Hamburg, Munster & Oldenburg Musikparade 26 Feb - 2 March

We flew to Hamburg in Germany on the evening of Friday 26th February and were honoured to take part in this fantastic military tattoo as pipers as part of The International Celtic Pipe Band. The band is managed by David Johnston, who lives in Germany and is one of the world’s top pipers.

On day 1

The first performance of the band was in Hamburg. We had very little time to rehearse before the first performance and did not know what the marching formation would be until the day, so it was nerve wracking but also exhilarating! We had a troupe of highland dancers with us who were brilliant and we played a medley of tunes including a rock set, to accompany the dancers.

On day 2

The Musikparade moved to Munster. We had a matinee and an evening performance on that day. On each day of the concert, we played to packed arenas with various other performers and military brass bands. The standard of the music was very high and each concert was organised with military precision! We got back to our hotel in Bremen very late that night but more than happy with our performance.

Day 3

The Musikparade moved to its final venue in Oldenburg. The pipes were again tuned and re-tuned to David Johnstone’s exacting standards. The International Celtic Band then performed again to a packed house. We flew back to England the following day, exhausted but feeling quite proud of ourselves. We felt that we had learned a lot about performing with formal mass bands and we really enjoyed the experience.