With around 200 active players and bands that compete in Grades 2, 3, 4 & 5, students are continually challenged by our world class instructors to be the very best they can be, starting with our Introduction to Music program then up into our Beginner Instrument groups and finally into one of our pipe band levels.
These programs bring players together from around the globe who become members of what is known as the SFU Pipe Band Organization. Players joining RMM from outside the Metro Vancouver area are provided with online tutoring in order to make every band member the very best they can be when they arrive in Vancouver for workshops, weekend practices and for highland games across the Pacific Northwest, in California or Scotland.
GRADE 1
The Simon Fraser University Pipe Band is the flagship band of the SFU/RMM Pipe Band organization. The Pipe Major is Alan Bevan and the drums corps is led by Lead Drummer Reid Maxwell. The SFU Pipe Band has won 6 World Championships and produced many landmark recordings in the world's great concert halls, such Carnegie Hall, the Sydney Opera House, and Lincoln Center. Many of the members of this band as well as the Grade 2 RMM are instructors in the organization.
GRADE 2
In 2006, the Grade 2 band won the Grade 2 World Championship. The RMM Grade 3A Pipe Band won the World Pipe Band Championships for their grade in August 2012, and the band was upgraded to Grade 2 by the Royal Scottish Pipe Band Association in October 2012.
GRADE 3
Our most challenging program that encourages individuals to excel at their instrument. This band offers incredible performance opportunities and expects players to commit to performing at an internationally competitive level. Our juvenile bands have won a total of five world championships.
GRADE 4
A challenging environment designed to continue developing individuals, introducing a more complex repertoire, and offering band members more opportunities to perform and compete.
Players in the Grade 4 band do the local circuit of highland games and play a medley selection and a quick marches set. This band is where pipers and drummers hone their skills and prepare for the Grade 3 band.
GRADE 5
A welcoming band program that transitions novice musicians to playing full instruments, both pipes and drums, and introduces players to the competition arena.
For the past few years, RMM has fielded a very young Grade 5 band in local highland games. It is an excellent opportunity for the next generation of pipers and drummers to gain playing experience in public, and an introduction to the pressures of competing. They compete with a march medley selection.
