February 10, 2022 To: The Western U.S. Pipe Band Association From: Bob Worrall Last year the PPBSO sponsored and ran our association's first ever piping and drumming school. Summer Blast was an amazing success, with close to 100 students participating. Due to Covid concerns we ran the school virtually via Zoom. The technology worked brilliantly. And, the feedback from students was overwhemingly supportive of running the 2022 edition of Summer Blast virtually. We started planning last year with five piping, one snare drumming, and one bass/tenor instructor. As the enrolment came in we quickly realized that to keep the class sizes reasonable we had to add a sixth piping instructor. This year we have planned from the outset for 6 piping instructors (John Cairns, Ken Eller, Bruce Gandy, Michael Grey, Jim McGillivray, and Bob Worrall). We are also going with two snare instructors (Jake Jorgensen - lead drummer with Scottish Power, and Paul Brown - Drumming Principal for the RSPBA). I would love it if our snare numbers could allow us to bring in a third snare instructor. Kahlil Cappucino, bass drummer for the 78th Highlanders Halifax Citadel, will be handling the bass and tenor classes. The bio's for all our instructors can be found in the SUMMER BLAST website.... www.summerblast.ca We cater to students at all levels and all ages. We use a tumbling timetable, so all piping students will get classes with all 6 instructors. And, snare students will get classes with both instructors. This year's school will run from July 4-8. Classes begin each day at 10 a.m. This helps accommodate students attending from time zones in western Canada and U.S. We run two one hour classes in the morning and two one hour classes in the afternoon, wrapping up the instruction by 4 p.m. each day. Some fun activities plus an instructors' recital/ceilidh are planned for Monday to Thursday of the camp. In addition to a number of great draw prizes donated by our sponsors, there are some terrific financial incentives for registering early. The regular registration cost for students is $350. That alone is a terrific bargain for the first class instruction students receive. There will be a draw on April 30 for all students who are registered by that date. The winner in the draw will have their entire registration fee refunded! There is also a major incentive for all registered PPBSO members. Their Summer Blast registration fee is 20% less than the full $350 fee. So, all PPBSO members pay only $280. Last year this resulted in many of our students who are from outwith our jurisdiction or are in non competing bands in Ontario taking out a PPBSO membership. In addition, returning students who are PPBSO members will get an additional $10 savings, bringing their fee for 2022 to $270. Registration closes on June 11. Please alert all your band members to this e-mail. I encourage you to share it with all your pipers and drummers. I can't emphasize enough the need for drummers to sign up. This is a marvelous opportunity. There is much concern about the state of pipe band drumming and what the PPBSO is doing to address the problem. So, all I can say is "Sign Up!". And, please send me the contact details for the drumming instructors who are working with your band. If you have any questions that can't be answered by checking out the website, please contact me at robertworrall@cogeco.ca Looking forward to another first class week at this year's SUMMER BLAST. Cheers for now.....Bob Worrall Director, Summer Blast 202 You are receiving this email on behalf of Western United States Pipe Band Association through r2sports.com. <https://www.r2sports.com/tourney/imageGallery/gallery/sportOrganization /wuspba_2101_normal.jpg> To adjust your email settings, please Unsubscribe / Manage Email Options Here <https://www.r2sports.com/emailUnsubscribe.asp?UID=229838&playerID=SVPB>