Albany St. Patrick's Day Parade

The rain held off for Albany's St. Patrick's Day Parade yesterday, but the OMPB donned their rain capes just in case. The crowds were smaller than last year, but those present were just as...jolly…as normal! Many thanks to our sponsor, South End Irish.

We were very excited to gather after the parade at the new Celtic Hall in Colonie for dinner and drinks. The CDCCA has done a wonderful job turning an old office building into a beautiful new space. We hear that Bingo will begin next Friday!

To view more photos from the parade, click here.

Donald F. Lindsay - The Scenery and Ancient Bagpipe Music of Scotland

Donald F. Linsday will be presenting a lecture/demonstration on Piobaireachd this evening. Details:

Program: The Scenery and Ancient Bagpipe Music of Scotland

Time: Monday, March 8th at 7:30 p.m

Location: Petersburgh Memorial Community Center (on Route 2 in Petersburgh)

Admission: No Charge

Description: Donald Lindsay will present a program of Bagpipe music as well as a series of related landscapes and portraits. Donald will play examples which illustrate how the pieces were constructed. He will also demonstrate the method of singing the tunes to transmit them from one piper to another.

Sponsors: Co-sponsored by the Petersburgh Public Library and the Petersburgh Veterans' Memorial Hall Community Center.

Celtic Jam '10

Oran Mor members performed at the Scotia-Glenville Pipe Band's 2010 Celtic Jam Concert last Friday. (L-R) Graham Thompson, Michael Miller, Jr., Jesse MacWilliams, Colin Wilson and Alex Allendorph are all SGPB alumni.

The Scotia-Glenville Pipe Band's mission is to teach and develop pipers and drummers between the ages of 8 and 18 to achieve excellence in competition and performance through the pipe band idiom. The band's instructors include Band Director Maureen Connor, Eric MacNeill, Andrew Douglas, and Michael Schoppe -- all members of the Oran Mor Pipe Band.

To learn more about the SGPB, visit http://www.sgpipeband.com

Oran Mor at the EUSPBA AGM

The EUSPBA Annual General Meeting was held in Albany this year, and the Oran Mor Pipe Band was invited to play a set at the Ceilidh. We had a great time, and we introduced some 2010 material.

If you root around on youtube, you may find some videos of the performance, but for now we'll leave you with this, a picture of Eric MacNeill doing his fist-pumps (thumbs clearly INSIDE the fists).

:)

The van der Leeuw Wedding

Today many of us in the band were at the van der Leeuw wedding in the Catskills.

Congrats to Erik and Maggie, we wish you a happy future, and we thank you for a GREAT party.

Capital District Games, and Pig-roast!

Wow, what a great end to the year. The band put forward two excellent performances, as well as a "Pipe Band Idol" performance that was second to... well we don't really know who was second... but Scotia Glenville won it! Congrats to them!

Saturday Night we had a pig-roast, our traditional year-end party, where all were invited.

Sunday Night, we drained the kegs.

On Monday Morning the last of us dragged our butts home.

This is Oran Mor, signing off.

See you next season!

World Pipe Band Championships

Well, we didn't qualify, but we played great.

It was pouring rain. Maureen fell in a mud-puddle. We were third on the morning.

But, nonetheless, an outstanding musical performance. I believe we tied for 11th overall in the Qualifier. Only 5 spots away from making the final.

Thanks to all those who got up at 4am to watch us play online! We appreciate your support greatly.

Congratulations to us, and to all of the other Grade 1 bands that made for an excellent contest.