Glasgow Boyne Celebrations 2009 - The Art of Flourishing

Conventional wisdom has it that drum majors should be smart, disciplined, wear the best uniform and be an authority figure.

Many flute bands do have drum majors like this, and you can see examples on other videos on this site. However, the working class roots of these bands meant that there was no money for posh uniforms or expensive maces and an alternative, and unique, creative culture has developed which questions the conventional wisdom - sometimes completely.

This video documents some examples from Glasgow's 2009 Boyne Celebrations. I think this is a genuine art form but, as far as I can tell, you can't learn it from books and it's not taught at college. I hope someone somewhere is documenting, studying and preserving this.

Some comments on the individual styles:

1. Great attitude, nice territorial walking, neat ensemble work with the big drum - how cool can cool get!
2. You try walking up a hill with a baton balanced on your nose while twirling another! Great stuff, and it will get even better.
3. This guy is a seasoned pro. That leap and snatch towards the end is masterly.
4. Great flourishing with a full sized mace.
5. This is a good example of the 'deconstructionist school'. The deliberate walking out of step slower than the band, the bored look back at the drums as if to question why they are not doing anything more exciting, eyeing up the crowd, that elegant preparatory flick of sweat from the brow (which is in time with the music!) - the more I look at this the cleverer I think this stuff is.
6. Once he gets going there is some great classic twirling here. This guy's mate is good too.
7. Perfection. It doesn't get better than this - and with a full sized mace as well. Go to Glasgow Green for the World Drum Major's Championship in August and you won't see better.
8. Maces and batons come in all sizes, and this shows that small batons are not just for small people.
9. Prize for best newcomer? Don't worry about this wee man. He's out for the day with his big brother (who seems to have left him in charge in this clip). But what is that cymbals player doing on parade? I hope he's playing a downloaded mp3 of some cymbals - now that would be cool.
10. Virtuosity and showmanship - perfect!

Thanks to all you guys for your skill and hard work on the day.

Category:

Travel & Events

Tags:

• Glasgow
• Boyne
• Celebrations
• 2009
• baton
• mace
• flourish
• twirling
• flute
• band
• FB
• Orange
• Order
• Big
• Walk

[hildibildibaldi]

Good photography, sir. Liked yer comments at the side as well. Thanks.

[roughgrange]

Thank you. It's more luck than skill a lot of the time, and I'm still learning what the little buttons do. Your support is appreciated - keep having fun.

[SkyBlueLoyalist]

Excellent stuff.

[bandxparades]

Cracking video, :)

[ixRoscoeRFCx1873x]

thats the best ive seen stoneyburn play!

[shazababy28]

Fantastic! I went to majorettes for years, but some how that doesnt quite cut it! lol would love to twirl it with the best of them!

[crownaz]

netherton stickman the tops