Hey, Andrew, good to hear from you.
Billy Fraser was the LD of both SAMS & Lyttleton PB during my season with them, but he returned to Scotland about a year or so ago. We got on fine when chatting about music in general, but otherwise he seemed to be pretty down about life in SA. And whilst he is a decent drummer technically, with great chops & good compostional skills, in both solo & corps performances there seemed to be a lack of feeling & expression by going for grade 1 tempos (something both he & the PM were committed to). He also lacked patience as a tutor - so, although I learnt quite a lot from him, it was more out of frustration - after several sessions, I went to Allan McLuckie, the then LD of the Transvaal Scottish "A" Band for remedial work, which put me into a new dimension. In the end, though, it was futile, as I ended up in Saudi, & now back in Pmb. My 5-year return to the SA pipe band scene was frustrating overall - it has been in decline since the early to mid '90s due to various factors, such as a lack of military funding, emigration, & lack of flow thru from schools. Remember in the '70s when we would compete in Johannesburg, there must have been a dozen school bands - I can recall about 4 or 5 CBC bands alone. These days you don't get more than a few bands per grade at a gathering - from my perspective, there is such a malaise & lethargy in the whole PB scene in SA, especially compared with overseas countries (North America in particular). Are you still playing?
Thanks for clearing up the "Noble" issue - don't know why I thought they were related.
Really saddened to hear about Nigel - that must have been very traumatic for the whole family (& friends), all the more at such a young age.
Cheers for now,
Euan.