Here is our whole season, games by games, good and bad. MSR is the march, strathspey and reel. The judges' remarks are boiled down from their sheets; Eddie keeps the originals in a binder and reads from them at practice when he feels we need it.

Games by games

Kiski Valley, May 29. First games of the year, and it showed. Hot and humid, and our drones drifted out of tune halfway through the medley and never came back. Two of our pipers had new reeds in their chanters that weren't broken in. The judges liked our drum corps and said the pipers needed more time together. They were right. Eddie made us play the MSR four times at the next practice.

Tuscarawas, June 12. Better tuning, better attacks. The ensemble judge wrote that our strathspey "had some swing" but our reel ran away from the drummers. That one's on the pipers. Sam Perri has not let us forget it.

Monongahela, June 26. Our first prize of the season (they give prizes to the top three), a third in the medley, on the river our mills used to sit on, more or less. Anita Otis played her first games with the band in the front row, filling in for Christian Towell, who was at his daughter's wedding. She didn't put a finger wrong.

Black Swamp, July 10. A big field of nine bands, a long drive and a field so flat you could see the next games from it. Third in the MSR. Our medley got marked down for a slow tempo change into the jigs, which Eddie says he'll fix by the next games, and did.

Cheat River, August 7. The best day we've had in years. Cool morning, the drones locked in and stayed locked in, and the MSR was the best we've ever played it. First place, the band's first first since 1988. Second in the medley too. John Mundy cried a little when they read out the result. So did a few others. I'm not saying who. The drive home was very loud.

French Creek, August 21. Second in the medley, third in the MSR. A good day, but our bass drummer, Karl Rogers, played the whole thing with a sprained wrist he got carrying the drum out of the van, and we owe him.

Muskingum, September 11. Last games of the year. Second in the MSR, third in the medley, and the drum corps placed first in the drumming. Our season is over until spring. We'll spend the winter on a new medley and on getting the new pipers ready.

Season summary

Seven games, fourteen events, one first, three seconds, four thirds. Best season since the late '80s. Thank you to our families, who spent the summer on folding chairs in hot fields, and to everyone who drove the drums.