KIM BURTON-SCHRAM
LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER
The reigning Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association Champion of Champions and two-time World Champion Drum Major Emma Barr was invited to the Glengarry Highland Games in Maxville, Ontario to participate in the massed bands and present a workshop on flourishing of the mace. This was Drum Major Barr’s first trip to Canada, and she was very impressed with the caliber of the Games held in Glengarry. Emma Barr said many of highland events she goes to in the UK are held on a soccer field with some tape marking off the area. Maxville’s iconic grandstand with centre field events, vendors and many activities for families was exciting to attend.
Drum Major Emma Barr’s family has been involved in pipes and drums bands since she was a little girl. Her father asked four-year-old Emma what instrument she would like to play, and she declared she wanted to be a drum major. By the age of five, Emma Barr was competing at flourishing the mace and won her first world championship as a ten-year-old. At fifteen, Emma was invited to be the Drum Major for the Grade 1 Field Marshal Montgomery Pipe Band from Northern Ireland – a band she continues to lead ten years later.
Drum Major Barr’s skill is fantastic to watch as she twirls around her the custom-made mace made of Malacca cane with its silver engraved head, and throws it into the air, catching it without missing a beat. Emma Barr says that a Drum Major not only has to consider the height of the throw and the tempo of the march, but also the weather factors for the day, including any breeze that might carry the mace in a different direction or the sun that might momentarily block you from seeing the mace as it comes down.
Drum Major Barr has travelled as far as South Africa to compete and display her talents at flourishing, but she says her favourite memory was in 2018 when she won World Champion Drum Major, and her band Field Marshal Montgomery also won World Champion Pipe Band. According to Drum Major Barr, in the UK, there are often more Drum Majors competing at flourishing their mace than there are pipe bands competing. With currently very few Canadian venues hosting contests, Emma hopes that her attendance and workshop at the Glengarry Highland Games might encourage a revitalization of Drum Major competition in Canada.
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