The young members of the College of Piping Pipe Band are experiencing the adventure of a lifetime as they compete in world-class piping championships in the British Isles. 

On Saturday, the band placed fifth in Northern Ireland at the Ulster Pipe Band Championships.

Scott MacAulay, director of the College of Piping and the Pipe Major for the band, said this placement was quite a feat for the 42 students from PEI, as they were the only youth band in the competition.

All of the bands that comprised of adults who have previously played at the highest levels in the world MacAulay told The Guardian in a telephone interview from Ireland.

“For the first time in a competition over here, I think they did fine.  We’re proud of them and we thought they did really well.”

The youth were quite nervous as they began to play their medley of piping tunes on Saturday, MacAulay said.

But once they became comfortable on the stage, they showed the other bands they were a force to be reckoned with.

“Halfway through the performance they really settled down and played very well, particularly in the last half of the performance,” MacAulay said.

“And now they have that performance under their belt – now that they have the lay of the land – I think they’ll have a much more settled and solid performance when it counts most next week.”

Indeed, the Ulster Championship was really a warm-up for the band. The group goes on to compete in the World Championships in Scotland on August 11.

There the band will see how they’ll fare against the top pipe bands from both Ireland and Scotland. 

“That’s one of the reasons we chose to come to Ireland.  And I think having a top five finish against the best bands in the world is good here and will prepare us to do a lttle more work this week and see how they make out.”

The youth have also had the opportunity to tour around Ireland and Scotland, making the entire experience a real adventure.

They also performed a concert on August 2 alongside the Hamilton Police Pipe Band – the only other Canadian band competing in the championships.

MacAulay said he knows the College of Piping Pipe Band members will return to PEI with new perspectives from the whole experience, and hopes they will feel intense pride in their accomplishments in the competitions.

“It’s definitely a team-building exercise over here.  It’s a real personal growth program and the kids are having the time of their lives.  It’s amazing.”

The band has been competing in international championships for a number of years.  In 1994 and 1995 they won the New England Pipe Band Championships, the Atlantic Canadian Championships and the North American Championships for Grade 4 last year.

The students and chaperones have been keeping a blog of their experiences, complete with photos and an area for people to post comments.  It can be found on the College of Piping website, www.collegeofpiping.wordpress.com.