded individually with the courses within the army school of piping and the standards within the band. Many of the members have played with top civilian bands before they came in so there is a wealth of experience between the pipers and drummers in the band.

PCM: There are no guarantee’s in a musical career but does being in The Pipes & Drums of Royals Scots Dragoon give you a secure feeling towards a good future as a professional piper?

DP: I don’t think it guarantee’s it, I would agree that it can elevate you outside of the army with the high esteem that our band is associated with.

Part 2