What is the difference between a “regimental” band and a regular civilian band?
Pipe Bands are generally composed of pipers and drummers who have never served in the military, a military band or had secondary or prior musical training. As such, these contemporary bands operate in a more loose style (what many call “loosy-goosy” for lack of a better term) where dress, drill and deportment are not important. Pipers wear what they want, there are no haircut regulations, and to some extent, behavior on parade (in public) ranges from extremely poor deportment to systemic or extremely poor conduct during St. Patrick’s Day (drunkeness mainly). A military-style regimental pipe band operates exclusively along military protocol based upon three tenets of adjudication: dress, drill and deportment. Dress is rigorously inspected, close order band drill is practiced at *every practice session* and deportment is the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the band when it appears in public. Our band has a zero tolerance policy on conduct in public: all bandsmen must be above repr
