The Toronto Police Pipe Band is a grade one pipe band based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The band was originally formed for local parades and events, and was later used for recruiting drives in World Wars I and II. In the 1970s, the band began competing internationally, and has had considerable success over the years. It won the Grade One North American Championship at the Glengarry Highland Games in 2004. The band had a very successful season in 2006, winning the American, Canadian and North American Championships.
The 2007 and 2008 seasons have proven to be integral in the band's current attention in the piping community; after losing much of the pipe corps and regaining old players in '07 the band competed with an innovative and non-traditional medley titled "Variations on a Theme of Good Intentions" which went against the traditional medley composition as the players performed a suite of a theme rather than separate tunes. The set was composed for pipes by Michael Grey, the band's Pipe Sergeant. The band competed with a different medley in the 2009 season, titled "Idiomatica", and presented yet another in 2010, titled "Gallus No. 3"; both, again, composed by Mr. Grey.
The band's Pipe Major is Ian K. Macdonald. The lead drummer is Ken Constable.
Famous quotes containing the words police, pipe and/or band:
“Well, intuition isn’t much help in police work. Facts are what we need.”
—Crane Wilbur (1889–1973)
“If you love music, hear it; go to operas, concerts and pay fiddlers to play to you; but I insist on your neither piping nor fiddling yourself. It puts a gentleman in a very frivolous, contemptible light.... Few things would mortify me more than to see you bearing a part in a concert, with a fiddle under your chin, or a pipe in your mouth.”
—Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl Chesterfield (1694–1773)
“Citizen’s Band radio renders one accessible to a wide variety of people from all walks of life. It should not be forgotten that all walks of life include conceptual artists, dry cleaners, and living poets.”
—Fran Lebowitz (b. 1950)