News Archive

Honoring the Legacy of Kevin R. Blandford

On this day, November 26th, we honor and remember Kevin R. Blandford, the founder of the Kevin R. Blandford Memorial Pipe Band. A skilled musician, dedicated instructor, and visionary leader, he established our band in 1974 with a mission to inspire and elevate aspiring musicians. Through his passion and guidance, he helped shape the future of countless players who carry forward his legacy today.

His commitment to excellence and his enduring love for music remain at the heart of who we are. To learn more about Kevin, and the band he built, visit our History page at www.blandfordbands.com.

Today, we play in his memory, honoring the man who started it all. Thank you, Kevin, for the music and the inspiration.

St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church

November 17th, St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church, Palm Desert, CA. What an incredible experience performing for the wonderful congregation. Their warm reception and enthusiasm made it an absolute honor to be a part of their service.

Seaside Highland Games

The band is excited to announce that we will be attending the Seaside Highland Games at the Ventura County Fairgrounds October 14 & 15th! We are looking forward to attending one more contest this year and seeing all our friends there.

Pleasanton Games Wrap-up

The Grade 3 band had a successful weekend at the Pleasanton Highland Games! Thank you so much to all our supporters who came out to cheer us on and ensure we made it through the (surprisingly cool) weekend.

The band placed 3rd in the Medley on Saturday and 2nd in the MSR on Sunday, with the pipers taking the top piping placings in the MSR!

Chicago Games Recap

We were delighted to bring home the fourth place title from the Chicago Games. Thank you to everyone who helped made that trip possible.

Chicago Scottish Festival and Highland Games

The band is excited about making our first trip to the Chicago Scottish Festival and Highland Games this Saturday. We are looking forward to competing against eight other bands. We are second to last for each contest, our MSR performance is at 12:40 PM Central and the Medley is at 2:06 PM Central. Keep an eye on our socials as the band travels to conquer the Windy City.

Las Vegas Highland Games

The band had a wonderful time at the Las Vegas Highland Games last weekend; we were very excited to take home the awards for best drum corps, best pipe corps, and aggregate Grade III champion having taken first place in both sets. Thank you to all of our family and friends for helping us get to this point. A special shout out to our instructor Seumas Coyne for helping set our tone over the weekend.

Thank you to The Big Rab Show team for capturing our MSR and Medley performances!

Pipes in the Park

We are excited to be playing this weekend in Griffith Park to publicly debut our 2023 Grade III competition sets. Performances begin at 10:15 AM; we will be playing at 10:55 AM and 12:05 PM. Can’t wait to see all of our friends and supporters there to show off what we have been hard at work on.

The 2023 competition season is rapidly approaching and we are eager to get back into the competition circle.

Chicago Scottish Festival & Highland Games

June 17, 2023 Hamilton Lakes, Itasca, IL

Pleasanton Games

September 2-3, 2023 Caledonian Club of San Francisco’s Scottish Highland Gathering & Games, Alameda County Fairgrounds, Pleasanton, CA

Announcement of New Pipe Major and Drum Sergeant

Martha Hall and Justin Hall, the dynamic husband and wife duo, have decided to step down after leading the band for the past seven seasons so they may spend more time with their family. With this transition, Alexander Walker and Carl McEntire will step up as the new Pipe Major and Drum Sergeant, respectively. The transition was formalized at the band’s Annual General Meeting in November, 2022.

Alexander joined the band in late 2019 and has been Pipe Sergeant since January of 2021. This will be Alexander’s first time leading a band to which he said: “I am beyond excited to lead KRB into its next chapter and couldn’t be happier to be doing what I love with such a supportive, talented group of musicians.

“I want to sincerely thank Martha and Justin for everything they’ve done for the band over all these years. Carl and I are incredibly lucky to inherit such a strong program, and thanks to their efforts we are in an excellent position to keep pushing the band forward for generations to come.”

Martha joined the band in 1994 and had been Pipe Major since 2016, after holding many leadership positions within the organization over the years. She will remain with the band as Pipe Sergeant, saying “I am excited about Alexander and Carls’ musical ideas and am really looking forward to supporting them to make these a reality. Really happy that I can spend more time with my family and can focus more on building the local Upland High School Pipe Band youth program.”

Carl is rejoining the band after 21 years away from pipe bands. He originally joined the band in 1997 and was Drum Sergeant in 1999. On his second opportunity to lead the drum corps he shared: “Justin and Martha have done a fabulous job leading this band and keeping us in competition ready form; I am inspired by what they have established and will continue their commitment to honoring Kevin’s legacy.”

Justin joined the band in 1994 as Drum Major before taking up the snare drum in 1995. He was Drum Sergeant from 2002 to 2004, and again since 2016. Justin will remain in the drum corps saying “I am looking forward to using my experience to help Carl achieve the goals he has set forth for the corps.”

The band is excited to welcome back these long time members, thrilled to tackle the 2023 season with the new leadership, and eager to return to the Glasgow Green in 2024.

We are starting a training program for drummers looking to develop their current skills or looking to learn. Sessions will be held twice a week, Wednesdays from 3:15 – 5:15 pm and Sundays 12 – 2 pm. Sessions will cover reading and writing drum scores. For more info or to sign up, reach out to Mario at drummer.training@blandfordbands.org

Celtic Christmas Concert returns December 11th at 3pm! Held once again at the lovely Claremont United Church of Christ in Claremont, CA.

This Celtic Christmas is the third in an annual Christmastime concert series and the seventeenth presentation of a concert by the Blandford Band in memory of Pipe Major Kevin R. Blandford. The band will present traditional bagpipe and drum music along with original arrangements for organ and bagpipes by Jeffrey H. Rickard and Kevin R. Blandford. Matt Keating, director of the Claremont Community School of Music, will conduct the bagpipe, brass, and percussion ensemble to complement the Church’s Glatter-Goetz/Rosales organ. The young talents of the Glendora and Upland High Schools’ Pipe Bands and Highland Dancers Colten Kraus, Eilidh Kraus, and Weston Kraus will be featured in the show too! The concert is rapidly becoming a Christmastime tradition for Celtic music lovers throughout the Inland Empire.

Tickets are on sale now in our website store, $5 off until November 11th.

Our bands have been busy recently.

Our Grade 4 band made their 2022 competition debut at the San Diego Scottish Games in Vista, CA last month. They took second place out of three bands that played that day. Many of the members were making their competition debut, very proud of them and the hard work they put in to making this happen.

Our Grade 3 band traveled up to Monterey for the Monterey Scottish Games and Celtic Festival last weekend. The band placed second in the Medley and third in the MSR. We enjoyed playing for the Drum Major contest both days, the Roddy MacKay Memorial Marching & Deportment Parade contest, and the famous Monterey Ceilidh. We are looking forward to making regular trips back to Monterey.

We are excited to be back competing again! This year we have attended the Costa Mesa Highland Games in Southern California and we have traveled to Nevada for the Las Vegas Highland Games and Arizona for the Phoenix Highland Games. It has been a successful season thus far, most recently taking 1st place in the Grade 3 Medley contest and 2nd place in the Grade 3 MSR contest at the Costa Mesa Scottish Fest. Next up is the San Diego Highland Games in Vista, CA June 25 – 26th, see you all there!

Scottish Fest Costa Mesa Highland Games

Our Grade 3 band will be at Scottish Fest this weekend at the Orange County Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa!

This is the first competition of the season in Southern California and we are very much looking forward to seeing all our friends and family there.

Gates open at 10 am, some of our members are competing in solo competitions in the mornings while the band will be competing in the afternoons.

Saturday’s Grade 3 MSR contest begins at 4:00 pm, we are fourth on at 4:30 pm

Sunday’s Grade 3 Time Limit Medley contest begins at 3:10 pm, we are second on at 3:20 pm

2022 Competition Season

The 2022 competition season is nearly upon us, we are super excited! The band will be going to following Scottish Highland Games this year:

Phoenix Scottish Games, March 5-6, Gilbert Regional Park, Gilbert, AZ
Las Vegas Highland Games, April 9-10, Floyd Lamb Park, Las Vegas, NV
Scottish Fest, May 28-29, Orange County Fair & Event Center, Costa Mesa, CA
San Diego Scottish Highland Games, June 25-26, Brengle Terrace Park, Vista, CA
Monterey Scottish Games & Celtic Festival, July 16-17, Monterey County Fairgrounds, Monterey, CA
Caledonian Club of San Francisco’s Scottish Highland Gathering & Games, September 3-4, Pleasanton, CA
Seaside Highland Games, October 8-9, Ventura Fair Grounds, Ventura, CA

This interview originally appeared on Bagpipe.News on September 15, 2021, and was republished with permission.

Where are you from and how did you get into piping?

My name is Martha Srisamai Hall and I am originally from Upland, California. While in middle school, I heard bagpipes for the first time at an Upland High School football game. The summer before my first year of high school I joined the marching band with my friend, Tony Sewell. He suggested I learn the bagpipes with him and we have been playing ever since. In fact, we currently play in our first competition pipe band together.

How has the pandemic affected your piping personally?

Being the Pipe Major of a band means that I often need to spend my time helping others prepare for various competitions. I truly miss playing in person with my friends but the bright side of this pandemic is that I have time to focus on improving my own playing. During this time, I have attended two online piping schools, invited world class instructors to do workshops for my band, competed in three online solo contests and even competed in a piobaireachd contest for the very first time. I have enjoyed learning music just to play it for myself. I have learned how to write harmonies and play a crunluath a-mach! All this being said, I can’t wait to play with my band mates again and apply all of my new and improved skills.

When you travel is there something you particularly miss when away?

When I travel, I miss my kids, my bed, my ‘Mom’ van, and home-cooked food. I usually don’t miss my husband because he is the Drum Sergeant of my band so we travel together.

Do you have a set practice routine you could share with readers?

Being a mother and college professor, my practice routine is not as regular as I would like. During the week it is difficult for me to find time to practice but I do try to play parts of tunes on my practice chanter between classes or before my girls come home from school. I get most of my practicing done on the weekends. When I do practice, I usually focus on one or two things that I would like to improve. I record myself often so that I can hear what others hear when I play. I especially like to listen to my expression and tone. Honestly, the more I practice, the more I realise I need to practice. And the more I play, the more I want to play.

What’s your most memorable performance you’ve taken part in, either band or solo?

In 2017, my band played on Glasgow Green at the World Pipe Band Championships. When we made it to the Grade 3B finals, our medley performance was memorable. We had worked so hard to travel across the pond and we just wanted to play well. We had a few high school kids in the band and it was so exciting that all of us played in the medley. I’ll never forget that moment. We all played really well and ended up placing sixth. I was so nervous to lead the band but our coach, Bruce Gandy made me feel so confident that I didn’t even get butterflies during that performance.

Who has been the biggest influence on your piping?

It really is hard to narrow down to my biggest influence in piping because I think it depends on the stage of my life. The late Kevin Blandford was my first teacher and he helped me develop into the piper/leader/person I am today. He encouraged and inspired me to play outside of the box with innovative compositions rich in harmonies and ambitious endings. During my college years, I took lessons from Ian Whitelaw and he helped me improve my technique and expression. More recently, Seumas Coyne, Jack Lee, Bruce Gandy, and Dani Millar are my biggest piping influences. They are all so talented and yet willing to teach me. They inspire me to play better.

How do you relax and do you have other interests or hobbies?

Pre-pandemic I used to relax by going to Disneyland. I would often go alone and get on rides, eat churros [fried dough – Editor], and watch various performances. Lately, my family and I have enjoyed going on bike rides on a nearby trail. I love to read audio books, do puzzles, play board games, go to the beach, and watch shows on Disney+, Netflix, and Hulu.

What’s your favourite destination, either for a holiday or on a piping trip?

My favourite holiday destination is New York City. Every Christmas (pre-pandemic), my band performs in the Pipes of Christmas concerts (in NYC and New Jersey) produced by the Clan Currie Society. This event is so wonderful because we play with organ and brass. I love going there during the holiday season because everything is decorated so beautifully. I also enjoy going there because the cast and producers have become family so it is nice to catch up with them every year. Another reason I love this destination is for Broadway musicals, of course!

Do you recall the very first competition you competed in?

My first competition was on practice chanter at the Prado Games in Chino, California. I played the The Green Hills of Tyrol. I placed third out of three. I think the year was 1993.

Favour piece of ceòl mòr?

MacMhurrich’s Salute. It is the first piece I’ve competed with and it is just beautiful to me.

Any humorous piping anecdote you can relate to the readers (keep it clean!)?

I often tell people that I have two talents. I am good at making people cry and I am good at putting people to sleep. I make people cry when I play my pipes and I put people to sleep with my math lessons! Maybe I shouldn’t boast about these things? Ha!

Thank you, Martha!

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